Dragoman Kenyan Contingency Plans

Go to....

Kenya Tourism Federation Daily Security Update
Summary Of Current British Foreign Office Advice

Dragoman Policy On Kenya Situation

Dragoman Overland is in a different situation to most tour operators as we do not run Kenya only trips. Indeed the Kenya content of most of our trips is fairly minimal. We have trucks located in both Tanzania and in Uganda and are in the fortunate position to be able to relocate crew and vehicles and are therefore to run all ours trips. We will not be cancelling any departures. Instead we are able to modify itineraries without loosing the intrinsic nature of the tour. We are currently building a series of contingency itineraries, which either avoid Kenya completely, or if the situation allows, mean that we can travel overland for the corridor between Nairobi and Arusha.

Currently the British Foreign Office is NOT advising against travel to Kenya, instead they are monitoring the situation carefully and advising against travel to the troubled areas. Throughout the crisis tourist have continued to visit Kenya and there have been no major problems for tourists.

Dragoman have therefor reviewed its policy on travelling to Kenya and we will be visiting the country on all our itineraries. All trips will now be starting or finishing in Nairobi. If clients have changed flights and want to join in Arusha as previously planned we will make provision for this. Please can you ensure that you do keep in contact with Dragoman and that we are aware of your flight plans.

Until the the British Foreign Office advice tells us that it is now safe to travel up the Rift Valley region and Western Kenya, we will continue to run our contingency itineraries avoiding these areas. Please check the itineraries below to see what is planned for your trip

In order to make life as easy as possible for everyone, it is essential that you contact Dragoman or your travel agent as soon as possible to give us your arrival and departure details and keep us updated on any changes.

Contingency Itineraries

Update 29th January 2008: The Home Foreign & Commonwealth Office has updated their advice; we are therefore in the process of creating further contingency itineraries for trips traveling into Kenya. The information below will be updated over next couple of days.

Below are a few of the most immediate contingency itineraries that we have now put together that avoid travelling through the trouble spots in Kenya. If your trip is not yet on this list it is because we are awaiting further developments in Kenya.
The situation is very fluid and we are awaiting developments over the next few days. Currently the main areas of concern are the Rift Valley and the regions to the West of the Rift towards Uganda and Lake Victoria. The Kenyan authorities are keeping major tourism infrastructure open and there is a heavy police and military presence in the capital Nairobi.
Please Note: These itineraries are guides only and things may change.

SKN28
At this point we think that this trip will run the standard itinerary in Uganda visiting Kampala, Jinja, QEII NP, Lake Bunyonyi and then enter Rwanda to see the Gorillas and Kigali. The trip will then head south into Tanzania, and travel south of Lake Victoria. It will visit the stunning Tarangeri National Park (as an alternative to the Masai Mara, before finishing in Arusha or Nairobi (which we hope will be open to travel to from the south by that date).

For passengers continuing on south towards Dar, Vic Falls and Cape Town, you may wish to transfer to the next leg of your journey (XND28) in Arusha rather than travelling to Nairobi.

XND28
This trip will start in Nairobi, but if your flights have already been changes to Arusha, we can arrange to meet you in Arusha.

It is simple for us to alter the itinerary to create an excellent alternative itinerary. From Arusha we will visit the Serengeti and Ngorongoro from the south. We will also try to make time to visit Manyara National Park and spend some time for walks and hikes in the Usambara Mountains on our way to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. A contingency route would avoid the Rift Valley and Western Kenya region completely.

TSV18
This trip will start in Nairobi, but if your flights have already been changes to Arusha, we can arrange to meet you in Arusha.

Apart from the start point this itinerary will run as per the brochure as it actually only spends the first day in Nairobi and then usually leaves Kenya on day 2.

AES18
This trip will start in Nairobi, but if your flights have already been changes to Arusha, we can arrange to meet you in Arusha.

It is simple for us to alter this trip to create an excellent alternative itinerary. The contingency route will avoid the Rift Valley and Western Kenya region completely. From Arusha we will visit the Serengeti and Ngorongoro from the south. We will also try to make time to visit Tarangire National Park and spend some time for walks and hikes in the Usambara Mountains on our way to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. The itinerary will then continue as per the usual itinerary.

