Kenya lost a historic opportunity to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II

In March 2012, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Diamond Jubilee marking 60 years as British monarch. She came to throne on 5^th February 1952 after the death of her father King George VI while on holiday at Tree Tops in Nyeri with her husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh at the age of 25 years. The couple had to cut short their holiday and travel back to Britain where she was proclaimed Queen two days later on 8^th February 1951 although her coronation was held in Westminister Abbey on 2^nd June 1952.

The world famous fifty rooms Tree Top Hotel is located in the Aberdares National Park and overlooks a salt lick and water hole where various wild animals including elephants, rhinos and lions converge. The hotel offers a clear view of the magnificent snow peaks of Mount Kenya.

The hotel was initially a two bed roomed tree house built by Major Eric Sherbrooke Walker for his wife in a 300 year old fig tree in 1932. It is popular cliché that the Queen went up the tree as a princess and came down as a queen. In 1983, the Queen made a much publicised visit to the hotel where she spent a night.

The Ministry of Tourism which has been making concerted effort to market Kenya as a tourist destination should have ceased this golden opportunity to commemorate the Queens visit by liaising with Posta Kenya and issuing a commemorative postage stamp to coincide with the celebrations. The stamp would have earned Kenya the much needed publicity as well as revenue for the financially challenged corporation. The Ministry of Tourism and Posta Kenya lost a similar opportunity in 2002 as the queen celebrated her golden jubilee. As a country, we could be losing out on many more such opportunities by the day.