Agritourism Tales: From Wildebeests to the Lion’s Mane

By Reuben Chumba Bulungu

For generations, nature lovers like Joy Adamson or gallant sailors like Zhang He, have risked their lives in unforgiving conditions through uncharted territory. Others have bypassed the limits of human endurance to share their adventurers’ experiences. For as long as people have travelled in the countryside, interacted with locals, partaken of their cuisine, gotten accommodations, and learned something new, there have been Agritourists.

With increasing global awareness on natural ecosystems for sustainable livelihoods, combining adventure with biodiversity conservation has never been this fascinating. Understanding some basic dynamics of the culture, political landscape, and biodiversity of some destinations can assist with a visitor’s or investor’s timely decision-making. This is a candid sojourner’s tale laced with satire, where wild animal characteristics are closely matched with human behaviour across issues. Safe travels!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Mar 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9781398478947

Reuben Chumba Bulungu

Reuben Chumba is a native of Western Kenya, with deep roots in agriculture. He grew up on a small-scale tea farm at Kapsabet, Nandi County, where he would spend most of his school holidays playing Ajua with his age set, while marvelling at the ambience of a nearby glade. His passion for the conserved environment and anything botanical makes him at ease with nature and humour. For over 30 years, he has been actively engaged with agricultural extension and rural development work, traversing various parts of Kenya on a tour of duty, and has also spent considerable time travelling locally and abroad in Tanzania, Uganda and China for bench-marking. Reuben is a graduate of the University of Nairobi with BSc in Agriculture and Maseno University, Kenya, with an MSc in Botany. He is author of the first book: Intercropping Maize and Artemisia in Africa with five related scientific journal papers. A father of four, Reuben is a member of the East African Wildlife Society, the Kenya Society of Agricultural Professionals and Agricultural Society of Kenya.

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Preface

Agritourism is a real-time blend of agriculture and nature-tourism fun activities, intertwined in a nexus of service industry and agroecological environment. It is designed to provide an unforgettable cultural experience to a visitor, traveller or nature-lover. For leisurely lovers of nature with agricultural ecosystems, and how they impact on wellbeing of society across diverse regions, the tales strive to provide a descriptive situation and factual information on some Agritourism hotspots. A fable collection is used to combine adventure with humour, spiced with geopolitics and current affairs of the day, as a subtle way to promote biodiversity conservation along the new ‘Silk Road’ to prosperity.

Here, Agritourism is synonymous with ecotourism and described with a historical perspective in sample rural, urban and conservation areas including Kenya, China and the US, specifically targeting those nature lovers seeking an experience away from their normal environment, urban settings or their own home countries. When treated as an agribusiness, factors that will affect the successful delivery of an Agritourism experience include local traditions, topography, ‘official corruption’ as well as political stability and good international relations with host destinations.

A well informed and satisfied Agritourist will always revisit or tell the rest of the world through goodwill about a past adventurers’ streak, nice farm, ranch or country and its related products like their unique culture and hospitality. One important role of Agritourism for a country like Kenya is marketing of branded farm products or services combined with protection of the natural resources through international participation in biodiversity conservation efforts. The sustainability aspect is represented by the 4C’s of conservation, community and culture to drive commerce for boosting regional economies, while augmenting incomes of the rural population.

And Agritourism does not necessarily need to be big stuff, exotic destinations or a complex set of affairs. It can be as simple as hiking with a local tour guide who makes their livelihood off the tourism brought to their area, while you are immersed into the environment which needs to be conserved, have an inter-cultural connection and help guarantee a profitable Agritourism network for posterity. For the modern organic farmer who is also a nature lover, Agritourism is therefore your recommended pass time activity called ‘Woofing’, to satisfy the curiosity of adventurers on the operations of your farm while you earn a steady income…

Chapter One

Agritourism in a Nutshell

Agricultural ecosystems highly depend on the natural environment for stability. Lovers of nature may, therefore, wonder what an eagle, lion, giraffe, giant pandas and a tortoise have in common. Throw in mountains, waterfalls, clear skies, escarpments and valleys with shrubs, trees, fungi and flowers in the mix, and the wonders escalate.

