Sometimes, you don't realise you’re building a story until you look back and see how all the chapters connect.
For a long time, I travelled
without documenting my travels. I would visit a place, take pictures, have an
amazing experience, come back home, save the pictures on my phone and move on
with my life. Looking back now, I realise I was sitting on stories I didn't
even know I had.
Then Kenya happened.
Or perhaps I should say, the Kenya stories happened.
My relationship with Kenya has
become one of those beautiful chapters of my life that I keep returning to, and
every time I do, I discover something new.
My first proper attempt at
documenting one of my Kenyan experiences was in March 2025. I wrote. Then I
went back again in May and June and wrote some more. Something happened that I
did not expect: people began to notice the stories. They found their way to
Kenya, where they were read, shared and noticed by people within the country's
tourism space.
And then, in August 2025, came
the email that changed the way I looked at this whole travel-writing thing.
I
had been invited to attend the Magical Kenya Travel Expo as a Hosted Media
Representative.
I was going to Kenya, not just as
a tourist, but as media. I was being invited to experience the destination and
then tell people what I saw.
And I went.
Kenya Is Many Stories
What followed was one of the most
fascinating travel experiences I have ever had.
One thing I learnt very quickly
is that Kenya is not one story. Kenya is many stories happening at once. There
is the Kenya of the coast, the Kenya of the city, the Kenya of the highlands,
the Kenya of wildlife, food, culture, history and adventure.
I experienced pieces of all of
them, from Mombasa and the historic walls of Fort Jesus to the tea plantations
of Kiambu; from Nairobi and the rooftop of the Kenyatta International
Convention Centre to Nanyuki, Mount Kenya, Maiyan, Ol Pejeta and the Maasai
Mara.
Each place gave me something
different. Some gave me photographs. Some gave me memories. And some gave me
stories I knew I had to tell.
But somewhere between the
photographs, conversations, road trips, safaris and experiences, something else
happened. I began to understand that there is a difference between travelling
and telling a travel story.
A tourist sees. A storyteller
observes. A tourist takes pictures. A storyteller asks, What is the story behind this place? A tourist comes home with
memories. A storyteller comes home with material.
And Kenya helped me discover that perhaps I was becoming
the latter.
The MKTE Effect
The Magical Kenya Travel Expo
played an important part in that transformation. Being at MKTE exposed me to
tourism from a perspective that goes beyond being a visitor. I met people
working across the tourism value chain. I listened to conversations about
destinations, hospitality, travel, investment, partnerships and the business of
tourism.
I created content. I wrote. I
documented. And I began to see the responsibility that comes with telling the
story of a destination.
Because when someone invites you
to experience their country and tell others about it, you are not simply taking
pictures. You are interpreting an experience for people who may never have been
there.
That changed the way I travelled. It changed the way I
looked and, perhaps most importantly, it changed the way I wrote.
And Then Came MKTE 2026
When the opportunity to return to
the Magical Kenya Travel Expo came again, I applied. I didn't know what would
happen. I simply knew that I had enjoyed the first experience, I had done the
work, and I wanted another opportunity to tell the story of Kenya.
Then the email came.
Selected
again. Hosted Media Representative. Again.
I sat there thinking about the
journey, from writing my first Kenya story, to being noticed, to attending MKTE
2025, experiencing Kenya as hosted media, doing the work and eventually being
invited back. That, for me, is a full-circle moment.
The 16th edition of the Magical Kenya Travel Expo will take place from 6–8
October 2026 at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi, bringing together tourism
stakeholders, buyers, exhibitors, investors, innovators and media around
opportunities shaping the future of tourism.
This year's theme, “Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence: Shaping the Future
of
Tourism,” is particularly interesting to me because tourism is
changing. The way we discover destinations is changing. The way we plan trips,
make bookings, share experiences and decide where to go is changing. Digital
platforms and artificial intelligence are increasingly becoming part of the
travel journey.
But I don't believe technology
makes the human story less important. If anything, it makes authentic
storytelling even more important.
Technology can recommend a
destination. An algorithm can help you plan an itinerary. A beautiful
photograph can make you curious. But someone still has to tell you what it
feels like to stand in a place. Someone has to describe the silence of the
bush, the energy of a city, the taste of a meal, the warmth of its people or
the feeling of standing before something as extraordinary as the last two
northern white rhinos on earth.
That human connection is something technology cannot
completely replicate. And perhaps that is why the theme of MKTE 2026 resonates
with me. The future of tourism may be increasingly digital, but people will
always want to experience places through stories.
Going Back
So, in October, I am going back
to Kenya.
The three-day Magical Kenya
Travel Expo will be followed by a five-day familiarisation trip to another part
of the country. Which means... more
Kenya. More places, more people, more food, more culture, more landscapes,
more experiences and, hopefully, many more stories.
This time, I am returning with a
different mindset. I am going as someone who understands the responsibility
that comes with being invited to tell a destination's story.
Kenya is trusting me with a
little piece of its story, and I intend to tell it well.
Perhaps that is the biggest thing
Kenya has given me. Not a passport stamp. Not another destination checked off a
list. Perspective.
It taught me that stories are
everywhere. Sometimes they are in the places we visit. Sometimes they are in
the people we meet. And sometimes, the story is in the person we become while
experiencing it all.
I have travelled to other
countries too: Tanzania, Zanzibar, Côte d'Ivoire, Zambia, Uganda, Namibia and
more. For years, I kept many of those experiences mostly to myself. Now, I am
going back into my archives. I am finding the photographs, remembering the
places, revisiting the moments and writing.
Because I have finally realised something:
These experiences are not just memories.
They are stories.
And I have stories to tell.
Veronica Abuede is a communications professional,
storyteller and unapologetic lover of travel. She enjoys discovering places
beyond the postcard, meeting the people behind the destination and turning the
experiences into stories worth sharing.