Get a taste of rare fruits at Bomet ‘home of lightning’

Women fetching water in one of water spring at Kipsegon eco-system on a makeshift bridge connecting Kapwilliam to Tililbei villages within the facility. PICTURE BY GEOFFREY RONO

What you need to know:

  • The community-protected ecosystem is home to some of the rarest fruits loved by humans and animals.
  • Some wild animals eager for the fruit come from the Maasai Mara Game reserve.
  • During school holidays, learners flock the site to have a glimpse of the trees and animals and sample the fruits.

As you approach the site, the unmistakable chorus of chirping birds welcomes you to Kipsegon Ecosystem.

The woodland is one of Bomet County’s most attractive sites. Kipsegon is a 27-acre ecosystem in Nyangores Ward, Chepalungu Sub-County.

It has features which make tourists’ experiences hard to forget.

Hundreds of birds twittering overhead in the indigenous trees welcome visitors, who can cool off in shades of tall trees.

RAREST FRUITS
Many of these trees have medicinal value, making the forest an ecological and health treasure.

The community-protected ecosystem is home to some of the rarest fruits loved by humans and animals.

Some wild animals eager for the fruit come from the Maasai Mara Game reserve.

During school holidays, learners flock the site to have a glimpse of the trees and animals and sample the fruits.

Once in a while, local women go into the forest for tree bark. They boil the bark and use the water to treat various ailments. Due to their value, the trees are jealously guarded by the community.

Seventy-year-old Tabutany Rono says she is always available for women seeking the barks, to explain to them the dosage their children need.

 “Most women only get to know about the medicine from older relatives. I stay on site to guide them on how to prepare and use it. I also supervise the peeling to ensure the trees survive,” she told the Daily Nation.

HOT SPRING
Another attraction at Kipsegon is its hot spring.

Mr Philip Koech says locals have a lot of respect for the spring.

“Our elders tell us that four initiates sneaked to the site for a swim in 1933 and the girls were never seen again,” he said.

He added that in the 1950s, four bulls disappeared in the woodland when they went to drink at the spring.

“We have never understood why the incidents involved the victims in the two incidents were four,” he said.

“In the 1950s an elephant strayed to the site and was never seen again.”

Mr Koech said elephants from the Maasai Mara have a migration route through the woodland. Three years ago, a jumbo strayed into the spring and killed a teacher.

The ecosystem also has cold water springs where locals get their drinking water and saline stones for their livestock.

“Our animals prefer the saline stones to the manufactured salts,” he said.

There is also a big hole at the centre of the woodland. Locals believe it is the home of lightning.

“Every morning, we find the hole and the area near it clean. It has led to the belief that it is the home of lightning,” said Mr Koech.