Iten: The undisputed home of champions
What you need to know:
- Indeed, Governor Alex Tolgos has tourism high on his agenda for the next seven days.
Elgeyo Marakwet is commonly referred to as a county of champions.
It is difficult to dispute this since the devolved unit is home of a large number of world or Olympic champions.
For instance, the men’s marathon world record holder Wilson Kipsang, women’s half marathon world record holder Florence Kiplagat, double world marathon champion Ednah Kiplagat and two-time London Marathon champion Mary Keitany, live within two kilometres of each other in the county’s headquarters — Iten.
The success of these athletes has turned Iten and Elgeyo Marakwet into a sports tourism haven. Athletes from all over the world flock the area to live and train with the Kenyan stars.
Besides athletics, Iten is well-known for its global paragliding and professional cycling, scenic landscape and the Rimoi Game Reserve.
Indeed, Governor Alex Tolgos has tourism high on his agenda for the next seven days.
In the coming week, Mr Tolgos will roll out several tourism initiatives in a county he describes as “Kenya’s best kept secret.” The county boss will commission rehabilitation works at Rimoi Game Reserve, the home of Kenya’s largest herds of elephants and bird species, where he will hoist the park’s signage on the Rimoi-Tabar Road.
“As soon as we came into office, we developed a plan to revamp Rimoi and I’m happy to report that we have made very good progress and soon it will be re-opened for both local and foreign tourists,” Mr Tolgos said on Monday evening.
Re-open game reserve
“In collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Service, we have recruited 10 rangers from the county who have undergone training at the KWS training school in Manyani and are awaiting deployment,” added the governor.
The on-going revamping of the Rimoi Game Reserve is expected to be completed by October this year paving the way for its re-opening.
In his busy diary over the next week, the governor will also launch a women’s empowerment initiative, in areas outlying the reserve, that includes market stalls, fruit, salad and honey processing projects in Chepsigot and Biretwo.
Mr Tolgos will hold a mid-day public baraza next week on Thursday at Kabulwo chief’s camp followed by the launch of crocodile picnic and camp sites in Rimoi reserve.
Coming from the county of champions, the county boss makes time for the occasional jog in Iten in between the week in a schedule that has him attend cabinet meetings on Mondays, meet residents on Tuesdays with Wednesday to Friday set aside for supervising and inspecting development projects.
An engineer by profession, Governor Tolgos is very much a hands-on person, especially as far as construction and rehabilitation of roads and other projects are concerned.
