Friends of Shimoni Forest
FSF’s main tourist
attraction is a guided trail that takes you through the heart of Shimoni forest
and to local places of interest such as the highly respected Kaya’s.
The preparation work
involved meeting with the secretary of the group, Athumani Fahadili, weekly to
go over ideas about the content and layout of the brochure. The meetings were
an excellent way of not only communicating new ideas but they gave Athumani the
chance to use a computer an essential skill that all locals are eager to
improve upon.
Hassan in his FSF t-shirt |
One of the important
selling points FSF felt that they needed to really push was the opportunity for
tourists to stay in a Homestay. This is a unique experience where tourists can
really integrate with the community by staying with a local family who provide
all of their food and allow them into their own home. It was therefore
important to establish which families were prepared to offer a Homestay and
what type of living conditions tourists could expect. Athumani organized an
afternoon where we went and looked around the Homestays which was such an
experience in itself and I wasn’t even staying with the families. The
friendliness of the host families was amazing and you could tell how much they
really wanted the Homestays to start taking place. Not only would FSF be making
money from the tourists but the host families would have another much needed
income for themselves.
Children of Shimoni |
Seeing how much the
both the local community and the conservation of Shimoni Forest would benefit
from higher levels of tourism in the village makes you realize what good work
Friends of Shimoni Forest are doing and hopefully once this new brochure is out
it will kick start a new wave of opportunity for the local people.
Hannah Riddle- Community Intern
Hannah Riddle- Community Intern
1 comments:
Keep up the good work! Say hi to Athumani for me! Matt
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