Wonders of Sergoit Hills

By William Kiptoo Names are never just labels. They carry history, identity, and memory. In Sergoit, the name Livingstone has outlived generations, shifting its meaning with each new era. To the Dutch Reformed Church missionaries in the 1940s, naming their outpost Livingstone was an act of continuity, a way of linking their new mission in Kenya with their previous work in Southern Africa. To the Boer farmers, it was a symbol of faith and familiarity on foreign soil. For the African community that inherited the land after independence, the name was a reminder of a complicated past; a name they accepted but eventually replaced with Simatwet, drawn from the land itself and its heritage. Yet, decades later, Livingstone returned as the name of the local secondary school. Its revival is not so much about honoring colonial memory as it is about the way history stubbornly weaves itself into the present. A name once borrowed from another land has now become rooted in Moiben’s own story. What th...

 By William Kiptoo Rongai Truckers has had a well-known presence on Kenyan highways for many years until 2023 when the Mauritanian conglomerate Rogers Group acquired it through its subsidiary Velogic Logistics as part of a regional expansion strategy. The logistics firm was founded by the Vanesa Evans family in Rongai in 1947. The introduction of cargo operations by the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in 2018 significantly impacted the company including other truckers who provided services from the port of Mombasa to various regional destinations. Until recently, the Rongai Workshop and Transport Ltd remained the second-largest transport company in terms of regional destinations it served. The trucking firm counted Tea Companies among its top clients and operated a fleet of about 160 vehicles while employing 270 people. Other major trucking firms in the country include Anwaraki and Brothers, Bollore Logistics, Acceler, Global Logistics, Siginon Freight Group, and DHL. Local trucking...

By William Kiptoo Eldoret, Kenya’s fastest growing town, is writing its future over the remains of its past. Nowhere is this more visible than at Eldoret Cemetery Number 2, also known as the Christian Cemetery. Families who buried their loved ones there fear that new developments, particularly the expansion of Kipchoge Stadium, are edging dangerously close to the graves, threatening to erase them completely. Overgrown grass, vandalized headstones, and the absence of a protective fence have left the cemetery in ruins. The land around it is being consumed by construction. “Every day we see the cemetery shrinking,”  says one relative.  “Our families are being erased in the name of development.” In 2020, families who had loved ones buried at the Christian Cemetery created a WhatsApp group. At first, it was a space for sharing memories. Soon, it became a platform for activism. Members pooled resources to hire a lawyer to pursue legal redress. But the lawyer, they say, has not been ...

By William Kiptoo The ongoing rehabilitation of Kipchoge Stadium has brought with it massive expansion, including new facilities and additional parking space. While this is welcome for the town’s growing sports culture, the expansion has come at a painful cost. The land adjacent to the stadium, once contested in court, has already seen its fate sealed. One portion was turned into a public cemetery, and at the far end near Eldoret Prison lies the Eldoret Christian Cemetery. Today, the public cemetery has been completely erased, and the Christian Cemetery is now at risk of vandalism and total extinction. This is not just about land; it is about memory, history, and dignity. Cemeteries are not empty spaces. They are sacred grounds that hold the remains of those who shaped the story of Eldoret. The Christian Cemetery, in particular, carries the legacy of early settlers and individuals who significantly contributed to the town’s growth. Erasing it would mean wiping away an important piece o...

By William Kiptoo For most of the 20th century, the East African Tanning Extract Company (EATEC) ran vast wattle plantations on the Uasin Gishu Plateau, with Eldoret as its nerve center. At its peak, EATEC managed nearly 20,000 hectares of black wattle, processed in local factories into tannin for the global leather industry. When the market for natural tannin collapsed in the late 1990s, EATEC wound down operations. By the early 2000s, its estates were sold or subdivided, creating the patchwork of plots we know today. Key Former EATEC Blocks 1. Pioneer Ngeria Block 1 EATEC Location:  South and southeast of Eldoret, covering Pioneer, Ngeria, Annex, and parts of Kapseret. Now:  Dense housing in Annex and Pioneer, schools, churches, small shops, and land affected by the Eldoret Bypass. Notable:  One of the largest and most contested former EATEC blocks, with thousands of individual plots. 2. Kapseret and Chepkatet Side Blocks Location:  Chepkatet, Lemook, and Inder are...