Matungulu


Matungulu is a district and a constituency in Kenya. It is a subregion within Machakos County, split from Kangundo District. It is part of the Matungulu Constituency. The town of Tala is a division in Matungulu District.

History

Matungulu was established as a settlement in the early 1920s by the colonial government. The area is generally flat, with one large hill named
Ol Donyo Sabuk, which means Buffalo Hill in Maasai language. The Maasai of Kenya are nomadic people and they used to bring their animals to graze in these plains, when there were many buffaloes roaming here, hence the name.
Colonial settlers evicted many local people and established coffee plantations. The people who chose to stay became squatters and worked on the settlers' coffee farms. After Kenya's independence in 1963, the settlers sold their coffee plantations to the local co-operative societies and left the country. A large part of the area had not been cultivated and so the squatters moved in and sub-divided it amongst themselves.