Discovering a happy 'Kingdom' in Mt Elgon

A view of the Mt Elgon Forest. [Caroline Chebet, Stanadard]

Ever visited a new place and instantly felt like you are reliving a moment in a movie? That your mind is pulling a déjà vu but is not?

Having been binge-watching a series of enchanted forest kingdoms and some of the world’s biological hotspots like those of the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, widely known as the Happy Kingdom, I joined a team to visit the Ogiek, who live in the moorlands of Mt Elgon forest.

The Ogiek of Mt Elgon is a hunter-gatherer community that turned pastoralists and historically resided in the forest as an indigenous minority community.