KENYA: Chinese Tourist In Maasai Mara Stabbed By Chinese Tour Guide At Keekorok Lodge

A Chinese tour guide at the Keekorok Lodge in the world renowned wildlife conservancy Maasai Mara in Narok County Monday night stabbed and killed a Chinese tourist following a scuffle over a dining table.

The tour guide and a Chinese couple had argued about the occupancy of the dining table with the guide insisting that he usually sat at that table.

He then brought out a knife which he used to attack the couple.

The woman, who was stabbed twice in her chest and ribs succumbed to the injuries as she was being rushed to a nearby health centre.

The husband survived with injuries.

More than 100 tourists, who were having dinner and witnessed the incident, scampered for safety, screaming as they rushed out of the dining hall.

Narok County Police Commander Jillo Galgalo confirmed the incident which happened at 7:30pm (1630 GMT) Monday night.

The police boss confirmed that the woman’s husband was Tuesday morning flown to Nairobi Hospital for treatment.

Mr Galgalo said the attacker was arrested and was being held at the Narok Police Station.

A police officer who attended to the matter, but who requested not to be named, said the tour guide had asked the couple to vacate the dining table for him but they declined.

He had argued that it was his usual sitting place at the lodge, the officer said.

“He told them that he could not use any other table and they had to leave and when they refused, he started attacking them using a knife that he was carrying,” he said.

The lodge’s management was Tuesday holed up in a meeting and said they would issue a statement later in the day.

KENYA: Entrepreneurs Boot Camp Goes To Kenya

This unique four day event, an accelerator boot camp of sorts for aspiring and budding entrepreneurs, is this year held in Kenya’s Maasai Mara Game Reserve between Keekorok Lodge – which just again bagged another World Luxury Hotels Award in last month’s Gala Dinner ceremony at the Harbour Grand in Hong Kong – and the nearby Sandriver Camp.

The Sun Africa Hotels management will in fact provide major logistical back up for the event at their Keekorok Lodge, where an airstrip assures daily connectivity with Nairobi’s Wilson Airport.

A group of 20 eminent speakers has been selected for the event, drawn from a wide cross section of business spanning from high finance to fashion, no doubt all keen to pass on knowledge and help the boot camp participants to grow a network of contacts useful in their daily businesses. From host country Kenya to the UAE, from Nigeria to Mali, from Ghana to the UK and from South Africa to the Lebanon will the speakers also add an international component to the lectures and workshop sessions where they will interact with entrepreneurial start ups.

The Global Entrepreneurship Summit this year took place in Nairobi / Kenya and the key guest and co-host was US President Barack Obama. The summit itself was seen as a major success in raising Kenya, East Africa, continental and global attention levels to both opportunities and challenges ahead in today’s globalized economy and the boot camp is no doubt aimed at building on this success.

The Maasai Mara, part of the greater Serengeti Ecosystem which transcends the border between Tanzania and Kenya, is home to one of the world’s greatest wildlife spectacles, the annual migration of up to 1.5 million wildebeest and zebras spanning from the low grass plains between Serengeti and Ngorongoro to the Maasai Mara. It is here where the herds must cross the often swollen Mara River in order to reach the rich pastures on the other side, running a gauntlet of crocodiles in the river and predators laying in way on both sides. Taking such an event into the heart of the Maasai Mara shows that organizers have come to appreciate both the remoteness, thought to be conducive for undistracted sessions as well as the excellent connectivity from Nairobi to the park, which makes this particular event very special.