Marsabit County The Next Tourist Destination:Photos Of Deputy President William Ruto Riding On A Carmel

Marsabit County is positioning itself to reap big from its diverse cultural heritage and abundant historical and geographical attributes through investment in tourism. A melting pot of cultures bringing together 14 (a third of Kenya’s 42 ethnic communities), “Marsabit County is a sleeping giant of tourism,” says Governor Ukur Yatani Kanacho. “We have a huge potential in our diverse and rich cultures, historical and geographical sites and the biggest virgin landmass in a single geographical boundary,” adds Ambassador Yatani.

The county is also proud to be the ‘Cradle of Mankind’ as home to Koobi Fora, a renowned region of paleanthropological sites. This is where the largest ever collection of well-preserved hominin fossils dating from between 2.1 and 1.3 million years ago were discovered by archaeologists.

Deputy President William Ruto Riding on a carmel in Marsabit

Lake Turkana, the largest desert lake in the world, measuring about 5000 square kilometres is also found in Marsabit. The water body with an estimated 500 kilometre-long open shoreline contains some of the largest salt-water crocodiles, as well as abundant Nile perch and tilapia fish species.

Other unique tourist attractions include the Chalbi Desert, Lake Paradise, Central and Southern Islands, the  Petrified  Forests, Marsabit National Park and Mount Marsabit Tropical Rainforest, habitat of “Ahmed” (the largest elephant ever found on African soil) and the rare gravy zebra species.

The county also boasts of harbouring the only desert Museum in Africa run by the National Museums of Kenya (NMK). But Marsabit’s biggest resource however s its diversity. The county is a conglomeration of 14 ethnic communities including the Rendile, Borana, Gabra, Samburu, Turkana, Pokot, El Molo, Konso, Sakuye, Watta, Somali, Gari, Dasnach and Bingi.

However, due to decades of marginalisation by the successive colonial and post-independence governments, the huge tourism potential remains largely untapped. Reason? Poor infrastructure and poor or lack of exposure owing to a lingering negative perception of Kenya’s entire northern frontier.

But the county government plans to reinvigorate the tourism sector under a wide spectrum of focused development projects aimed at unlocking the county’s huge economic potential. Already Sh15 million has been set aside in this year’s fiscal budget to rehabilitate four cultural centres, which will act as stimuli for cultural tourism growth, says Muma Arbelle, the county chief officer for Culture and Social Services.

They include Loiyangalani cultural centre, Kalacha cultural centre and the desert museum among others. “A revamped Lake Turkana Cultural Festival to take place  from  June  13  to  15 will lead the way in reinvigorating cultural tourism in the county and serve as a launch pad for a deliberate and strategic effort aimed at growing the sector locally,” Arbelle says.

Lake Paradise a crater lake on Mt. Marsabit

The annual event held at the Loiyangalani cultural centre brings together all the 14 communities, including minority groups like the El Molo (who are faced with extinction) to showcase their rich and diverse cultures. The festival is also an opportunity to stimulate socio-economic development in the country and promote unity and peace. “We will use this year’s event as our biggest marketing platform by inviting local and international investors,” Arbelle says.

During the festival the museum and the Loiyangalani cultural centre will be the county’s biggest selling points. “We aim to transform places like Loiyangalani into resort cities, with cultural tourism as the focal point,” he says.

The museum, which displays historical, cultural and artistic artifacts, is part of the Lake Turkana National Park, gazzetted as a World Heritage Site in 1972 by UNESCO, whose World Heritage Committee considers its cultural and natural heritage as having outstanding universal value.

Consequently, such sites often elicit huge interest worldwide, either for recreational or academic purposes, subsequently becoming tourism hotspots. Worldwide, they include 759 cultural, 193 natural and 29 mixed properties in 160 state parties.

In Kenya, other world heritage sites include Mt Kenya National Park (for its natural forest), Lamu Old Town, Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests, Fort Jesus (Mombasa) and the Kenya lake system in the Great Rift Valley. The National Museums of Kenya (NMK) will expand and modernise the exhibition desert museum to meet its full potential. “We know museums are devolved functions, but owing to the fact that Marsabit County still does not have the capacity to fully run the facility, we have entered into a memorandum of understanding to develop the facility as part of the vision 2030 strategy,” says acting NMK Director General Ahmed Yassin. “Our main focus is to transform the museum from a recreational facility to a centre of excellence, where scientists can come and conduct research for the greater benefit of the community,” he says.