Loita Naimina Enkio Forest, situated in Narok District some 363
Kilometres southwest of Nairobi is a beautiful indigenous forest.
It has been preserved over the years by the local Maasai
community in its natural state - making it one of the few best
managed indigenous forests in the country.
The forest stretches for hundreds of hectares of ancient and
undisturbed trees teeming with a diversity of flora and fauna.
It is home to a rare species of the small gorilla of which bigger
ones are to be found in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in
southwestern Uganda - extending to Rwanda and Eastern Zaire. The
forest also shelters a very rich birdlife.
To the Maasai community - particularly the Loita and Nkidongi
clans - the forest is a sacred shrine. The forest is dotted with
sacred cultural sites and the Loitoktok River, which begins in
the Loita Hills is the site where the young Maasai initiates take
their early morning ritual bath on the day of circumcision.
Early in August, the Chairman of Narok County Council, Councillor
Shadrack Ole Rotiken announced that his council has elaborate
plans to further exploit tourism potential in Narok District by
establishment of a nature reserve in the Loita Naimina Enkio
Forest and opening of the Suswa Caves, which are on the edge of
the Great Rift Valley.
Members of the Nkidongi and Loita clans under the leadership of
their Chief Laibon, Mokompo Ole Simel, who is the grandson to the
famous Maasai Laibon Lenana immediately opposed this move. The
elders expressed genuine fears that should the forest be
alienated by the council, their lives which revolve around it
would be drastically and adversely affected and their cultural
heritage taken away forever. They also fear that opening the
forest to tourism - a purely financial motivation - would degrade
the already fragile environment and irreparably tamper with the
ecosystem. This will effectively signify the death of the forest
the community has preserved in its pristine and natural state
over the years.
Such fears are justified given the environmental degradation that
has visited the Maasai Mara National Reserve - also managed by
the Narok County Council. The Narok County Council, has, however,
refused to listen to the community's protests and on September
3, 1993 declared the Loita Naimina Enkio Forest a nature reserve,
after a closed-door meeting.
It is instructive that this is happening in spite of the fact
that the community had established a Trust to manage the Forest.
Given the political statements that have been made, especially
by the Minister for Local Government (himself a former chairman
of the Narok County Council) in whose ministry the council falls,
it is unlikely that the community's protests will be listened to.
We, therefore, ask all lovers of nature and humanists the world
over to protest this cruel invasion of the Loita Forest.
Please write a letter of protest to:
Hon. William Ole Ntimama, M.P.
Minister for Local Government
P.O. Box 30004
NAIROBI
KENYA
We would be grateful if the protest letter is copied to us at the
address below:
Bank Monitoring Unit
c/o African Water Network
P.O. Box 10538
Nairobi, Kenya
Fax:+254-2-555513
e-mail awn@elci.gn.apc.org