FEATURE
A Ramble around the Rift
T
here’s an area between the valleys in the great rift, just about an hour’s drive from Nairobi that’s well known in Maasai land. They call it Karatatu Nyoi. A red road cuts through it, a track really, now popular with hikers and charcoal burners. This wild, winding path that hugs the sides of the escarpment as it twists and winds around the hills is the remnants of an old colonial highway connecting Kajiado to Narok. Caves pit the sides now and again and there are sites on small plateaus, where inter-tribal conflicts and battles with the Mungiki occurred during British reign and later. I am at Oldonyo Olmaroroi - with my companion and guide, Daniel Ole Musei who is a most theatrical story teller. Oldonyo is a mountain in Maa, the language of the Maasai and Samburu peoples. Olmaroroi is a plant, abundant here, with roots whose powers include controlling blood pressure. He points out Olkilenyei – its roots are boiled with bones, to aid digestion of the vast amounts of
34 | NDEGE NEWS DECEMBER 2021 - FEBRUARY 2022
