Kaplogoi Farm, in Tembelio Ward

Today, I had the chance to visit a home of Mzee Kipkat Barmao Chepkurui (Kimurei) in Kaplogoi to learn more about the settler who once lived there. The 90-year-old Mzee Kipkat owns the house that is surrounded by a century old fruit trees. He may be old but still has a sharp memory. When I asked him about the settler who lived in that house, he mentioned the name Prinsloo.

After a quick Google search, I found out that Koos Prinsloo Senior (1885-1950) was one of the early settlers of the Van Rensburg trek. They were a group of 47 families who traveled from South Africa and arrived in Uasin Gishu in 1908. The land they found was fertile and full of game.

Prinsloo was known as a hunter who made his fortune by hunting game. When he first arrived in Uasin Gishu, he was scared of the dangerous animals and would even mistake warthogs for lions. He described the beauty of the land and the abundance of wildlife he encountered in his memoirs as follows:.

“I was amazed by all the game grazing on the plains round here, there were giraffes, eland, zebra, hartebeest, blesbok with black blazes and also small game-as big as sheep. So gracefully did the densely packed game graze in the red sweet veld, you were amazed by the beauty of it all and Sergoit hills plonked down here on the plains and the forest over there in the east-so beautiful that anyone who has not experienced it would not believe it.”

Despite his success as a hunter, Prinsloo was not heavily involved in the community. He didn't serve on any committees or boards, nor did he hold any positions in the Dutch Reformed Church. His wife managed the farm and their fourteen children while he focused on hunting.

In 1962, the Prinsloo family migrated back to South Africa, just before Kenya gained independence. Their 750-acre farm was bought by residents from Keiyo and named it Kaplogoi. The name originated from the fruit orchard that the Prisloo tended, which the locals called "Kaplogoi," meaning the place of fruits. Today, there is a school in the area named after Kaplogoi.

The Prinsloo family infront of their temporary papyrus house in in 1909 Uasin Gishu plateau. The photo was taken by a roving photographer called Scholtz. According to literature, their farm was called Jakkalsdraai" (in reference to jackals who were thought to be evasive, clever, twisting and turning. It could also simply refer to a piece of land that jackals used as their home range). They had arrived in Uasin and found a full range land of wild game. Prinsloo made a fortune in hunting.
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