Serene village that tourists throng to learn Digo culture

Mwakamba village receives tourists from Coast Hotels as part of Culture Tourism to support Beach operators and Local communities. [Omondi Onyango, Standard]

Hanif said that since locals in the area are peasant farmers, they will be helped to grow vegetables and plant fruit trees to sell to hotels after successful harvests.

"Once we roll out this project, here we shall be heading to the greater North Coast areas of Watamu and Malindi, respectively,'' he said.

For Samson Beja, a lead singer with a village dance troupe, once the initiative takes off they will be busy and earn from their entertainment exploits.

Mwakamba village elder Juma Mwachange commended implementers of the programme, saying that it was a well-thought-out idea where the community interests come first.

"While our people work in hotels that dot the Diani Beach, we still feel this kind of engagement will give us more freedom to excel while interacting with visitors from all over the world who come to holiday in our beautiful Diani beach," Mwachange says.

For Abdul Salim alias Senior, a tour guide with 15 years of working experience, the new opportunity presents a perfect chance to excel in life.

"We are pleading with the Kwale County Government, Tourism Fund (TF) and Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) to help train the local tour guides how to handle international guests by equipping them with knowledge transfer on foreign languages and PR,'' he says.

Ms Susan Akinyi Ketterer, Head of Programmes at BigShip CBO, noted that under their Urban Resilience pillar programme, they will ensure that the pilot venture promotes eco-tourism for the benefit of host communities.

"Our Department of Urban Livelihood and Resilience aims at empowering local communities through social, economic, and educational. We have partnered with Mama Layla to try and uplift the economic status of beach operators and the general village communities through the Beach Operators Cultural village visits,'' she says.

Linus Murimi, the General Manager of Bora Bora Wildlife Sanctuary in Diani says that community empowerment is crucial to the full realisation of sustainable tourism as it seeks to benefit all and sundry.