Marakwet

Marakwet is the name of one tribe of the Kalenjin ethnic group of Kenya. There are an estimated 200,000 Marakwet people, from the clans Almoo, Cherangany (Sengwer or Kimaala), Endoow, Markweta (the dialect giving rise to the common name), Sombirir (Borokot) and Kiptaani. Each clan of the Marakwet are characterised by their recognition of no authority higher than the asiswo (the assembly of all adult males of the clans). They forged a form of association through their common residence along the Kerio Valley and on the slopes of the Cherangani Hills.

The territory occupied by the Marakwet is one of the most beautiful and picturesque parts of Kenya, bounded to the east by the Kerio River at 1000 m above sea level, which runs through a small branch of the Great Rift Valley. To the west it includes almost the entire Cherang’any hills which rise to 3300 m above sea level west of the Marakwet escarpment. Marakwet people live in the Marakwet District, Trans Nzoia, and Uasin Gishu counties of the Rift Valley Province of Kenya, as well as in other towns in Kenya. Others have moved to live in places as far away as Australia, Southern Africa, and the United States.

The Marakwet lead a simple rural life characterised by mixed small scale farming and keeping of dairy cows, sheep, and chicken. They grow mostly maize, potatoes, beans and vegetables in the highlands. Those who live along the escarpment and the Kerio Valley keep mostly goats and beef zebu cows and grow millet, sorghum, cassava, vegetables and fruits mostly mangoes and oranges. There is a sophisticated pre-historic irrigation furrow system that supports this crop cultivation along the Kerio Valley that is thought to be over 500 years old. Some of the greatest long distance and especially steeplechase runners in the world have come from amongst these people.

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Wikipedia