Kenya Airways plans extra capacity as celebrity gorillas return home

AFTER A four hour flight into Nairobi, a seemingly endless layover, a connecting flight into Douala and a harrowing two hour bus ride to the northern coastal town of Limbe, C ameroon's returning primates were greeted at the Limbe Wildlife S anctuary by anxious crowds hoping to catch a glimpse of the muchpublicised returnees. “Overwhelming all is the sense that something incredibly important has been achieved today,” said Christina Pretorius of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the N GO which has championed the fight to return the illegally-exported gorillas home since 2002. “We’re sending an unequivocal message to those who trade in endangered wildlife that their dreadful activities will no longer be tolerated.” Kenya Airways, the designated carrier for the move, upgraded its flight from South Africa to a widebody B-767 to accommodate the 2x3 metre pallets and the gorilla cages. But such was the success of the move in terms of demand, both in terms of passengers and cargo into N airobi, that the airline is is keen to make the B-767 a permanent fixture on the route. “Currently we are in negotiations with network planning to give us widebody aircraft on all our flights but as it stands these are confirmed only on Friday, S aturday, Sunday and Monday,” a spokesman told FTW.