Not until a nature lover sets out to travel to the rural farming or conservation areas, zoos, open seas, the wild Savannah plains or African jungles, with a keen interest to experience new things, interact with local people of different cultures in foreign lands and to discover how wild life has distinct natural behaviours that closely resemble human traits. At some point, the traveller may use the invincible Silk Road to discover that some animals also provide vital lessons on biodiversity conservation and such modern technologies as artificial intelligence.

While satirising human nature and travellers’ tales like in Gulliver’s Travels, it is all agreed that all these wild animals require food, water and some form of shelter to survive, but at least one of them is a master of the skies with an excellent eye sight for preying; another is a social king of the jungle with an exclusive mane around the neck and shoulders; another is obviously tall with a commanding view of the landscape while grazing on tree canopies; another has distinctive black fur surrounding slit eyes camouflaged over their bamboo environment; and yet another one is the slowest but covers quite a remarkable distance travelling on land with polygamous tendencies.

Even though some animals are also dangerous like the lion or mysterious and cunning like the fox, unpredictable and aggressive like the buffalo or emotional and conservative like the elephant, they all share a common destiny in a complex diversity of the environment in which we all live in. It is this interdependent environment that needs to be jealously protected for the survival of humanity with all the domesticated or wild flora and fauna.

For people partaking in real-time wildlife adventures, you will find there is a clash of civilisations akin to the African jungle itself, where there is fierce competition for limited resources, space and relevance to survive, recreate or reproduce.

Both humans and wildlife use their talents and skills to realise that as current resources are depleted, moving to more resource-rich environments is a natural instinct and advantageous for survival to sustain the food chain. Take the example of lions, which oscillate between being ruthless and caring individuals. These are gentle but fearless hunters and extremely protective to the feeble, they will only kill their prey for a meal.

Cases abound where a lioness protects a helpless wildebeest calf from attacks by a pack of greedy hyenas, and deliver the calf safely to a convoy of migrating wildebeest herds. As for protecting their territory, lions don’t pick fights just because they need to protect their food, their mates or pride, but they will only fight if and when necessary. The same way many parents would be willing to fight for their children and when not hungry, they seldom attack and usually rest in a leisurely manner.

Comparable to people especially indigenous Africans, lions also have many relatives like distant cousins, nephews and myriad in-laws some unfamiliar to them. It is common to find several African communities that have a ‘community husband’, and some with this wife who belongs to her entire husband’s age set, or can be inherited by her in-laws with full associated rights.

Lions are distant relatives to the hyena, wolves and fox, but differ in the possession or lack of good manners, particularly at the hour of need. Seemingly, whoever came up with such proverbs as ‘wolves in sheep skin’ or ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ in human relationships, may have had in mind the habits and inter-relationship between the lion and his distant relatives.

In contrast to other members of the ‘big cat’ family in the wild Savannah plains of Kenya, lions are fierce but social animals living on communal land as a related group of between twenty and thirty members. When handling fear, parenting, greed, hypocrisy or respect for authority, the lion stands out in comparison to other animals including its relatives.

Consider the fox. Just about the only beneficial relationship to humans with the bat-eared foxes is the vital role they play in controlling termite populations considered a crop pest by the farmers. Otherwise, foxes are like uninvited guests who raid peoples’ farms with a flexible diet by wastefully feeding on a variety of plant and animal species, depending on what is available on the menu in their host destinations.

But then wonders of nature never cease to surprise, since on a few and rare occasions, you can find a lion happily sharing a meal with hyenas, and where fox is in attendance and may seem to play the role of a court jester, akin to the Kenyan Politburo that almost resembles a share-holding company.

