By KIPCHUMBA KEMEI
Hotels at the Coast are gearing to tap into four-year global celebrations to mark the World War I.
Tour operators and proprietors acknowledged that the bookings have increased, adding that already, some tourists have started trickling in ahead of the formal celebrations.
The celebrations are about a war in which Taita-Taveta County was a battleground.
The battle was between the Germans and the British. It will be marked from January next year. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is among the organisers of the big event.
Some of the sites marked for the fete include Tsavo West National Park, community and private ranches in the County including Salaita, Kasigau and Taita Ranches. “KWS is planning to reach out to the County Government of Taita-Taveta and ensure that communities living around such sites benefit from the tourists who will visit sites in Tsavo West,” said KWS Corporate Communications Manager Paul Udoto.
World War I was fought from July 28, 1914 to November 11, 1918. The British forces built forts along Tsavo River in defense of Von Lettow Vorbeck’s intrusion from the south.
The forts were meant to counter threats from invading German forces from Tanganyika –now Tanzania.
The intention was to blow up the at Tsavo River bridge, which was vital to the British communication in the supremacy war. “The sites are also close to the caves used by man-eating lions which had earlier preyed on builders of the Uganda Railway which was also called Lunatic Line,” said Udoto.
“The Tsavo man eaters are on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois, US, which is the hometown of President Obama.”
