Settler Stories in Habari: A Guide to the Friends of East Africa Newsletter

Compiled for the Wonders of Sergoit Hills archive, October 2026.

Habari is the newsletter of the Friends of East Africa (Vriende van Oos-Afrika), the association of Afrikaner and other families who once lived in Kenya and Tanzania. Since 1979 its members have written down their memories of the Uasin Gishu Plateau, Eldoret, Sergoit, Moiben, Kaptagat and the farms around them. Every issue is free to read on the Friends of East Africa website. This page is a guide to the settler stories of our area that appear in those issues, with a short note on what each one tells us, so that readers can go to the original. The stories belong to their authors and to the Friends of East Africa. Many are written in Afrikaans.

The first trekkers and the founding of the settlement

  • The beginnings of the settlement (Habari, first issue, pages 1 to 4, Afrikaans). An early account of how the settlement began with the three Van Breda brothers in 1902. Piet van Breda surveyed most of the farms on the Plateau. The Van Rensburg trek outspanned near Sergoit on Tom Davies' farm in 1908, and A.C. Hoey is said to have watched the wagons arrive from the top of Sergoit. It also tells of the "Kwagga election" between Griffiths and Tommy O'Shea, the first mill (1909), the first cattle dip on the Plateau built by C.J. Cloete, the Friday cattle sales in Eldoret, the first Merino sheep in 1911 and the Pioneer Stables. Read the issue
  • The Van Rensburg trek (Habari 1980, pages 3 to 6, Afrikaans). A family account of how Oupa Jan van Rensburg answered the call for settlers in the Uasin Gishu, gathered thirty families and led the expedition with Piet Steenekamp, Isak Smit, Piet du Plooy, Koos Prinsloo, Albert Steyn, Dick Wheeler and others. It describes cutting the road through the forest from Eldama Ravine past Timboroa, baking bread in ovens dug into red banks, the arrival at Burnt Forest (Verbrandebos) station and the long journey ending at Broederstroom, so named because the Boer "brothers" first gathered there. The 1980 issue also carries an old map of the Plateau farms showing Moiben, Turbo, Sergoit and Kaptagat. Read the issue
  • Die Kenya Boerepionier A.F. Arnoldi, by Magriet Doorewaard (Habari 2014, pages 5 to 7). Frans Arnoldi came from South Africa in 1906, settled first near Naivasha and Nakuru, and moved to the Uasin Gishu Plateau in 1907 near the Van Breda farms. The Van Rensburg trek camped on his Nakuru farm in 1908, and he helped found the Vergenoeg congregation that year. Read the issue
  • Trek centenary, by Elsie Cloete with Valeria Moggeridge (Habari 2011, pages 3 to 8). The story of the C.J. Cloete trek of 1911: the ship Skramstad, the train to Londiani, the walk with the livestock to Sergoit, and the founding of a new Concordia farm near Sergoit. C.J. Cloete died in 1912, the family lost much of its stock, and nine year old Sonnie walked fifteen miles to Eldoret twice a week to sell eggs. It notes the fear on the Plateau that the Nandi might strike again after the killing of Van Breda a year earlier. Read the issue
  • Uninhabited but not unclaimed: the Uasin Gishu Plateau in 1906, by Elsie Cloete (Habari 2012, pages 15 to 16). How the Uasin Gishu Maasai lost the Plateau in the 1870s, were finally dispersed by the Nandi in the Kipkarren valley, and how the Nandi, Elgeyo and others still used its pastures when the first 99 year leases were signed. An important piece for anyone who wants the African side of the "empty land" story. Read the issue
  • Die misterieuse Bwana Maie, by Magriet Doorewaard (Habari 2013, pages 18 to 20). Identifies the author of the book Voortrekkerslewe in Donker Afrika as Migaal Scholtz of Vrede, who came with the Von Maltitz party around 1909 and farmed plots near the Eldoret river. It also touches on how the name Eldoret was adopted. Read the issue
  • Mt Elgon 1913, by Ivan Mitford-Barberton (Habari 2018, pages 4 to 5). An extract describing the road to Trans Nzoia through "Sixty-four, the last outpost on the Uasin Gishu, later Eldoret", and Burnt Forest. Read the issue

