NAIROBI: Nearly one hundred tourists are among people stranded after a river overflowed in Kenya’s famed Maasai Mara wildlife reserve following heavy rains, a local administrator said on Wednesday. The death toll from flash floods in Kenya has reached 181 besides widespread devastation and damage to properties.
Torrential rains, amplified by the El Nino weather pattern, have hit much of the country and destroyed bridges, roads, and other infrastructure.
Narok West sub-county administrator Stephen Nakola said that about 100 or more tourists were stranded in over a dozen lodges and camps, AFP reported. He said that it was the preliminary figures as of now because some of the camps are inaccessible.
The world-famous Maasai Mara, in southwestern Kenya, is a tourist magnet and home to native wildlife including the so-called Big Five — lions, rhinos, leopards, elephants, and buffalo — as well as hippos, giraffes, and cheetahs.
The Kenya Red Cross said it had rescued sixty-one people from the camps, more than half of them by air. It said on X that in some camps, tents have been swept away and the Mara bridge, linking the Greater Mara and the Mara Triangle, has been washed away.
Tourism minister Alfred Mutua had earlier said on Wednesday that several camps have been impacted and warned all camps and hotels near rivers to prepare for possible evacuations.
Mutua directed in a statement that develops clear evacuation, transportation, and hospitality protocols.
The instructions came hours after President William Ruto ordered the military to evacuate people living in flood-prone areas.
People living in the affected areas will have forty-eight hours to move after those who remain will be relocated forcibly in the interest of their safety, the cabinet said in a statement.
Human Loss in Floods in Kenya
So far, 181 people including fifteen minors have died in flood-related incidents across the country since March, according to government data.
About 90 people have been reported missing, raising fears that the toll could go higher, and over 195,000 others displaced.
