By Peter Orengo

A statement posted in the Green Belt Movement site by her family said the Nobel Laureate passed away "on September 25, 2011, at the Nairobi Hospital, after a prolonged and bravely borne struggle with cancer. Her loved ones were with her at the time."

But those close to Prof Maathai including family, friends and colleagues say the state of her illness was a closely guarded secret, with details known only to herself and the doctor who was treating her.

Apparently Maathai had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year and she had been receiving treatment until Sunday night when she passed away.

A longtime close friend and colleague of the conservation heroine Prof Vertistine Mbaya of the University of Nairobi said Maathai’s illness was a private "medical condition" which she never wanted the public to know about.

Prof Mbaya said she only discovered that her friend was dying a couple of months ago while on a plane as they travelled together abroad.

"She never wanted to disclose to anyone about her condition to avoid making the public apprehensive. Hers was a life of action and she liked keeping active even when she wasn’t feeling well," said Mbaya.

As a close friend of many years, Mbaya said she was yet to come to terms with Maathai’s death.

"She had an extraordinary quality of charisma. It is a loss that will take time to heal for family and friends. An exceptional woman who taught the world the importance of trees and fought for what she believed in. She shall surely be missed by many people," said Mbaya.

In a recent interview with the Drum magazine — possibly the last before her death — Maathai revealed that she was slowing down due to health issues.

Slow down

The writer mentioned that they had to postpone the interview several times owing to the many hospital visits Maathai had to make.

She, however, did not reveal the nature of her ailment only saying: "I guess when you hit my age (71) you start to slow down. Every time I feel the urge to do something, I am aware of that. I think it is good to do things when you can because sooner or later, the body starts to give up," she was quoted in the magazine.

She added that she doesn’t travel for fun as she used to but only when she has to take care of business.

"So live the moment like you will never live it again. I take advantage of wherever I am and whatever I am doing," she is quoted as having said.

Maathai also mentioned that the only thing she would do right given a second chance was to take time off to raise children.

Prof Maathai was always in African print with matching head wrap. When asked if there was any particular reason for her sense of fashion she said: "When you are an African woman, a politician’s wife, there was a particular way you behaved in public. I learnt for example that during campaigns, a woman should not wear a miniskirt, or a dress that might get blown by wind."

She says she learnt early as a young person to wear long dresses, but soon developed her own comfortable dress code that she used for life.

Maathai’s death comes as cases of cancer — a disease that was traditionally associated with rich, industrialised countries — records a sharp rise in Kenya. Ovarian cancer accounts for three percent of all cancers in women.

Older women are at highest risk of developing the cancer with most deaths occurring in those aged 55 and older. Also at risk are women with a history of breast cancer.