Kenya tourism has started the new year with a bang, after a luxury ship docked at the Indian Ocean tourist city of Mombasa, on its vintage cruise safari to the Eastern Africa coast.

Kenya’s leading newspaper, The Daily Nation said that MS Nautica, run by US-based shipping company Oceania Cruises, arrived in Mombasa from Zanzibar Island with 576 tourists and 395 crew members.

Daily Nation reported that the arrival of the luxury ship in Mombasa Thursday this week shows that cruise tourism is picking up in Kenya.

The visitors were expected to depart later for Mahe, Seychelles.

In November 2017, MS Nautica brought to Mombasa more than 1,000 passengers and crew while MS Silver Spirit came with more than 800 tourists, the newspaper said.

A majority of the holidaymakers were from the United States and the United Kingdom, while others were from Germany, Australia, France, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and South Africa.

Upon arrival, some tourists flew to the Amboseli National Park for game drives, while others remained on Mombasa Island for sight-seeing.

American holidaymaker Daniel Dole and his wife Yvette were quoted saying they were overjoyed after arriving in Kenya for the first time. They said they were heading to Amboseli to see lions, elephants, giraffes, leopards and buffaloes.

Amboseli National Park is among the leading tourist hotspot in East Africa located on the closer foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro where visitors can view Africa’s highest mountain.

“For years, we had planned to visit this beautiful country which is world-famous for safari. We can’t wait to get to Amboseli to view wildlife in its natural habitat,” said the tourists.