The five wonders of Fort Ternan

The Fort Ternan pre-historical site located in Kipkelion West constituency. [Courtesy]

The sleepy Fort Ternan village in Kipkelion West constituency hides some of the most unique historic and tourist sites in Kericho County.

It is not only the site where Dr Louis Leakey discovered a fossil dating 14 million years ago, but also the location of Wicker caves, a long railway tunnel and bridge as well as a hot spring.

When we drove up the five-kilometre winding murram road to the prehistoric site off Londiani-Muhoroni road, Jared Malaki Tuda, a curator for the National Museums of Kenya, was more than glad to show us around.

“Welcome to the prehistoric site where Dr Louis Leakey discovered Kenyapithecus wickeri fossil in 1961,” he said as he led us up the hill to an excavation site.

Tuda says the first White person to set foot in the area was Douglas Wicker, a geologist.

According to this tale, as Wicker was walking around one day, he came across a unique object of archeological interest.

“Wicker immediately contacted Dr Leakey who was then conducting excavation in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and he came to Fort-Ternan where he discovered the Kenyapithecus wickeri fossil,” he says. The fossil is now kept at the National Museum in Nairobi.

The site, which sits on approximately 35 acres, is also home to a skull belonging to Cro-Magnon man.

The skull was found six years ago near Chilchila Primary School by a group of women who were digging for mud for plastering their traditional huts.

Tuda says archeologist Isaiah Nengo in 2017 authenticated that the fossil actually belonged to Cro-Magnon man.

“The molars are small, sharp and strong compared to those of the modern man. The brain volume is also small and the eye sockets are quite deep.

“This indicates that it belonged to another stage of human evolution,” he said.

The other attraction at Fort Ternan is an assembly of over 40 cultural artefacts belonging to the Kipsigis community.

Local historians

Jared Tuda, a curator a Fort Ternan at the entrance of a 120 metre-long railway tunnel dug in 1903 [Courtesy]

“We collected the items from local historians. We were fortunate to come across an elderly Grace Langat who had preserved some of the items over the years,” said Tuda.

Around 1.5km from the prehistoric site is the 100-metre long Wicker colonial cave, which geologist Wicker secretly dug between 1958 and 1961 as his hideout from Mau Mau freedom fighters.

“During the clamour for independence, Wicker was not on fleeing and instead decided to dig the cave under the hill to serve as his hideout as the war raged on,” Tuda said.

Wicker however did not live to use the cave, since when he left to the Netherlands to ship a stockpile of weapons, he was captured and returned to his home in South Africa where he lived for the rest of his life.

The cave is now in danger of collapse due to ongoing extraction of building blocks in quarries nearby.

Three kilometres from the cave is a 12-metre long railway tunnel dug in 1903.

“The tunnel, which is still intact, is now 100 years old, which qualifies it as a monument and should be protected,” said Tuda.

Away from the tunnel is Sereng railway bridge, which, according to Tuda, is the second-longest in the country. “The bridge is 400m long and 45 metres high, making it one of the most unique railway bridges along the Mombasa-Kisumu railway line.”

Footprint

The Chepkendi hot springs 6km from the prehistoric site is Fort-Ternan’s fifth attraction.

“At the site is a trace of a footprint of unusual man imprinted on a rock. There are many other footprints of unique animals that have visited the area to drink the warm water,” said Tuda.

He said it is now upon Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony’s administration to develop the prehistoric site after signing a memorandum of understanding with the National Museums of Kenya.

“The agreement affirms that the site is in Kericho County and that the county government should have a hand in its development, while the National Museums of Kenya provides the technical support,” he said.

The county government has already repaired the murram road to the site and erected a fence around it.