Neil Allison and his wife booked their dream safari holiday to Kenya earlier on in the year, so when the couple landed, excitement for the couple had reached its peak. However, just one day after stepping off of the plane onto South African turf, the couple were evicted from the country after the capital was rocked by bombings.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office released a warning advising against all but essential travel to Nairobi and Mombasa island, or within 5km of the coast, due to the high threat of terrorism and kidnapping of British nationals by extremists linked to Al Shabaab, a militant group which has previously carried our attacks in Kenya in response to Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia. A small spate attacks throughout the country mean that British tourists are being evacuated by their respective travel companies, and airlines are cancelling all foreseeable flights to the country until the end of October.
Mr Allison and his wife flew from Gatwick on Monday for a week’s holiday at a resort an hour away from Mombasa, and were told on the Tuesday by their holiday rep that they were being evicted.
Although their rep said they still had another 24 hours in the country before they had to leave, the Allison’s said they were too scared to leave their hotel. Neil stated, “I didn’t sleep that night, I just paced up and down the beach and watched the sun rise. There were armed police everywhere and we travelled in coach convoy to the airport with a security guard on the coach and an armed escort. It’s just not what we’re used to. We would never normally see armed police. It was pretty frightening at the time, especially with little information on what was going on – and I don’t scare easily.”
Holidaymakers with good travel insurance policies won’t find themselves out of pocket because of the experience, but holidaymakers without adequate coverage or no coverage at all will find they will have to pay for their alternative transport home.
