Samburuland Open Reservoirs
Samburuland, in northern Kenya, is expansive and remote. The Samburu people are, in our western vision of African tribes, a gentle and creative people who have led a nomadic lifestyle for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Changing climate patterns and the expansion of urban communities are threatening their lifestyle, and each year they have to migrate with their domestic herds to an area that in turn is being threatened by the massive annual influx of people and animals as they search for an ever-decreasing supply of water.
The long-term ambition is to construct 120 Open Reservoirs along the northern elephant migration route.
In 2006 we supported the project by part-financing the purchase of machinery that previously had been hired, thereby reducing the cost of each reservoir. The reservoirs themselves will be huge, measuring 80m x 50m x 10m, and contain a phenomenal 40 million litres of water. This water is collected during the rainy seasons (long rains April and May, short rains August and September) and will allow the Samburu to continue their nomadic lifestyle, while providing themselves and their livestock with sufficient water during the dry season.
One very positive aspect of this project is that a large number of fruit and nut bearing trees will also be planted nearby, creating a mini oasis.
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