MIGRATION ARRIVES IN THE MASAI MARA ‘WAY AHEAD OF SCHEDULE’

‘The migration is back’ came the shout  from the Kenyan side of the trans-boundary Serengeti – Masai Mara ecosystem as the advance ‘troops’ of the million and a half strong herds of wildebeest and zebras have reached the rivers and are piling up numbers before the first major crossings will provide visitors once again with sights often equated with one of nature’s greatest spectacles.

Unusually early, the migration normally arrives by mid to late June and at times as late as July, is the return of the great herds a boost for Kenya’s struggling tourism sector as the annual migration is one of the country’s major selling points for safaris.Adjoining the Masai Mara are a number of conservancies which provide a crucial buffer between the main reserve and the land used for grazing cattle or farming. These large tracts of land have regenerated over the space of a few years, have become real wilderness areas again and are now home to a large number of game including the big cats like lion, cheetah, leopard, hyenas but also of a number of smaller predators like foxes, jackals, Civet and Genet cats and even wild dogs, aka hunting or painted dogs.

Tourists seeking that special added touch of greater privacy therefore often opt to stay at the tented safari camps, there are no lodges on the conservancies, all of them small, intimate, offering great personalized service and are at times outrageously luxurious. There guests can take guided walks, do night game drives, enjoy sundowners and when the migration is on enter the main Masai Mara Game Reserve on full day game drives to see the great herds at the river crossings.Adjoining the Masai Mara are a number of conservancies which provide a crucial buffer between the main reserve and the land used for grazing cattle or farming. These large tracts of land have regenerated over the space of a few years, have become real wilderness areas again and are now home to a large number of game including the big cats like lion, cheetah, leopard, hyenas but also of a number of smaller predators like foxes, jackals, Civet and Genet cats and even wild dogs, aka hunting or painted dogs.

Tourists seeking that special added touch of greater privacy therefore often opt to stay at the tented safari camps, there are no lodges on the conservancies, all of them small, intimate, offering great personalized service and are at times outrageously luxurious. There guests can take guided walks, do night game drives, enjoy sundowners and when the migration is on enter the main Masai Mara Game Reserve on full day game drives to see the great herds at the river crossings.Multiple daily scheduled flights from Nairobi’s Wilson Airport, like with Safarilink, Kenya’s premier safari airline, deliver visitors within an hour from the Kenyan capital to the Masai Mara, an altogether different world where companies like Porini take their guests back in time to the good old days of the classic tented safari camps while at the other end of the scale for instance the Olare Mara Kempinski is an oasis of unadulterated luxury. This gives visitors to the Masai Mara and the conservancies a wide range of options, from the very exclusive small properties where a host of staff is at their visitors’ beck and call to the main lodges inside the reserve and even the budget camping options for those who merely want to take in the sights and do it on a small budget by using mini-busses for road transport and game drives.

Kenya is a perfect example of a destination where both the super-rich as well as the average Tom, Dick and Harry can come for a vacation, and each of them, according to their budget and accustomed lifestyle, find exactly what they were hoping to find during their holidays.

Some may opt to take airline shuttle buses from the airport to the city centre and walk to their budget hotel and others may afford the stretched limo service from Royal Home Town Limo and Event and stay in suites at hotels like the Kempinski, the Fairmont Norfolk, the Sarova Stanley, the Nairobi Serena and other 5 star properties.

Some may opt for road transport to the parks, others may afford to use the scheduled flights and yet others may decide to go for private charters, taking off at a time of their own choosing. From the sundrenched beaches of the Indian Ocean where a wide range of accommodation facilities from self-catering to boutique resorts are found to the safari parks across the country, Kenya very much has what it takes to make a holiday become that dream come true, and the annual migration, now that the big herds have returned, is but one of nature’s spectacles tourists can expect.

AFRICA’S SPA ASSOCIATION PROMOTES WELLNESS TOURISM

As more Spa’s open across Eastern Africa and wellness tourism is on the increase, it is becoming increasingly important to have some form of quality control and certification process in place to ensure that local and international guests, who come with high expectations, actually get value for their money.

A recent article here about the Uzuri Spa at the Leopard Beach Resort & Spa went to show what level of sophistication has been reached in Kenya, and with leading hotel groups like Serena and Sarova, now joined by Kempinski which has just opened their own branded Spa, rolling out their own in-house creations, the trend at present seems unstoppable. Recently opened new lodges like Enashipai on Lake Naivasha in fact have entered the market by storm for the very fact that they have a top of the range Spa, besides the location and quality of services of course as a Spa alone does not make a property.

The Spa Association of Africa is the continent’s leading professional body under which quality Spa’s come together and which provides certification for members in line with an elaborate audit process.

‘The Spa & Wellness Association of Africa is an organization created to develop and maintain internationally recognized standards and education for the spa industry in Africa. The association works alongside tourism boards and operators to set quality standards and encourage education and preventive health measures within the spa, health and wellness industry’ informed Janine Shipra, who is a SWAA Board Member and its Vice Chair and who recently moved from the Uzuri Spa in Diani to Tanzania to prepare for the opening of several Spa’s. Spa’s seeking membership in SWAA are carefully vetted and given advice in case some areas are found in need of changes or improvements, and when finally the membership certificate is issued guests can be sure to enter a Spa which is worth being called a Spa by international standards and not, as has happened, find themselves in a so called Jua Kali outfit with glaring deficiencies in set up and application.