In Kenya, two lions appear on the national emblem like in a standing ovation holding onto spears, astride a traditional shield as a symbol of protection. Some of the most dramatic power plays in the world may be found here, where political allies or foes are never permanent but extremely temporary. The deep state conjoins them at the hip by periodic self-interest in a cut throat competition and quest for political leadership.

Eventually, the winner takes it all, as an honourable cultural practice for sharing dividends with his clan and collaborators. All vital resources are shared out like in a fallen prey. In the spirit of African socialism and humanitarian grounds, the lion King then invites battered opponents with no other option for survival, to partake of leftovers and assist in redistribution of the remaining resources.

These resources often include land, lucrative contracts and plum positions in government. This is one instance when a thin line divides the lion and hyenas in matters of consumption or greed. More often than not, the male lion becomes ruthless; employing the over forty laws of power in annihilating other upcoming males to safeguard their territory.

Like in a game of musical chairs, this battle for supremacy is a cycle with the tendency of repeating every electioneering period to result in heavy casualties, especially after disputed election results degenerate into full scale ethnic warfare using machetes and poisoned arrows. In the 2007-8 tribal clashes for example, a record more than 1,500 fatalities occurred and over 500,000 small scale farmers displaced from their homes, disrupting farming operations for almost 2 years, and posing a more serious threat to national food security than all previous droughts combined.

The casualty toll in this unfortunate incident far exceeded in comparison to the First World War recorded between lions and hyenas in April 1999, near the ancient city of Harrar in Ethiopia’s Gobele desert. This bloody war for wild animals must have resulted from a dispute over territorial control of a barren land and some other unknown vendetta.

All other wild animals could not withstand ravages of the war in the unforgiving terrain with thorny bushes, and were forced to flee en-mass to safer havens in adjoining highlands as refugees. The hyenas waged a tactical guerrilla assault method of striking at night from their cave hideouts, but the lions inflicted more casualties on the enemy hyenas, resulting in thirty-five hyenas and six lions dead, after the 14-day fierce battle. The lions won the battle after succeeding in expelling the hyenas from this arid scrubland.

Just like the lions, eagles are also fearless but probably even more tenacious than humans. Watching an eagle during a storm can be interesting to see how other birds fly away scattering in fear while the eagle spreads its large wings and soars to even greater heights.

Some humans claim that life begins at 40, while eagles renew their vitality every 40 or so years, by going into solitude up in the mountains, shedding their feathers and crashing their beaks for re-growth only to emerge more resilient and visionary. Some bird watchers have observed that very few members of the bird family or human race are more gentle and attentive to its young ones than the eagles.

The eagle will build a nest covered with thorns as foundation, and then have it layered thickly with soft feathers for the comfort of their young ones. When baby eagles are old enough to fly but too relaxed because of their comfort zone, the mother removes all the soft feathers so that the baby can be pricked with so much pain that they will realise it is time to leave the nest and fly on their own.

This is very much unlike the mother’s boy in some Kenyan family default settings, who cannot leave their mother’s house and think outside the box of survival. Again, unlike our street urchins or abandoned humans ravaged by the ugly side of poverty, an eagle does not scavenge but goes for fresh prey. It is widely acknowledged the world over that the eagle is the most powerful bird on earth.

Eagles are revered as a living symbol of ferocity, accomplishment and precision. Indeed, many characteristics of an eagle with its vast range of related family of birds provide great lessons for good or bad leadership, social cohesion and survival. Like first cousins in the human realm, eagles are very closely related to the hawk, their main difference is in strength, size of body and wingspan.

Many of our small holder poultry farmers are likely to be more familiar with the hawk for the loss of domesticated birds and hawkish Kenyan politicians, who consistently prefer the survival option for skirting around various challenges in society. Hawks migrate depending on season and while within the season, they migrate depending on weather patterns, just like Kenyan politicians do in hoping from one political party to the other.

