Inside the push for sustainable tourism

Kenya’s premier safari destination, Masai Mara, is slowly picking from the impact of floods experienced last month, when torrential rain hit most parts of the country.

The tourism sector was among those hit hard. At least 12 tented camps and lodges in the Mara were submerged, with facilities washed away after the Mara and Talek rivers broke their banks.

Some of those affected included JW Marriot Masai Mara Lodge, Mara Leisure, Mara Sweet Acacia, Crocodile Camp, Pride Inn-Azure Lodge and Base Camp, with workers being temporarily sent home.

The floods also killed an unknown number of wildlife in the vast Mara, which is among the most visited parks.

Overall, the number of visitors to Kenya Wildlife Service-managed parks and sanctuaries hit three million last year, up from 2.1 million the previous year, Tourism Research Institute data shows.

PEOPLE FIRST

Away from the high-end tourism facilities, however, is a community that was equally impacted by the floods that swept through homes and schools, leaving families devastated.

Twiga Tours, one of the oldest tour companies in Kenya, has stood out as among those leading the country in “sustainable tourism”.

It supports communities around the Masai Mara National Reserve, Amboseli National Park, Samburu National Reserve and Lake Nakuru National Park, where most of the company’s clients (international tourists) visit for holidays.

Led by CEO Minaz Manji, the company, through the Manji Foundation, supports Loigero Primary School, which serves the Maasai population around the community of Talek, near an entry gate to the Maasai Mara, and Irbaan Primary School in Narok South, Mara.

The schools the foundation has backed over the years are among those that were affected by the recent floods.

“I got calls from the head teachers and community that have been benefitting from our programme on the impact of floods,” Manji explained during an interview.

“They swept away books, affected homes and left families without food. We moved in to help replace textbooks in schools and extend food donations to families.”

Sekenani Primary School, which is within the Mara area, also benefitted from sanitary towels for girls, books and other stationaries.

“When we get requests, we divert from the schools that we directly support,” Manji said.

In Nairobi, the Manji Foundation supports the Children’s Garden Centre in Dagoretti and Better Life Day Care Centre in Mathare North. It also supports the Malaika institution in Nakuru and Lorubae School in Archers Post.

For the care centres, the foundation provides foodstuffs and pays for utility bills, among other needs.

It has supported more than 7,000 individuals who have so far benefitted from the foundation, with a huge number currently in employment.

“Education is at the heart of the foundation. We believe that equipping the young generation with education is like teaching them how to fish, which is more sustainable than just giving fish,” Manji said.

The Manji Foundation and the tour company (Twiga) are also behind a number of other initiatives.

These include tree planting, feeding programmes for the homeless in Nairobi and supporting individuals in small businesses, such as fruits and food vendors.

ART OF GIVING

The giving culture, Minaz Manji said, was instilled in the family from way back in the 1800s, during his great grandfather’s times.

In a village back in India, the family's patriarch, Manji, was fondly known as 'Prabtani', roughly translated to mean 'giver of water'.

He offered water 'free' from his well and financially supported water projects in his community, mainly digging of boreholes.

At a young age of seven years, Minaz, whose family had now relocated to East Africa, with Kenya as the main home, would visit homes for the elderly, where he would do chores and run errands for them. He would also help the elderly into the prayer hall at Khoja Mosque in Nairobi.

“As a family, we come from a background of giving back to the community. It is also one of the tenets of Islam of giving back what you can. That is something we grew up with,” Manji said, adding that it is something he has already passed on to his children and grandchildren.

During his mother’s lifetime, before she died in 2019, she fed street children on Ngong Road.

She had entered into a deal with an eatery outside the office building where every Friday, street children would get a meal of their choice. The owner of the eatery was not supposed to tell anyone about the programme, including the family.

“In 2019 when she died, that gentleman from the kiosk came to see me and told me that, 'You know, your mother had been doing this, and made me promise that nobody else would know about this',” Manji recounted.

"He asked me if I wanted to carry on with the initiative, which we agreed to continue and expand it."

This time, they extended the programme to Kileleshwa, Westlands, Brookside Drive and the Pangani interchange, distributing home-cooked meals.

“At Pangani, we noticed a number of homeless individuals sleeping under the bridge, so we chose that to be the main distribution point,” he recalled.

"When Covid struck, the numbers increased, so we had to prepare more than 500 meals and deliver to Pangani."

MINDFUL OF ENVIRONMENT

While the Manji Foundation was started in 2011, backed by the tour company funds, Twiga has involved international tourists visiting the country under its brand in planting trees at camps, lodges and parks, a drive that dates back to 1984.

“We normally provide the seedlings to our visitors and they plant them in these select areas as part of our initiative to reduce the carbon foortprint. By now I think we have planted more than half a million trees,” Manji said.

According to UN Tourism, a specialised agency of the United Nations, which promotes responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism, sustainability has emerged as a critical concern that must be addressed in any viable tourism development strategy.

Expressed simply, sustainable tourism can be defined as: Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.

Tourism is one of the 10 economic sectors identified in the Unep Green Economy Report, whose greening could increase prosperity, create employment and reduce poverty.

“In addition, tourists are increasingly demanding the greening of tourism,” the agency notes in a report.

"Tourism development should hence have a sustainable approach, to be able to promote growth in the long-term, while maintaining a balanced use of resources. This should be supported at local, national, regional and international levels."

Last month, Tourism CS Alfred Mutua announced that tourists visiting the country would be required to plant a tree as part of the government’s initiative to green the country. This will, however, come at a cost of Sh20 for buying tree seedlings.

“Those with hotels should have a plan where when tourists arrive, they are given a tree seedling, make a hole and plant," Mutua said during a recent tree planting event in Taita Taveta county.

“We want a tree per tourist. If we get three million tourists at a minimum, we will have three million trees planted.” 

In 2017, Twiga was also the first tour company to stop the use of single-use plastic bottles. It started the use of refillable bottles instead, which it offered tourists on arrival.

Three years later, the Kenyan government placed a ban on plastics in protected areas. These includes water bottles, plates, plastic cups and other disposable plastic items, which are now not allowed on beaches, forests or national parks.

The ban came after what was hailed as the "world’s toughest plastic ban" on plastic bags enforced in Kenya in August 2017, on all plastic carrier bags and flat bags used for commercial and household packaging.

Over the more than 43 years in operations, Twiga has won numerous awards and accolades, acknowledging it as leaders in the industry for leadership and innovation, sustainability and responsible travel.

It was named Africa’s Responsible Tourism company for the fourth time, Kenya’s Leading Safari Company and Tanzania’s Leading Safari Company.

At the the 30th World Travel Awards, the company was recognised for making a positive impact on the environment, society and the economy with eco-friendly practices.

The Manji Foundation also continues to educate and empower children from poor families living in remote locations in Kenya, helping these children better their lives and those living around them.

Minaz Manji, who is slowly handing over management of the company to his children, is happy that they have also embraced the art of giving, and the culture will continue in generations to come.