Repair the Bridge over Yala Falls.

The bare bridge over Yala Falls

The time river Yala has come to the press it has been for negative reasons. Most recent is a foreign farm producing grains at the Yala swamp. Environmental conservatives hit the roof for it could upset the delicate ecosystem and force plants and animals into extinction.
This river emptying its waters into Lake Victoria, according to dominion Farms- the foreign farm- could be of socio-economic gain through their initiative. But upstream at Yala town there is Yala Falls, a neglect tourist attraction site with an engineering wreck of a bridge.
The Maseno University Seventh Day Adventist (MUSDA) organized a retreat at the falls and it was the first time in my life to see a concrete bridge with untended wires and without a railing. What left me in awe was that it was finished with plank of woods rotting in the humid environment over the falls.
A tourist site like this if harnessed could act as an impetus to spur the sleepy Yala to a prosperous socio-economic path. Foreign and local tourists, and students from various learning institutions like the Odera Kango satellite college of Moi university could increase revenue to the local county.
But this ain’t the case as fallen fence surrounds the falls with naked locals swimming and bathing in the canals. For the spirit of adventure I have to acknowledge the beauty is breathtaking and for a reader who has never been to the fall then tag along:
Walking from Yala town to the falls about 1Km away the semi arid vegetation of shrubs suddenly changed to a swampy one of papyrus reeds and hyacinths. Frogs, butterflies floating in iridescent colors and chirping birds gaily welcome you. This peaceful tranquility contrasts the rumbling on the incessant falls yonder.
Further on you easily jump over brown streams silently, but steadily floundering to meet and crash in a thicket below in a thunderous boiling cauldron showering you with sprays. In the valley below the river is subdued as it snakes away in over grown bank to the lake at the background.
You enjoy the deafening noise and the peace of sun setting over the lake in the background, but alas you shudder in fear as you are suspended several meters over a waterfall in an engineering misfit of a bridge!!

|Published on The Standard and The Star Newspapers