Badiva kiribai wario
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Village elder and a lively old man with a colourful and chequered history. The great hunter/poacher of his generation and an accomplished tracker/gun bearer who travelled East Africa assisting professional hunters in his youth. He is a living relic of recent history and has witnessed the change from his people wearing skins in his childhood to having modern PA systems powered by a car battery as a standard feature to village dances in recent years.
He is a great source of information on the ways of his people and master of Watha bushcraft. Concerned for the future of his tribe he has welcomed any alignment with local enterprises whereby his people can work legitimately and also recognises the importance of preventing wildlife crime by his own people if they are to be accepted by the establishment. Amongst his reasons he can be cited as stating : "I no longer want to see armed men coming to our village" He has many sons all trained in the Watha tracking tradition by his own hand. His sons include Charo and the twins; Guyo and Benson Charo is the most notorious criminal poacher of his generation. Unrepentant he has been threatened with banishment and ostracism from the Watha community owing to the negative attention that he has bought to the village. Son of Bhadiva, educated and the Self appointed "Community Representative". Jefferson more regularly referred to as Guyo is very keen to work in conjunction with local agencies especially private ones for the betterment of his people. He is a keen researcher on Watha history.
Even with his limited means he has travelled to different parts of Kenya to visit the dwindling and scattered pockets of Watha communities that hold onto their identity. In doing so he has realised that the Watha of Galana, his people are the strongest enclave of Watha culture left. Their language undiluted like the other bands, their unique cultural practices intact. It would seem to him that other bands of Watha retain their identity in name only. He has learnt his peoples history through both the oral tradition and academic sources. Guyo was very fortunate in that his secondary school education was paid for by local safari lodge owners who his father used to work for. He has since been accepted into University and currently studies Law in Nairobi. His goal is to use his law education to help his people gain official recognition as an ethnic group in the eyes of the Kenya government and to represent them in all human rights issues. |
BENSON KIRIBAI BADIVA
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Benson seen here with his wife is the twin brother to Jefferson Guyo.
He currently works as a Ranger for the Ol Jogi Wildlife conservancy up country and received his field training with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). The KWS is a government law enforcement organisation charged with the operation of national parks and enforcement of wildlife laws with whom he served for one year. He is well versed in both Watha bushcraft tradition and KWS operating protocols making him extremely useful to any private conservancy. His knowledge of tracking earned him a rapid promotion at Ol Jogi conservancy. Like his brother he is very keen to retain his Watha heritage and pass it on to future generations. He has used his Watha bushcraft skills to pursue a career in wildlife protection. |