Apart from hawks and other birds in the wild which may seem to spend most of their time perched on trees, or flying like hummingbirds with optimism and purpose, the case of domestic birds or chicken is one of curious observation. Chicken is a cultural delicacy in western Kenya. Here, the domestic bird lives a simple life oblivious of the day it will eventually be used as a meal at the dinner table of either hawks, foxes or mostly humans. Their simple life may not be so obvious to the people in a domestic setting, but nature has divided their time in almost equal proportion doing only three things (Mambo ni matatu in Kiswahili): feeding, snoozing and mating endlessly. Occasionally, an alarm from the cockerel is too late for a victim in the flock, as the rest scamper to safety for dear life at the onslaught of a hawk.

During bird watching, one can observe with migratory birds that they rely on cooperation and symbiosis more than aggression to survive in the air, on nested trees, or the wider environment including domestic settings.

Even though considered as the most aggressive and unpredictable wild animal, the cape buffalo as observed at the lake Nakuru National Park or buffalo springs in Kenya, tends to attract some birds like the yellow billed stork perched restfully on its head or backside, feeding on the irritating ticks. Getting rid of ticks must offer a sigh of relief to the helpless buffalo, probably until when the bird poops and flies away does the buffalo become alert as a sign of danger from intruders into their space.

This type of symbiotic relationship for mutual benefit is common with all other plant and animal species in the wild, irrespective of how primitive, weak or aggressive the species is, except probably for the hyena.

The social system of the spotted hyena is grossly competitive and abrasive rather than cooperative, with access to prey or mating opportunities. The superiority of males depends on their ability to dominate other clan-members, who do not display other paternal responsibilities like caring for their younger ones. For the hyena and it’s huge clan, absolutely nothing goes to waste at the dinner table.

Hyenas are about the only animal species born with a complete dental formula ready to feed, and will consume with gusto each and every part of an animal prey, from the hairs, eyes, hides, bones and hooves to both testicles in case of a male prey. In African folklore and bedtime stories, they are thus viewed as greedy or ill-mannered, yet powerful and potentially dangerous, since they can feed on large prey including domestic cattle while they are still alive.

Apart from the most familiar cat and mouse race in a domestic setting, probably the most dramatic relationship between animals can be found in the African Savannah, where an antelope must run for dear life and cut abrupt corners to survive the onslaught of a cheetah, while the cheetah in hot pursuit must have the ability to run even faster to catch a meal in order to survive as well. Such is the human race against time and poachers to save some wild life species from extinction and conserve biodiversity.

For all these big game animal species, alertness, agility, and speed appear to be the key to survival. Never to confuse size with strength for some animals, it is unfortunate that despite some female mammals’ attempts to stand over their calves during attacks by the cheetahs, lions, hyenas, leopards and wild dogs, many calves are killed in their first few months of existence. For humans, this can be a devastating life-long experience for the bereaved parents.

Other animals are always on the run for greener pastures and water like the wildebeests of Kenya’s Maasai Mara plains, akin to people walking to hustle for ways and means of survival in a busy city street. Some animals do not have an early warning system, and spend most of their lives standing up on high alert smelling and looking beyond the horizon for predators; they even sleep or give birth while upstanding.

In communicating to each other, foxes make about forty different sounds, while some animals use single roars like the lion; and others hiss and make flute-like sounds, or low pitch noises like elephants outside the range of human hearing ability. Other animals like rhinos communicate with each other in the African Savannah with different noise types to convey different messages at a time.

These scenarios may correlate with how biodiversity conservation is a herculean task constrained by miscommunication. It is also a double edged sword in the hands of poachers and conservationists.

Giraffe with Calf sensing danger. Photo by Lisa H on Unsplash.

For visibility or seclusion, many animals are nocturnal, while others like the giraffes take advantage of their towering heights or natural higher view to establish a commanding presence, while other animals live exclusively on raised surfaces or high up in the tree canopies. Like in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, not all humans are equal, and ‘some are more equal than others’.

You will also find many animals with polyandry tendencies and several others exhibiting polygamy, to the extent that animals in a habitat act much the same way like how humans tend to stick to certain cultural norms of a particular society.

