The mountain of untapped treasures

Trans Nzoia has a magnificent forest, mountain elephants and caves plus rare birds — all the treasures a county needs to bring in the visitors… yet its potential remains largely untapped.

Mt Elgon National Park brings in only Sh4 million a year, compared to the Sh1 billion earned by Kenya’s leading attraction, Nakuru park.

The Saiwa Swamp National Park, home to the rare semi-aquatic antelope the Sitatunga, and the Nature Conservancy and Delta Crescent Conservancy owned by individuals also add value to the western tourism circuit.

“Tourism on this side of the country has not been exploited to the full because of the many challenges we face,” said Ms Ziporah Mideva, tourism officer at Mt Elgon.

She sums up the problems as a perception of high crime levels, a lack of facilities such as five-star hotels, poor roads and timber poaching.

Mt Elgon forest is home to the indigenous Elgon teak, huge trees known all over the world for ship building.

There are also big podo and cedar trees which produce beautiful brown timber for furniture.

These have been declared protected trees by the Government.

It also boasts what is claimed to be the biggest tree in Africa, according to Ranger Esleen Saina.

Unesco declared the forest a Biosphere Reserve in 2003 as a water tower for River Nzoia which flows west to Lake Victoria and the Turkwel flowing north into Lake Turkana.

Although gazetted in 1968, the 169 square kilometre park has existed as a game reserve since 1954, under colonial rangers who stayed on till the 1970s.

The park excludes the 737 hectares Forest Reserve which includes Chepkitale national reserve where rare birds are to be found.

Ms Mideva believes the management of park and forest lacks synergy, which holds back any increase in tourism.

“The forest department has not opened up for visits that could add value as it would provide the tourist a chance for bird watching,” she explained.

Elephant, buffalo, bushbuck and duiker trek to the caves, known locally as elkony, to lick the salt.

From there, the elephants walk on paths made by themselves deep into the mountain.

The most famous caves are Kitum and Making’eny.

Making’eny is a scenic site with beautiful jet of water falling 50 metres to form the source of a river by same name, which means a place where livestock go for salt.

The water, so pure and ready to drink, could provide the county with an alternative source of income — mineral water packaging.

The cave goes two-and-half kilometres inside the mountain.

The mountain itself, on the border between Kenya and Uganda, has three peaks for climbing.

Wagagai, the highest, at 4,401ft, is on the Ugandan side while Koitobos (4,381ft) and Sudek (3,676ft) are in Kenya.

Other tourist attractions include the Kitale Museum and the Duke of Manchester mansion on the slopes of Cherangani hills.

The museum is famed for military collections whose origin and strength originates from an individual — a World War One British soldier, Lt Col H. F. Stoneham.

But most are now under lock and key after thieves looted some of the collection.

The Duke of Manchester Mansion, situated on top of the Cherangani Hills, 47 kilometres from Kitale is a rundown building converted into a State Lodge.

Yet a visit to the Mansion reveals it to be unworthy of the title of State Lodge, a place were Kenya’s presidents could sleep or entertain visitors.

The barrier at the gate is just a log; guards from the General Service Unit and Administration Police are hardly to be seen.

And although imposing, it is a pale shadow of the home where royalty slept while visiting Kenya in colonial times.

Lt Col Stoneham, who began a collection of artifacts in his red brick home in Mugenya village, Cherangani, just 20 kilometres from the museum, died in 1966.

“The white man was so dedicated to Kenya that he wanted everything which he had collected plus the cash he had saved in a Kitale bank bequeathed to our country in his memory,” said Mr John Masika of the museum’s education department.

Before then, he had been given 1,250 acres in Cherangani Hills by the British in appreciation of his role in the war.

Mr Isaac Kipleting Bitok who bought the land said his appeals to the museum to help maintain the mansion had been ignored.

Lt Col Stoneham left a will for his museum to be transferred from the Cherangani farm to Kitale Town for posterity.

The newly independent Kenya Government began the transfer in 1971 and opened the museum four years later.

However, in spite of Lt Col Stoneham’s efforts to preserve Kenya’s history, thieves raided the museum and stole many artifacts.

Today, the ones which remain are not on public shelves but under lock and key in the curator’s office.