What is the Tembo naming Festival?
“Karibu magical Kenya”. This is always the opening phrase by Kenyan tour guides and travel agencies. Kenya inherited the name “magical Kenya” from the multi-experiential destinations that offer unique, diverse, memorable, and authentic travel experiences. She also houses the “big five” wild animals that are always at the center of attraction. That is the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and cape buffalo.
Let’s focus on the elephant, also known as “Tembo” in Swahili. They are majestic and intelligent animals. Kenya has both forest and savannah elephants which are the largest mammals on land. They are important ecosystem engineers that help to maintain the balance and continuity of forests and savannahs, making them an essential component of a sustainable environment. By dispersing seeds, and improving soil fertility- dung contains nutrients, and helps in clearing the forests.
Unfortunately, Tembos are faced with challenges that threaten their existence i.e poaching and human-wildlife conflict. To facilitate their conservation The Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife & Heritage launched the Tembo Naming Festival at the Amboseli National Park in Kajiado County. The goal is to secure a future for elephants and their habitats in peaceful co-existence with humans while providing benefits for posterity.
What you need to adapt and name an elephant
The festival promotes awareness of the importance of protecting elephants and their habitats while offering Kenyans the opportunity to participate in conservation efforts. During the festival, you have a chance to adopt an elephant after contributing funds towards their conservation. The price is friendly or affordable as it ranges between KES 100,000 and KES 500,000.
As the “foster parent,” you will pick the elephant’s first name while the second name will be a Maasai name based on the animal’s profile, history, role in the family, and physical attributes like the state of its tusks. After the adoption, you will be able to access information about the elephant, as these animals travel long distances from Somalia to Tanzania.
The festival raised KES 16.5 million from 25 organizations and individuals who contributed to elephant conservation efforts. There were 17 new adapters. Kenya hopes that the relief efforts and conservation initiatives will help to mitigate the impact of the drought on communities and wildlife living around the parks.