On Kenya’s 60th birthday on December 12, otherwise known as Jamhuri Day, the government opened all national parks to residents for free entry.
From as early as 5a.m, Lang’ata Road, Magadi Road and all other entry and exit points became a massive parking yard because of huge snarl-ups. Residents of Nairobi and its environs, in their numbers, were trying to make their way to the Nairobi National Park and the Animal Orphanage. It was a sea of humanity.
Clearly, neither the park authorities nor the police had anticipated such numbers. The parking areas within the Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters were full by early morning. Meanwhile, traffic police had to contend with a clogged Lang’ata Road all day, until the park’s closing hour. Who knows who ultimately got a chance to enter but many people turned back or never made it to the gate.
This got me thinking. The Nairobi National Park has been hailed as a jewel for its unique nature as the only such facility in the world within the realms of a major city. But the general assumption is that most residents of the city do not care much about it, or are not sufficiently aware of its attractions, to be interested in visiting it.
The huge human migration to the park on Jamhuri Day blew this narrative apart, while also confirming that if the authorities pursued a better pricing, branding and marketing plan for it, this park, and others across the country, could sustain themselves financially through local tourism.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a task took me to the Maasai Mara and to the Coast. In the Mara, my colleagues and I stayed in a restaurant staffed by only two workers who were to close down the facility as soon as we left.
The swimming pool was teeming with frogs. The pandemic had driven the place to its knees. In subsequent stays in Voi and Mombasa, we were the only ones at each hotel, with the doors shutting firmly behind us as we left.
The face of hopelessness that the pandemic brought was very difficult to live with. Which is why the resilience of the human race to overcome it and return to normal, albeit with a cautious eye on the lookout for similar adversity, cannot be understated. It’s been a short time since then, but a long journey to restore normalcy, especially amongst the heaviest hit sectors, such as tourism.
Last December, I was privileged to spend some festive season days in two local establishments. My family is usually torn right down the middle between those who love the bush (game parks and reserves) and those who prefer the beach. To prevent any feuding, we generally divide the holidays into two parts covering both.
My immediate reaction after visiting the Tsavo West National Park and the North Coast is that Kenya’s tourism industry looks even more resilient, especially considering the number of local tourists I spotted.
I draw particular attention to the relatively large numbers of local tourists on the beaches and in the parks because the ravages of Covid brought the reality to the fore: that even if foreign tourists were the goose that lay the golden eggs, we had to nurture our own that lay silver and bronze eggs, too, for we couldn’t tell which would end up being the only one sustaining the hatchery!
The common conversation within the general population has always been that pricing shuts out the majority out from enjoying the beauty and serenity offered by the tourist facilities in the country. In response, tour operators point out that taxes and levies slapped on them by government make it difficult to tailor prices to the taste and pocketbook of the common mwananchi. Pricing is also a problem bedevilling the national carrier, Kenya Airways. A friend pointed out recently to me that his Sh130,000 ticket to the capital of an East African Community member country made no sense in a competitive environment like this one.
As a Christian pilgrim, I have been a regular visitor to both Egypt and Israel over the past several years. Christians visiting the holy sites in Israel tend to start their tours in Egypt, as they “following the steps of Prophet Moses”, in order to grasp the full spiritual package. These two desert countries have grown a steady stream of visitors, in their millions, each year by holding tight onto their globally acknowledged status as hosts of holy sites, ancient history, agricultural renaissance in the desert and bases of archaeological wonder. Their industry is so solid that it readily overcomes the regular political and security turbulence in the Middle East, but maybe not right now in Israel.
This is where I wish we could be. Already, our status as a jewel in the crown of the Maasai Mara, coupled with our beautiful sandy beaches, and the strong cultural foundation within several Kenyan communities can form the basis of its own tourism line. A very enlightened and well-educated population also makes for a very compelling destination.
To be fair, given the excellence some of the facilities in our tourist destinations, investors in the sector have done their part.
But the bigger ingredient, obviously, has to be serious government support and investment in the sector, which includes, but is not limited to, friendlier taxation policies towards investments in the sector, better roads and road networks in the wildlife parks and reserves as well as political stability. With regard to the latter, I can say with certainty, for instance, that not many tourists want to go to a country whose president publicly vows to disobey court orders. After all, even visitors may sometimes need legal recourse in a foreign country.
As a side note, I have to mention that whereas work and pleasure take me to several places in and out of the country each year, I can never have enough of the Kilaguni Serena Lodge in Tsavo West.
It’s as if the place was built to shower one with happiness, from the moment of walking in. An evidently well-managed establishment with some of the happiest staff you will ever find anywhere, a serene ambience and a captivating location overlooking the Chyulu Hills, there is not a site or place that offers the peace and tranquillity I desire, like this one. It helps that the main road leading to it, from the Mtito Andei gate of the Tsavo West National Park, is not that bad.
Travellers like to create memories. But whenever I visit this gem, I create hope. Hope that one gem like this can become a benchmark for others and inspire many more across the country. As someone whose earlier life was spent in wildlife conservation, a part of my subconscious has a dream of paradise based on nature remaining pure and true, in the image of the Tsavo. To get there, I we have to love these destinations enough to sustain them, not just for our visitors from foreign countries, but for ourselves and our children right here at home!
The writer is a political commentator