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.
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