People & Power

Kenya: The Unfathomable Virus

With Kenyan tourism devastated by the coronavirus, what does it mean for those dependent on the safari industry?

When a deadly new virus appeared in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, few would have imagined its wide-ranging effects.

Within weeks COVID-19 was spreading around the world; within a year it had killed one a half million people and hospitalised tens of millions more, forcing nation after nation into lockdown and bringing many economies to a juddering halt.

As international travel stalled in the face of movement restrictions, the consequences were sometimes calamitous – even in places more normally adrift from events elsewhere.

One such place was Samburu, deep in the heart of Kenya, where people reliant on wildlife safari tourism were left struggling to survive.

This episode of People & Power, from filmmaker Andreas Knausenberger, is a salutary reminder of the coronavirus pandemic’s unexpected effects on remote communities far from the glare of the global spotlight.