The Great Tana River

It is a warm afternoon. Zawadi and her classmates are learning about the county that touches the Equator to the North, and Indian Ocean to the East.  

“Is the Tana River the name of a place or a river?” Zawadi asks their social studies teacher. 

“Well, it’s both,” Mr Muli responds. 

“Tana River is Kenya’s largest river, and the county was named after it,” Mr Muli says pointing at the map on the wall where Tana River is. 

“Does the river stand out for only being the longest?” Muta asks. 

“No, it has a very important delta,” Mr. Muli responds. 

“What is a delta?” Muta asks. 

“A river carries a lot of soil, sand, and other materials, when the flow of the water is slow these materials settle on the side and over the years they build up and form a delta,” Mr. Muli explains. 

“The Tana River delta is 30 kilometres from its shore!” Mr. Muli continues. 

“Oh, my goodness that is like from here to my grandmother’s house, that is huge,” Muta exclaims in surprise. 

“That’s right,” Mr. Muli smiles and jokingly adds that Muta’s grandmother must live pretty far. 

Mr. Muli continues with his lesson as he writes HOLA on the blackboard then asks, “Does anyone know anything about this place?” 

Mwangi raises his hand. 

“The capital of Tana River County” he says. 

Zawadi also raises her hand and says, “Mau Mau detainment camp.”  

This surprises Mr Muli. 

“Yes, Mwangi and Zawadi, you are both right,” Mr Muli says. 

“Some of the Mau Mau fighters that fought for our freedom were jailed at Hola. Unfortunately, they were beaten and brutally killed in what we now call the Hola Massacre,” Mr. Muli continued.  

“Ok, can we move on to some not so gruesome stuff,” Halima suggests. 

 The class laughs at Halima’s suggestion. 

“Happier times here we come…” Mr. Muli says. 

“What about Kampi ya Simba?” Zawadi asks. 

“Yes, who has watched the movie Born Free?” Mr. Muli asks. 

“I have,” Halima says excitedly, waving her hand in the air. 

“Alright Halima go on, tell us briefly about it,” Mr. Muli says, stressing on the word briefly. 

“Well, it’s about a lioness called Elsa that was taken in as a cub by George and Joy Adamson, who were famous wildlife conservationists. They raised her and when she was older, they released her into the wild,” she explains.  

“All this went down at the Kampi ya Simba otherwise known as the Kora National Reserve,” Mwangi adds with some panache.  

Everyone laughs and Mr Muli concludes a wonderful lesson of the interesting Tana River County.