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Western Kenya's Ecotourism
Rivals 'Sun n' Sand'
By FELIX NYAGA
Monday, March 29, 2004
While US travel advisories
preoccupy the government and the travel trade, there is something
good happening on the Western front of Kenya, touristically
speaking.
The Mt Elgon National Park, dubbed
the loneliest park in Kenya, has been pulling in the crowds.
Visitor numbers for last year peaked at 4,211 from 2,912 in 2002.
Figures from 1999 (3,153 visitors) and 2000 (3,607) supplied by
the Kenya Wildlife Service show a healthy upward trend until
September 11, 2001 (3,191) when the numbers came tumbling down
with the World Trade Centre
Ecotourists have at last embraced
the Western tourist circuit. Itineraries direct from Nairobi or
through Mt Kenya, Samburu or Lakes Nakuru and Baringo, reach
Kitale, the main base for visits to Mt Elgon and the underrated
hiking country around Kenya’s second massive volcanic mountain.
It is also the obvious base for the
Cherangani Hills, and a straightforward departure point for trips
to the west side of Lake Turkana. The little known Saiwa Swamp,
famed for the aquatic antelope (Sitatunga) lies nearby.
Kitale boasts a regional museum (originally
the Stoneham Museum), John Wilson’s artefacts, collected for
over 30 years, on the Nilotic Karamojong of northeast Uganda, and
the Swedish backed VI Agroforestry Project.
From Kitale, itineraries not going
north continue to Kakamega, Lake Victoria and Kisii (soapstone
mines) into Tanzania.
Since last year to about February
this year, big groups of US missionaries (a new form of tourism?)
filled up all rooms back to back at the private member’s Kitale
Club and a few hotels did good business in town.
Two establishments reported
bookings of about 40 European ecotourists monthly (staying 2- 4
days).
Ecotourism, by all accounts the
fastest growing sector of tourism and the one getting the most
attention and, possibly the most hype, has a bright future in this
region. It is essentially nature based, where the main element is
for visitors to enjoy the experience of getting close to nature
(and people) and to gain a better understanding of an area’s
natural ecosystem.
It implies commitment to
conservation of nature and ensures that proper management
practices are followed to protect the environment and to avoid
tourism having adverse an impact on local cultures and habitats.
Western Kenya like the tiers of a
great amphitheatre, slopes down to face the stage of Lake
Victoria, in the opposite direction from Nairobi and the major
game parks and the coast. Cut off by the high Rift wall of the Mau
and Elgeyo escarpments, the western region of dense agriculture,
rolling green valleys and pockets of thick jungle is one of the
least-known parts of the country to travellers, both local and
international.
Although more accessible than the
far north, or even some of the big parks, it has been neglected by
tour operators – and that’s all to the good. You can travel
for days through lush landscapes from one busy market town to the
next and rarely, if ever, meet other tourists or travellers.
It’s not easy to see why it has
been so ignored. Granted, the disastrous history of Uganda up
until the late 1980s discouraged tourist traffic that might
otherwise have thrived. But there’s a great deal more of
intrinsic interest than the tourist literature’s sparse coverage
would suggest.
What Western Kenya undeniably lacks
are teeming herds of antelope and zebra, lions at the side of the
road and narcissistic warriors in full regalia. What it does offer
is a series of delightfully low-key, easily visited attractions.
There are national parks at
Kakamega Forest, a magnificent tract of equatorial rain forest
bursting with species found nowhere else in Kenya; Saiwa Swamp,
where pedestrians, for once, have the upper hand; and Mount Elgon,
a 14,000ft high volcano to rival Mount Kenya in everything but
crowds.
Lake Victoria, with the region’s
major town, Kisumu, on its shores, is a draw in its own right,
dotted with out-of-the-way islands and populated by exceptionally
friendly people.
Travel is generally easy: the
region has a high population and many well-paved roads, so
you’ll rarely have long to wait for a bus or matatu ( public
service vehicles) , and driving is often a pleasure.
Much of it, even the areas of
intensive farming, is ravishingly beautiful: dense jungle near
Kakamega and Kitale, regimented landscapes of tea bushes at
Kericho, highland pastures and forests in the Cherangani Hills,
and dank swamp and grasslands alive with birds by the lake.
Kenya has been excessively reliant
on the traditional wildlife and sun n' sand mix (the third
"S" is silent of course), which is actually packaged and
managed by internationally-based wholesalers through all inclusive
prepaid packages, with little involvement of, or benefit to local
operators and communities, whose skills are not therefore utilised
or improved upon.
Although there are a few innovative
ecotourism special interest and niche operations in Western Kenya
and around Kitale, there is almost no tourist infrastructure –
the region has only a handful of hotels that Could by any stretch
of the imagination be described as luxurious – but there is no
lack of good modest accommodations. Food is cheap and generally
excellent; most of Kenya’s tea and sugar comes from here, and
agricultural concerns are paramount.
E. R. Felix Nyaga is a tourism
and hospitality consultant for Ecotours & Travel, Kitale Kenya
Email: erfnyaga@hotmail.com
Source: http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/29032004/Features/Part29032004219.html
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