Marsabit to host 2018 Lake Turkana Cultural Festival
Members of the Samburu community perform a traditional dance during the Marsabit Lake Turkana Cultural Festival at Loiyangalani on May 6, 2017. The 2018 event will be held in Marsabit County from June 28. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Governor Mohamud Ali said the festival aims to promote cultural diversity, peaceful co-existence and boost tourism.
This year’s theme will be: “Promoting Tourism, Cultural Diversity and Social Inclusiveness.”
The event will feature unique performances and cultural traditions of 14 ethnic communities which live in Marsabit County.
Marsabit County is set to host the 11th edition of the annual Lake Turkana Cultural Festival.
This year’s event will take place from June 28 -30 in Loiyangalani town.
Governor Mohamud Ali said the festival aims to promote cultural diversity, peaceful co-existence and boost tourism.
This year’s theme will be: “Promoting Tourism, Cultural Diversity and Social Inclusiveness.”
“Through this festival we seek just not to recognise and appreciate our county’s bio cultural diversity but to understand the values in diversity of the human race and advance our vision of a united Marsabit,” Mr Ali said.
UNIQUE PERFORMANCES
The event will feature unique performances and cultural traditions of 14 ethnic communities which live in Marsabit County: El Molo, Rendille, Samburu, Turkana, Dassanatch, Gabra, Borana, Konso, Sakuye, Garre, Waata, Burji and Somali. The El Molo, who live on shores of Lake Turkana, are one of smallest communities in the country and it is threatened with extinction.
Governor Ali said the annual event has been critical in maintaining peace and promoting development in Marsabit where in the past, cases of clan clashes were rampant.
Also to spice up the occasion will be races - half marathon race, 15-kilometre, 10-kilometre (elite), 10-kilometre (morans) and three-kilometre race for children.
The festival has been hailed as one of the reasons peace has prevailed in Kenya’s largest county by land size.
