Nakwamoru incident. South Turkana National Reserve. 1993

 Charley coy, had its head quarters in Cholim on the slopes of Mt Elgon, which was 27 kilometers from Kitale town, but it had platoons based in Kaberua on the western side of the mountain taking care of the new Mt Elgon district to cheptais, and the whole of Kapsokwony.  The second platoon was based at Sarmash which was at the boarder of Turkana and Pokot , but was latter moved to Lobokat. There are two National Reserves here; the South Turkana National Reserve  which starts at the Wei Wei river near Kainuk, to the Kerio river as its eastern boundary. The second is the Nasalot National Reserve which is found between the Wei Wei river and the Turkwel river which emanates from the now Turkwel hydro electric dam. 
The platoon also takes care of the Rimoi and the Kamnarok National Reserve towards the south. There has ever been a resident herd of elephants numbering 200 between these two reserves which are threatened by the ever increasing population of people migrating from the high mountains raising from both sides of the reserve.

South Turkana is surrounded by the Loturuk mountains and the Kailangon hills to the east, and has pure plains of Kaadengoi ,and Kaakong which are teemed with all types of wildlife during the rainy season before they take refuge at the towering mountains during the dry spell. 

Two incidence took place here during my tour of duty ; one was the Nakuamoru killings , and the weiwei poachers. 

Reports were received from the local people that an elephant was killed near the Nakuamoru rock, and the reserve Warden who was based at Sarmash decided to take his own PAC ( problem animal control unit ) without informing the WPD ( wildlife protection department ) rangers based at Lobokat to arrest the situation. It is important to note that PAC rangers are trained to deal with human wildlife conflict , but the WPD group are more conversant in security management and are more equipped to handle security complexities . The warden took four rangers and visited the scene where they found many people cutting away meat of the dead elephant, and for reasons best known to them, they opened up fire on the group and killed two of them on the spot. 
They were then led to where the tusks were hidden and they decided to arrest the two people who took them to the loot. The team then proceeded to Lobokat to report their success and recorded it in the OB, ( observation book ) and they wrote a radio message to be transmitted to Nairobi as required, then proceeded to Lodwar police station to commence prosecution.

The HF ( high frequency) radio had a microphone problem thus the rangers failed to dispatch the written message but the company command in Cholim was informed through the VHF radio and this prompted my need to drive more than 200 kilometers to verify and confirm the incident. I got to Lobokat in the night and after repairing the microphone the written message was transmitted and we retired to bed. 
Early the next morning I visited the scene and found the dead elephant , then we were led to the two bodies and we placed them together in a makeshift grave and buried them. We then patrolled the Turkwel basin and went back to meet the OCS (officer commanding station ) at the Kainuk police base and he was shocked to learn that two people were killed by our rangers. We failed to understand the actions of the warden and I had to call him to come and explain his actions. 
We later learned that the officer was advised by his able sergeant to do what they did. They even tried to erase what they had written on the OB and they also destroyed the radio message form they had early written. What they failed to know is that the message had already been transmitted to Nairobi and was latter used against them. The officer and the Sargent were arrested and charged for the murder of the two alleged poachers. The case took one year and the two were latter acquitted for lack of witnesses and evidence.

In the weiwei incident , rangers on patrol came across two people skinning an antelope they had previously killed and they opened fire upon seeing the rangers. The patrol shot back and one of them was gunned down and the other injured but managed to shoot his way through. A Kalashnikov was recovered with 80 rounds of 5.56 mm and this were taken to the Kapenguria police station but the police  refused to keep the gun at their armory claiming that the local community ( Pokot ) would overrun the station looking for the gun. 
We took it to our main armory in Cholim . The next day there were demonstrations in Marich pass by the Pokot claiming that KWS were their enemies and that they should be moved out of their land. They declared that they would shoot every KWS person on site and that grenades should be fired at our vehicles. Such threats are never taken lightly mostly when they are issued by the Pokot .

 I immediately assembled two full sections together and drove straight to Lobokat to reinforce the platoon. I  had five vehicles and a total of 45 men to face the challenge and I wanted to show off my strength , what we call show of might, to see if I could force the community to the table.  
For two days we traversed the entire place, from Tot to Sigor to Lomut , Chesogon and back to Marich pass without interacting with anyone.  At the police road block in Marich pass , I left a message for the senior chief, that the ball was now in his court and that he should plan for us to meet. He requested us to meet the next day at his place.

I took  one section to the meeting but  left them at the police lines and walked alone , without even a pistol to their meeting. You see, I am a nomad just like this people , and I know that stupid courage , and naked boldness , has great impact to them , and it is a pure sign of manliness and everything else associated to courage. I was only a boy to them , light skinned and very slim, and my actions took them by complete surprise , and they gave me the floor to explain things, and this I did very well,  for all those who were facing the other side simply because they disliked me , turn around to look at me,  and those who were laying down as they normally do when they don't like the speaker or the topic, rose up and listened, and when I eventually sat down, they did not talk for a very long time, and when they did , it was only to request me to walk back to my men , and that they would contact me latter. 
 On our way back to Kainuk , we found the man we had injured previously , and his foot had a big gaping hole and that the wound had turned septic and he was dying. We drove him to Kapenguria hospital for treatment then we informed the police. The simple act of taking this man to hospital rather than killing him was passed to all corners of the Pokot lands and it changed their perception towards us over night. 

A delegation of elders was sent to meet us two days latter at Amolem, and our differences and misunderstandings  were solved to date. My gamble bore fruits and the Pokot and the Turkana communities agreed to work with us in developing the two Reserves of Lobokak in Turkana district, and Nasalot in Kapenguria district. The wardens office has since been moved from Sarmash to a site very close to the Kengen Electric Power Company and the Lobokat base now has permanent ranger houses.