Aquaculture Tourism in Africa

(Central Kenya, Rift Valley and Lake Victoria Basin Aquaculture Tourism, Aquaculture Safaris in Western Kenya, Lake Victoria Aquaculture Safaris)

Aquaculture Tourism is gaining momentum in kenya. Victoria safaris will take you for a tour of places where fish and other water species are being bread for domestic consumption or as a commercial entity in Kenya. This is part of Eco tourism coupled with community Development tourism.

Aquaculture takes many different forms ranging from the small hand-dug 'kitchen ponds' to fairly large earth ponds of 1 000 m2. Dams and other impoundments used for storing water are often stocked with fish and harvested periodically. Intensive commercial fish culture has been attempted at the Baobab Farm at Mombasa using circular concrete ponds and raceways. Cage culture, on the other hand, is being attempted along the shores of Lake Victoria and in some dams in Central Kenya with some degree of success.The main aquaculture activities practiced by poor households in inland areas include small-scale farming of tilapia.Aquaculture has lately become a source of healthy animal protein in many parts of Kenya.

Aquaculture practices include the intensive, semi-intensive and extensive systems. The semi-intensive systems form the bulk of aquaculture production in Kenya, contributing more than 70 percent of the total production from aquaculture. Intensive systems are few, while hyper-intensive systems are being set up and are projected to contribute as much as 90 percent of all farmed fish in Kenya by both volume and value. It has now spread to parts of the North Rift, Central and Eastern Provinces of kenya, which initially were not fish growing areas.

A number of fish farmers who were farming at subsistence level have turned into small-scale commercial fish farmers earning as much as Kshs 450 000 (US$ 6 000) per acre of water surface. Some of the commercial farmers who are starting production wantto produce both for the local and export markets. Thus, it is likely that in the next three years aquaculture will make a significant contribution to both food security and foreign exchange earnings in Kenya.

Central Kenya Aquaculture Tour
This tour takes you to the heart of central kenya where you will see on-farm participatory research in practice through government and donor participation. You will visit the folowing major Government Aquaculture Research Institutions ;

The Sagana Aquaculture Research Station in Central Kenya
At the Sagana Aquaculture Research Station in Central Kenya, you will see how efforts are underway to intensify the culture of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Several experiments have been conducted and others are in progress to evaluate different fish feeds, both as single ingredients and in combination.

Rift Valley Aquaculture Tour
This tour will take you to Moi University, Department of Fisheries, Eldoret, Uasin Gishu District, Rift Valley Province. You will then visit the local fish farmers in various localities within rift valley province. (Moi University offers a MSc and a Ph.D degree in Fisheries with an Aquaculture option. A diploma in Aquaculture can be obtained from the Kenya Wildlife Training Institute at Naivasha. Other short courses in aquaculture are offered by the Department of Fisheries at Moi University.)

Nyanza and Western Kenya Aquaculture Tours
This tour takes you to the fish farming experts in western kenya:-

Lake Basin Development Authority - Aquaculture Project
This is the leading instituition in Kenya in the promotion of aquaculture activities.Since its inception in 1979, the Lake Basin Development Authority has since rehabilitated over 5000 fish ponds and constructed about 1000 new fish ponds in western kenya.Its Fish Farming Centre in Kibos continues to provide an excellent forum for adaptive fish farming research for the benefit of fish farmers in the region. With its Rice Mill at Kibos, it is a major supplier of balanced fish feeds in the region together with Dominion Farms.

Lake Basin Development Authority trains practising and emergent fish farmers in the 27 districts in western kenya.It also produces high quality Catfish and Tilapia fingerlings for sale from its managed fish farms in Rongo, Kokwanyo, Borabu, Kibos, Yala, Alupe, Chwele and Lugari. Kibos fish Mill produces high quality formulated fish feeds which are then sold to fish farmers in the region. It also provides quality Baitfish for the lake victora Nile perch fishery at affordable prices which are then marketed at Baitfish - Marketing outlets in Luanda Kotieno and Marenga in port victoria.Apart from offering consultancy services to the fish farmers, it also offers extension services to practising and emergent fish farmers in kenya.Lake Basin Development Authority exports tilapia and catfish fingerlings to eastern Uganda and Northern Tanzania.

Dominion Farms - Africa Aquaculture Project
This Tour takes you to the Nyanza province of kenya at the delta of River Yala in siaya and bondo districts,where you find a fantastic modern farm -Dominion Farms. In this farm an Aquaculture project is on going . Under the administration of Country Director, Mr. Grahame F.H Vetch and Fisheries Manager, Enos Were, the Aquaculture project is producing catfish and Tilapia fingerlings from Nine fish ponds which are fully operational,expansion of other additional ponds is ongoing.

The ponds acts as the Breeding and the hatchery base for the supply of Catfish and Tilapia fingerlings to the local farmers' ponds in kenya and the east african countries of Uganda and Tanzania.The The Dominon Farms practice the cage and the semi-intensive aquaculture systems.With the creation of Bob Greene weir,a large dam has developed on river yala,the Dominion farms will be able to produce tons of Tilapia and catfish for local consumption and export.

This has been made possible due to the Aquaculture project on the farm.Dominion farms' aquaculture project in kenya stands pivotal as a leading resource in research for international students studying-Aquaculture- as a major in all levels of discipline. Victoria safaris will take you for a tour of these farms in Kenya. ("A weir is a small overflow-type dam commonly used to raise the level of a river or stream. Weirs have traditionally been used to create mill ponds as in tha case of yala swamp. Water flows over the top of a weir, although some weirs have sluice gates which release water at a level below the top of the weir. The crest of an overflow spillway on a large dam is often called a weir.")

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