Funworld September 2008

When Vipul Patel was tasked with building and managing a waterpark, he had no frame of reference. “Apart from what I had seen on television, never in my life had I ever seen the actual thing in real life,” says Patel, a former computer graphics designer and now the general manager of Wild Waters Mombasa.

But he nonetheless rolled up his sleeves and helped give something Mombasa had never seen before, either: a full-scale entertainment destination for families.

“The idea of having this facility is to bring back the family values in our society, where the entire family from the grandparents, the parents, to the children can all have fun together,” says Patel.

Mombasa is considered by many locals and foreigners alike the melting pot of fun, leisure, and entertainment in Kenya. The sun-kissed city is awash with numerous entertainment spots that dot the coastline. The words “Mombasa Raha” or “Leisurely Mombasa” describe the city’s position as the ultimate fun and entertainment hub in Kenya. Enter Wild Waters.

Etched out from a 50-year-old limestone mine in the posh Nyali suburb of Mombasa City, Wild Waters exists to provide one location where families can experience a range of entertainment options, including 11 adult water-slides, seven children’s slides, bumper cars, a merry-go-round, and an arcade.

“Many times, I have sat across from the entrance and seen the excited, yet astonished, expressions on the faces of most people who come here,” says Patel. “[The park] seeks to bring back the family values and togetherness we seem to have lost.”

The Reliable Group, a collection of companies based in Mombasa, owns and operates Wild Waters and provides the financial and technical support it needs to operate. For instance, Reliable brought four Indian engineers into Mombasa to help put up the waterslides in accordance with Patel’s designs. Many additional donors and family members within the company have contributed to the facility’s operations, as well.

Eco-Tourism Increasing in Kenya
As the global eco-tourism appetite continues to grow, Mombasa is increasingly seeing the rehabilitation of abandoned limestone mines into eco-paradises. The holiday resort is quickly carving a market niche for itself in the fast-growing eco-tourism industry with innovative products that continue to bring in more visitors.

Water Ride Says Ernest Mutava, a Kenyan Ministry of Tourism official: “Mombasa is gradually making the change from a purely beach holiday resort and is trying to offer the visitors more products that are fun and informative. The rise of amusement parks in the city that have been reclaimed from old mines is an example that other countries can learn from in developing wastelands into excellent entertainment venues.”

Wild Waters, says Mutava, has gone a step further by not only being an excellent example of reclaiming wastelands; has offered the local and foreign visitors entertainment facilities never seen anywhere else in the region. “The fact that the entire family can gather at the park and have fun together irrespective of their ages is a departure from the norm as compared to other entertainment facilities in the city,” explains Mutava.

Since the Kenya shillings (Kes) 300 million (US$4.6 million) facility opened its doors in January 2007, the reception it has received from the locals has been phenomenal, according to park operators. Says Monica Nyokabi, the marketing executive at Wild Waters: “We are seeing more and more people trek to the facility. Most of them are coming here for their very first time after they have heard of the facility from their friends.

“At the moment, the largest number of visitors we have received in one day is well over a thousand people. The facility has the capacity to handle up to 7,000 people, and we hope that as we go into the festive Christmas holidays, our figures will gradually improve,” she adds. As the park continues into its second year of operation, Patel is interested in bringing in more fun games to Wild Waters that will keep visitors coming for more. Specifically, he is looking at an adjacent piece of wasteland he hopes to develop and integrate into the existing facilities at Wild Waters. “I have been thinking of bringing roller coaster rides that will take visitors on an aerial, ground, and underground tour of the facility,” he says. “There are so many exciting fun and games that we are keen on bringing here once we get more land for development.”

But all in due time, he says with a broad smile: “We are just learning to crawl; wait until we stand on our feet and learn to walk.”

Wild Waters Bounces Back

DESPITE UNREST IN KENYA, Mombasa’s Wild Waters remained positive.

Kenya went through a tumultuous time in the first two months of this year following the clashes and skirmishes that erupted across the nation following the disputed presidential elections of Dec. 27, 2007. All spheres of the Kenyan economy—ranging from transport and communications to agriculture and tourism—were heavily hit and led to more than 300 billion (Kes) Kenya shillings (US$5 billion) in losses.

The tourism and entertainment industry, which accounts for more than US$1 billion in revenue every year, was hit hard during its peak season, resulting in massive cancellations of both domestic and foreign tourists to the Kenyan coast. The nation saw losses exceeding Kes 850 million (US$14 million) to the sector and more than 120,000 job cuts in January and February.

Wild Waters in Mombasa was one of the many entertainment facilities in Kenya that bore the brunt of the political upheaval. Vipul Patel, the general manager of Wild Waters Mombasa, says Wild Waters lost out on the most revenue-generating months of the year; it closed on Jan. 15 due to the clashes but took advantage of the opportunity to conduct maintenance work on the whole park.

“The cost [due to the riots] had been great, especially being a new facility; however, we are positive and have invested Kes 4 million (US$67,000) this year to improve and upgrade the park,” Patel says. “We are now more focused on local tourists and attract the local residents to take advantage of the new sports bar and amusement games we have added.”

The park now boasts three new areas, and Patel says the staff is primed for the upcoming season. During the spring, the managers were proactive and attended a holiday fair in Nairobi, where they marketed Wild Waters to the local population, an effort that proved successful. “We intend to keep the facility alive and promote the industry in this part of the world, and nothing will stop us from providing families entertainment,” Patel says.

— Denis Gathanju

Denis Gathanju is a freelance business journalist and editor based in Nakuru, Kenya. He reports on trade and business issues in Kenya, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. He can be contacted at dgathanju@gmail.com.