Lessons that Kenya can learn from the Niagara Falls

More than 10 million people visit Niagara Falls every year. Compare that with about two million who visit Kenya annually.

This spectacular site is free for visitors; you only pay for parking, and can then take a walk and admire nature’s work. Why does Laikipia County charge people to see a waterfall (Thompson’s Falls)?

The Niagara is actually two falls separated by Goat Island. One part of Niagara is in the USA and the bigger part is in Canada.

Walking trails

Visitors from every part of this planet take walks along trails with walls that give a good view of the waterfalls while ensuring safety.

Apart from watching water falling, there are adventurers who take a boat up the river to go as near the bottom of the waterfall as possible. Standing just next to where the water starts falling, one feels as if the water is pulling you down, an eerie feeling.

Big hotel chains, from the Sheraton to Hyatt, have a foothold near the waterfall. I’m told Niagara is popular with honeymooners, too. Having lunch in one of the nearby restaurants, one cannot fail to notice the number of couples strolling around.

The waterfall is so beautiful that one is tempted to admire it from different angles, which is provided for by walking trails. If it’s sunny, you also get a chance to admire the rainbow resulting from the mist produced by the thundering water.

There is something else Niagara is famous for: wine. A visit is not over until you make a visit to wineries where wine tasting is a time-honoured tradition and a great tourist attraction. You pay to taste wine, about a dollar, but the fee is waived if you buy at least a bottle of wine. Not bad control. The three wineries I visited said they do not export their wine.

Interestingly, there are no bars in Canada. Alcoholic drinks, including wine, are sold in specific beer or liquor stores. Tusker is available, too. I think beer is too easily available in Kenya. However, the recent move to enclose liquor stores within supermarkets was a step in the right direction.

Lessons from Niagara

Any lessons for our young nation from Niagara?

Why is there no wine tasting in Kenya? Imagine Kenya Wine Agencies Limited (Kwal) organising such occasions in Yatta, Machakos. It is not just fun; wine tasters will have an effect on the local economy.

It is no wonder that around Niagara, major hotel chains have a foothold. Combine wine tasting in Yatta with a visit to the Seven Forks dams, and you create a microeconomy. Make it even spicier and introduce water games at these dams.

A visit to Masinga Dam perplexed me. I expected speed boats, water surfers and maybe a golf course nearby. Tourism is not random, you create attractions. Don’t we go to see the graveyards (pyramids) of Egypt?

Why is there no tea or even coffee tasting in Kenya, a country endowed with the world’s finest tea and coffee? Why can’t tea factories organise tea tasting? Why are we only restricted to the coffee and tea available in supermarkets? Why not taste tea or coffee before buying it? Add the beauty of tea plantations and you will see droves of curious tourists propping up local economies.

Next time you are bored, take a drive to Kiambu town and then drive on through Ndumberi, through tea plantations to Limuru. I am sure such beautiful sites are replicated in other tea-growing areas. Do you recall the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visiting a tea plantation? Who said the only attractions are the Big Five?

There is no county or country that cannot repackage itself, create a few myths and attract lots of tourists and their money.

It is surprising that Nairobi County has not packaged Upper Hill as a major tourist attraction. Where else on Earth do we have such architectural marvels? It seems to me corporations were competing to see who would have the most elegant building.

In Toronto, tourists ride double decker buses with no roofs to explore the city. Why can’t we do the same in Nairobi?

Complement nature

Niagara has another hidden secret: technology. Recently, there was uproar in Kenya over the use of machines to pick tea. Are you aware that grapes are picked using machines?

Niagara shows how we can complement nature to improve our economy by being creative. That is what’s needed to create jobs for the next generation. Every county has something to offer if well packaged.

A good example: some counties are famous for burning witches. Suppose we offer amnesty for such witches and then have tourists come to visit them as they explain their black magic?

Marsabit and Turkana have deserts; lots of Kenyans have heard about deserts from the Bible but never seen one!

There is no limit to our creativity, and no limit to creating attractions beyond what nature created. Over to you governors...

The writer is at the University of Toronto on an intellectual pilgrimage. [email protected]