As
a result of the trips I have been taking to Kenya, I decided to
pursue my Masters in Geography to further understand the 'scramble for
conservancies' that is taking place in the northern rangelands.
Although
works must be acknowledged for having explored the community
conservation
approach in Kenya (primarily focused on assessing the effectiveness of
the
initiative), the body of research examining the recent drivers and
motivations
of community conservation in northern Kenya is limited. In particular, the question of how community
conservation interacts with local livelihoods and the ambitions of local
community members or what motivates local community members to adopt community
conservation approaches and programs must be considered. The
research I am undertaking aims to explore the motivations, benefits and
challenges of community conservation in Kenya. For the last week, I
have been undertaking fieldwork at Meibae Conservancy in Samburu District. Below are some picture from my research data collection:
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| Samburu Elder cooking lunch |
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| Focus Group with Samburu men |
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| Samburu herding camel |
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| Samburu Elders on a walk |
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| Providing Samburu women with a ride in our research vehicle |
The Samburu of Kenya
live mainly in the ‘Samburu District’ of northern Kenya, which is largely
characterized by scrub desert, intermittent grass/rangelands with large patches of thick thorn bush and
frequent rocky outcrops. The rainfall
and the condition of the soil do not allow the Samburu to practise any form of
agriculture.
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| Samburu Moran |
They live mainly off
the products of their herds (cattle, sheep,
goats and camels). The camel is well adapted to the harsh environment in Samburu and continues to supply
milk during the dry season.
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| Milking a Camel in the dry season |
The Samburu live in
small villages called manyattas, which typically contain between four and ten elders,
their families and herds. The Samburu
mark three-stages in their life cycle.
The first is childhood, which continues until they are approximately 15,
at which time the males, and sometimes female, are circumcised.
Between the ages of
15 and 25-30, they are considered Moran, or warriers.
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| Preparing for Samburu Wedding |
At the age of 25-30
they are permitted to marry and have children at which point they are
considered elders.
The Samburu mainly
live in dung-huts, or bomas, which consists of two sleeping areas and a fire
pit for cooking. There is no electiricty
and the Boma itself, is only about 4-feet high.
The structure is framed in wood with dung cladding and some water-proof
materials on the roof to protect it during the rainy season.
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| Inside a Boma at Night |
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| Inside a Boma during the day |
Snuff or snorting
ground-up tobacco is a popular past time for the men.
