floods trapped dozens of tourists in Kenya’s Masai Mara reserve

Heavy rains due to the El Nino climate phenomenon have lashed much of the East African country, destroying roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

“About 100 or more tourists” were stranded in more than a dozen lodges and camps, Stephen Nakola, the district administrator for Narok West, told AFP. “For now, these are only preliminary figures as some camps are inaccessible,” he said.

The world-renowned Masai Mara National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Kenya is a tourist attraction and home to native wildlife, including the so-called Big Five – lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards and buffaloes, as well as giraffes, hippos and cheetahs.

The Kenya Red Cross said it had evacuated 61 people from the camps, more than half of them by air. “Tents were swept away in some camps and the Mara Bridge, which connects the Mara Triangle and the Great Mara, was washed away,” the organization wrote on Platform X.

According to government figures, 179 people have died in flood-related disasters across Kenya since March.

A temporary dam in the Rift Valley burst in the early hours of Monday in the deadliest incident, killing nearly 50 villagers. Since the beginning of the rainy season, this tragedy has claimed the highest number of victims.

El Nino is a so-called natural climate phenomenon usually associated with increased heat around the world, resulting in drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains in others.