funded by the DARA (Development in Africa through Radio Astronomy) project, through the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council
According to the 2022 annual tourism report, tourism in Kenya is a major sector that contributes up to 10% of GDP. Amboseli National Park is a popular tourist destination, especially during the dry seasons (June to October and December to March). While it generates significant revenue, it does not directly benefit the local community in terms of employment. As a result of socio-economic challenges including population increase, poverty, and collapse of migratory herds, the Amboseli community and the surrounding rural areas in SouthWest Kenya face a major crisis in sustainable income for their livelihood. The AED is an initiative aimed at reducing the poverty rate in the local communities within and around the park by creating job opportunities. This aim is achieved through:
Baseline assessment – An assessment will be conducted before the project implementation to gather information about the percentage of locals employed in different sectors, the number of tourists in specific hotels, the adjacent community’s average income, and the type of local businesses.
Astrotourism training – Amboseli National Park is an isolated area with minimum light pollution. AED aims to train approximately 30 hotel staff and local tour guides to leverage the clear night sky to generate income through activities such as, night sky viewing with telescopes. The project targets the hotels within and around the park. AED has confirmed 10 employed hotel staff in the Amboseli National Park and 20 unemployed locals who have agreed to be trained as astro-tour guides.
Tracking and monitoring – AED will gather data using visitor surveys(to track the number of visitors specifically for astrotourism and visitor satisfaction), employment records(to track and monitor the number of new jobs created from astrotourism activities), financial reports(to track income generated by the locals from astrotourism), and stakeholder and local employees interviews(to track and assess the impact of the project). This data will be utilized to track the impact of the project during the initial peak season, which spans 4 months.
Moreover, AED has plans to explore diverse revenue streams including sales of Maasai culture merchandise to strengthen the project’s financial viability further. AED has already reached out and established an agreement of framework with the park management and the locals on having the training within the park environment for sustainable astrotourism activities thereafter. The training is expected to run for 4 days and cover topics like; introduction to astrotourism and basics of astronomy, Solar System exploration, telescopes and astrophotography, light pollution and dark sky conservation, planetary observations, cultural astronomy, and entrepreneurship in astrotourism, amongst others.