TWR28
This trip will travel through Kenya, but will spend longer in Ethiopia allowing us to visit areas of the country that we usually do not have time to visit. The route through Kenya will be the usual route to Samburu National Park, then via Mount Kenya and on down to Nairobi by an alternative route east of the Aberdare mountains. This will enable us to avoid the Rift Valley and Nakuru, Naivasha route where there is currently a lot of problems.

The trip will finish in Nairobi as planned

AES28
This trip will start in Nairobi, but if your flights have already been changes to Arusha, we can arrange to meet you in Arusha.

NNN18
This trip usually starts and finishes in Nairobi and does a circuit of East Africa. However, because we are unable to travel through Western Kenya we have had to reroute the trip via the new southern route as described below. Logistically this means that the trip can no longer finish in Nairobi but will finish in Entebbe on the same date, running the following itinerary.

Nairobi, drive to Arusha and into the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti as planned. When the trip reaches Lake Victoria it would usually turn north into Kenya. Instead it will head south to the town of Mwanza, the largest port on the southern shores of Lake Victoria. From Mwanza we head around the Lake and then head north west to cross into Rwanda and onto Kigali. Here as per the usual itinerary we visit the Genocide Memorial and then onto the mountain gorillas. North into Uganda to Lake Bunyonyi and then through to Queen Elizabeth II National Park. We will then head to the lovely recently reopened Murchison Falls NP. For further details on this park please click here.

We now head south east through Kampala and onto Jinja as per the usual itinerary. From here we will return to Kampala. There will be time to visit the Ngamba Islands on Lake Victoria if anyone wants to take the optional boat trip to the chimpanzees.

As stated above the trip will finish in Kampala and it will be necessary to change your flight as soon as possible. Please can you contact Dragoman or your agent as soon as possible to get these sorted

Summary Of Current British Foreign Office Advice

Dated 30 January 2008

A number of areas of Kenya are experiencing violent unrest following the disputed presidential election result and may be prone to further outbreaks. The security and political situation in the country remains unpredictable. We are working closely with the Kenyan authorities and are doing what we can to ensure that as many British nationals as possible across the country are aware of our travel advice and British High Commission contact details. The British High Commission have re-opened their emergency line. The emergency numbers are 00 254 20 2844 660/661/662/663/664/665/666. See the Local Travel section of this advice for more details.
We advise against all travel to the Nakuru (including the National Park) and Naivasha (including Lake Naivasha) region due to the escalation of violence there. If you are in these areas you should remain indoors. A curfew has been imposed in Nakuru town and its environs between 1900 and 0700 (local time).
We advise against all but essential travel to: Western and Nyanza Provinces and Mombasa town; the following districts of Rift Valley province - Turkana Central, West Pokot, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gichu, Koibatek, Nandi, Kericho, Bomet and Narok district north of and including the town of Narok; and the following areas of Nairobi – Kibera, Mathare, Huruma, Kariobangi, Kawangware and Eastleigh, its central business district and Uhuru Park. If you are in these areas you should remain indoors, exercise extreme caution and seek advice locally if you need to travel.
You should avoid all public gatherings and large public meetings. Any rallies, even if advertised as peaceful, could potentially turn violent. If you are currently in Kenya you should exercise extreme caution and seek advice locally either from your tour operator or the local authorities, particularly if you need to travel.
Some tour operators are cancelling forthcoming holidays to Kenya. You should contact your tour operator for confirmation of this. International flights continue to operate but you should check with your airline before travelling to the airport. We are not aware of any incidents on the airport road to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) or on the road between JKIA and Wilson airport.
There is a high threat from terrorism in Kenya. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers. Previous attacks have included a bomb attack on a hotel, which resulted in significant loss of life, and an unsuccessful attempt to bring down a civilian airliner in Mombasa. These attacks took place in the month leading up to the 2002 Parliamentary and Presidential elections in Kenya.

To visit the website click here

Dated 30 January 2008

KENYA TOURISM FEDERATION DAILY SECURITY UPDATES

Tuesday 29th January 2008 11 p.m.

