American tourists escape unhurt as light aircraft hits and kills giraffe at Lewa Conservancy

A group of tourists escaped unhurt after their light aircraft hit and killed a giraffe at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Meru County.

The incident occurred on Thursday, August 7, in the afternoon as a pilot landed at Lewa airstrip, which is located within the conservancy.

The pilot told officials that he had flown from Wilson Airport in Nairobi to the area and managed to land his Cessna caravan number 5Y-SXA and owned by Scenic Safaris safely.

And as he was taxing the runway, two giraffes emerged from a nearby bush and ran to the direction the plane was headed, causing a collision.

The pilot said it was too late for him to brake as one of the female giraffes hit the plane’s propeller and fell a few meters away as it tried to escape. It died at the scene.

The impact broke the plane’s propeller leaving the tourists shaken.

The five tourists were evacuated from the plane and taken to their hotel rooms. The police as well as officials from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority were also informed to investigate the same.

Kenya Wildlife Service officials were informed to dispose of the carcass as the other giraffe vanished into the bushes.

Police said there were no injuries reported in the incident. The conservancy is popular with tourists due to its many wild animals.

It came as an Amref plane that had also originated at Wilson Airport crashed three minutes later at Mwihoko area, Kiambu County killing six people. The victims included two crew members, two doctors and two people who were on the ground where it crashed. Two others were injured. The plane was headed for Hargeisa in Somalia when it crashed.

Officials are investigating the cause of the incident with witnesses saying they saw it emit fire before it crashed on a residential house.