A farmer's story

Farming next to the "maternity ward"

Of all the things Noah advises against in his work, this has to top the bill....

There is a patch of forest in the TransMara district, next to the river, which is called Laila Forest. Or as Noah terms it "the maternity ward".

The maternity ward is where a good number of the local elephants come to give birth, and as such has one of the highest densities of the animals.

Given its popularity with the resident elephants, you can be sure that there are several elephant highways going in and out of this forest.

And then you have farmers such as Daniel Olikhaka, recently moved into the region, who set up home and farm on an elephant highway, next to the maternity ward.

13 raids in just one month

In just one month (July 03) Mr Olikhaka had elephants entering his fields 13 times. On 3 of these occasions they were successful. The damage so far has not been severe, but on one occasion a young girl was injured.

Why the farmer is not for moving
The strange thing is, when you ask Mr Ollikhaka why he simply doesn't move, or at least try to plant a different crop that the elephants do not like, he simply replies that the elephants are just a problem that he has to deal with.

That they'll never go away.

And that he'll never go away.

And besides he likes maize.

His children like maize.

So why should he grow anything else?

If you manage to catch Noah's face as the farmer utters these staccato sentences, the eyebrows and eyes of this usually jovial man are raised and the legendary smile is significantly absent.