CHAPTER IX 



ACROSS LAIKIPIA 



" O'er the wide sierras and the high plateaux." 



Walt Whitman. 



Laikipia is a plateau formed of volcanic rocks, situated to the 

 east of the part of the Rift Valley between Lake Naivasha 

 and the steppes of Sukut. Most of the plateau lies at an 

 elevation of between 6000 and 7000 feet, and consists of rolling 

 prairie. Its area is almost that of Wales. Bounded to the 

 south by the forests of the Kikuyu country, it extends north- 

 ward between the volcanic piles of Kenya and Settima, and 

 the ridges of Doenyo lol Daika and Subugu, until it is cut off 

 by the westward trend of the Loroghi Mountains and the east- 

 ward bend of the Rift Valley. 



Considering the proximity of the country to the road to 

 Uganda, it is surprising how little Laikipia has been explored. 

 The enterprising Arab traders long ago found their way across 

 it, along two routes. One of these started at the north-eastern 

 end of the country of the Kikuyu, skirted the western foot of 

 Kenya, traversed Ndoro and the open steppes to the edge of 

 the Rift Valley above Baringo. The second route left the Rift 

 Valley to the north of Naivasha, and thence continued along 

 the eastern flanks of the wooded range of Subugu, enabling the 

 traders to reach Basso Narok (Lake Rudolf) without crossing 

 the country of the hostile Wasuk. These two routes were 

 recorded in 1874 in the valuable paper by Denhardt, referred 

 to in the first chapter. No further information about Laikipia 

 was obtained until Joseph Thomson made his courageous and 

 determined effort to cross it, to reach Kenya in 1883. His 



