The Diaspora University Town (DUT) Project Director, Dan Kamau, Lillian Mweru of Seattle, WA, Rosemary Gatimu of Faith Apostolic Church, and other Kenyans toured Tsavo East Park for one day. They saw four Big Five animals: the lion, leopard, elephant, and buffalo. The only animal in the Big Five they did not encounter was the Rhino. The other animals they encountered in the park included Zebras, Gazelles, Giraffes, Antelopes, Ostriches, diverse birds, and other animals.
Diaspora University plans to make the University's Tsavo East and West parks project centers. Using the project learning approach that Diaspora University has adopted from WPI University, Diaspora University students will work on projects that sustain the park's environmental quality as more tourists visit, animal sustenance, and tourism growth in Tsavo.
On the tourism side, the DUT plan to be implemented is based on the Florida, USA, tourism plan that achieves 120 million visitors to Florida annually. The DUT tourism plan targets 1 million tourists annually from the international market and another 500,000 from the Kenyan market to visit Tsavo and other attractions in Taita Taveta County. This will mean an average of about 5,000 tourists a day.
After touring Tsavo and seeing about 30 vehicles in the park with tourists, Dan said the DUT tourism plan spearheaded by Cathy Jackie Mutahi of Baltimore, MD, will be activated before the end of 2025. He projects that by 2030, when the plan achieves the 1.5 million tourists’ goal, it will have created over 2,000 jobs through diverse MSMEs.
During the Tsavo tour, Dan saw opportunities for DUT investors to buy over 300 vehicles to take tourists to Tsavo. He also explored the idea of Diaspora University Trust, jointly with Ndara B Community, building a hotel inside the park. On seeing where the MZIIMA pipe passes in Tsavo and other features, Dan says that as Diaspora University students put in thousands of hours through the Diaspora University Project-based learning approach, Tsavo will grow Voi and Taita Taveta's GDP.
