Earning My Sea Legs: Bunyala District - Furthest South of the River Nzoia

Fishing boats line the shore of Osieko Beach Tuesday afternoon, most fishermen having returned to shore for the day.  

On Tuesday, Laurence and I returned to sea to make our final stop of our tour of Bunyala District, the village of Osieko. This time, mercifully, the waters of Lake Victoria were exactly what I had expected prior to our trip to Bulwani. They were absolutely calm. We apparently just had the misfortune of picking an exceptionally bad day last week for our travels.

Osieko is the farthest location in Bunyala District, and thus required the biggest time commitment of our travels. The ferryboat took about one hour to reach Osieko after travelling through the Ndekwe River, the Yala Swamp, and Lake Victoria from Mabinju Beach. The return boat, however, was much slower, taking twice as long. The main problem we faced was that boats only run during the morning hours, so this trip necessitated an overnight stay at a hotel in the village.

But we were at least able to wake up to some good news Wednesday morning. An entrepreneur in Osieko has constructed a television hall; a long structure with mud walls, a metal roof, and a projection television. People normally pack the place to watch Premier League football, but Wednesday morning our attention focused upon live coverage of the US presidential election. Needless to say, all Kenyans were very excited as the results came in.

Below is our trip to Osieko, in pictures:

Residents of Osieko rely upon private boats to ferry them across the lake to the rest of Bunyala District.  

The man seated at the bow of the boat is not simply there as a second pair of eyes. Trawlers, or long fishing nets, are pulled in by fishermen along the shores of Lake Victoria. The ropes attached to these nets pose a big problem as boats maneuver through the waters.

These ropes are not easy to spot, as no buoys are used to mark them. Therefore, the man at the bow must keep a keen eye out in front, and along the coast. As the boat approaches a rope, he raises one hand in the sky to alert the driver to slow the engine. He then thrusts a long stick, forked at the end, into the water to grab the rope and push it underneath the boat to allow the boat to pass over it.

Our boat made a quick stop at the village of Obaro in order to load/unload passengers and goods. Note the standard housing found in these villages, made up of grasses gathered from the wetlands.

Most of the population in Bunyala South location actually resides in small villages such as this, found deep within the Yala Swamp. These villages are very isolated, and walking even between them is not possible. The only means of transport is to take a boat through the lake, to the coast, and enter the swamp from there.

The Osieko Fish Banda at Osieko Beach serves as a market area for fishermen to sell their fish, as well as the office of the BMU (Beach Management Unit). Speaking with the Vice Secretary of the BMU, we learned that fishermen in the area suffer from a lack of business management skills and services. Because fish are perishable and they do not have access to refrigeration, they are unable to isolate themselves from frequent fluctuations in market price. Therefore, they are easily taken advantage of by middlemen.

Also problematic is that waters on the Kenyan side are lacking in fish stock. This causes many fishermen to enter Ugandan waters, where fish is much more plentiful. They are frequently harassed, and even arrested, by Ugandan police.

The beach also suffers from a lack of rescue capabilities, as fishermen often head to sea by sail, but are unable to return due to either too much or too little wind. Communications are lacking, whether due to faulty cell phone reception or lack of short-range radios, in order to effectively coordinate with other authorities such as marine police.

As with all of the local fishing communities, HIV/Aids remains a major problem. We were told that awareness is there, but behavior change has been slow to take root.

Students play in front of Osieko Primary School. The school is built upon large rocks along the hill which the village is situated around. ‘Vyoo’, or latrines, are a major issue because the rocks prevent equipment from digging too far into the ground. Malaria, ringworms, and typhoid are rampant. These illnesses are aggravated as most students bathe in swamp water at their homes.

Regarding malaria, Laurence and I experienced first-hand the problems faced by such areas within the swamp. Staying overnight in the swamp, we were constantly attacked by swarms of mosquitoes.

One of the concessions we visited in Lwanga village near the top of the rocky hill. Here, we spoke to three young people in their twenties, two men, one woman. Because of the rocky soils, they have very little arable land. They primarily depend upon ‘casual work,’ odd jobs here and there, for income. School fees are a major problem for families in the area, and too often lead to kids dropping out.

There is actually two different systems of piped water available to residents here, one public drawn from the lake, the other private drawn from the swamp. The private system is treated and generally seen as clean. But both systems require payment per cubic meter of water drawn, and the majority of people we spoke with claim the cost is too high. So most people fetch water from the lake, then treat it either by thermal, chemical, or filtration treatment methods.

A view from the hill of the town center of Osieko and Lake Victoria. Most of Osieko actually falls within Nyanza Region, Bondo County. Only the properties found along this street, from the lake to the top of the hill, and small villages to the North (right as seen from this picture) are actually within Bunyala District.

This road actually connects Oseiko to neighboring districts by passing through the swamp. But unfortunately, boat remains the only practical option to reach the rest of Bunyala District, as travel by road requires a long, meandering trip.

As I mentioned, most of the population of lower Bunyala District is actually found in isolated villages within the Yala Swamp. This homestead, within Nyapala village just North of Osieko, is situated upon a hill at the fringe of the swamp. 

The swamp has been growing in recent years, reclaiming farmland of the villagers in the process. Those lands which are still arable suffer from a range of wild animals, including primarily small warthogs, gazelles, porcupines, crocodiles, and hippopotamuses (although at some point I believe the discussion drifted to simply what animals are in the area – not sure how an alligator or a porcupine particularly destroys crops.)

Homesteads around Osieko are situated mostly along the hill, and are fairly dense. People not only rely upon fishing and farming for their income, but also making ‘kamba’, or rope, and roofing materials from papyrus, found in the surrounding wetlands. Women also generally collect firewood from the swamp for sale.

‘Vyoo’ construction is problematic in that digging latrine holes are either obstructed by rock in the highlands, or by a high water table in the lowlands.

Fishermen roll in their long net, used to trap ‘omena’, or a breed of small, minnow-like fish, after a hard day’s work. 

The small market center of Osieko within Bunyala District, surrounded by several shops, ‘hoteli’ (restaurants), and bars. People were anxiously packing up their goods as rainclouds moved in late afternoon.