Staff and guests have been stranded, with buildings underwater, at Kenya’s famed Maasai Mara wildlife reserve, as the death toll from severe flooding in the country’s southwest reaches at least 188.
Local officials ordered the closure of several tourist facilities in the National Reserve after the River Talek, a tributary of the Mara River, overflowed and flooded more than a dozen riverside tourist hotels and campers.
Social media videos showed some buildings and cars completely drowned inside the famous park, while guests hurried to evacuate impacted areas.
Weeks of torrential rain and flash flooding have battered portions of Kenya for days, leaving many missing in the capital, Nairobi, and producing a disastrous mudslide in Mai Mahiu.
Two additional remains were recovered from the mudslide site, bringing the total number of dead to 50, government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura said on Thursday, revising down the original figure of 71 reported due to a mistake, Nakuru County governor Susan Kihika told wisemediatv.com.
In Maasai Mara, camp owners were told to leave the affected properties and “move to higher ground further away from River Talek,” governor of Narok county Patrick Ole Ntutu said on Wednesday.
