Kenya Safari Holidays with the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO)

London, UK (PRWEB) April 13, 2008 -- Following recent political unrest, now is a great time for a Kenya safari holiday at its famous Masai Mara game reserve, according to travel association AITO's marketing manager Kieron Sellens.

Ironically, the trauma of the country's post-election turmoil is said to have given the Masai Mara breathing space, with the area restored to the way it used to be in the 1970s. "There never was a better time to take a safari in Kenya's most popular wildlife reserve," said Sellens.

"Kenya holiday makers will be pleasantly surprised that you will see hardly any other vehicles on the savannah, while the plains of the Masai Mara are now full of the most magnificent animals," he added.

Named after the traditional inhabitants of the area, the Masai people, and the Mara River that runs through it, the Masai Mara is famous for its exceptional population of game and the annual migration of zebra and wildebeest from the Serengeti every July and August, known as the 'Great Migration'.

The Masai Mara has twenty or more lion prides, and you can also find the rest of the 'big five' here -- elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino. As a result, the Masai Mara has been hugely popular with tourists for some time, and the BBC even chose the area to film its Big Cat Diary series.

But, until recently, the reserve had become so popular with Kenya safari holidays that at peak times, especially in July and August when the Serengeti wildebeest arrived, many Kenya holiday makers had begun to see the Masai Mara getting extremely busy.

'At peak times over 8,000 visitors enter the reserve to see what has been called 'the greatest wildlife show on earth', said Sellens. 'The sheer number of people can have a negative effect on the Kenya safari experience - and on the animals themselves.'

The slowdown in tourism is seen as highly beneficial to Kenya holiday makers such as Darby Nett, who returned on Monday from a three-week Kenya safari holiday to the Masai Mara.

Nett found the typical volume of tourists pleasantly absent on his recent Kenya safari holiday. 'The camps were unusually quiet due to cancellations because of hyped press about the post election uprisings,' he said.

"The fact that tourism has slowed was obvious to us wherever we went," he said. "Except for the occasional truck load of game wardens, we had the Masai Mara to ourselves."

Sellens has heard the same story from others. "From speaking to a number of visitors to the area," he said, "I can say that the Masai Mara is sounding like a brilliant place to visit right now. It is always a spectacular trip but to have the area to yourself is just a massively exciting treat!"

About AITO:

The Association of Independent Tour Operators (AiTO) is an association of over 150 independent tour operators. With an AITO safari (http://www.aito.co.uk/sub-sahara-holiday.asp) you can choose from a tailor-made safari in Kenya, South Africa holiday, Botswana adventure and much more. The independent tour operators that AITO represent specialise in worldwide holidays tailored to their customers' requirements.

For more information, please contact Kieron Sellens:

AITO

133A St Margaret's Road

Twickenham

Middlesex

TW1 1RG

020 8744 9280

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