Attraction Sites Discovered

A beautiful evening at Jambo Impala Eco lodge, within Impala Sanctuary Kisumu- A great attraction site worth visiting http://jambochesterhotels.com/impala

BY OUR REPORTER

The Western Kenya Tourism Circuit has grown over time following the development of more market oriented attraction sites.

The sites not only target domestic tours but also have the capability of meeting international standards required of the trade.

Traversing various counties in the western region gives one a chance to sample at least 69 attractions of which quite a number have been gazetted and documented.

Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) is currently working with tourism promoters and partners in the industry not only to identify but also facilitate registration of new attractions.

They have also engaged tourism players in keeping an inventory of all new attractions for ease of marketing and subsequent official registration into the Kenyan tourism map.

In line with the Vision 2030, magical Kenya as the outfit for marketing Kenyan tourism products has worked tirelessly with the western Kenya tourism promoters to record sites and activities in the KTB inventory.

Among the identified attractions, the western circuit provides a variety from the expansive Lake Victoria having lush beaches that border Siaya, Homa Bay, Kisumu, Migori and Busia counties to unlimited number of caves found in some of the smallest hills around the region.

With the advent of devolution, a number of these sites have become strategic targets for revenue generation in the regions where they fall with others being taken care of by the municipal councils, National Museum of Kenya and Kenya Wildlife Service conservancies.

Mr Antony Ochieng, an expert in the sector, says that the western circuit was ripe for any form of tourism that would build on the existing domestic tourism market.

Starting with Kisumu County which boasts of being the hub of tourism in the entire east African market through its central location in the East Africa Community, tourism players have voted most of the attractions as better placed to bring the business to the region.

“Kisumu city is in itself an attraction with its widely established hotel circuit being in a position to host as many as 1500 guests in one single night; the annual turnover of visitors has also grown over time to more than 250,000 visitors,” Mr Ochieng observes.

He further highlighted the presence of the restocked Impala Park-also hosting the Impala ecolodge with its magnificent view of Lake Victoria, state of the art cottages set up in a serene high bird population location.

Visitors to the county will also have options of going to the Ndere Island national park, Abindu caves, Kit Mikayi and the fabled Lwanda Magere stone prehistoric site in Muhoroni.

An initiative of the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology is also geared towards reviving most Lake Victoria beach fronts to create eco-tourism opportunities for students visiting the country from time to time.

These will traverse both Kisumu and Siaya County to create a circuit that will also enable visitations to the Lake Kanyaboli – an ox bow lake within Yala Swamp which is well known for unique bird attractions – with some of the most unique species migrating from as far as Europe seasonally.

Siaya County also boasts of the Kogelo Community famed to be the ancestral home of US President Barack Obama with superb road networks connecting to the Achieng Oneko mausoleum and Mageta Island – the Kenyan ‘Robben Island’ having hosted Dedan Kimathi while in detention in the hands of the colonialists.

In Migori County, the tourism players voted Thimlich Ohinga, a unique architectural stone structure covering 52 acres.

History has it that the place used to be a unique home to some sub tribes of the Luo and Bantu community who migrated to Zimbabwe, Tanzania about 500 years ago;

Other attractions in the county were stated to include Gogo falls that currently serves a hydroelectric power plant joining the national grid; the plant is serving Sony Sugar Mills and the neighboring small towns of Awendo, Uriri and by extension Migori Town.

“The sugarcane and tobacco growing zones also present rich agro-tourism packages for visitors interested in seeing how tobacco is processed,” Mr Ochieng said.

In the neighboring Homa Bay County, tourists visiting the region stand a chance of having another touch of Lake Victoria’s lush scenery.

Mr Ochieng states that a visitor to the county would be treated to a tour of the Tom Mboya Mausoleum, Ruma National Park, Rusinga island Lodge-an attraction beyond the lodge facilities; Kisindi lodge which neighbors the famous Huma Hills well known for the numerous Bala Hotspurs.

“Another attraction unique to the county is the fabled Simbi Nyaima which has of late seen a growing number of flamingoes migrating from Lake Nakuru; this has supped up the uniqueness of nearby Nyamgondho site,” Mr Ochieng noted.

In Kisii, the recent upsurge of hotels like Dados, Bluu Nile, Ufanisi Resort among others providing accommodation to the region’s domestic visitors has brought additional advantages to the soapstone mining industry at Tabaka-well known for curving various artistic products of splendid aesthetic value.

Kenya Tourism Board is also in the processing of branding Nyamira water falls, an exclusive breathtaking site that will add to the hike activities that have grown strongly on Manga Hills giving an opportunity for good view of the Tea estates and banana plantations that form the bedrock of the county’s agro-economic potential.

The initiatives of the tourism players have also expanded to the neighboring counties of Bungoma, Kakamega –well known for the Kakamega Forest which hosts the unique species of De-braza monkey – and the Trans Nzoia County which has major wildlife conservancies in the country run by the Kenya Wildlife Service.

Busia has also come up strongly with the Teso Culture which has been voted under the rich heritage displayed in their systems of governance, unique hunting practices among attractions like the Ekakapel stones and caves, and agro-tourism presented by the expansive Bunyala Rice Fields.