Nairobi: In the early hours of this morning an ODM opposition party Member of Parliament, Mr Mugabe Were was shot dead outside his house in Nairobi by unknown assailants. Crowds of supporters gathered outside his home during the morning to express their grief and were dispersed by police using teargas. This developed into more violent protests along Ngong Road away from the centre of Nairobi and at the housing estate of Kawangware as well as disturbances in the Kibera slums and in Mr Were’s Embakasi constituency. The situation had returned to normal by late afternoon and the centre of Nairobi was not affected while the highways between the airports and Nairobi hotels remained open as usual. President Kibaki has sent his condolences to Mr Were’s family and appealed for the public not to rush to any conclusions on the MP’s killing until police investigations are completed.

Tourist areas:

The main tourist areas at the beach resorts and the safari circuit continue to receive international tourist visitors as usual and the current situation is as follows:

Mombasa and coast: there are no problems at any of the beach resorts and the roads between Malindi, Watamu, Kilifi, Nyali, Bamburi, Mombasa, Diani, Galu, Msambweni are all open and reported to have no problems. The international airport at Mombasa is operating as normal with both charter flights and daily scheduled services flying in and there is no problem with access to the airport on the roads from the north and south of Mombasa. The ferry at Likoni is operating as normal for tourists travelling to the south coast.

Safaris: all the national parks and wildlife reserves are operating as normal with most camps and lodges open for business. The roads linking the parks and reserves are all open and conditions are normal with the exception of roads through Naivasha town (see below). For tourist vehicles travelling by road to the Mara, the road passing Narok town is a stretch of approximately 4 kms and is now being monitored by a permanent security patrol to ensure that there are no problems for tourist vehicles. For the past week tourist vehicles have been driving along this route from Nairobi to the Mara daily without any problem and latest reports indicate that the road is open and that traffic is moving freely. The route to the Mara is south from Narok and drivers do not need to drive north to Bomet which is within the area recommended as off-limits to tourists (see below).

Areas to avoid

The Kenya Tourism Federation continues to monitor the security situation to ensure that any areas considered unsafe for tourists are avoided. While the beach resorts, the safari circuit, the airports in Nairobi and the highways between them to the Nairobi international hotels are considered safe for visitors at the present time, the following areas are off-limits for tourists until further notice:

Naivasha and Nakuru

As reported yesterday, the violent disturbances and clashes between rival groups in and around Naivasha were eventually brought under control by the police and security forces by yesterday afternoon. The roads were opened by police and army so that traffic was able to move in and out of Naivasha today. However tensions in Naivasha and Nakuru remain and the Kenya Tourism Federation recommends that road safaris through Naivasha town and on by road to Lake Nakuru should be suspended for the next few days while we monitor the situation and until we can confirm that peace and calm have been restored once again in the area. However air safaris may continue to Lake Nakuru National Park using the airstrips in the park. The Warden of Lake Nakuru National Park has confirmed that all is calm within the park and that tourist visitors have not been affected by the clashes beyond Nakuru. Lake Nakuru Park remains secure and safe for visitors with KWS rangers on duty.

Western Kenya, areas off-limits for tourists: In addition to Naivasha and Nakuru, the Kenya Tourism Federation continues to recommend that for the time being visitors should avoid the following areas where there have been continuing sporadic incidents of civil unrest: Nyanza Province, Western Province, and the western area of Rift Valley Province including roads to the north of Narok to Bomet, Sotik and Njoro, the areas surrounding Kericho, Molo, Londiani, Nandi Hills and Eldoret. These places are not normally visited by tourists and members of the Kenya Association of Tour Operators have avoided these areas since the onset of the post-election problems.

For visitors to Nairobi it is recommended that the high density housing estates and slums should be avoided, including Eastleigh, Mathare, Huruma, and Kibera but tourists have always been advised to keep away from these areas.

For visitors to the Coast it is recommended to avoid going into Mombasa “town” at the present time including the areas of Majengo, Tonononka, and Bondeni as some sporadic demonstrations had occurred previously in this area although all has been calm and normal for over a week now. Mombasa is an island and not a beach resort and the areas mentioned can be avoided by tourist vehicles transferring from the airport to the beach resorts on the north and south mainland.

Talks between political leadership

Today the talks started in Nairobi between the political leadership of both sides with Kofi Annan mediating. Hopes are high that the talks will lead to a resolution of the political crisis and Mr Annan expressed optimism that this could be achieved within four weeks.

Jake Grieves-Cook

Spokesman

Kenya Tourism Federation