{"id":18916,"date":"2022-06-22T06:43:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T13:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/?p=18916"},"modified":"2023-08-23T23:48:16","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T06:48:16","slug":"samyukta-manikumar-monthly-star","status":"publish","type":"darksky_news","link":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/news\/samyukta-manikumar-monthly-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Samyukta Manikumar: Dark nights from Kenya to Slovenia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Each month DarkSky International features DarkSky Advocate from the worldwide network of volunteers working to protect the night. This month we\u2019re highlighting the work of Samyukta Manikumar in Slovenia and Kenya.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Meet IDA Delegate Samyukta Manikumar from Slovenia\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yV0WE619AZ8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Samyukta Manikumar\u2019s most salient memory of the night is watching a lunar eclipse in the vast, dry, flatland near Magadi, a small town in Kenya&#8217;s Rift Valley in East Africa. There as part of an astronomy outreach project, her team was giving locals the opportunity to observe the eclipse and night sky through telescopes \u2014 some for the first time.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt was a really small village, completely untouched and very little light,\u201d she recalls. \u201cTo be able to see the lunar eclipse with the planets lining up and the galaxy \u2014&nbsp; it was moving in a very visceral, primal way. You&#8217;ll always remember the first time you really feel it. And probably the reason I remembered it so fondly is because that was the first time I really felt that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Talk to Samyukta for five minutes and you will feel totally at ease thanks to her gentle, thoughtful energy. Now based in Slovenia, her work is wide and varied: she is an astrotourism consultant, writer, designer, astronomer, mathematician, starbathing guide, conservationist, and a member of DarkSky&#8217;s International Committee.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Samyukta\u2019s aims as a dark-sky advocate are to design tourism and conservation experiences with a dark-sky component, as well as to lead personally guided stargazing tours in the mountains of Slovenia.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter wp-image-19127 size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" src=\"https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-1-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19127\" srcset=\"https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-1-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-1-scaled-600x400.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-1-scaled-480x320.jpeg 480w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-1-scaled-1440x960.jpeg 1440w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-1-scaled-240x160.jpeg 240w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-1-scaled-720x480.jpeg 720w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-1-scaled-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-1-scaled-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-1-scaled-2160x1439.jpeg 2160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption pt-4 mx-5 md:mx-0 !mb-0 !mt-0\">The location of the starbathing experience in Maribor, Slovenia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Born and raised in Kenya, Samyukta found her love of dark skies while visiting safari camps with her family as a child.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe would go every couple of weekends, often to the parks in the game reserves where they have to turn the lights off by a certain time and it&#8217;s generally quite dark,\u201d she says, emphasizing the high level of environmental awareness around Kenya\u2019s game reserves. \u201cThey use low and little lighting. It&#8217;s very romantic and natural and wild.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These early experiences under the East African sky and out in nature, interacting with animals in unconfined and respectful, distant spaces instilled a love for the natural world in Samyukta and encouraged her to pursue studies in science and astronomy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After university, she was involved with Sayari, an astrotourism-for-development pilot project in Kenyan game reserves. It was then that she got in touch with DarkSky International and learned more about the issue of light pollution and how dark skies could be a useful selling point for Kenya\u2019s tourism development plans. She also worked with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/travellingtelescope.co.uk\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Travelling Telescope<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a Kenyan social enterprise promoting social change using astronomy, with a specific focus on raising awareness about the gender imbalance in STEM.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">With COVID-19 creating major challenges in the Kenyan tourism industry, Samyukta is currently spending her time in Slovenia, a country she praises for its environmental awareness and commitment to dark-sky protection. Slovenia was the first country to pass a national law to curb rising light levels back in 2007.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full wp-image-19119\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2558\" src=\"https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19119\" srcset=\"https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-scaled-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-scaled-100x100.jpeg 100w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-scaled-600x600.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-scaled-480x480.jpeg 480w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-scaled-1440x1440.jpeg 1440w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-scaled-240x240.jpeg 240w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-scaled-720x720.jpeg 720w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-scaled-1536x1536.