Yesterday was our day off. Most of our program days include up to seven hours of class, plus homework, each day. They’re wildly interesting, but exhausting.  So on our second Non-Program Day, we voted to head back to Amboseli. Not to kick it in the Land Cruisers this time, but to relax in the lap of luxury. We spent the day at the Mara Safari Lodge. For twelve dollars we got all day access to the gourmet buffet and pool! How much I have missed fresh vegetables and swimming!

Most of the bodies of water in Kenya are off limits to us, for drinking, swimming, etc. But this might have been the nicest pool I’ve ever seen. The water was cool and refreshing. It’s funny to think how much I take my grandparent’s pool for granted in the States. Comfort is so easy, so obvious. Here, we felt like royalty, just being allowed to wear bikinis and tank tops again.

But today it was back to work. In our Environmental Policy class, we have been studying the application of Community Conservation. This is a form of aid where NGO’s just don’t swoop down and attempt to apply a policy panacea on local issues. Rather, outsiders and indigenous people work together, meeting and talking to pick out the community’s priorities. It allows input to rise from bottom-up, not smush from top down.

A community map is the first step in the process. It allows you to assess the resources a community already has, and what they might need- from their own perspective. In making one, we begin slightly before Farrow A, one of three main irrigation connections. Tikondo is in a linear layout, bisected by many of these water ways. Walking along the main road, which connects back to Kimana, we saw and recorded a number of banana, maize, bean, tomato and cabbage farms. Plots grow larger and more spread out as we continued. Houses were sprinkled between plots, often with small-medium herds of shoats and cattle. They we in varying states of construction, and seemed less and less affluent as we walked out in the direction of the Chyulu Hills. We arrived at Farrow B, which is fed by a visible water pump, and the most flowing of the three sites. Next, beyond the one noted trash dump site, is farrow C. It is located near an orchard (the only one spotted). As the space between farms continues to grow, more and more open acacia woodlands appear. Many trees are used as living fences that separate the farming plots from the main road. We reached the old electric elephant fence by the Chyulu hills after a brief semicircle from the main road to explore a cattle pasture. We turned left along the fence, and passed a boma (the only one we saw). Turning right again, now parallel to the original road, we tromped through growing fields of sugarcane, banana, maize, bean, tomato and cabbage. Many had been freshly irrigated through small channels, or by large oil drums filled with water. Less houses are seen within these farmlands. A few herds of shoats and individual cattle were recorded. It is also worth noting that a man chopping wood for charcoal was seen at this time. Vegetation and trees thickened, and out guided pointed out that many could be used for Maasai medicinal purposes. Heading closer to the main entrance, the farmlands dwindled back into clusters of semi-established houses. Signs of chickens, dogs and rabbits as domesticate pets were observed. The area became more urban, featuring telephone lines and even on house with a satellite dish.  These houses had electricity- not many in the Tikondo area have this luxury. Affluence increased notably, as indicated on the map. Finally, we turned right along a side road, crossing a small bridge to our original starting point.

Cattle and crops are the lifeblood of these peoples’ livelihoods. And cow-wild predator conflict is a huge source of people’s antagonism towards local wildlife. NGOs have tried to step in to solve this conflict before, but often fail to understand the people’s needs. Often these organizations press conservation as the top issue, insulting locals who believe this means NGOs see animals as more important than people. The elephant electric fence, put up three some years ago by an external organization, almost bridged that gap. But the NGO never taught the people how to use it, so it feel into disrepair in  Tikondo all across the area it was supposed to protect. It had cost roughly 3 mill USD.

In making our mapping the community, and talking with locals, we at SFS are trying to avoid the mistakes of the past. For two and a half very hot and dusty hours, we meandered around, talking stock of local resources. I made this mistake of wearing flipflops, and shredding my feet on thorns and caked my toes with mud. I did get to have my first crack at Masaai medicine. I smashed open a tiny yellow-apple looking fruit and spread it on the scraps as a natural antiseptic. So far so good- and it was kiwi scented. Take that CVS.

Location: Tikondo, Kenya