Here is the letter penned by Mr. Benson Mr. Martin, Mr. Joseph and PC Ann Wanjiku.
“I am Benson Nickolson from the United Kingdom. I am writing this email to share my experience in Kenya.
I arrived in Kenya with my family for a three week vacation. I visited various animal conservancies and game parks within Kenya and Tanzania. We traveled by road, SGR and Air interchangeably. As a result, I used various facilities including; Mombasa Airport, Kenyatta Airport, Malindi Airport, Wilson, SGR, Maasai Mara, Serengeti among others.
I wish to draw your attention to an incident that happened in the middle of our journey in Wilson Airport that had the potential of ruining our lives.
We arrived in Wilson Airport with my entire group from Mara where we were going to the hotel in readiness for the following day’s trip to the coast. We had many bags and luggage and as the central person, I was in charge of all the resources and finances, so I had a substantial amount of cash and plastic money in form of cards that facilitated our movements and comforts.
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The bags were brought from the aircraft with a trolley and passengers were allowed to collect their bags. With the help of our rider, we took our bags and headed to the hotel. When we reached the hotel, I noticed one of my bags was missing, coincidentally it was the bag carrying our cash, valuables and cards. I immediately called our rider who had been with us for more than one week.
He checked both vans but could not find the bag. I panicked and asked him to go straight to the airport as I took a cab from the hotel to the airport also. On my way, I called the airline to check if it was left on the plane. They called back regrettably. I asked the airline staff to immediately check the CCTV of the airport, I was shocked to be told that the airport does not have CCTV.
At this stage, I developed temporal insanity as it appeared we had no hopes of recovering the bags. While on traffic around Kenyatta hospital, I got a strange call from +254705211*** where the caller identified himself as Mr. Martin, he asked to speak to Mr. Benson and I told him roughly that I’m and I was in the middle of something and would call him later.
I thought I was speaking to a porter I met in the Mara whom I gave my local number. He called again and insisted to know my identity and this time he mentioned that he was calling from Wilson airport security office. I calmed down and told him that I am the one, he told me that a bag was recovered at the pickup point and was trying to trace the owner. I told him with disbelief that I was almost at the airport. I told my driver to drive fast. I arrived at the airport and he directed me to the office where I found him with his supervisor, Mr. Joseph and a police woman. I found my bag and my wallet and cards spread on the table. The long story short, I found my bag and all content intact.
All the money totalling to around 19,000 USD and some thousands of Kenya shillings were all intact. All my cards were found intact. All other valuables which included a regalia given to me by my late grandmother was also intact. It was a day dream for me. I called my people in the hotel to break the good news and they insisted to send one of them with a cab to verify the mystery.
Without any CCTV, I could not comprehend how my bag with such valuable items could still be found and that the owner was called to collect it. My brother lost a tenth of that in South Africa where they have a robust CCTV but could get anything.
Therefore, it is not about systems, it is the human factor, the people, the staff who are the greatest asset. I had no recourse, that was my negligence, but I still got all my stuff and money. My brother arrived from the hotel and I confirmed with tears of joy and shock.
They said our bag was recovered at the pick up point when we collected bags and I dropped the small one. In my country, this is not possible to recover. Only in Kenya, I can assure you.
I am writing this to confirm to the Kenyan Authorities that I will spread this good news all over the world and affirm Kenya as the destination of choice for tourism.
To all persons working with or leading Martin Kammauh, please receive this message of thanks. This is the best experience a customer could have in a foreign land.
Our next holiday was scheduled to another country, we have since reviewed to come back to Kenya due to the experience we got from this official and the team.
We will also sell Nrb airport as the airport of choice to the world.
Finally, allow me to recommend installation of CCTV system in the airport for Wilson airport.
Thank you all, May God bless Mr. Martin, Mr. Joseph and the police woman”.
From, Benson, Family and friends
