History of Taita Taveta
About Taita Taveta Way Back When
Brief History of Taita Taveta County
The original 40 boundaries of Kenya marking districts and provinces, first defined in 1963, were imprints of tribal precincts affirmed by political stances taken in the Lancaster House Conference. For forever and a day each tribe had all but lived in one area, not counting the nomadic pastoralists. So when the limits were drawn out many new districts, like Turkana, Kisii, Nandi, Samburu, Meru and Taita Taveta, took their names after the native tribe. The Taita (or Wataita) heralded their arrival in the place we now call Taita Taveta County circa 1000 from mainland Tanzania.
Bantu speakers by origin, going by general term of Wataita, they split into three sub-tribes by region: Wadawida who live around the Dawida Hill, Wasagalla who live around Sagalla Hill and the Wakasigau who live around the Kasigau Hill. These three sub-tribes, with intertwined cultures and customs, and their lingua mutually understood with varying ease, have all coexisted since their settlement here. The lesser-known Wataveta are a minor tribe in Taita Taveta County who live around Taveta. In spite of the fact that they are a distinct society with a unique history and cultural outlook, for many generations now their existence has remained obscure.
Numerically, too, the Wataveta are rather diminished. In fact, their community is being threatened with extinction on account of modernization, inter-marriage and migrations to the blended culture urban centres. As they are small in number, they are always confused with the more influential Taita, probably because they share the same county. One facet that distinguishes the two ethnic groups is that their languages are not mutually intelligible. Their cultures are quite different, too. The Wataveta, however, have but remained a marginalised society, and the tendency has always been to group them alongside the popular Taita, linguistically to boot.
The avant-courier Arab trade caravans in the 1820s trailed from 1850 by explorer missions, passing through Taita Taveta area on their way to the hinterland, were a foretoken of problems that lay ahead which for Wataita and Wataveta came into being with the enduring arrival of missionaries. From 1880 there was considerable mission work by Church Missionary Society and Roman Catholics. Before long, in 1892, there was feuding between the British and Taita that led to the fall of Chief Mwangeta wa Malowa. The Taita would have no part acting as porters on the Uganda route. They also harassed the IBEA traders, and the company retaliated.
The fall of Mwangeka Wa Malowa, lionized as the paramount Taita warrior, as it turned out, was the betrayal by one of his kinsman. Renewed resistance in 1897 by the Mwanda was post-haste crushed, their village rondavels burned and livestock captured. Their traditional weapons and compromised war tactics were at the last no match for the British superior arms, reconnaissance and expedient ambitions. This, and the suppression of the Mazrui rebellion in 1896, coincided with an influx of Europeans in connection to the building of the Uganda Railway that same year.
The area about Taita Hills had been marked part of the highland where Europeans could live and farm. To make progress easier, in 1903, Taita Taveta was detached from being part of the province of Ukamba and merged with the Said Seyidie’s southern coast province [with its capital at Mombasa] and hence its association with the coast. The first union of territories in the East Africa Protectorate, before the formation of Kenya Colony in 1920, was made up of the these broad classes: Jubaland, Tanaland, Seyidie near the sea, Ukamba and Kenya inland. The change in association of Taita Taveta in lieu of the operable agreements with the Sultan of Zanzibar suited the British, and by 1904 Taita Taveta County was under British rule.
The efficiency of the colonial administration was momentarily put on hold to handle the more pressing crisis of a looming all out war with the Germans, whose eviction in Witu just a few years earlier was still a fresh wound. The first shot that beckoned the contests of WWI land campaign in East Africa was fired on August 15th, 1914, at the Taveta border town. The District Commissioner fired the shot from the then Taveta Police Station. That deciding shot killed a German soldier, whose grave is found at Taveta Cemetery. This was instigated by a German GI from German East Africa who had intruded on Taveta post, killing a native guard, Murimi Mwiti, who was manning the station. The Germans led the British on a four year snipe hunt offing on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro southerly into Tanzania.
After the dust settled from the rampages of the wara, with the Uganda Railway completed and pounding the pavement of success in British East Africa, most of Taita Taveta District, along which the railway line passed through, was declared Crown Land, the exceptions being two blocks of alienated land in the north, one south and east of Mwatate planted with sisal and a second block south-west of Bura where a ranching project was established. A narrow strip of land between these blocks and extending as far as five kilometres south of the rail way became part of Taita Native Land Unit where the locals were settled and tilled the lands.
