We had written it, on the eve of the Christmas holidays, comforted by the many bookings for Kenya and not only from Italy.
The only concern or at least the one big question was a bit like that of certain aging playboys before a private date: "how long will it last"?
In the sense that we were certain that the short tourist season straddling Christmas and New Year's Eve would go well and that the numbers, back to the happy figures of 2019, if not the boom year of 2018 when Kenya surpassed 2 million foreign visitors for the first time, would comfort the hotel industry and all its allied industries, but there were doubts about the extension of this period of zebras (pardon, fat cows).
Arriving at the end of January, we have to note that despite a natural drop in attendance, the high season continues and arrivals are pouring in, and not only in the seaside queens, Watamu and Diani, but also in the residential Malindi and Nyali and the "peculiar" Lamu.
Occupancy above 60 percent, restaurants full and safaris in high demand.
So too in and around Nairobi, from where caravans and planes depart daily for the Masai Mara and Samburu. The arrival of Europeans does not stop, and in the case of the parks and reserves in the north and in the rift valley, they are joined by Americans, Orientals, South Africans, Australians and New Zealanders.
Speaking of coastal destinations, many industry players are amazed at how quickly they have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Clearly, in the face of some added difficulties with air transportation and higher ticket prices, the power of the euro and dollar over the shilling has taken its toll.
Meanwhile, Watamu and Diani have taken on a reputation as resorts with an international reach, and most of the resorts and facilities of a certain standard are concentrated there. Organized events, parties, opportunities for different evenings, creativity and a look at the needs of young tourism also reward these two resorts, while Malindi continues to attract the elderly, establishing itself as a place for relaxation and services, in fact where in Watamu hotels and bed & breakfasts are increasing, hospital clinics and apartments are being built in Malindi, more and more local insiders are being forced to learn our language (given the epic ignorance of English of the landing Italians), and the old squalor of certain couples with a slight difference in age and affordability also returns.
It may not be a fantastic clientele, partly because the elderly sometimes "break up," but it is certainly a way to survive and, on closer inspection this season, something more.
To each his own, as Leonardo Sciascia used to say, but this time hopefully without Italian-style intrigues and betrayals...and hopefully we will make it, in languid, African briskness, until Easter.