Pageant contestants arrive in Kenya for six days of filming
Kenya is no stranger to spectacle but its capital yesterday hosted a glittering event quite unlike anything the African nation has seen before - the arrival of 18 Hong Kong contestants for a six-day filming trip.
The finalists were greeted at Nairobi airport by Kenyan tourism officials, the media and aboriginal Masai people who sang and danced to the rhythm of traditional drums an hour before dawn.
'This is a big, big event for us. This is the first time an overseas beauty pageant has come to Kenya,' said Rose Kwena, public relations manager of the Kenya Tourist Board, sponsoring the trip with Kenya Airways.
Organiser TVB has sent the contestants to Kenya to film publicity footage for the contest, which will be held in August.
The 18 finalists are being accompanied by pop singer Gigi Leung Wing-kei and a group of 26 Hong Kong journalists and more than 40 support and production staff from TVB.
Hong Kong's first honorary consul to Kenya, Tam Wing-kun, who leads the delegation, is hoping the beauty queens will help to promote Hong Kong as a tourist destination and attract Hongkongers to Kenya.