Sergoit, Moiben and the Plateau farms

  • Koppie Eksteen (Habari 2013, page 21, reprinted from The Kenya Farmer, August 1962). J.C. "Koppie" Eksteen came to Kenya in 1931, started his first farm at Moiben in 1942 and later took over his father's Sergoit farm of about 4,500 acres. His father in law, E.L. Steyn, was an early Plateau settler and wheat farmer. Read the issue
  • My Life Story: Eldoret, Kenya to George, by Aletta Naudé, born Eksteen (Habari 2012, pages 18 to 19). The eldest daughter of Koppie and Alida Eksteen of Sergoit. Her mother was the daughter of Elbert Steyn of the Van Rensburg trek. She was head girl of the Hill School in 1962. The family farm near Eldoret is today Chepkoilel. Read the issue
  • Excerpts from Alta Naudé's Travelogue (Habari 2019, pages 17 to 24). On a 2018 journey she visits Fanie Kruger's farm, returns to her childhood home at Sergoit (now Chepkoilel), the neighbouring Kruger farm, the Hill School and her grandfather J.F. Eksteen's grave in the Eldoret cemetery. Read the issue
  • Tant Sophie Steyn vertel, with an introduction by Dan Steyn (Habari 2019, pages 3 to 16, Afrikaans). The Erasmus family came in 1916, farmed in Trans Nzoia and then near Eldoret. Sophie describes the Broederstroom and Plateau community, the Eldoret church opened in 1921, and her husband Piet Steyn's farm in the Cherangani hills near Moiben (1939 to 1940). Piet died in 1942 and the family left in 1945. Read the issue
  • Boerdery in die ou dae (Habari 1981, pages 3 to 7, Afrikaans). Memories of farming on the Uasin Gishu Plateau, starting with the first wheat varieties grown there, including "Pohl's Plateau" chosen by Lorrie Pohl, and Major Knapman's prize at an early Eldoret show. The issue also has a photograph of the building of the festival hall at Plateau in 1936 by Frikkie Erasmus, and a family story of a farm on the western slopes of Sergoit settled by a family that came with the Van Rensburg trek. Read the issue
  • Marthie Davis vertel (Habari 2012, pages 3 to 4, Afrikaans). Born on 18 June 1920 at Hoey's Bridge, about six miles from Eldoret towards Soy. In 1928 the family moved to a farm called Patatadraai, where there were no roads and the country was wild. Read the issue
  • Moving Heaven and Earth, and the Equator, by Elsie Cloete (Habari 2017, pages 3 to 6). The Queen Mother's royal train across the Plateau in February 1959, the stop at Soy station, and tea with the Kruger family at Rensburgrus, the farm of S.P. Kruger, grandson of Jansen van Rensburg who led the 1908 trek. Mentions the Anglican church at Moiben. Read the issue
  • Kameelperde in koringlande, by Christian Schlotfeldt (Habari 2017, pages 24 to 26). A German visitor finds Daniel Potthoff growing potatoes on land near Sergoit rented from Fanie Kruger and his son Jannie, and tours Eldoret and the old Wagon Wheel hotel. The same issue (page 15) describes an East African Women's League tapestry showing Sergoit, and notes that Fanie Kruger moved the last oribi from Sonny Cloete's old Concordia farm to Sergoit. Read the issue
  • Cecil Hoey and Hoey's Bridge (now Moi's Bridge), by Wa Mwara (Habari 2022, pages 13 to 14). A.C. Hoey hunted on the Plateau from 1904, set up an estate agency in Eldoret, farmed at Sergoit and at Kapsirowa in the Cherangani hills, and built the crossing on the Nzoia that gave Moi's Bridge its first name. He died at Mombasa in 1956. Read the issue
  • Death notices (Habari 2011, page 2 and Habari 2022, page 3). Freda Barnard, whose husband ran a large dairy near Plateau, and Anna Barnard (born Cloete), whose husband Gert farmed wheat first at Plateau and then at Soy. In 2022: Koos Engelbrecht, known as "Koos Moiben", and Rysie Venter, son of Hannes and Gertie Venter of Moiben.

