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Naivasha Virtual Fieldcourse

Explorations

For many centuries the East African coast has been a centre of trading cultures including Persian, Arab, Indian and Portuguese travellers and merchants, although for as far as we know, the interior remained secluded from any contact with non-African communities.  It seems that the history of the Naivasha Basin must have proceeded independently from what was happening in the rest of the world until as recently as the mid 19th century.

At some time, Arab caravans started exploring new trading routes attracted by ebony, ivory and slaves. No precise accounts remain of their travels, but they did inform the first European travellers of what they could have expected to find in the unknown lands beyond the coastal plains. Several Arab caravans reported being attacked by wild animals and fierce natives, as well as being decimated by unknown diseases.

This isolation came to a halt after to a major global event that forever changed to course of African history: the opening of the Suez canal on the 17 November 1869. Immediately following, European expansionist powers rushed to take possession of little-known lands along the East African coast that had become suddenly much closer, as reaching it did not require the circumnavigation of the continent. Soon after the Canal opening, the British East Africa Company leased a portion of the coastline from local Arab rulers and the European colonisation of the coast began.

What was Naivasha like when the first European explorers approached this part of the world in the early 19th century? Very few sites still remain unaffected by modern development. The Olosho Rongai community forest, situated at around 2,800 m a.s.l., on the western side of the basin, is one of the most pristine sites that remains still today in a near-natural state. Early European explorers would have had to cut their way through forests like these, almost all their journeys!  The video depicts an initial exploration of this forest, set up by the local Maasai for conservation, which we believe has little changed since European arrival.