The Laikipiak people were a community that inhabited the plateau located on the eastern escarpment of the Rift Valley in Kenya that today bears their name. They are said to have arisen from the scattering of the Kwavi by the Maasai in the 1830s.They were one of two significant sections of that community that stayed together. The other being the Uasin Gishu with whom they would later ally against the Maasai.
c.1830 Origins
According to narratives told to Thompson in 1883, a community referred to as "Wa-kwafi" fragmented following a series of misfortunes that befell them "about 1830...". Thompson notes that the original home of the 'Wa-kwafi' was "the large district lying between Kilimanjaro, Ugono and Pare on the west, and Teita, and Usambara on the east. The Kwavi had been attacked by the Maasai while enfeebled by their 'misfortunes', the result being that the community was broken up and scattered to various corners. According to Maasai traditions recorded by MacDonald, the Lykipia found Ogiek on the plateau and brought them under their patronage.
Territory
According to Maasai traditions recorded by MacDonald, the territory of the Laikipiak extended over the plateau today known as Laikipia following the fragmentation of Loikop society. Chauncy Stigand made notes based on information he had 'received from Masai, Samurr, Rendile and Borana, concerning the 'old Laikipia Masai' whom he states were known as Loikop. He notes that;
Ascendance
Narratives collected by Stigand in northern Kenya during the period 1877-1919, portray a period of increasing power for the Loikop.
c.1870 Maasai - Laikipia war
Thompson noted that the 'Wa-kwafi' of Guas'Ngishu and those of Lykipia, having increased in numbers and grown bold, allied together to make war on the Maasai. He was advised that this was about fifteen years before then i.e c.1870. Hollis in his account of the Maasai recorded similar narratives occurring about the same time. He notes "that about 1850 the Turkana drove the most westerly branch of the Masai from the west, to the south of ". He states that "somewhere about the same period - at the time an old man can remember according to the native expression - the Masai dwelling on the Uasin Gishu plateau attacked those of Naivasha". The Maasai of Naivasha would later ally with those of Kilimanjaro. Many accounts of the late 19th century capture the conflict between the Maasai and the Laikipia/Uasin Gishu Kwavi alliance. They all note that this conflict ended in the subsequent annihilation of the latter. MacDonald for instance gave a succinct overview of the conflict. From Stigand's perspective the final extinction of the Laikipia arose due to conflict with the southern Maasai. His accounts include reference to the Laikipia warriors jumping or being forced off a cliff. This is a common reference in the folklore of a number of Kenyan communities.
Background
Prof. Ciarunji Chesaina wrote of conflict that occurred between "Sikyinet'ab Kaplong'ole" and the Masai. The clan of long'ole are said to have lived on a 'flat-topped' mountain which was surrounded by a thick, thorny forest that was difficult to penetrate. This clan was strong, they are said to have defeated a number of neighboring clans becoming 'bonnikab bororionoto'. They subsequently became proud and in this air of arrogance pitted themselves against their distant rivals - the Maasai. They are said to have goaded the Maasai to war by sending them a 'sharpening stone' with which to sharpen their spears. When the initial invitation to war was turned down, the warring Long'ole clan sent a second messenger with an even bigger sharpening stone. East Pokot traditions trace the genesis of conflict with the Samburu and Njemps to an East Pokot chief named Louwalan. This chief sent a Tugen man from Kamasia Hills with a message to the Maasai. The Maasai, then were living in the area around present day Nakuru. The Tugen was given a heifer as a reward for accepting to take the message. Other traditions however paint a very different picture. They state that 'Chief Louwalan' had called for a peace meeting to amicably resolve a dispute that arose over access to a river. According to the narrative, Chief Louwalan called for a peace meeting which the 'Tugen' did not attend. They further proceeded to deny the 'East Pokot' access to the river. 'Chief Lowalan' is said to have called another peace meeting and gave conditions for attendance. The 'Tugen' were to come armed with arrows but no bows or no strings, while the 'East Pokot' would come with spear sticks without the spear on it and arrows without bows or strings.
MacDonald noted that the survivors of this conflict were at that time scattered remnants in 'Nandi, Kavirondo or Ketosh'. Johnston, recognized that the Loikop were "divided into many classes, tribes and even independent nations". He grouped separately the divisions of the Masai and those of the Kwavi, noting that the later were "settled agriculturalists". The Kwavi divisions that he recognized were;
Straight et. al note that the Samburu by way of several landscape features, "understand their relationship to ancestors both victorious and assimilated". Of the Laikipia, they state - "...And when the Laikipiak were finished they went to other sub-clans and other ethnic groups made them their own. So the Laikipiak did not finish, they are still among many people...And they are also among us Lmasula ". Another Samburu elder of Laikipia heritage, asked rhetorically; Is there anywhere that there aren't Laikipiak?
