Day five walking the elephant talk to the market place

Day five: I would wake up from Simba Lodge ready for another busy day expected to walk from Talek, Tipirikwani and withdrawing for the day at Nkoilale about 30km, I had a brief meeting with hotel manager thanking him for support only to here that the Lodge will accommodate my 6 guest on the last night before completing the walk, such gestures would encourage me a lot and I would forget about the blisters and headache that would at time disturbs and slow me from mediating. I am now at Talek shopping center and two gentleman walked towards me holding two dozens of water for my team, today must have been a blessing day says Elias! I did not know that the same thing would happen at Nkoilale after our meeting 4 dozens of water were donated to us by Major Keshe’s old friends. It’s a sunny day and children’s are now ready to escort me out of Talek town and immediately we started walking there was dust all over from the moving crowd that affected my eyes compelling me to wear sun glasses for the next one hour.

We are now walking in the vast dusty area for the next 1 and half hours before addressing a meeting under a big euphorbia tree, this reminded me of a literature book “ Chini ya mbuyu “ under the Boabob “ done in Kiswahili by Mohamed Said Abdalla “ MSA” denoting how serious meeting and decisions were done under the tree in Africa and only Maasai community has maintained this edict. “ I am encouraged by your humility, love, and unity in waiting for my team and I here under this “ Empopongi” I encourage you to continue embracing the culture which act as catalyst for tourism development those were my words to the crowd I found under the tree”; Old and middle men with some who were drunk walked me to the bridge singing and once again lifting their “ Rungu’s” walking sticks a symbol of unity, strength and solidarity to our course.

I will be waking all the way to Nkoilale trading center very dusty and dirty town with a lot of plastic bags littered everywhere. It’s very hot and once again we did a meeting under an acacia that was outstanding in the market. My open remarks here was “ we can make our town clean by observing littering and cleaning the town for our children and cows”, I did not know that the next trading center Majimoto would be the most littered center and I found cows eating polythene bags from a banning garbage. Maasai Community still practice rotational market day, which are well attended by people from all over thus serious littering, is visible in most of the centers. Its time to call it a day and my team and I leaving for Siana Spring camp thank you Chief Nkirisho for making the arrangements.

Siana Spring camp in early 2000 was an anchorage for tourist in Maasai Mara, offering a serine environment and inimitable tented camps surrounded by natural habitation, additionally Siana was the first community to own own a standard airstrip that Fly 540 aircrafts would ferry client in and out of Mara through Siana air strip. I was among the people who conducted the Environmental Impact Assessment for the Siana Conservancy in 2005 and community-based enterprise an assessment project supported by European union “ looking at the best practices from all the community based enterprise project in East Africa”. This camp operated up to 2010 or so when her management and that of the Conservancy went to a midpoint due to mis-management that jeopardized entire project that was heavily invested with more than 2 Landcruizers and over 15 community scouts of which Maasai Mara Game Reserve absorbed most of the scouts. I almost flake on arrival and at the reception looking at tumbledown building. Siana is among other run down community project in Kenya due to modest governance and politics in Kenya, other facilities includes Shompole Lodge in Magadi and Mwalungaje in Kwale among others. The logic behind establishing community conservancy would survive if a well structured system of governance is established that can spearhead the conservancy management, Kenya Conservancy Association lead by Dickson Ole Kaelo would be the vehicle that would drive and provide a sustainable community based conservancy model in Kenya bored from Botswana.