Kenya's Northern Frontier District (NFD)

Book excerpt: Memoirs of a pioneer family in Kenya's Northern Frontier District (NFD) during the period of 1954-1959. A decision made in the Colonial Office in London, attended by Civil Servants and Lords and Ladies of the Empire, turned the NFD of Kenya into a buffer zone, to curb the influence of a southern influx from the horn of Africa, who were mainly of the Muslim faith. Galla tribes from Christian Ethiopia likewise moved south. The war-like Massai and their kindred tribes, in the Highlands of Kenya, stemmed the southern influx of Northern Warriors. The buffer zone excluded all European settlement and missionaries. Administrators who were majistrates as well, together with a hand-full of Policemen trained Dubas (Tribal Policemen) and ruled the vast area under the auspices of the Colonial Office. This Volume on the Northern Frontier District tells the story of how the Nomadic Bedouin Tribesmen, English Administrators, animals and annual migratory birds interacted.