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Fort Smith / Waiyaki's World Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

SawaSawa: The plan for this to be replaced by remaining geocacher friends in Kenya didn't work out within a reasonable time, so it is time for the cache to go.

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Hidden : 12/14/2014
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


Fort Smith / Waiyaki's World

The cache, a magnetic micro, is hidden at about 2m height at this peaceful, shady, historical location of Fort Smith some 13km north-west of Nairobi city centre. This is the oldest remaining colonial structure in Nairobi - even older than the famous Uganda railway - yet it is almost completely forgotten. The building is a private farm dwelling and, although an important part of Kenya's history, is urgently in need of restoration.

The current residents of the fort kindly gave permission for the cache to be hidden on their property. Therefore please visit as a guest, with the appropriate respect and do greet your hostess Georginah before searching for the cache.

Note: the magnetic attachment of the cache is not very strong, possibly because of the painted inner surface, so please take care when replacing the cache to ensure that is is as firmly attached as possible . . . thanks!  

To reach the cache location:

Route 1 (direct hectic route via main highway): From Nairobi CBD (Kenyatta Ave/Uhuru Highway roundabout) @ S 01 17.194 E 36 49.042 take Uhuru Highway/Waiyaki Way (A104) heading north then west for approximately 11.5km as far as the slip road @ S 01 15.820 E 36 43.751. Follow this for 850m to the large rounadabout and then take the 3rd exit (ie. the last one) heading north along Kapenguria Road (which passes over the highway) for 950m as far as the Fort Smith Road junction @ S 01 15.393 E 36 43.436. Turn left here and continue for about 2km through the trading centre and as far as  S 01 14.791 E 36 42.587 where you will see a steep drive-way on your right. Head up here to Fort Smith and the cache location.

 Route 2 (less direct/less hectic route via Loresho Ridge and cache GC5HDTN): From Nairobi CBD (Kenyatta Ave/Uhuru Highway roundabout) @ S 01 17.194 E 36 49.042 take Uhuru Highway (A104) heading north as far as Westlands roundabout @ S 01 15.880 E 36 48.120 (3km). Take the 2nd exit heading into Westlands toward Sarit Centre (400m). Take the Lower Kabete Road heading NW from the Sarit 'roundabout' as far as the roundabout @ S 01 15.073 E 36 47.131 and head straight onto Kyuna Road (2.5km). At the next junction @ S 01 15.026 E 36 45.998 (2.2km) head straight onto Loresho Ridge passing through the security barrier at S 01 15.949 E 36 44.530 (after 2.8km) where your vehicle will be checked and you will be given a token. (Note: Waypoints up to here are the same as for GC5HDTN Loresho Ridge). Carry on passing the Loresho Ridge cache location, the golf club and then through the university area and out of the other side, handing in your token at the exit gate and then to the T-junction with Kapenguria Road @  S 01 15.309 E 36 43.494 (1.7km). Turn left and head 200m to the Fort Smith Road junction @ S 01 15.393 E 36 43.436. Turn right here and continue for about 2km through the trading centre and as far as  S 01 14.791 E 36 42.587 where you will see a steep drive-way on your right. Head up here to Fort Smith and the cache location.


This is not an obvious fort with impregnable stone walls, bastions, parapets and cannons. It looks more like a mansion than a military garrison with its Greco-Roman type façade - a long structure with a pillared, open-air veranda, mullioned windows and extended entrance complete with  pediment. A few square stone pillars in the surrounding gardens are all that remains of a once strong barricade around the fort. Remarkably, a heavily-rusted 19th century water storage unit is still in use.

Materials for its construction like heavy corrugated iron roofing sheets, pre-fabricated doors and window glass were shipped from British India and carried up from Mombasa by ox-cart in a strenuous month or more journey along old camel caravan trails.

Completed in 1892 (several years before another of its ventures - the Uganda Railway) it was part of the colonial occupation defensive network of military engineering works (forts or stations) established by the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) company extending from Fort Jesus in Mombasa westward as far as Fort Lugard in Kampala. The company was supported by the British government had its own army and chain of command.

