‘It’s a struggle for survival’: why Kenya – and its wildlife – need tourists to return

A Maasai woman and her baby wearing bead bracelets. Selling beadwork brought in a steady income for many before the pandemic. Photograph: Images of Africa Photobank/Alamy

Every day, for the past 20 years, Joyce Naserian has laid out her handmade curios near an entrance to the Masai Mara park to sell to passing tourists. Her earnings have helped the 46-year-old feed and educate all four of her children.

In northern Kenya, about 1,200 semi-nomadic women earned more than 9m Kenyan shillings (£62,000) selling beadwork to visitors at 43 community wildlife conservancies in 2020. Just as it was Naserian in the Mara, selling the beadwork was a solid money earner for these women. But that was before Covid.