Kenya Airways - Flight Cancellations

Due to a shortage of Kenya Airways (KQ) aircraft, flight KQ 762, from Nairobi to Johannesburg and return flight KQ 763, scheduled for departure on April 1, 2 and 3, will be cancelled.


Passengers will be transferred to KQ 760 and KQ 761 respectively, which will operate one hour later than originally scheduled.

KQ apologises for any inconvenience caused.

Ivory Ban

Thankyou to those of you who signed the various petitions advertised on our website against dropping the Elephant Ivory Ban.

At the March meeting of all CITES members in Doha, the application by Tanzania and Zambia to suspend the 21 year old moratorium was turned down for fears that any sales would fuel the illegal sale of ivory.

A resounding victory for elephant conservationists, although Tanzania have announced that they will appeal.

Samburu Serena Safari Lodge - Update from Ethos Marketing

RECONSTRUCTION OF SAMBURU SERENA SAFARI LODGE FOLLOWING THE FLASH FLOOD DAMAGE OF 4^TH MARCH 2010

Following the flash flood damage of 4^th March 2010 in the Samburu area, we wish to inform you that our project consultant team have now completed the due diligence on Samburu Serena Safari Lodge and assessed the extent of the damage.

The team led by our Managing Director, Mahmud Jan Mohamed, and the consultants visited four potential sites in the Isiolo/Buffalo Springs National Reserve, and after thorough research have identified a location on a hill behind our current site, which has impressive rock formations and vegetation and a spectacular backdrop with views of the river and the hills around Samburu.

A design brief for this new lodge has already been provided to our architects who are currently preparing an outline design for a new build lodge. The brief to the project team includes a luxury lodge with a reduced room inventory and excellent leisure and nature activities which will be a significant improvement on what was the old Samburu Serena Safari Lodge.

The exact time frame for the completion of this new lodge will become clearer in the next few weeks; however the new lodge opening should be anticipated for June 2011 at the earliest. We shall obviously do our very best to achieve as early a completion date as possible and will keep you informed as we become clearer on the details of the new lodge construction.

Thank you for your support, and please do not hesitate to contact the Serena team should you require further clarification.

British Airways - Strike

British Airways has announced its schedule for the second proposed Unite union strike from March 27-30.

The airline has been able to expand its flight schedules for the strike period because of the increased numbers of cabin crew reporting for duty.

According to the revised flight schedule, most flights ex-Johannesburg will operate, while all flights ex-Cape Town will operate as normal.

The following flights have been cancelled:

March 27

London Heathrow (LHR)-Johannesburg (JNB): BA0057

March 28

LHR-JNB: BA0033 and BA0057

March 29

LHR-JNB: BA0057

March 30

JNB-LHR: BA0054
LHR-JNB: BA0033

Refer to BA.com for the latest updates on the flight schedules.

Asilia News

Tanzania and Zanzibar
2010 is in full swing and the wildlife viewing at all Asilia Camps is delivering guests the experiences they were hoping to encounter, below just a few snippets of what has been witnessed this month:

Sayari Camp: the BIG 5 were seen by all Sayari guests with no other tourists in sight.

Dunia Camp: Most guests were able to see cheetah, lion kills, leopards climbing trees, buffalos in the Rongai area, hippos at Seronera pond and big herds of elephants.

Oliver’s Camp: Guests encountered lesser kudu, waterbuck, bat eared fox, giraffe and silver backed jackal – on foot during a walking safari.

Olakira Camp: The migration is still on the Ndutu plains and the calving process, with thousands of new little wildebeest babies already born, is still under way.
As always, lots of upgrade and renovation work will be done during the upcoming off-season.

Oliver’s Camp: Flush toilets and running water will be plumbed in for showers and wash basins. New lounge and dining room that will be permanent and thatched but very much keeps the feeling of traditional Oliver’s Camp.

Matemwe & Matemwe Retreat - Major refurbishment of rooms, and many back of house improvements (new electricity cabling, boundary walls, sewage systems).

Matemwe, Oliver’s, Sayari: New water treatment recycling systems for all permanent camps (Sayari Camp, Oliver’s Camp and Matemwe)

On top of that, many smaller renovations and upgrades will take place:
• New window coverings (drop down rain guards) for all open vehicles stationed in camps
• Upgrade / refreshing furnishings (all properties)
• New carpeting and floor coverings (all properties)
• New desk and desk chairs (Sayari Camp)
• New back up hot water systems for solar heaters
• New lighting (Sayari Camp)


Notice boards:
From now until March 26th Kogatende airstrip is closed so all flights to Sayari Camp will go to Sasakwa from where it is a 3 hour transfer to camp.

The power works on Zanzibar are now completed and permanent power supply has been restored. Plans have been implemented to avert a similar crisis in future.

The introduction of a single tourist visa for East Africa could be implemented by as soon as June. A work plan for the study and piloting of single tourist visa from February to September 2010 has been developed and test runs are expected to involve nationals from South Africa, the UK, USA, Germany, France, Canada, Australia, Japan, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and the Scandinavian countries.

Blaauwbosh Private Game Reserve - News

Blaauwbosh, Karoo, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Most of our guests over the past 4 months have a happy story to tell of their encounter with our young rhino calf. Cheeky and inquisitive by nature, he happily leaves his mom's side and wanders up to and around the game drive vehicle, seemingly aware of and loving the attention and photo opportunity he provides! Perhaps he will join Facebook and be a friend to our young guests, who can learn more about him as he grows!

BA Strike

Nairobi, Kenya
A schedule of flights released by British Airways indicates that flights to and from Kenya will operate on a normal service between the March 20 and 22 when British Airways plan their first strike.

British Airways Kenya Commercial Manager, George Mawadri, in Nairobi said that the schedule indicated that customers flying from and into Nairobi would not be inconvenienced by the first part of the strike.

The schedule can be found on BA website

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/strike-ballot/public/en_gb?refevent=HOME_URGENT_CENTRE