About Isiolo Way Back When
Brief History of Isiolo County
Kenyan communities, drawn in from disparate areas by good climatic conditions, moved into the homeland between 1500-2000 BC. Today’s Kenya has three main lingua families, Cushitic, Nilotic and Bantu, who can all be found in Isiolo County. The place we now call Isiolo County is the ancestral homeland of the Somali and Borana, mingled with a hatful mix of people from Turkana, Samburu, Gabra, Garre and Meru tribes. The placename Isiolo, however, is more modish. As it tells, it was named after a herdsman, Issa Olo, who lived near present-day self-same capital that later became the headquarters of the Northern Frontier District in the 1920s.
Lying northeast of the Bantu enclave’s rich mountain slopes of Mount Kenya, Isiolo County is easily distinguishable by its lower altitudes, varying between 200 and 1,200 m asl. As such, Isiolo County marked a transitional area for the pastoralist drylands and agrarian highland, setting it out, since days of yore, as an ecological nexus. Formerly part of the defunct Eastern Province, Isiolo County is bordered to the northwest by Marsabit and Samburu counties, both predominantly inhabited by pastoralists, as are the counties of Wajir and Garissa to the east. To the south, Isiolo is bordered by Laikipia and Meru counties, which practice mixed farming.
Isiolo County was, in due course, settled by four main tribes, the largest portion being occupied by the pastoralist Borana, who prefered the central and eastern parts. The Samburu, a kin of the Maasai, settled for the extreme south-western corner of the county, adhering somewhat rigidly to the border separating them from the Borana. In contrast, the Ameru have always freely intermingled with the Borana in the south-eastern part of the area, sharing the important salt supply at Magado Crater; and not as amicable with the Somali who settled mainly around Isiolo town. Minor communities in the area were the Gabra, Sakuye and Turkana.
Although the Boranas had always been the burg’s ascendants, they were forever weary of the Turkana, Sakuye and Somali, sparking off dust-ups on a great many occasions, as recent as in 2017. Conflicts and violence, taking the form of cattle rustling, ethnic violence, displacements and massacres, have regrettably been a blinding blemish to the foundation of purpose. And while the nature of pastoral conflicts has changed over time, recent violence in northern Kenya suggests that there are worrying new dynamics at play. The nature of pastoral conflict seems to be evolving yet again cloyed by the neoteric decentralized political system withal.
Even without the possibility of working towards the tribal quagmires to make progress, the muddles pertinent to land and land ownership became an equally weighty impediment to the growth of Isiolo District. As the 20th Century rolled in, much of Kenya was embroiled in the despotic call of relinquishing their ancestral lands, to support the colonial machinery. At their next-door district, Laikipia, the enervated Maasai had accepted, by whip or will, through a formal agreement with the British, to move from their homeland to a limited colonial settlement scheme.
Having succeeded in alienating the ‘Mukogodo’ Maasai, the colonial machinery moved in on Isiolo, using the same stencil to hive off vast swathes of country. To fulfil the growing demands by white settlers, the leaders of the Maasai and Somali were, in 1911, forced to sign a new agreement, which resulted in the relocation of the Laikipia-based Maasai and displacement of the Somali. A part of the vacated rangelands near Isiolo town was used to set up as a base for the Kenyan Battalion of the King’s African Rifles, a colonial military outfit. The rest became ranchland.
Occupying a strategic locale on trade routes between the north and south, and as a hub of the north, Isiolo town was named, in 1929, as the provincial headquarters of the Northern Frontier District, later christened North Eastern Province. At the same time, Isiolo District was created as a separate administrative and territorial unit. Enter the World Wars, and the Borana and Somali communities living in the then Isiolo District, now part of the Northern Frontier District, found themselves on opposing sides of the war, the one aiding the British and the other assisting the Italians. These two communities had always had a history of conflict, yet, these hard-liner alliances led to the perpetuated enmity between these fierce tribes.
The Borana and Somali conflict can be understood only within the longstanding territorial competition and the interaction of the ethnic groups in relation to the state within the framework of the politics of the Horn region in general, and that of Ethiopia in particular. The effects of these differences, by and large, contributed to the infamous Shifta Wars of 1963 to 1969. As a result of the Shifta Wars, this region remained under a regressive state of emergency until 1992 that contributed to the marginalization of Isiolo District. Decades later, with the main A2 trunk road to the north radiating out of Isiolo town, its importance as a hub has helped it to thrive.
But the historical injustices are far from been rectified. Presently, nearly 90 per cent of the land area in Isiolo County is classified as “low potential”. What’s more, since independence, all but 70 per cent of land in the county is, legally, owned as trust land, the rest being dubiously designated “government” or “private” land. Government land includes national parks and game reserves (four) and military barracks (also four), which cover about 20 per cent of the land territory of Isiolo County. Private land has essentially been restricted to Isiolo town, while the vast sphere of the land in the county is today administered under the Trust Land Act.
Owing to the Kenyan state’s weak presence in the north, and investor standing off because of the real or perceived threats, it took the benign emergence of local ethnic structures to help negotiate peace in collaboration with state security and administration officials (Ibid). Nonetheless, entente-cordiales between pastoral groups have also become short-lived affairs. When pressed by state organs for an end to violence, many politicians participate in such talks as a chance to politick. Thus the northern frontier remains trapped in excruciating poverty, a poor state of development and insecurity. Development is still sluggish, but duly crawling forth!
Isiolo County, with its strategic location, rich cultural heritage, and potential for development, is a unique region in Kenya. It features a mix of semi-arid and arid landscapes, with some areas of savannah and bushland, and home to several wildlife reserves and conservancies, including the Buffalo Springs National Reserve, Shaba National Reserve and the famed Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.
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About Isiolo Way Back When
42 Destinations in Isiolo County, arranged as one would visit these - south, north, east then north - with aid of narratives, images, strip maps and distance chart:
Isiolo Town, St. Eusebius Cathedral, Isiolo Jamia Mosque, Isiolo Memorial, Kisimani Eco Resort, Isiolo Falls, Kaita and Degushi Hills, Nyambeni Range, Magado Crater, Cave Dwellings, Harr Girrissa, Mlima Tatu, Kubi Turkana, Garba Tula, Gotu Falls, Gotu Cultural Centre, Biliqo Bulesa Conservancy, Merti Plateau, Merti Catholic Church, Ewaso Nyiro River, Lorian Swamp, Malka Cultural Centre, Bisanadi National Reserve, Kora Wells, Leparua Conservancy, Ol Lentille Conservancy, The Sanctuary at Ol Lentille, Oldonyiro Conservancy, Nantudu Spire Rock, Nasuulu Conservancy, Buffalo Springs National Reserve, Buffalo Springs, Samburu National Reserve, Samburu Simba Lodge, Shaba National Reserve, Sarova Shaba Lodge, Joy’s Camp, Nakuprat Gotu Conservancy, Boji Dera Camp, Sera Conservancy, Isiolo Cultural Festival, Camping in the Great North
Know More About Isiolo County: Its Geography, Land-Use, Highlights, Population, Roads - with the aid of strip maps, Airports, Climate & National Monuments
Isiolo is almost always hot and dry at most months of year, with a mean of 30oC, and two rainy seasons. The rainfall received is historically erratic, scarce and unreliable.
Isiolo can be split into three ecological zones, semi-arid, arid and very near desert arid. The smallest, useful, semi-arid zone covers only 5% the county, around Kinna region.