In 2020, Tropic Air marked 30 years of operation. The Nanyuki-based company was established in early 1993 by Jamie Roberts in his mid-20s.
All he had was a flying license, a dream, and an ambition.
Today, Tropic Air offers charters to Kenya’s wealthiest 1%, including celebrities like Sir David Attenborough.
This is Jamie Roberts ’ journey as told by WoK:
Roberts was born in Nakuru, with his family later settling in Baringo’s Kampi Ya Samaki. There, the family operated a fish factory, with Jamie helping his mother take care of his five siblings.
His father passed away when he was only three years old. His grandparents had a small farm in Limuru, where they were small-scale farmers.
At 15, he left school and began working for a local farmer, handling machine maintenance at his various farms.
He later joined a flying club in Nakuru, where he learned how to fly fixed-wing aircraft to make it easier and quicker for him to commute between far-flung locales.
Roberts soon decided to use this knowledge to venture into the aviation business, taking advantage of Kenya’s budding tourism industry in the early 1990s, as new lodges were opening up in Nanyuki and other areas of Laikipia.
With no money to buy an aircraft of his own, he took a loan and leased a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver aircraft from Anthony Dyer. With this aircraft, he began offering scenic flights around Mt Kenya.
“There were about three key lodges in Laikipia when we started. Lewa, Ol Malo, Loisaba, and perhaps a few other small ones. We would also fly people to Turkana and into the Chalbi Desert for camping safaris,” he said.
The business picked up, and within a few years, Tropic Air had grown to become the second busiest air charter company in the country, successfully operating a fleet of Cessna aircraft.
In 2006, the company diversified into helicopters, offering a wide variety of heli-services and safaris throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Kenya, Uganda, Congo, and Ethiopia became the company’s main destinations.
Today, Tropic Air is based at Nanyuki airfield, between the towns of Naro Moru and Nanyuki, just a few kilometres south of the equator. There, the company offers private flights and helicopter services.
The company has a lean team of about a dozen pilots, led by Jamie Roberts. Additionally, the company has directly and permanently employed at least 50 people.
Their fleet features at least a dozen fixed-wing aircraft, including the all-terrain Cessna Grand Caravan, five Airbus H125 (AS350B3), and an Airbus H130.
The Airbus H125 and H130 helicopters perform best in hot and dusty conditions, while the Cessnas are ideal for groups of 2-12 passengers.
Tropic Air is credited with much of the infrastructure behind Nanyuki Airfield, which features simple wooden buildings, extensive lawns, and breathtaking scenery.
The company has diversified its services to include wildlife translocations, extraordinary tourism, aerial photography, cargo flights, crop spraying, and medical evacuations.
According to Roberts, his most frightening experience as a Tropic Air pilot was landing between matatus at Nairobi’s Globe roundabout with a camera crew.
He was quickly surrounded by menacing young men. “I thought they would strip my chopper for scrap metal,” he said in an interview with Standard. However, he took off without incident.
He maintains that Kenya is generally a friendly country, unlike other regions where people are aggressive first and friendly later.
Despite Tropic Air’s success, Jamie stated that the cost of operating an aviation business in Kenya is very high. According to him, importing a helicopter costs at least $3million, with a 48% tax on top.
He stated that this is why few people have helicopters in Kenya, saying that you will rarely find him flying his family around in one.
However, he still maintains that for Tropic Air, the sky is the limit.