Other animals like the giant pandas are actually humble bears and an endangered species that survive exclusively in bamboo forests, where they can be seen somersaulting, dust-bathing, swimming in rivers or rolling over and easily standing on their hind legs. The giant pandas are more resilient and flexible than previously thought. They are often chewing on a bamboo stem or leaves endlessly, with apparent freedom from want, as an adaptation to their fragile environment.

It is no wonder bamboos grow very fast in order to sustain the panda food chain. Pandas also have a complicated seasonal sex life, which is difficult to replicate in zoos: There could be fewer female pandas than eligible males in the wild. A female may come down from the tree once in 2 years, to mate only with the most dominating bull after several males compete over her with physical altercations. They sire courageous cubs, and their slit eyes are different from other normal bears.

Considering the unique characteristics and attributes associated with these beautiful animals, the humility and resilience of Chinese people in general compares so well with the giant panda. In the aftermath of the ‘one child policy’ for couples, recent statistics indicate that there are more males than females in the Chinese population, the largest globally.

The pandas aside, many animals usually lie low like an envelope while others stick out their necks, and others bury their heads in the sands of time, all in a bid to conform to certain survival mechanisms and natural habitual practices. However, not a single human being would wish to be in the position of a praying mantis especially after mating.

This is when the female cannibalises their male counterpart by ripping off the head, ostensibly to stock up sufficiently for the nutrition needs of her expected offspring and ensure survival of the next generation!

Almost all insect and animal species particularly birds and fruit bats assist in plant seed dispersal for species survival; butterflies are beneficial to the environment through their symbiotic relationship with the plants they visit, bees are important in cross pollination, horses provide alternate hosts for domestic parasites, chickens feed on cattle ticks; while the elephants, buffaloes and cattle provide organic (carbon) manure for regenerating lush vegetation in the wild and ranches.

Apart from carbon, zinc is another mineral essential to life and originates in the soil, absorbed by plants, which are in turn consumed by animals. Since the human body cannot create its own zinc, it must obtain it from plant foods on a regular basis. Zinc is a critical element for procreation, so this is a demystified version of the carbon cycle in ecosystems for sustaining life and biodiversity on planet earth.

For nature lovers keen on terrestrial biodiversity, life in the wild Savannah plains or traversing the countryside can be a thrilling adventure as visitors to developing countries like Kenya. Here are natural ecosystems teeming with wildlife, as one of the last remaining frontiers for attracting direct investments in conservation and support services.

The thrust of such travels with leisure, sometimes with thanksgiving or giving back to society, is gaining an experience in the process: navigating a ranch or conservancy; boat rides in a lake or fishing; religious pilgrimage; planting trees for conservation or picking fruits, nuts in an orchard for fun; feeding zero-grazed animals; riding a camel, ostrich or horse; bird watching; backpack travelling; staying at a secluded or romantic tented camp and star gazing in anticipation for bed and breakfast; learning one or two cultural norms of your destination, among so many other related activities, all constitute Agritourism in the real time sense.

Practically, there is little difference between Agritourism and ecotourism: The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) defines ecotourism as ‘responsible travel to natural areas which conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people’. The basic welfare of any person as a traveller, a host or a tour guide starts with the culinary provision of food security, which is the culmination of good agricultural practices by farmers, cultural practices, biodiversity conservation and related interventions by various stakeholders like the East African Wildlife Society, in provision of anti-poaching equipment to community wildlife conservancies.

According to a Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) portal on ecotourism, the beauty of taking a break from the norm, travelling, unplugging and sampling the farms, cuisine, peace or quiet nature around is grossly underrated. Several countries including Kenya are therefore keen on offering their unique natural and cultural experiences to the world, packaged as a niche ecotourism product.

This is how the idea behind ‘Eco-tourism’ was first practiced by Stefano Cheli and Liz Peacock, focusing on areas of biodiversity before it became a buzzword in Kenya; this tour guide couple created the Cheli & Peacock s in 1985 to share their authentic travel experiences with people touring East Africa from all over the world; employing professional guides from the local communities, and supporting both national reserves and community conservation initiatives.

