Suguta Marmar and Maralal towns are found in Samburu County, which is located in the Northern region of Kenya and is dominantly occupied by the Samburu tribe/community. My decision to delve into this region which doesn’t fall into the usual “tourist” areas especially for backpackers, was guided both by the urge to solve a mystery as well as satisfy my adventurous spirit. One of my foreign readers had queried on the safety of solo, female backpackers travelling in Kenya and it hit me, I didn’t actually know, as I had never traveled solo in Kenya. My conscience wouldn’t be clear if I responded with a generic response as all my articles and information are about my actual, personal experiences. My brain thus conjured this amazing albeit insane plan that I should attempt to backpack via public means, solo, overland from Nairobi to Lake Turkana in Loiyangalani. I figured, if I successfully completed this expedition to one of the “harshest” of areas in Kenya, it would be a great gauge/dip stick on the rest of Kenya and I would demystify Northern Kenya while at it. My first stop was thus Suguta Marmar and Maralal.
As I started my travel, there was limited information on what to do or see and thus I didn’t even have a to do list. Below is what I enjoyed while visiting Suguta Marmar and Maralal town as well as the dark side.
1) Walking around
Most people in the town can at basic communicate in Kiswahili language, with the educated ones also speaking in English. Walk in the market area and get yourself a pair of their locally produced designer foot wear, referred to as “Nginyera” that are pocket friendly.
The unique thing about them is that they are custom made as you wait. One’s foot outline is drawn and cut from a truck tyre, thus confirming their strength and durability. The straps and outer layout are then hammered in with small nails and soon you can wear your shoes.
I particularly love mine and highly advise you to get a pair, the terrain there will not be friendly to your fancy sandals or shoes. I highly recommend you ask your designer to place a “raised tyre flap ” on the side like mine, as it prevents your ankles from hitting each other, 🙂 trust me, it is very handy. For those who wish for a softer feel, feel free to wear them with socks preferably black or dark colored
2)Interacting with the culture:
a)Dressing: The young men or recent initiates known as morans are a sight to behold. They have their hair in some sort of braids, but since it was a hot and dry season, they had covered their heads with handkerchiefs to prevent their hair from getting dirty. The men also adorn jewelry on their bodies from earrings, bracelets and body chains.
The women wear colourful neckpieces known as “shangas” that are made from beads and are very beautiful. They then bedeck their shoulders with colourful lesos/shawls, their arms with beaded bracelets, their ears, their feet are all well adorned.
Kenya
I was privileged to make friends with a lady called Wangechi who is Samburu and was willing to show me around her village. I highly recommend making friends with one of the locals because in the villages, most only speak the local language Samburu, and thus having a translator enriches the experience even more. One also gets an indepth integration into the community, their culture and more.
b)Homes:
They live in homes known as manyattas, which are made by using wood, mud and cowdung. Women are the architects and builders of the houses and I was impressed at how some of these homes are very spacious and have several rooms within.
c)Language:
Learn basic words from their language.
Hi- supa pronounce soba.
I am well-Aye
The younger one always bends their head slightly when greeting an older person and the older person lays their hand on their head in greeting/blessing.
Thank You-Ashe Oleng
Good Bye-Lesereni
d)Lifestyle:
The Samburu are pastoralists by nature and thus keep lots of cattle,sheep and goats. The more cattle one has, the more wealthy he is. As you walk around the area, you will find boys and young men walking long distances in search of pasture. They drink both goat and cow milk and this was my first time to drink tea prepared with goats milk,. It wasn’t bad, just felt lighter/thinner than cow milk.
e) Interaction:
The women and men do not interact much unless they are family or well known friends. If and when morans enter the house, the women have to leave, Fact. There was one incident where whilst visiting a homestead in a village, I got to see the sharp disparity between men and women. The son of the lady whose home we were in, returned from grazing their cattle, a practice called “kuenda fora”. He had been away for over six months and when he entered the home, all of us hurriedly left the compound without a moments notice. It is only later I was explained to that, it is taboo for females including his mother and sisters, to see a moran/initiate/warrior eating. Thus as a lady, keep your distance from the men unless you have one who is your friend, who can then introduce you to the others.
