The aristocratic class that owns huge tracts of land in Kenya
- Published on June 26, 2016
Laikipia Plateau, estimated to be about 10,000 sq km or 2.5 million acres, has the biggest number of white landowners. It stretches from Mt Kenya in the east to the Rift Valley in the west. The Laikipia Maasai, who number approximately 35,000, are squashed on different patches of land, which measure about 1100 sq km or an equivalent of 281,587 acres of land.
On the other hand, foreigners comprising mostly the British and American "aristocratic" class and a few influential local politically well-connected barons, occupy thousands of acres of land on an individual basis. Only 20 own 74 per cent of the total land in the Laikipia District. In the Laikipia Plateau, private ranches range from "small" concerns of 5,000 acres to endless horizons of massive land properties that are over 100,000 acres. There are approximately 36 estates. Two of the 18 estates are owned by multi-millionaire Hollywood A-list types who entertain tourist guests. Many of the private farms and ranches are today being converted to wildlife sanctuaries.
Ol Ari Nyiro Ranch
Italian Baroness and socialite, Kuki Gallman, who owns 100,000 acres (L/R No. 8049), is one of the big landowners in the district. It is known as
Ol Ari Nyiro Ranch or
Laikipia Ranch (
Ol Ari Nyiro in the Maasai language means the place of dark waters). Kuki and her second husband Paolo Gallman bought the ranch in 1974. After the death of Paolo and her son Emmanuel in 1980 and 1983 respectively, Kuki transformed the property into a reserve, providing a wildlife sanctuary in 1984. Her husband was killed in a car accident, while transporting a cot for their unborn baby. Three years later, tragedy struck again and Kuki’s 17-year-old son was killed by a poisonous snake as he tried to extract venom from it.
At one time,
Ol Ari Nyiro Ranch used to have the largest available number of wildlife, including the endangered species of black rhino and the rare beautiful Grevy Zebra. Out of the 100,000 acres, 2,000 have been set aside for leasing to sedentary individuals who use the land for cultivation.
Ol Pejeta Ranch
After Kuki’s "little country", the other huge chunk of land is the
Ol-Pejeta Ranch, a 92,000-acre private concern that was formerly owned by the
LONRHO Group. Located between Mt Kenya and the Aberdare Ranges, the
Ol-Pejeta also straddles the Equator. The largest chunk of the land – 63,000 acres — has been left to rearing of cattle and sheep. There are 8,000 head of cattle that have been split into 86 huge paddocks and 4,000 sheep.
Game sanctuary
Another 24,000 acres have been preserved as a game sanctuary called the
Sweet Waters Game Reserve. In essence, the ranch just leaves a paltry "3,590" acres to be leased (with agreement) for wheat farming. Originally part of the Maasai homeland, it was acquired by Lord Delamere in the early part of the 20th century and his partner Marcus Wickham Byanton.
Ol-Pejeta has interesting and chequered history. After Lord Delamere’s ownership, the ranch was acquired by Christina Onassis’ father-in-law, Henri Roussel. The Roussel family comes from the French bourgeoisie class that has huge investments in the pharmaceutical industry. His son, Thierry, was married to Christina, until she died in 1988. The late Christina was the only daughter of the late Greek shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis, one time the richest man in the world.
But it is
Adnan Khashoggi, the Saudi-born international "playboy" and former billionaire arms dealer, who transformed the ranch into an entertainment arena, giving it notorious prominence. In his heyday, Khashoggi used the ranch as his hideaway and getaway from international business deals.
Ol Pejeta ranch is registered as nine pieces — possibly because of changing ownership and because of gradually growing in size over the years. They are Nos. 10323, 10068 (whose original number was 5116/2), 6301/2, 5160/2, 2618/2, 2582, 2564, 6367 and 2561.
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