Kenya's snow business stars

Animal sculptures were popular this year

A team from Kenya has won an award in possibly the country's least promising event - snow sculpting.

Michael Kaloki and Peter Walala represented Kenya in the Quebec Winter Carnival.

In the future, we may not have any rhinos to sculpt about or any snow to sculpt them on

Michael Kaloki

And their 3m by 2m sculpture of a rhino was given special recognition in the amateur category.

Snow sculpting is an event at the Winter Olympics and that is the pair's next goal.

"That's our dream," Mr Kaloki told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

He got into snow sculpting when he visited the Winter Carnival while studying in Toronto.

"This is fantastic," he thought.

"Maybe one day I can get someone in Kenya who's crazy enough to work with me on this and form an ice and snow sculpting team."

Snow threat

Eventually, he teamed up with sculptor Peter Walala.

The pair practised in the cold room of a Nairobi hotel.

Mr Kaloki said the rhino sculpture took about a week to finish, working long days and sometimes on a ladder.

Kenya's rhinos are threatened by poachers, while global warming is reducing what little snow there is in Kenya - on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya.

Kaloki wants other Kenyans to follow his snow carving lead

So the team used their snow sculpture to raise awareness of these twin problems.

"In the future, we may not have any rhinos to sculpt about or any snow to sculpt them on," Mr Kaloki said.

When the television cameraman and actor first told his Kenyan friends that he was taking up snow sculpting, they though he was crazy.

But now he hopes that their success in Quebec will inspire other Kenyans to take up the hobby.