According to local media reports, Benson Nickolson had lost his bag at Wilson airport in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, upon returning from a trip to the Maasai Mara game reserve with his family.

The airport workers and policewoman found the bag and screened it for explosives before the owner was contacted.

In an email of gratitude to the Kenya police, and obtained by the BBC, Wilson said he was temporarily devastated “as it appeared we had no hopes of recovering the bags.”

“All the money totalling to around $19,000 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 daydream for me,” the British national said.