Ngamia 101 (aka Camels 101)

The founding vision of my NGO is to uplift the livelihoods of resource-poor rural women and children through provision of alternatives to current, unviable livelihoods. Camels has been deemed one of these appropriate alternatives…hence my first course in camels last week, which I will call Ngamia (Camels) 101. Before I write about the exotic adventures of Ngamia 101, let me justify my involvement in this project to head off any doubts that I’m really a Peace Corps Volunteer and not a tourist on safari.

Camels are currently used in numerous arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) for plowing, consumption, and other income generating activities (think: milk) due to their drought-resistance. My town of Makindu, as it so happens, is geo-climactically prime ASAL. While camels have not been used for plowing in Kenya, which we know of to date, they are ideal for areas with erratic rainfall especially during times of drought.

Currently, Kenya is facing one of the worst droughts of the decade, going on almost 3 full years (5 planting seasons) without rain in some areas. This is devastating, to say the least. Pastoralists who are dependent on cows and goats for survival are losing entire herds to starvation. Images of Masai herders unsuccessfully propping up the rear halves of emaciated calves has been flashing on news shows for months now. Newspaper headlines tell of the devastation, as people have turned to eating seeds and dog meat, accompanied by pictures of bovine carcasses rotting in the background. Food relief has QUADRUPLED in some areas. Cross-border cattle raids (think: African-style Wild West raids to steal cattle by driving them away under the cover of night) are increasing in frequency, including one resulting in the massacre of a hundred men, women, and children just last week in Laikipia.

Yet looming in the background are murmurs about the coming rains of El Nino… Last time El Nino came through East Africa, there was humanitarian crisis-level flooding in Somalia and northern Kenya. Thousands died, if not from the flashfloods and inability to swim in ever-rising waters, then to the diseases and food emergency after. (Read “Where Soldiers Fear to Tread” for one UN-contracted relief worker’s account of his efforts in Somalia during the 1997/98 floods.)

So where do camels fit in? Well one bull (male) camel has the draft power of two bull ox, yet it costs the same (approximately 35,000 Kenyan shillings). And while cows have six stomachs that require constant supply of food – most of which is nowhere to be found during times of drought – camels will happily munch on the thorny dry-land bush that other livestock won’t (or can’t) touch. Lastly, cows need daily access to water, while camels can store enough water to last themselves two to three WEEKS at a time. So there you have it – camels would be quite the troopers for areas such as Ukambani (the larger region in which Makindu is located).

So we traveled up to a world-famous camel ranch Ol-Maisor in Laikipia, a few hours outside Nanyuki where Mt. Kenya is located. The trip there was a free safari: giraffes, zebras, buffalo, dik dik, gazelle running alongside the car, and an elephant herd crossing the road just minutes before we passed leaving us glimpses of their behinds as they continued into the bush. As we crossed over a dry riverbed, people murmured about it as if it had some importance, though I didn’t catch the gist of why. I later came to find out that was where one of the ten camels bought for our project had been eaten by a lion as they camped overnight on the trek to the ranch the previous week.

So we stayed for two days: watched the camels-in-training plow (or rather, kick ferociously as a plow was attached to them); the agricultural engineers took measurements and made adjustments to old equipment for designing a special camel plow; spoke with a team from India who is doing a documentary on endogenous knowledge application in dry-land regions and climate change; discussed selection process for soon-to-be-trained camel herders and the sensitization necessary for the communities in which the new animals will be introduced. All in all, it seems to be a promising project and application of this appropriate technology will hopefully make a positive difference in agricultural practices in the ever-increasing drought-prone areas (thank you, climate change) of developing countries.