When real men hunted, not staring at televisions

As a teenager growing up in Benditai village in Londiani, Kericho County hunting was the in-thing. Forget about the English Premier League craze, back then real men hunted. The hunting ground was the nearby Kongoni Forest. The place was full of cypress, pines, cedars and several other species as well as thousands of shrubs that housed gazelles and antelopes. Baboons, porcupines and wild cats live here too, but the hunting focused on the edible herbivores mainly.

The hunting was always on Sunday thus it clashed with church attendance. Young men carrying bows and arrows, pangas and rungus assembled at the edge of the forest. Their whistling attracted village dogs in their multitudes.

Circumcised boys, who had arrows, were divided into equal groups with one or two trusted ‘sharpshooters’ in each group. These were going to shoot the animals ‘awoken’ by the rest of the party mainly composed of uncircumcised boys under the supervision of one group of the young men.

The party was divided in two, those ‘ahead’ who shot the animals and those ‘behind’ who startled the animals so as to run towards the silent armed men ‘ahead’. Dogs barked in a particular way to signal that they had picked a scent and when an animal started running ‘ahead’ shouts of “Tai! Tai! Tai!” were to alert the group ahead. The pride of any hunter was an antelope or gazelle.

If the animal passed by the likes of Chebitet, Oria, Ndorobo or Simi, then we were sure of success as these guys rarely missed.

Sharing spoils

When one was sure that he had hit the target, he shouted “Ibei! Ibei! Ibei!” (It is carrying!). The hit animal would be pursued, the dogs seeing it or picking the scent and the people following footprints, bloodspots and the barking of dogs. The young men pointed at the footprints and blood using broken dry sticks never with a sharp object or a fresh stick, as this was believed to make the animal disappear. Interestingly no one remembers a time when an animal had actually disappeared because the footprints had been pointed at with a sharp object.

Blood was also not mentioned by name but one said “anchu beek” (here is water).

Once the animal was caught, it was hidden and one or two big boys left to guard it as the rest continued hunting.

In the evening, all the meat was shared amongst all present. Apart from the heads, kidneys, intestines and the hearts that were ‘booked’ by those who reached the dead animal first, the rest was shared equally.

Of course, those who shot the animal first got a bigger share, the whole left leg plus two ribs. The liver was shared equally and while some ate their share raw, others took theirs home to roast.

Except for attracting the wrath of pastors and animal lovers, this hunting produced a culture in itself complete with rules followed to the letter or else one was ‘expelled’ from the hunting club. Though injuries could be suffered, the excitement that came with the hunting surpassed these, and ‘serious’ injuries were very rare.

Besides the meat, these young men kept fit by running after the animals. Wasn’t this better than watching endless TV soaps, gambling and drinking alcohol?