Sirikwa

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The Sirikwa were an ethnic group in the Turkana area of Kenya, sometimes identified with the Oropom or the Kalenjin.

One of the fascinating aspects of the landscape around the town of Eldoret, in the 1950s and 1960s, was the presence of huge stone hills, by now covered with scrub and tall grass. Climbing to the top it was found to be concave with a high dry stone wall which made a perfect lookout over the flat surrounding plateau. These were known as the Sirikwa Holes and predated colonial times. They were the remains of fortifications built by the tribes for security in the times of feuds and wars and must have been very secure accommodations for an entire village along with their cattle and other animals. It represented an enormous investment in human labor to have created these monoliths. Unfortunately, by 1965 a local contractor had begun quarrying the Sirikwa holes for the stone, and there was little support for their conservation. Sutton (The Archeology of the Western Highlands of Kenya, 1973) argued that they had been Kalenjin stock-pens.