3) Visit Samburu National Reserve:
This park is one of my favourite National Reserves in Kenya and can be accessed from Suguta Marmar. I had previously visited this park as highlighted in http://wangechigitahitravels.com/the-suprise-that-is-samburu-national-reserve. National parks never offer a surety of seeing the expected wildlife, but, on our visit there, it felt like the animals were falling over each other to see us, or was it for us to see them. We saw lions mating, lions attempt an attack on elephant calves, an elephant refusing to move in front of our truck, to having baboons raid our tents for food as we were camping in the park among others.I would thus recommend all to visit it and even as we approached Suguta Marmar on this trip I got to see giraffes, buffalos, and elephants staring at us from the fence.
4)Visit the local schools
I visited Suguta Marmar Primary School and the interactions were true eye openers. I met students who didn’t necessarily want to be in school but, attended so as to access the free food offered by the government to school going children here. I met girls who didn’t see the purpose of school as they believe, the only duty of a woman is to get married, and young at that. I met boys who saw little value in education as they were looking forward to inheriting their families wealth. I met girls who had been rescued from early marriages, female genital mutilation and other forms of abuse, who now called Mary Immaculate Rescue Center their home. I met students who wanted to break from this norm, to read, to go to secondary, university, see beyond their home area and live their life on their own terms. I saw children with big dreams, wishes and hopes of a better life for them and their families, yet not knowing how to achieve this. If you can, visit and you can offer a solution to some of their problems like offering sponsorship to any/some of the students and/or supporting the rescued girls at the rescue center.
6) Security challenges
The area faces several attacks of banditry and cattle rustling .The saddest thing about it is that these attacks are normally armed attacks. This has resulted in most of the women here being widows, children being orphaned and poverty levels being high. I met children with gunshot wounds which they got when they got caught up in the cross-fire, that sometimes comes in the form of shots fired at their mud thatched houses. I ask the government to intervene and make these areas safer for the families as well as the communities to do away with cattle rustling culture forever, as many innocent lives are lost as a result.
Maralal Town:
It is the major town in the area and is about one and half hours from Suguta Marmar. The area is quite developed with various businesses, schools etal. I was quite impressed that within its outskirts, several homes were practicing farming, with maize being ready to harvest when I visited. This was interesting because, most of the “news” paint this area as a desolate place that cannot support farming-but on the ground, things were different. I got to also visit Kenyatta House, which was home to the first president of Kenya, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, who served part of his detention there.
Kenyatta House:
The house was built in 1959 and was the detention home of the first president of Kenya, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. This is also the “home” at which he wrote his famous book, “Facing Mount Kenya.” It is currently managed by National Museums of Kenya and they have done a commendable job in restoring it whilst keeping most of its artefacts intact. I would highly advise a visit here and you will get lots of information from the knowledgeable guide on ground.
Transport:
Since I was backpacking overland from Nairobi to Maralal, this is how I got there. I boarded a matatu or minivan from the Nuclear company at Nyamakima stage in downtown Nairobi, with final destination Nyahururu taking about four hours. Once in Nyahururu, I waited for a matatu/minivan from the same bus company heading to Maralal and took about four hours to Suguta Marmar. Honestly, by the time we arrrived, all my bones were rattling, I was exhausted and the cake of dust on my body a reflection of the journey. I stayed over in Suguta Marmar for a few days before moving on to Maralal town. In this case, my means of transport was the below blue truck with benches acting as seats, a new mode of travel for me and very few minivans/matatus.
I would definitely highly advise everyone to travel to Samburu county and visit Suguta Marmar and Maralal . I loved the chance to interact with the Samburu community, their culture and made lifelong friends. The area also managed to demystify the place for me and I hope I have done the same for you. As with all places, there is always the good and the bad, but good always wins. I was happy to have a chance to actually see and hear about it live, to be sensitized to the issues other Kenyans face, to share the same with all my readers and others and to have an opportunity to be part of the solution, even if in a small way. Next up, I was advised by the locals to head to Baragoi town as I continued to attempt to get to Loiyangalani. For more on the Northern Kenya exploits, check out:
Baragoi: http://wangechigitahitravels.com/discovering-baragoi/
Loiyangalani: http://wangechigitahitravels.com/demystifying-loiyangalani/
Northern Kenya: http://wangechigitahitravels.com/9-things-they-do-not-tell-you-about-northern-kenya/
Challenges faced: http://wangechigitahitravels.com/challenges-of-backpacking-northern-kenya/
Lake Turkana Festival: http://wangechigitahitravels.com/marsabit-lake-turkana-festival/