Tito & Stuffy Lanyon, whose second best love other than each other was the coast, decided whilst upcountry on their passion fruit farm (the first and best bottled passion juice in Kenya, I'm told), to construct the viewer which you see in the photo.

Incidentally this photo was taken in 1955 at Kisite just before its maiden dip. It just shows what it is possible to achieve with a steel wine barrel, two oil drums with the top and bottoms removed, some rubber gasket material, two glass windows, and a rope ladder. To keep it at the correct depth and upright, a weight was attached to the bottom of the craft.

During the second world war, HMS Ramilles from the British Navy was using Kisite, which I am told is somewhat smaller than it was before the second world war, for target practice. In the fifties many of the shells used which were fired from the guns of HMS Ramilles were littered around Kisite. They were 15 inch shells, some of the largest ever fired, and just one of these produced the correct ballast for the viewer to lie at the correct depth to see the fish and coral clearly.

So the device was sent down by train to Benjy Horton, then in charge of the fishing station at Shimoni, who looked after it until Tito & Stuffy arrived to take it out to Kisite. Peter Hill & his wife Estella, other farmers from Sotik, he being an amateur photographer, was so keen to use the viewer that they also made the journey from Sotik to Shimoni to take what must have been the first underwater photos ever taken at Kisite.

Sadly the two eyed monster from Sotik was only used on that one day, just six hours after this photo was taken. But of course now it is much easier to see what is under the water out there at Kisite, but unfortunately for some of you, it will involve getting wet.

The Park was formed in 1973 but after heated debate with the local fishing community a section of the park in 1978 became a Reserve, allowing traditional limited fishing and for use by the community.

The Park and Reserve are both a paradise for marine life, water birds, boaters, snorkellers and divers alike.