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Kenya: Elephant Kills British Tourist in the Mara

The Nation (Nairobi)
October 3, 2006
Joseph Kimani And Juma Namlola
Nairobi

A British tourist was yesterday trampled to death by an elephant in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Narok District.

And in a separate incident at Shimba Hills in Kwale, a Kenya Wildlife Service ranger suffered a broken leg after an elephant fell on her in the transfer of the animals to the Tsavo East National Park.

In the Narok case, the police division commander, Mr Joshua Keyum, said the 34-year-old visitor was killed at 9.30am after he was attacked by the elephants near Mara Safari Club.

The tourist, who was accompanied by his wife, had been booked at Richard Camp in Maasai Mara for two nights.

Mr Keyum said the couple was on a nature walk led by a local guide. However, they were confronted by a herd of elephants with their calves and as they fled, the man fell down and was trampled by one of the elephants.

The guide and the Briton's wife escaped death narrowly and rushed to the camp.

The man's body was flown to Nairobi and is at Lee Funeral Home.

Three years ago, another tourist was gored by a buffalo as he took a picture of the animal near Mara Sopa Lodge in the same reserve.

In the Shimba Hills incident, the injured ranger, Mrs Elsie Wambui Maina, was airlifted to a hospital in Mombasa yesterday after an elephant that was being loaded into a truck fell on her.

Mrs Maina, a laboratory technician with KWS, was monitoring the breathing of the elephant when the truck tipped over and the elephant fell on her leg.

The elephant was the fifth to be loaded at Mwaluganje forest yesterday morning, said the Elephant Programme coordinator, Mr Moses Litoroh.

But the ground was slippery following rains that almost hampered the transfer on Friday, he added.

"It was so slippery that as we loaded the fifth elephant into a truck, the vehicle tipped over and the jumbo slid and fell on the warden's leg," he said.

She was put into a waiting KWS chopper and airlifted to Aga Khan Hospital in Mombasa where she was admitted.

Mr Litoroh said the transfer started on Saturday, a day after Tourism and Wildlife assistant minister Kalembe Ndile launched the second phase of the move.

KWS intends to transfer 250 elephants, bringing to 400 the total number of elephants moved from Shimba Hills.

Last year, 150 elephants were moved from Shimba Hills to the northern part of Tsavo East National Park in Taita Taveta District.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200610030369.html

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