Nairobi and beyond: Walking in the footsteps of Mau Mau

A long walk through hilly, forested tracks, a sudden downpour of freezing cold rain, followed by a nice cup of tea in front of a roaring fire to dry off and a fish and chip supper. Have we moved back to Yorkshire? No, just visiting the equator for an unlikely reminder of home.

The birthday girl, Liz

A friend’s birthday prompted a recent trip up to the town of Nanyuki, near Mount Kenya and officially on the equator (yes we have the cheesy photo to prove it, nervous smiles showing we had just seconds to spare before we were ambushed by determined curio sellers).

We had a fantastic day hiking the bottom of the mountain on the trail of the caves where the Mau Mau rebels hid from British forces. Our guides told us some interesting facts about the rebels, how they got food, where they hid their ammunition and just how tough these people were living up in those mountains for eight years. They crossed the dense terrain through the trees to avoid be tracked across the ground, and gathered in caves close to waterfalls to cover the sound of their planning meeting. The Mau Mau rebellion came in response to decades of often brutal oppressive rule, discrimination, enforced labour on white settler land – land which the indigenous population had once farmed as their own.

The Mau Mau was lead by one of Kenya’s largest and arguably most influential ethnic group, the Kikuyu. They were prepared to be ruthless to secure discipline and avoid betrayal by their own, especially as many Kikuyu fought alongside the British against them. Whether they were quite as ruthless as the colonial ruling powers (hope the British government is noting the distinction I’m making here for legal reasons!) were prepared to be (castration, setting fire to people alive) is open to debate, given some of the practices which have been revealed through the recent claim for compensation from the British government from four men interned in British camps. Whatever else it did, the bloody rebellion paved the way for eventual independence and for the Kikuyu dominance of Kenya’s post-independence leadership, arguably in the process defining some of the inter-ethnic tensions which characterise (and, many commentators say, cripple) Kenya’s politics today.

Nanyuki town itself is an interesting place. It hosts quite a lot of NGO regional offices because it one of the safest places further north in Kenya, just before you get to the wild arid lands beyond where local disputes and cattle rustling are notually left to the police to settle.

The Mau-Mau conference cave

It is also home to a sizeable white Kenyan population who still live outside the town on family lands that the Mau Mau never managed to win back from them. To give you an idea of what stock these mzungo are from, the royals are regulars out here and Wills proposed just up the road.

Nanyuki is also home to a large British army base, from where we were told British soldiers venture into northern Kenya to do arid land training for Afghanistan. So this might explain why, when we went out for a meal, we were offered fish and chips and burgers on the menu and could watch the Six nations rugby finale. A bit like being in a Wetherspoons but with better beer. Nanyuki also caters for the mzungo with some great little coffee shops where you can sit over a coffee or very nice hot chocolate and leisurely read the morning papers. A 3-4 hour journey from Nairobi for weather a bit like home and stodgy food-well worth the effort.

More pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/61370474@N03/5597885580/in/set-72157626447536066
Joanne