Residents living in fear as hippos roam villages

Tourists take pictures as they watch two hippos feed on some special pelletes at the Haller Park's nature trail during a feeding session. [Gideon Maundu, Standard]

Residents of two villages bordering Mara River in Chepalungu are living in fear of being attacked by hippos.

The animals have been roaming in Koirabkalia and Kipkekei villages for more than two weeks.

“We are staring at grave danger. The (hippos) have destroyed crops in several farms and always stray into our homesteads, prompting us to lock ourselves in the house for hours,” said Robert Kirui, a resident of Kipkeikei.

Mr Kirui added that attempts by local youths to drive the animals away had failed.

“We no longer allow our children to go to school because the wild animals can attack them on the way,” he said. He said the residents had threatened to mobilise youths to kill the hippos if the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) did not act.

“We have given the KWS officers a one-week ultimatum to come and drive away these animals before we take action. We will not sit back and watch our property being destroyed,” Kirui said.

Court orders

Rebecca Leitich of Koitabkalia village told The Standard that the residents were planning to seek court orders to compel KWS to compensate them for the loss of their crops.

“This time round compensation must be given. The magnitude of destruction is immense,” she said. The two villages are prone to attacks from wild animals in the Mara River ecosystem. Heavy rains have caused the level of water to rise, encouraging hippos to travel upstream and stray into villages.

Wild animals

However, Chepalungu police boss John Ngare warned the people against attempting to confront wild animals.

“This rainy season we will see many wild animals such as hippos, leopards or even crocodiles straying into these villages, but we advise the residents not to confront them but alert the authorities instead,” he said.