I blogged yesterday offering stranded travellers the chance to get in touch with us here at Tripbod HQ and we will do what we can to help. That is still very much the case and we are happy to help where we can, so do get in touch – you never quite realise the full value of a local contact until times like this.

Today attention has turned to the wider picture, some of which has been covered in the press, but much of which is hard to appreciate without a specific example.

There has been coverage of the Kenyan farmers’ plight, with surplus piles of fresh food going to waste because it cannot be flown out of the country. What will this mean for the balance of the local economy and the knock on effect here in the UK?

However it was a different story that really brought it home to me.  Our Tripbods in Rwanda told us that their company, Rwanda Ecotours, was already feeling the impacts of the current aviation disruption. In particular, US travellers due to arrive last weekend cannot reach Rwanda as they would have to travel through European airspace. This is no surprise and there are thousands of small companies that will be feeling a similar impact, not least after the months of economic uncertainty that have preceded.

However the story with Rwanda Ecotours goes deeper than that. Their business was founded on a philosophy of hollistic development, creating jobs in order to protect biodiversity. A major success has been turning gorilla poachers into tour guides and farmers, then creating sustainable employment for women in rural communities and helping their children access education.

It’s an inspiring model and one that has worked very well, as a result of lots of hard work on the ground. However one of our Tripbods has told us that the stark reality is that if the reduction of flights through Europe continues into the next few months, which some believe it will, they expect much of that hard work to be undone. People would be forced to turn back to the poaching that offers quick, albeit dangerous and unsustainable returns.

So although Tripbod has always advocated reducing our individual air miles, and saving those miles for ‘big’ trips such as to East Africa, it’s interesting to see the situation from a completely different angle, one where flying might actually be crucial to achieve a specific conservation goal.