Tented safari camps would be sent ahead and pitched on new sites, and when clients arrived in a guided tour of the bush, fire was on-going and ready to provide the most dramatic accommodations in the Kenyan wild of the time, with choice cuisine. In retrospect, the real story behind raw Agri-tourism in Kenya is never complete without Micato Safaris, a tour guide firm started in 1966 by Felix and Jane Pinto of Goan origin, one of Kenya’s most highly regarded farmers at the time.

The Pinto family’s Ideal Farm, close to Nairobi National Park, was for many years a model agro-industrial enterprise and the home of award-winning livestock breeds, including an amazing champion pig that attracted visitors from far and wide on Safari.In Kiswahili, the word Safari means going on a protracted journey.

Away from pigs and other fascinating farm enterprises to visit in Kenya, some journeys began and ended by people in pre-colonial times with a fascinating history, leaving behind a trail of adopted names and mannerisms like bird watching; Yet not many Kenyans know that their national bird is the multi-coloured lilac breasted roller or ‘Kambu’ in Kiswahili. However, much as bird watching is becoming a very lucrative tourism activity, you cannot possibly watch birds the whole day in the African sense, without as much as a break for choice cuisine with ingredients produced from local farms, and accommodation in your preferred destination. This is one instance where commercial ecotourism interests meet agriculture face to face.

Apart from bird watching, fascination with butterflies in nature trails as an ecotourism activity has been an alien spectacle for most native Kenyans until very recently. Popular with both locals and foreign visitors alike, nature trails take the form of arduous mountain hikes, serene forest walks or a normal ‘walk in the park’. You cannot beat some local communities in the art of adjustment to foreign ideologies, goods and services, whether from the east or west.

To fully appreciate these interrelations for viable Agritourism ventures in a stable ecosystem that promotes biodiversity and local cultures, a special kind of tourist is needed with the keen eye of an eagle, to get nourished, learn and then create awareness through sharing of their experiences. This is the modern-day Agritourist, probably as best captured in fictional Gulliver’s Travels many years ago in the 18th century by Irish clergyman Jonathan Swift.

In Agritourism, there are thus a myriad of inter-related activities at landscape levels to facilitate travel, recreation, unwinding, education and slog with conservation related issues as an adventure, passion or business. For some travellers, it is the practice of just touring the farms and often participating in on-farm activities with a few practical lessons.

In a commercial sense, Agritourism is that enterprise or agribusiness at a busy farm, ranch, nature park or agricultural processing plant conducted for the enjoyment, curiosity or capacity building of visitors, but above everything else, generate supplemental income through entry fees and on-farm or factory direct sales.

The ability to attract public confidence and hence more visitors to such agribusiness facilities is correlated with the length of time this enterprise has been in operation and the aesthetic value of the surrounding environment. A critical element here is the link between Agritourism and the natural environment in sustaining the flora and fauna, including the preservation of their habitat or built up spaces, to attract visitors.

A case in point is that of butterflies and edible fungi (mushrooms) species that face extinction from the Kakamega equatorial rain forest in western Kenya, due to over-exploitation and degradation of the forest ecosystem. Once these species are extinct, there will be no more visitors from overseas.

Visitors and researchers from as far afield as California in US, the Far East, or European Union often participate in conservation activities directly through research and development of the mushrooms, butterflies and other pollinators or indirectly through park fees that go towards operational costs. Several camps dot the reserve to offer visitors serene accommodation for studies and a sampling of local dishes. A vivid example is the visit by Ennia Bosshard, a yoga teacher who spent sometime around the forest to help co-create a new ecosystem with pollinators, to meet the needs of nature and people, as part of her PhD course on biodiversity.

Another classic case of biodiversity conservation with input from international visitor inflows is that of private conservancies like the Lewa Downs in northern Kenya, and Elewana Elephant Pepper Camp, within the Mara North Conservancy