It was also Nairobi’s first colonial court of law where Kenya’s iconic insurgent leader and national hero, Waiyaki wa Hinga (after whom the Waiyaki Way highway is named) was tried and sentenced to exile. The cell, with its tiny windows where he was imprisoned, is now a tool shed.

Waiyahki, son of Heinga was a peace-loving but brave Kikuyu chief who ruled in the Dagoretti (Ngongo Bagas) area of Kiambu about 10km west of Nairobi. In October 1890, a British officer called Captain Frederick Lugard was travelling to Buganda on behalf of the IBEAC surveying a new route there as part of the British efforts to secure British predominance there against perceived hostile German interests after the partition of East Africa.

On reaching Dagoretti, an open land which the Kikuyu, Kamba and Maasai used as a market area (great market = tha guriti in Kikuyu) he found it a good place to build a station/fort where caravans proceeding inland, to Uganda could rest and get fresh supplies.

Waiyaki soon heard about this stranger and sent his warriors to investigate. Lugard decided to go and see Waiyaki himself and explain that he came in peace and did not mean any harm. After they met, the two men became good friends, agreed to make a blood-brotherhood agreement of friendship and sign a treaty on behalf of the IBEAC. The expedition team put up their tents at an appointed ground at Kiawariua, where, days earlier, the IBEAC team had started building a stockade surrounded by a high fence of thorn bushes.

After living freely and peacefully in the area, on 19 October while construction of the fort was going on Lugard received instructions by runner to proceed to Uganda at once. and after getting provisions together, he left on 1 November 1890 leaving his assistant George Wilson in charge of the half-complete fort.

The agreement between Waiyaki and Lugard was that the locals would supply the IBEA officials with food on payment and not on demand, and that none would harm or molest the other. But no sooner had Captain Lugard left than Wilson and his men started demanding food, goats, sheep, firewood, water and even women at Kiawariua.

Miffed, Waiyaki told his followers to take up arms and defend their dignity. In the March 1891 they set upon the garrison and burnt it to the ground. Wilson had by then fled to Machakos.

In April 1892, the British officer at Machakos sent a strong expedition team led by Major Eric Smith to establish another fort which was built in 1892 at a few kilometres away Kabete (Ndumbu-ini) which he named Fort Smith and left one of his officers in charge. On 16 August 1892 by when Waiyaki had heard about Fort Smith which had been built without his knowledge he went to the fort to inquire (see link below for another version!).

A quarrel broke out between him and the officer in charge, a WP Purkiss. Waiyaki was overpowered by the British soldiers and badly beaten, tied to a flag post overnight,  then dragged to a small courthouse the next day, where he was found guilty and sentenced to 'deportation'. Some 21 days later on 6 September 1892, Waiyaki died at Kibwezi (in current day Makueni County) whilst being taken to his exile in Mombasa - probably as a result of his beating - and was buried in a Scottish mission station there.

Several bungled attempts at seizing the new fort ended in disaster. In retaliation, company soldiers razed long-established villages, butchered guerrillas, stole cattle and goats and set fire to homesteads inflicting misery on the local population. By 1904 Kikuyuland had been forcefully brought under British colonial rule.

As resistance collapsed throughout East Africa due to the IBEAC’s better weapons, wide-ranging, long-established, multi-lingual agricultural societies also collapsed and as a response and mainly for security people gathered themselves into communal clans based on blood ties. Power relations also changed and colonial collaborators from each 'tribe' became 'paramount chiefs' . . .

Unfortunately important parts of Nairobi’s and Kenya's early history will be lost if historic landmarks such as Fort Smith are not restored and preserved for current and future generations. It is hoped that the National Museum and Nairobi County Government will be able to ensure this is done before the building deteriorates too far.

Some 122 years after Waiyaki's death, members of the Waiyaki family want his burial place at Kibwezi located, the body exhumed and identified and given a proper burial 'befitting his status and contribution to the rights and freedom of his people'. The family is also making an appeal for Waiyaki to be recognised as a hero of the cause of Kenya’s freedom from the colonialists.

See here and here for detailed and fascinating stories of Chief Waiyaki wa Hinga . . . and Fort Smith.

Additional Hints (No hints available.)