In recent days, heavy rains affecting much of the country have begun to cause problems even in Kenya's most iconic protected areas. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has announced the temporary closure of the main runway at Amboseli National Park airport, which is completely flooded, and Narok County is also monitoring those (not highly recommended) in the Maasai Mara.
The runway, used daily by charter flights and small planes carrying hundreds of tourists to the park's lodges, has been declared impassable. According to the KWS, the water accumulated due to torrential rains has made safe landings and takeoffs impossible.
To avoid a total halt to safaris, the authorities have indicated the Tawi runway, about five kilometers from Kimana Gate, one of the main entrances to the park, as an alternative. Tourist flights are therefore being diverted there, allowing visitors to still reach Amboseli, albeit with a few extra kilometers of muddy track before encountering elephants and zebras at the foot of Kilimanjaro.

The situation is being monitored constantly by the Kenya Wildlife Service, which has promised updates as soon as the main runway is passable again.
But the problem is not limited to Amboseli.
On February 28, the KWS warned that several roads within national parks and reserves had become impassable, slippery, or completely submerged. During the rainy season, the dirt tracks of the savannah often turn into long strips of red mud, but this year the water seems to have decided to go overboard.
The most dramatic case occurred in the Masai Mara, where a tourist off-road vehicle was swept away by the waters of the Mara River between February 25 and 26. The vehicle was attempting to cross the rain-swollen river when it was swept away by the current. Rescuers attempted to recover it, but the car remained trapped in the murky waters of the river, in an area populated by crocodiles. Some of the passengers were still missing in the days following the accident.

When the Mara swells, it shows no mercy. The same river that in the dry months becomes the epic theater of the great wildebeest migration can turn into a powerful and unpredictable current during the rains.
The consequences of bad weather are not limited to the savannahs. Even in Nairobi, in addition to humans, who are responsible for most of the flooding caused by poor drainage of gutters and rivers full of garbage, nature has decided to remind us that, when it wants to, it can reclaim its space (as of yesterday, 45 people have died). Karura Forest was partially closed on March 6 by the Kenya Forest Service: several trails near the waterfalls, caves, and Ruaka picnic area have been submerged or made dangerous by water and mud.

According to the Kenya Meteorological Department, heavy rainfall will continue at least until the evening of March 9, with widespread thunderstorms across most of the country. Meanwhile, the Kenya Red Cross has confirmed that the rains have already caused at least 42 deaths nationwide, including floods, landslides, and accidents.
This is the less romantic side of the rainy season: what tourist brochures depict as a green and lush savannah can, in reality, transform tracks, villages, and cities into a vast labyrinth of water and mud.
Meanwhile, between Amboseli and Mara, elephants continue to walk peacefully across the flooded plains. For them, not much has changed.
Airplanes, on the other hand, have to wait for the sky to stop falling on the earth.