As a result, only at Maktau, was there, for many years since, proper settlement. Here some maize was grown near the railway, but the chief occupation of the locals was cattle herding. And the same as the Coast, the people of Taita Taveta resisted British rule. The British disrupted this by imposing leaders of their choice, who were unpopular, to establish control. In 1939 the famed Taita Hills Association was established, as a political organization, to address the disquiets about austere land division in the District. But fate was no kinder to it than to Kikuyu Central Association and Ukamba Members Association which were all banned in 1940.
With self rule in 1963 the land issues in Taita Taveta were put on the back-bunner in admonition. The land crisis has since been in limbo, with no one responsible for their welfare. The discord between traditional landholding, inheritance system, legal adjudication, and the vested legatees is superficially absurd with conflicting accounts who owns what where and which if probed may prove local opinions of land injustice to be well founded and true. Taita Taveta also became part of Coast Province under Kenya’s new government. New economic activities included sisal farming, tourism (Tsavo National Parks), and mining. The land issues were ignored.
Situated in south-western Kenya, and part of the Coast Region of Kenya, Taita-Taveta County is known for its stunning landscapes, rich biodiversity, and cultural heritage. The county features diverse landscapes, including the Taita Hills, which are part of the Eastern Arc Mountains, and the vast plains of Tsavo, which are part of Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks – Kenya’s largest wildlife preserve.
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Guide to Taita Taveta County
A Summa Digest of Taita Taveta
About Taita Taveta Way Back When
85 Destinations in Taita Taveta County , arranged as one would visit these - north, west then south - with aid of in-depth narratives, images, strip maps and distance chart:
Chyulu Hills National Park , Kisula Caves , Kampi ya Kanzi Lodge , Tsavo West National Park , Kamboyo Lodge , Mzima Springs , Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge , Ancient Roaring Rocks, Ngulia Hills , Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary , Kitchwa Tembo Hill , Chaimu Crater , The Five Sister's Hills , Shetani Lava , Finch Hattons Camp , Mount Kilimanjaro , Lake Chala , Crystal Lake Chala Caves , Voyager Ziwani Tented Camp , Sniper Tree , Gicheha Ziwani Farm , The Njoro Springs , Grogan’s Castle , Mokine Hill, Lake Jipe , Lake Jipe Eco-lodge , Salaita Hill , The Taveta Military Cemetery , Maktau Indian Cemetery , Maktau Railway Station , Taita Hills Game Lodge , Taita Hills Museum , Sarova Salt Lick Lodge , Mwashoti Hill , Maili 27 Bridge, Mwakitau Hill , Lumo Game Sanctuary , Lions Bluff Lodge , Lualenyi Camp , Ndolwa Game Sanctuary , Dembwa Falls , Bura Mission Church , Vuria Hill , Taita Hills , Wesu Rock , Taita Rocks Hotel , Malowa's Shrine , Taita Skull Caves , Taita Research Station , Kilangarenyi Falls , Ngangao Forest , Kenyatta Caves , Mount Sagalla , Rev. Wray Memorial Museum , Ngutuni Wildlife Sanctuary , Volunteer International Camp Tsavo , Mount Kasigau , Kasigau Base Camp , The Maungu Plains, Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary , Wushumbu Conservancy, Teita Sisal Estate , Mbulia Conservancy , Tsavo East National Park , Ithumba Elephant Nursery , Yatta Plateau , Tsavo Springs , Emusaya Wilderness Arc , Galdessa Little Camp , Lugard's Falls , Mudanda Rock , Voi War Cemetery , Lion Hill Lodge , Kanderi Swamp , Voi Wildlife Lodge , Aruba Dam , A. Aruba Lodge , Nyiri Desert
Know More About Taita Taveta County: Geography, Land-Use, Highlights, Population, Roads - including distance chart, Airports, Climate & National Monuments
What’s The Air Like in T.Taveta?
The mean temperature in Taita Taveta is 23 Degrees Celsius, cooler around the hills and hotter on the Nyika where the Tsavos sit. Rainfall distribution is uneven, with the highlands receiving higher rains than the lowland areas.
What’s The Lay Of The Land in C.06?
Taita Taveta County is divided into two major topographical zones: The upper zone high zones, and the lower zone consists of plains of Tsavos.
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