Inside Kenya’s Safari Wars: Mohammed Hersi on Why Uber Faces an Uphill Battle in the Wild

This week we sit down with Mohammed Hersi, the immediate former Chairman of the Kenya Tourism Federation and the Group Director of Operations at Pollman's Tours and Safaris. With over 25 years’ experience in various sectors of the tourism industry as a hotelier and now in logistics, he is one of Kenya’s foremost tourism business experts.

We discuss the ins and outs of the safari tourism business, and ask an important question: Is Uber Safari an idea that needs to be buried in the sands of the Serengeti, or is there a strong business case for its success?

Q: You’ve had many years as a hotelier, which is a business that has seen a lot of tech disruption – more so in the bookings area – thanks to online booking platforms like Airbnb and Bookings.com. As a matter of fact, when Airbnb first launched, the assumption was that that business model would take away from regular hotels because it offered guests cheaper, more homely-style accommodation. Is this true?

A: So, we in the tour...