Clifford Musyoka, Food and Beverage Manager Sandfields Lodwar camp
How has your camp faired since it was opened?
We opened the camp in 2014 and since then, it has been doing fairly well. We mostly target counties as our major client, and corporates and non-governmental institutions with our conference meeting package.
Turkana is known as the cradle of mankind thus attracting both local and international tourists to sample the various historical points.
What can guys enjoy when they come to Turkana?
If you are a fun of local cuisines, you will definitely love goat meat, especially when prepared the Turkana way.
Topetokon is goat meat roasted unskined in an open fire. The goat is killed by spearing and then partially roasted over an open fire.
Thereafter, the meat is dissected into equal portions and returned to the open fire for better cooking.
You will also enjoy the delicious Lake Turkana fish. If you love nature, the villages will serve you the best experience, because of the image of a true African man.
You also have the only spa, what inspired its creation?
Our new spa is one of our expansion in as far as recreation facilities are concerned. We discovered the more services you have, the more you are able to cater for different clientele.
In addition, the hotel industry in Turkana has become so competitive that we have to think outside the box and create other services that will make clients choose us over the rest.
We are still working on marketing the county better to the rest of the country and internationally and creating awareness to the community about growing the tourism sector in the region.
What’s your strongest market?
We serve both locals and internationals.
What challenges does the county face in tourism?
Security has been one of the biggest challenge as some major historical destinations lie in very insecure parts of this county, such as the hot springs of Kapedo; however, this is slowly being sorted out as it has presently become safer to be in the county.
The second challenge is poor infrastructure to get into the tourist attractions, making it costly to get to the sites.
There are also inadequate guides, a problem particularly when we have guests. Mobile network is also poor in some regions and sometimes we go off grid completely, making it impossible to communicate with clients.
What recommendations do you have to boost tourism in the region?
I would urge the government to revise the border matters and strengthen security in major historical sites, because they scare potential tourists.
I would also advise them to boost the infrastructure and make tourist sites accessible and cheaper.
