Quarterly elders' councils
Structured recorded sessions on grazing, water, forest taboos and seasonal indicators.
Heritage
Elders & Indigenous Knowledge
Documenting traditional ecological knowledge and embedding it in modern conservation planning.
- Location
- Mount Kulal & surrounding settlements
- Timeline
- 2016 - present · Ongoing
- Partners
- Community elders' councils · Cultural heritage researchers
The challenge
Why this work matters
The management rules that kept Mount Kulal intact for generations were never written down. They live in the memory of elders, grazing rotations, sacred groves, taboos on felling certain species near water.
As that generation passes, the risk is not only cultural loss but practical loss: conservation plans drawn up without this knowledge repeatedly failed on the ground.
What we do
Activities on the ground
Oral history archive
Audio recordings in Samburu and Rendille, transcribed and indexed by theme.
Knowledge-to-plan workshops
Elders and technical staff jointly translate customary rules into operational management guidance.
Intergenerational walks
Elders lead youth across the mountain naming places, species and their governing rules.
Results
What has changed
40
Elders' councils convened
120+
Hours of oral history recorded
7
Sacred groves formally mapped
2
Languages archived
- Customary grazing rotations are now built into the mountain's grazing management plan.
- Sacred grove boundaries are recognised in county-level restoration planning.
From the field
Project gallery
“We did not invent conservation. We are only writing down what our fathers already knew before it disappears with us.”
Downloads
Documents & data
Indigenous knowledge compendium
Thematic summary of documented customary practice.
Sacred grove map
Mapped boundaries of the seven recorded groves.
Requesting a document? Write to us via the contact page and we will send it directly.
