The Swimming Cows Of Kokwa Are Now An Attraction Site

Kokwa is an island that is in the middle of Lake Baringo. Which is a fresh water lake found in the Great Rift Valley. The island is approximately 4.5 square kilometers in size. And has about 400 households. The Island is inhabited by the Ilchamus community which is the only fish eating Maasai sub-tribe. Some of the residents on the Island are families of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Rugus Location in the mainland. They were displaced from their homes by ethnic conflicts where they also lost all their livestock and other materials.

Poverty level is high and literacy level is low in this remote island. Its few residents have little exposure and interaction with other people. Access to information is limited. Reducing competitiveness of the community for county and national economic empowerment opportunities. Kokwa is one of eight islands on Lake Baringo and it boasts about 3,000 inhabitants.

While Kokwa Island is rocky and local residents decry lack of government services, the inhabitants have adapted and make the best of what life has offered them. Since crop farming on a rocky land can be quite difficult, the residents instead practice animal husbandry. Surrounded by water on all sides, the locals hardly worry about moving their cattle from their island for sale outside. Their cows can swim.

The Njemps shepherds take the herds to the shores of the island. Then take the calves and throw them into the water. Taking care not to drown them, but to take them out to sea. In this way the mothers will follow them to save them and gradually learn to swim. As soon as they have reached their calf, they will be brought back to shore and the operation will be repeated, until they will be able to do it by themselves, without the need to save their young. Then they will be ready to cross the lake. The swimming cows have become a spectacle among the excursions of hotels in Baringo. It is escorted by tourist boats with cameras and mobile phones.