Drawn by wildebeest, tourists pour into Kenya despite possible election violence

Photographers take photos of Migrating wildebeests running across the Mara River at Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, on Oct. 20, 2012.

Tourists to Kenya are shrugging off fears of potential violence during elections in August, pouring into the East African country in droves for a chance of seeing the annual wildebeest migration in the Maasai Mara.

Tour operators and hoteliers are reporting near full capacity, in large part because of safari-lovers hoping to see the hundreds of thousands of wildebeest that run the gauntlet of hungry crocodiles as they cross the Mara river in search of greener pastures on the Kenya-Tanzania border.

Elections, often a fraught and tense occasions in Kenya, are being held on August 8. But the chance of seeing the wildebeest in their splendour has pushed concerns about a repetition of post-election violence in 2008, when 1,200 people were killed, to the back of most tourists’ minds.

“We are having a near full capacity in terms of business through the months of July and August,” said Kenya Tourism Board communications manager Wausi Walya. Mahmud Janmohamed, chief executive of TPS Eastern Africa , which operates a safari lodge with views of the migration route, said bookings for this month were similar to last year and slightly up in August. [Reuters]