From ruins of banditry: Baragoi bounces back to become tourists haven

A quick search of Baragoi in Samburu County automatically brings up the massacre of 44 police officers at the hands of bandits.

Baragoi gained international notoriety for its volatility index, with hundreds of locals and even security officers dying in horrific ways. 

Located in Samburu North region, the area has been ravaged by conflict for years since the early 2000s, and the adjacent Suguta Valley has earned the notorious name of 'Valley of Death'. 

Read: Bandits ride roughshod on Kerio ‘valley of death’

Indeed, former Rift Valley Regional Coordinator George Natembeya (now Trans Nzoia governor) once branded Baragoi as a small 'Baghdad' in Kenya, where senseless killings over the years had left carcasses and skeletons of innocent people in the name of cattle raiding.   

Then, bullets ricocheted across Marti, Lomirok, Kawuap, Nachola, Ngilai and Suyian as the Turkana and Samburu faced off in deadly cattle raids and conflicts over control of water and pasture. 

But in the past year, the spirit of courage and resilience has risen like a pier defying a storm.

Baragoi is rising from the ashes, and the locals have enjoyed peace since the guns fell silent in the valleys. The town and surrounding villages are coming back to life after more than 23 years of violence. 

Business is booming, unlike in the past when it was disrupted by banditry.

Fields that were once scorched are now lush green, thanks to short rains over the past three weeks. 

Today, after years of incessant killings, locals have tasted peace as the guns have fallen silent. 

The chairman of the Baragoi Business Community, Donald Njue, noted that there was a change of trend in Baragoi from the past, when "hostility and an anarchy-like environment forced businessmen to close early".

Read: Inside the Samburu killing fields: Harrowing tales of death and survival

Mr Njue says that for the first time in years there is peace and quiet and the "locals are really loving it". 
According to the official, the town has attracted more investment in recent years, and their confidence has been boosted by the improved security.

"In the past, we used to close businesses as early as 5 pm. But things are changing quickly and it [Baragoi] is peaceful," Mr Njue said, as he praised the government's efforts to remove illegal weapons from civilian hands.

Samburu County Commissioner Henry Wafula said Turkana and Samburu people living in Baragoi and all of Samburu North, who previously could not see eye-to-eye, now mingle freely.

"The Turkana people do walk and mingle and the area is very peaceful," Mr Wafula said.

He added: "This is a new Baragoi and we can now see the importance of peace."

According to Mr Wafula, it was the first time in a long time that the locals were living peacefully and cohesively.

He blamed illegal guns in the hands of civilians for the deadly cattle raids that have plagued the region for a long time.

According to the local administrator, business is booming again, breathing new life into Baragoi town, the once desolate and marginalised area.

"The mop-up exercise is going up very well and the government is confiscating the illegal guns", which were used to kill in the past, he added as he praised security teams, and local and religious leaders in the region for joining hands in the fight against banditry and cattle rustling.

Read: 15 guns surrendered in Samburu as Ruto amnesty to bandits ends 

The Special Operations Group (SOG), a crack police unit, has been hailed for silencing the guns in the Baragoi area, which has witnessed bloodshed for almost 25 years. The Special Forces were drawn from the Special Operations Group to complement the efforts of the Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) and the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU). 

Recently, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) recognised the presence of peace in Baragoi. The commission's chairman Samuel Kobia revealed that the NCIC was working together with other stakeholders to stop rampant banditry and cattle rustling in Samburu.

Dr Kobia said the commission was starting to register warriors (morans) involved in cattle rustling to embrace alternative livelihoods. 

Morans who want to embrace alternative livelihoods will undergo training, after which they will be registered in groups and given the Hustler Fund as start-up capital. 

"When we held meetings with [the] morans, most of them said they needed alternative sources of income to abandon cattle rustling," said Mr Kobia during a recent tour of Baragoi. 

"We will therefore train them and register them in groups so that they get the Hustler Fund as start-up capital." 

Read: Guns surrender amnesty yields poor response as crackdown begins in restive North Rift

From the ruins of banditry, the Baragoi area is rapidly emerging to attract tourists for the first time in almost 25 years. Tourists, researchers and geologists are visiting the region to record the unique landscape of the Suguta Valley, full of ancient fossils and mushroom rock formations. The valley, which is shared by Samburu and Turkana counties, has a landscape of scenic beauty. 

Tourists visiting Samburu for the annual camel derby also travel to film Suguta Valley's unique scenery. Surprisingly, Suguta Valley has an alkaline lake, locally known as Lake Logipi, which is full of flamingos, just like Lake Nakuru and Lake Bogoria.

Samburu County Chief Officer for Tourism and Cooperatives Philip Leitore said the 'Camel Derby' has opened the county and tourists are visiting all parts of [the county to] record "magical experiences".

"It is about marketing Samburu. For instance, peace has returned to Baragoi for the first time in more than 25 years. Tourists are visiting the region, which is wonderful," said Mr Leitore. 

Most tourists are fly in to see the scenic beauty of the valley with its beautiful sand dunes and peculiar mushroom rocks of the Suguta desert. 

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