The Beautiful Green Hills of Nandi

Gitau and Njambi are working on a school project. Their assignment is to write about Nandi County.

“Hi, Njambi” Gitau says approaching his friend.

“Hi, Gitau, gosh I stayed up late last night researching our project,” she says.

“I just called my Uncle Henry who lives in Nandi for my research, easy peasy” he laughs.

The two friends find a table in the library, get their books out, and start working. 

“You go first, what did you find out?” Njambi asks.

“Uncle Henry said that Nandi County is named after the Nandi community that lives there. He said the Nandi are believed to be descendants of the ancient Egyptians, they have very similar cultures,” he says.

“That’s really cool!” Njambi exclaims as she begins taking notes.

“I read about Koitalel Arap Samoei who was the Orgoiyot, the name given to Nandi leaders. He was very brave and led his people for eleven years. They resisted the invaders to their land.” Njambi says.

“Who were the invaders?” Gitau asks.

“The British army, led by Richard Meinertzhagen,” Njambi responds. ”unfortunately, this great charismatic leader was eventually killed, weakening the Nandi resistance. After his death, the next Orgoiyot was his son Barsirian arap Manyei. He served from 1919 but was captured and jailed by the British from 1922 to 1963, he was the longest-serving prisoner in the colonial government.” She explains.

“Wow, this is such a rich history of the county,” Gitau muses. “Do they have any monuments in their honor?” he asks.

“Yes, the Koitalel Samoei Museum in Nandi Hills town was started in his memory.

Here look at this picture of the museum” Njambi invites him.

Gitau moves closer to look at a picture showing a statue of a man with two massive fig trees next to it. The plaque next to it read “Koitalel. These fig trees are believed to have grown where Koitalel was buried; they are about 100 years old.”

“Good job Njambi, that’s some really good research. I found that Nandi county has beautiful green rolling hills of tea plantations and the Chepkiit waterfalls,” Gitau says as he shows her his reference picture book that showed the scenic countryside. 

With all this material the two friends start writing and cutting out pictures for their project on county number 29 – Nandi.