Kaptagat, the Nandi border and Kipkarren

  • Twee ou seders het geval: Alex Boshoff en Harry Pohl, by Dan Steyn (Habari 2016, pages 7 to 9). The road from Plateau station past Kaptagat and along the Eldoret to Nakuru road to Laurie Pohl's farm on the Nandi border, later farmed by his son Harry. Read the issue
  • Alexander George Boshoff (Habari 2016, pages 3 to 6). Obituary of the eldest son of Kosie and Bonnie Boshoff of the Plateau farm, who stayed on for a few years after independence and served on the Vergenoeg church council in Eldoret. Read the issue
  • Between two murders, by Dan Steyn (Habari 2016, pages 12 to 14). Ray Nestor, who farmed at Moiben and Kipkarren and sold Kipkarren in 1950, the 1912 murder trial of the settler Grobbelaar, and the 1908 Van Rensburg trek. Read the issue
  • Dave Lichtenstein writes (Habari 2010, page 28). A return visit to the farms at Lessos, Burnt Forest and Kipkabus, the breached Kerita dam, and the old homestead at Kipkarren shown to him by a Nandi guide. Read the issue
  • Wheat harvest at Flax, Kaptagat (Habari 2009, page 16). Hennie Wessels' photographs of the wheat harvest at Flax Ltd, Kaptagat, around 1962. His parents first farmed at Turbo. Read the issue

Eldoret town, church and school

  • The first church buildings (Habari 1979, page 3, Afrikaans). The first church of bamboo walls and thatch on Koos Prinsloo's farm about 12 km east of Eldoret, built soon after Ds. M.P. Loubser arrived in 1909, and the second church in Eldoret, dedicated on Dingaan's Day 1921. The same issue recalls that the colonial government once proposed the Uasin Gishu as a homeland for Jewish settlers. Read the issue
  • Ds. M.P. Loubser, merkwaardige Godsman, by Magriet Doorewaard (Habari 2017, pages 7 to 9). The minister who served the Boer settlers from 1909 until his death in 1942, including the bamboo church built on J.P. Prinsloo's farm at Vergenoeg in 1911. Read the issue
  • Laaste kerkdiens, letter by Tant Laal Prinsloo (Habari 2009, page 3). The family's arrival in 1911, the early services at the bamboo church on Koos Prinsloo's farm, Ortlepp's gift of a plot in Eldoret to the church, and Ds. Loubser bringing the first organ from South Africa. Read the issue
  • Van Suid-Afrika na Kenia in 1949, by Rina Scholtemeijer, born Botha (Habari 2015, pages 5 and 11 to 13). The Eldoret church building dedicated in 1932, the last minister leaving on 1 January 1962, and the Roets couple handing the church keys to the Africa Inland Mission on 16 February 1964. Read the issue
  • Die aap op die dak en ander kerklike kaskenades, by Dan Steyn (Habari 2014, pages 24 to 31). Humorous memories of the Eldoret congregation in the 1950s, the Van Rensburg trek families, and the Sergoit and Verbrandebos prayer districts. Read the issue
  • Huldeblyk Ds. L.J. Buys, by Dr Gert Buys (Habari 2009, pages 24 to 25). The second minister of the Gereformeerde congregation in Eldoret, 1949 to 1952. His wife Maggie died in Eldoret in 1951 and is buried there. Read the issue
  • Mrs Dreyer, district nurse (Habari 2010, page 2). She arrived in 1911 and delivered nine of Mrs A. Cloete's thirteen children. Her Eldoret house was still standing in 2007. The same issue has a photograph of Eldoret School around 1936 under Mr Hunter (page 9). Read the issue
  • Barbara Emslie (Wahl) skryf (Habari 2011, page 26). Schooldays in Eldoret, the Hill School and Highlands School, the Afrikaans churches, and her 1957 Standard 5 class. Read the issue
  • Des Bristow: A Family History (Habari 2012, page 11). Gwen Howard taught at the Hill School and painted murals there of the Plateau and Sergoit rock. Her family later farmed at Kapsoya. Read the issue
  • Afrikaner contribution to Kenya rugby, by Paul Okong'o (Habari 2017, pages 16 to 21). How farmers from Eldoret, Kitale, Soy and Turbo built the Eldoret Sports Club in 1927 and 1928 and dominated East African rugby. Read the issue
  • Hassanali and Co, Uganda Street (Habari 2022, page 4). Jenny Jina asks for memories of her grandfather Hassanali Dedhar's store in Eldoret between 1940 and 1973. A reminder that the town's story is also an Asian story. Read the issue
  • Eldoret Railway Nursery School (Habari 2018, page 22). Moses Ngobi looks for a photograph of the school, built around 1928 and pulled down in 1969. Read the issue

