With tourists gone, Africa's conservationists brace for the worstThe orphaned baby elephants ambled in for their morning feed at Kenya’s Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT), but the hundreds of visitors who would normally be waiting to watch them were absent. But the orphanage closed its doors to visitors on March 15, after the country recorded its first case of COVID-19. “Tourism, in spite of all the setbacks, has actually been a great success for Virunga,” park director Emmanuel de Merode said. They too raise the bulk of their revenues from wildlife tourism. Another 65 million Namibian dollars went directly to households, mainly from salaries earned by the roughly 600 local game wardens.

Source: Standard Digital April 09, 2020 12:44 UTC