Early Life and Environmental Roots
Originating from the Niger-Cameroun region during the ancient Bantu expansion, the ancestors of the Bukusu migrated eastward through the Great Lakes region and Nile Valley before settling around Mount Elgon (Sikulu sya Masaaba) and establishing their modern home in Western Kenya.
I grew up on the forested ridges of the lower slopes of Mount Elgon in Western Kenya, a land of rich volcanic soils, sacred groves, and the famed cave elephants that shelter within its lava-tube caverns. The landscape was not only biologically abundant but spiritually charged: the cradle of Bukusu ecological knowledge and the environmental ethic that shaped my worldview from childhood.
Bukusu cosmology, rooted in the dictates of Wele Khakaba (God the Creator), holds that humans, animals, forests and rivers exist within a single moral order. Customs and taboos safeguarded that balance: no cutting of sacred trees, strict protection of water sources, regulated hunting seasons. These practices functioned as environmental governance long before modern conservation frameworks had a name for them.
Learning from Elders
My earliest education unfolded alongside formal schooling, guided by elders and ritual specialists. I learned the functions of trees and plants: which roots, leaves and shrubs treated ailments; how to cultivate, process and store ancient grains in granaries; how to prepare bamboo shoots, a seasonal delicacy harvested from the mountain's slopes.
Beyond grains I absorbed a wide repertoire of traditional culinary practices: gathering wild greens, identifying edible insects, and mastering the art of harvesting chiswa (flying termites), a prized protein source that Bukusu communities coax from the ground with rhythmic tapping and rattles, a practice reflecting deep ecological knowledge and genuinely sustainable protein harvesting.
I also learned sustainable firewood collection, guided by taboos that prohibited cutting near springs or damaging regenerating stands. Specific species were chosen for yokes, walking sticks and household implements, always with restraint and renewal in mind, so that resource use remained balanced with ecological regeneration.
An ancestral curriculum
- Medicinal plants
- Roots, leaves and shrubs used to treat ailments, learned directly from herbalists.
- Ancient grains
- Cultivating, processing and storing indigenous grains in traditional granaries.
- Bamboo shoots
- A seasonal delicacy harvested from the slopes of Mount Elgon.
- Wild greens & chiswa
- Foraged greens and flying termites, protein coaxed from the earth with tapping and rattles.
Ritual Specialists
- Rainmakers who interpreted atmospheric signs and invoked seasonal balance
- Ironmongers whose craft linked metallurgy with cosmology and land protection
- Oracles (bafumu/balakusi) who guided decisions on land use, conflict resolution, and communal wellbeing
- Herbalists who preserved plant knowledge essential to community health
These figures enforced taboos that protected forests, rivers, bamboo groves, termite mounds and wildlife corridors, ecological wisdom embedded in ritual authority. I witnessed the rites marking life's milestones: initiation, harvest, healing, reconciliation. Each one reinforced a single principle, that humans are custodians of the environment. My worldview as a conservationist and tree planter is a direct extension of those traditions, which harmonised spirituality, culinary practices and environmental protection into a coherent way of life.
“Conservation is not a modern invention. It is an ancestral responsibility.”
