Why Kenya’s story needs to be told to the world afresh

By Rebecca Miano

It is one thing to have fodder to power riveting stories on whatever subject but quite another to master the art of creating beguiling digests from nuggets that Kenya’s landscapes, cultures, culinary marvels, wildlife and people easily afford.

Yet we hardly create persuasive yarns on why Kenya is arguably Africa’s Shangri-La brimming as it does with hardly explored gems that can inspire many a modern-day adventure seeker given our range of unique and authentic offerings.

For too long, Kenya has been viewed through a limited lens, confined, as it were, to only what automobile tours can relay. While the majesty of lions stalking golden grasslands or elephants silhouetted against marvellous backdrops stir the soul, the bush and beach narrative alone cannot possibly fully capture the otherwise profound tapestry of experiences that make Kenya a destination to behold, yes, but more so a sanctuary for the human spirit.

As we target 5 million visitors by 2027, we should also endeavour to master the art of storytelling that can retell Kenya as a haven where ancient wisdom, ecological harmony and transformative encounters converge. Here are three of the many ways to reimagine our story. One, time has come to highlight Kenya’s distinctive credential as the home of human origins more intentionally and with a greater sense of pride for this unmatched natural inheritance. After all, science has long confirmed that beneath the windswept shores of Lake Turkana lie fossils that trace the footsteps of Homo habilis, humanity’s earliest ancestors.

Yet few travellers are reminded enough times that they are walking on the grounds considered the cradle of humankind while in Kenya. Perhaps we should start by amplifying the Koobi Fora Dialogues where paleo-archaeologists and El Molo elders co-narrate their versions of human origins while blending fossil evidence with literary mythology.

Visitors could do with a museum with 3D-printed skull replicas of the earliest human species on earth while listening to tales of how the stars guided ancient migrations. This experience would be more electrifying if carried out at the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Turkana I think.

And who knows, a retold story of how man came about at the venue could inspire a pilgrimage that can attract way more than the 8,000 annual visitors to unimaginable numbers. 

It happens in Mecca, Bodhgaya, Varanasi, Jerusalem, Vatican City, Canterbury and in many such places with sentimental allure. Why not the origins of man?

Two, sometimes I wonder whether we Kenyans realise how well we are regarded globally for championing wildlife conservation in spite of the pushback the efforts to do so encounter in the face of bulging human demography and dwindling habitat for animals.

In most cases we tend to reduce the case of wildlife conservation to statistics but not the more deserving and intricate dynamics of coexistence between communities and nature. We know of Kenyan communities that are happy to acknowledge the inextricable existential fusion between man and wildlife by insisting on assigning their children names of animals of the wild, do we not?

Three, having had the privilege of visiting a number of African countries, Kenyan cuisine remains Africa’s best-kept secret, competing only with Ethiopian dishes and Moroccan delights. In Lamu’s moonlit courtyards, Swahili chefs trace coconut-laced biryanis to 9th century Omani dhow voyages.

Travellers forage cloves with Pate Island harvesters, then cook alongside matriarchs using coral-stone stoves. Now close your eyes and think, mushenye, obosontoto, kimanga, mukimo and all-time favourite nyama-choma—to name a few— and you have a reason to call any adventurous palate to table.

My take however is that we have been shy in so far as creating compelling sensations about our culinary heritage as bait for gastronomists from all corners of the world. By the way, I have hardly acknowledged sports tourism where great achievers from Kenya are yet to be celebrated enough for their global record-breaking feats especially in marathons.

Nor have I said a thing about wellness tourism and its potential in Kenya given our favourable weather regimen year round. Guess what? Mine is merely a challenge to our storytellers to up their ante and tell of the greatness of our motherland yet unheard.

Over to you our chroniclers!

Rebecca Miano is the Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife