Saturday 5 January 2008: Update

Nairobi:

Once again there were no incidents today affecting tourists in Nairobi. The roads between JKIA, Wilson and all Nairobi hotels were all open and traffic was moving without hindrance throughout the day. Tourist vehicles were also able to move along Uhuru Highway throughout the day. The police were present along the highway but in reduced numbers today. There was an attempt by small crowds to march to Uhuru Park from the Karen area but the GSU / Police presence prevented access and there were no serious confrontations. All airport transfers took place without any problems. JKIA arrivals were lower than normal as a result of the travel warnings taking effect.There were some skirmishes in the low-income housing estates near Nairobi between residents, and police intervened, with reports indicating that one person was killed but this disturbance was confined to Dandora.

Mombasa:

At the coast things continue returning to normal. Shops are open, traffic has resumed driving into the city centre and pavement cafes are all open as usual. Markets were open and were thronged with residents shopping peacefully. All tourist departure transfers last night, early this morning and later throughout the day took place without any problems. There were no charter arrivals from UK, France or Netherlands but there were some arrivals from Germany and Italy and also from Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Poland).The ODM leaders attempted to hold a march around 1pm but this was quickly dispersed by the heavy police presence and the leaders then went to Makupa police station to present a letter. This did not cause any disruption to tourists since the tour operators are not running city tours for the time being but road safaris and excursions to Shimba Hills, Shimoni, Tsavo, etc continue to operate as normal.

Upcountry:

There were no problems reported from any of the parks or reserves and all road safaris were operating as normal while air safaris from Wilson to all scheduled stops went ahead as normal.Reports have been received from the Baringo area that some staff in hotels have felt intimidated on tribal lines as a result of the clashes in the Eldoret area and decided to move away in the interests of their own safety to Nakuru.The Molo, Eldoret, Kericho, Kakamega, Kisumu areas have been the sites of serious civil unrest earlier this week, receiving continual TV coverage of the incidents in the international media, and continue to be tense with reports today of some incidents of arson. These areas are not suitable for tourist visitation and continue to be absolutely off-limits for tourists. No tour operators have been running tours to these areas since the unrest started last week. The roads to Eldoret have been blocked by mobs and the transport system in this area has broken down but the army has been in the area, clearing and re-opening the roads.

Jake Grieves-Cook
Spokesman, Kenya Tourism Federation

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