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-scaled-2048x2046.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-scaled-2160x2158.jpeg 2160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption pt-4 mx-5 md:mx-0 !mb-0 !mt-0\">The location of the starbathing experience in Maribor, Slovenia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt\u2019s an easy place to start and have this conversation,\u201d she says of Slovenia\u2019s high sensitivity to environmental protection. \u201cMore than 60% of the country is forested and they work hard to increase that number. There\u2019s a really strong understanding, compared to most other places, on the importance of the environment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition to her consultancy business, which designs dark-sky tourism experiences and products, Samyukta leads starbathing excursions in the mountains above Maribor where she lives. These aim to give people the chance to be fully immersed in the outdoors at night in a safe way.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cDuring the day, you&#8217;re just bombarded with visual stuff and everything else is kind of toned down,\u201d Samyukta says about why she started the starbathing experiences. \u201c I noticed that, when I went out in the dark, everything else was heightened. You can hear better and you smell better, and everything else is alert because you can&#8217;t see so well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full wp-image-19121\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1390\" src=\"https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/3-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19121\" srcset=\"https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/3-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/3-scaled-600x326.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/3-scaled-480x261.jpeg 480w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/3-scaled-1440x782.jpeg 1440w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/3-scaled-240x130.jpeg 240w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/3-scaled-720x391.jpeg 720w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/3-scaled-1536x834.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/3-scaled-2048x1112.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/darksky.org\/app\/uploads\/2022\/06\/3-scaled-2160x1173.jpeg 2160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption pt-4 mx-5 md:mx-0 !mb-0 !mt-0\">The experiences Samyukta designs use people&#8217;s senses to get them to connect with darkness.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She has also created a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/samyuktamanikumar.com\/lp-database\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">database<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that catalogs the impacts of light pollution on wildlife species in Kenya by cross-referencing the research conducted in other places.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cNobody is doing this research on the ground in Kenya because the concept of light pollution has not really touched the country yet,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the future, Samyukta wants to compile Kenyan cultural stories of the night together with information about how Kenyan wildlife is affected by light pollution into what she calls an \u201castro-journal\u201d \u2014 a book that would encourage people to go outside and engage with the night sky.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThis heritage is just disappearing so quickly,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are no records, nothing. Because it&#8217;s all oral. You need someone to document it. I want to encourage people to develop a personal relationship with the night.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You can connect with Samyukta on Instagram <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/samyuktamanikumar\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">@samyuktamanikumar<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or via her website <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/samyuktamanikumar.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">samyuktamanikumar.com<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>To join the DarkSky Advocate Network, go<span>&nbsp;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/darksky.org\/who-we-are\/advocates\/\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Slovenian astrotourism consultant Samyukta Manikumar shares her experiences in Kenya and Slovenia, promoting dark skies and designing tourism experiences that connect people with the night sky and nature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":19115,"template":"","categories":[1287,633],"tags":[769,351,232,772,765,768,770,11,681,764,771,767,766,230],"advocacy_type":[123,285],"events_terms":[],"locations_terms":[],"admin_issue":[],"class_list":["post-18916","darksky_news","type-darksky_news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-monthly-star","category-news","tag-astronomy-outreach","tag-astrotourism","tag-conservation","tag-cultural-heritage","tag-dark-sky-advocacy","tag-environmental-awareness","tag-kenya","tag-light-pollution","tag-monthly-star","tag-samyukta-manikumar","tag-slovenia","tag-starbathing","tag-stargazing-tours","tag-wildlife","advocacy_type-advocacy","advocacy_type-monthly-star"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/darksky_news\/18916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/darksky_news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/darksky_news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18916"},{"taxonomy":"advocacy_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/advocacy_type?post=18916"},{"taxonomy":"events_terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events_terms?post=18916"},{"taxonomy":"locations_terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/locations_terms?post=18916"},{"taxonomy":"admin_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darksky.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/admin_issue?post=18916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}