Run by a board of directors and supported by an Advisory Board which has injected added expertise into the organisation, is SWAA the authority right now in Eastern Africa and across the continent to give Spa users the certainty that they can expect value for their money. Meanwhile of course can tourists from abroad, as they do in more fancied destinations, book their wellness packages in advance with some of Kenya’s leading beach resorts like the Leopard Beach in Diani, the Whitesands along Bamburi and the Serena at Shanzu, and of course the already award winning Lion in the Sun, owned by Flavio Briattore, in Malindi. Time to visit, as Kenya still got what it takes to make for that holiday in a lifetime.

CONDOR AIRLINES SET FOR AN ADDED FLIGHT TO MOMBASA FROM EARLY JULY

Information has been obtained that Condor, the German charter airline, is planning to up their current three weekly flights from Germany to Mombasa and on to Zanzibar to four, come July.

While the added seats will not make up for the loss of the charters from the UK, which were halted in a panic reaction to a travel advisory issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which going by common undertones from Kenya was aimed at nothing else but to inflict pain and damage on the Kenyan government and by prolongation the tourism industry, at least will it allow for greater numbers of German tourists to come and visit the Kenyan coast.

Although the flight moves on from Mombasa to Zanzibar, an East African island destination with growing appeal in Germany, has the announcement rekindled hope among the tourism and resort stakeholders at the coast and reaffirmed the strategy to continue working existing markets alongside new and emerging markets to showcase Kenya as a safe and desirable destination for tourist visitors.

Charter flights to Mombasa from Europe started to fizzle away from as early as February this year due to a lack of demand and with many tour operators no longer willing to guarantee the minimum number of seats needed to operate such charter flights without incurring losses, several airlines decided to cut down on flights to reduce their risk, leaving the Kenya coast for the first time in decades short of flight capacity to fill the resort beds.

KWITA INIZA (Gorilla Naming Ceremony )

Rwanda has enthusiastically received thousands of international, regional and local visitors to its Virunga mountain ranges to visit the endangered mountain gorillas. For decades, international conservation organizations, donors and concerned individuals have made substantial resources available to the gorilla conservation cause and continue to do so.

The remaining home range of the endangered mountain gorillas is limited to the Virunga Massif, a chain of volcanic mountains shared by Rwanda, DRC and Uganda. 

Rwanda boasts two third of the Virunga Massif’s remaining endangered mountain gorillas. The remaining population of mountain gorillas has only survived thanks to the renewed efforts of national conservation authorities and the local populations and the support they have received from the international community.

Despite turbulences in the region in the recent past, conservation partners have been active in the protection of this species and their habitat. For several decades now, Rwanda has been at the forefront of gorilla conservation efforts. The government of Rwanda through the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) has put conservation high on its national agenda, not only for the protection of mountain gorillas and other keystone species, but also their habitats and ecosystems that provide life support to us all.

Notable achievement in Rwanda tourism are 26,3% growth in the population of gorillas since the last census in 2003, introduction of new tourism products such as the Congo Nile Trail, steady growth of tourists with USD 200 million in revenues in 2010, and estimated at 257 million in 2011 and conversion of poachers into farmers. The safety and security of the park and its surroundings is also a notable national achievement without which little of this would have been achieved. Another milestone in Rwanda’s tourism sector is the recent grading and classification of accommodation facilities using East African Standards.

As a means to conserve and protect the region where the mountain gorillas live, Rwanda Development Board -Tourism and Conservation launched the first ever public Gorilla Naming Ceremony in 2005 under the theme, “Ensuring the Future of Rwanda’s Mountain Gorillas”. Since then, RDB-Tourism and Conservation and its partners have successfully held six more ceremonies generating more funding for community projects and awareness of the importance of conservation.

On Saturday, June 21 2014, RDB will be hosting the tenth annual Kwita Izina – Gorilla Naming Ceremony. At this event, names will be given to 16 babies mountain gorillas at the Volcanoes National Park. The theme for this year is ‘Conserving – Empowering – Growing’. Under this theme, we shall reflect and celebrate the efforts of all those that have contributed to the sustainable regional and national conservation of the mountain gorilla and other wildlife in general. This will be an opportunity to celebrate the registered 26,3% of Gorilla

population growth in the years since the last census.

LAKE TURKANA FESTIVAL, LOIYANGALANI 2014

Loiyangalani is a small town located on the south-eastern coast of Lake Turkana. The name means "a place of many trees" in the native Samburu tongue and is home to the El Molo, an almost extinct community, amongst other communities. Its main industries include fishing, tourism and gold panning. 

It is fast becoming a popular tourist destination in Northern Kenya, as the surrounding El Molo and Turkana villages, amongst others, offer unique cultural experiences.

 The National Museums of Kenya in collaboration with the German Embassy, and other partners, will team up for the Lake Turkana Festival from  13 - 15 June 2014

June 2008, the National Museums of Kenya officially opened the first and only Desert Museum in Loiyangalani, which mirrors the Cultures and lifestyles of the eight communities that live in this area.

This is also the year when the 1st Cultural Festival took place celebrating and uniting all tribes affiliated to Loiyangalani, that live around Lake Turkana.

This year’s event promises to be even more memorable as we join together in celebrating and helping preserve the cultures of the El Molo, Samburu, Gabbra, Rendile, Watta, Dasannach, Pokot and the Turkana.

We invite you to join us as we explore this northern frontier and enjoy the myriad of colorful cultures while discovering the hidden treasures of Lake Turkana.