Families who moved on

  • Schalk Steyn: a life of trekking, by Dan Steyn (Habari 2010, pages 20 to 23, and Habari 2012, pages 5 to 8). Threshing work across the Uasin Gishu and Trans Nzoia, a Plateau farm bought in the mid 1930s with Jan le Roux and Bokkie von Maltitz as neighbours, and the sale to the British Government in 1963. Read the issue
  • Erns Kruger skryf, by Ben Kruger (Habari 2009, pages 13 to 15). The family's 1946 trek to Eldoret and the purchase of Patatadraai on the Soy road. Read the issue
  • Living in Kenya: a Wonderful Experience, by Danie Bosman, Peter and Marissa Swan (Habari 2012, pages 21 to 22). The Kruger brothers' farm 15 km from Kitale on the Eldoret road, bought at the first Trans Nzoia land sale in May 1913. Read the issue
  • Schalk Cloete se eskapades, by Alex Boshoff (Habari 2009, pages 4 to 5) and The many disguises of the Nandi Bear, by Elsie Cloete (Habari 2009, pages 7 to 9), in which Sonnie Cloete tracks the "bear" in 1919 from the Elgeyo forest past Sergoit to the creamery in Eldoret. Read the issue
  • Settlers' Tracks in East Africa, by J.J. de Jager (Habari 2009, pages 18 to 23). An overview of Afrikaner migration, the Van Rensburg trek of 1908, the Van Breda brothers near the Elgeyo reserve, Burnt Forest, Sergoit, Soy and Eldoret, and a 1986 count of five remaining settlers in the Uasin Gishu and Trans Nzoia. Read the issue
  • Four old Highlanders, by Dan Steyn (Habari 2017, page 8, and Habari 2021, page 3). Fanie Kruger, Dick Wheeler, Hettie Pohl and Dan Steyn, all born in Eldoret and schooled at Highlands School. Read the issue

Still to come

This guide covers the first issue, Habari 1979 to 1981, and the issues from 2009 to 2022. The issues from 1982 to 2008 are scanned pages and are still being read, so more stories from those years will be added here. The 2020 issue has an article on Fanie Kruger, described as the last Boer in Kenya, which will also be added.

Some of these stories will be retold on this blog in fuller form, always with credit to the writer and a link to the issue. If you are a member of the Friends of East Africa, or a family member of one of these writers, the archive would be glad to hear from you.

Source: Habari, newsletter of the Friends of East Africa, 1979 to 2022, friendsofeastafrica.com. Page numbers refer to the printed pages of each issue.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kibet of Tambach

Image
By William Kiptoo   This man is called Kibet. He lived longtime together with monkeys. When white tourists found him near Nakuru he still climped on trees. Today he lives on the ground of the hospital of Tambach. He does't feel comfortable in houses and sleeps outside.
Read more

The History of the Reformed Church of East Africa (RCEA) and Its Ties with the South African Dutch Reformed Church (DRC)

From the history of the Reformed Church of East Africa In the early 1900s, some people from the Boer republics in South Africa moved to Eastern Africa after the Anglo-Boer War. They didn't want to live under British rule, so they settled in Kenya. These migrant farmers were part of the Reformed Churches in South Africa. They formed their own congregation called Vergenoeg in Eldoret, Kenya. The land there was fertile and perfect for farming. At that time, Kenya was still a German colony called German East Africa, but it would soon become a British colony after World War I.  Rev. M. P. Loubser became the first minister of the congregation. He, along with other farmers, established a ministry among the farmworkers. In 1944, the congregation decided to call its first full-time missionary. Rev. Loubser had left money in his will specifically for mission work, which made this possible. They bought a school building called Broederstroom, which is now known as Plateau, to be used as a miss...
Read more

Ken-Knit (Kenya) Ltd.

Image
By William Kiptoo Ken-Knit (Kenya) Ltd. is a textile manufacturing company located in Eldoret, Kenya. It was founded in 1966 by three brothers - Gulabchand Shah, Somchand Shah, and Keshavlal Shah. With an initial capital of Sh50,000, the company started small with just one knitting machine producing hand-knitting yarn. However, over time, they expanded into spinning, blankets, knitwear, and other products. Initially focusing on hand-knitting yarn, Ken-Knit soon diversified into spinning units, blanket departments, and knitwear. They have grown into a major textile manufacturer in East Africa, known for their quality knitwear. In the late 1970s, they introduced a Composite spinning and dyeing plant for various types of yarn. Ken-Knit has kept up with modern technology, investing in machinery to ensure top quality and durability in their products. Ken-Knit offers a wide range of products, including sweaters, blankets, Maasai shukas, pillows, and kikois. They are also a leading manufactur...
Read more