Lamu expands tourism offering beyond heritage sites with wildlife

Veterinarians fit a satellite collar on an elephant to aid tracking and curb poaching in Lamu. [Courtesy]

Lamu County, world-famous for its pristine beaches, ancient Swahili heritage and dhow culture, is now charting a bold new step to open a new wildlife tourism frontier in an elephant collaring exercise.

Dubbed ‘from the ocean to the jungle', the inaugural elephant collaring exercise, which also aimed to curb human-wildlife conflict in the county, took place at Nairobi Ranch in Lamu County.

Lamu, traditionally relying on beach, sea and heritage tourism due to the archipelago's UNESCO World Heritage Site status, now wants to add wildlife adventure as an additional product.

The exercise that blended conservation science, community goodwill and high-tech surveillance was led by county government officials and conservationist Ms Raabia Hawa of the Ulinzi Africa Foundation.

Veterinarians fit a satellite collar on an elephant to aid tracking and curb poaching in Lamu. [Courtesy]

It was also supported by a multi-agency team led by Lamu County Commissioner Stephen Kutwa, Lamu County Police Commander Shadrack Ruto, KWS rangers and renowned chopper pilot Marc Goss from the Mara Elephant Project, whose precision flying ensured the safe darting and collaring of the elephants.

Goss, who has participated in hundreds of collaring operations across Kenya, used a helicopter to track the elephants from the air, allowing veterinary teams on the ground to dart and fit the satellite collars safely.

The exercise marks a significant milestone in Lamu’s conservation journey, where the county is home to over 300 elephants that roam across the vast conservancies and community lands and often come into conflict with farmers and settlements.

Lamu County Deputy Governor Dr Mbarak Bahjaj said collaring the elephants introduces a critical aspect of real-time surveillance and data collection regarding the movement and behaviour of the gentle giants, who are considered one of Kenya’s most valuable wildlife assets.

“Today several elephants were collared. The exercise introduces an important aspect of surveillance and data collection regarding the movement and behaviour of this wildlife asset,” said Dr Bahjaj.

He said once collared, the elephants can be monitored 24 hours via satellite, allowing KWS rangers to intervene promptly whenever the herds move close to human settlements, farms or villages.

“This will enable timely intervention by KWS in case proximity to human settlements is noticed, as well as establish safe corridors for the elephants. This will drastically reduce cases of crop destruction, property damage and retaliatory killings that have been a major concern for our people,” he said.

“As a government, we see this as a unique opportunity to establish an additional adventure product for tourists who visit Lamu largely for the beaches, sea and heritage. I support this vision – ‘Come for the beach, stay for the wildlife.' From the ocean to the jungle, Lamu has it all," said Dr Bahjaj.

The vision, he said, is to allow a tourist to enjoy a morning dhow cruise in the Indian Ocean, an afternoon tour of the 700-year-old Lamu Old Town, and an evening game drive to see elephants in the wild within the same destination.

Dr Bahjaj also paid glowing tribute to the Swaleh Nguru family for donating vast tracts of land for wildlife conservation and tourism at the Nairobi Ranch, describing their gesture as a true act of patriotism and environmental stewardship.

“These elephants belong to us. They are our heritage. If we protect them, they will bring tourists who will bring money to our conservancies, our beach operators, our hotels and our youth. Let us protect them,” Dr Bahjaj noted.

“My sincere thanks to the family for donating land for wildlife conservation and tourism and the Save The Elephants team and Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI) for making this possible. "This is the spirit of community conservation we want to encourage," said Dr Bahjaj.

He also lauded the Ulinzi Africa Foundation led by Ms Hawa, Save The Elephants and WRTI for providing technical expertise, collars and research support.

Ms Hawa said Lamu’s elephant population, though smaller than Tsavo or Amboseli, is ecologically critical as it forms a vital corridor linking coastal forests to inland ecosystems, and that protecting them secures not just tourism revenue but also the ecological health of the entire Lamu landscape.

Ms Hawa, whose foundation has been at the forefront of anti-poaching and community conservation awareness, further said, "Collaring will generate invaluable data on migration patterns, breeding seasons and habitat preferences, which will inform future land-use planning.”

County Commissioner Stephen Kutwa assured residents that "the government will strengthen rapid response units to ensure data from the collars is acted upon swiftly.”

For years, residents of areas bordering Witu, Hindi, Chalaluma and the mainland ranches have complained of elephants straying into farms, destroying crops and posing danger to children and livestock, especially during the dry season, and conservationists say collaring provides a non-lethal, scientific solution to the conflict.

Beyond conflict resolution, the County Government sees the initiative as a golden opportunity to diversify Lamu’s tourism product.

The event ended with a call to local communities to embrace wildlife as an asset rather than a threat.

With the collaring exercise, Lamu is now firmly positioning itself as Kenya’s newest wildlife tourism frontier, where the whisper of the ocean meets the trumpet of elephants in the jungle.