By Karanja Njoroge
The powerful headlights of the car cut through the darkness and illuminated the smooth road ahead, well marked with a middle line.
Then, suddenly, a large dark figure of an animal, bigger than an ordinary cow, lunged onto the road. The driver tried to swerve and to brake at the same time, but it was too late.
Police said the four-wheel drive car hit the animal in a smashing force, swerved off its lane and crashed head-on with an on-coming bus.
The accident which occurred at Mbaruk, near Nakuru town, killed four people, three of them siblings. Three others in the same car survived while a few were injured in the bus.
Nakuru OCPD Daniel Kimeu said the family vehicle hit the buffalo and then lost control and collided with the bus.
But the mother of the three deceased Mrs Elimeriday Okinda, who survived the accident, gave a different account, saying the bus hit the buffalo then hit their vehicle. "We saw it swaying on the road before hitting the animal then our vehicle as our driver made desperate efforts to avoid being hit by the bus," Mrs Okinda who is recuperating at Evans Sunrise Memorial Hospital Nakuru said.
Rising Danger
The accident, which occurred close to midnight, highlighted the rising danger posed by wild animals crossing along a stretch that police say has become the most dangerous black spot on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway.
The section is indicated with a wildlife warning sign to imply the danger posed by animals that stray from the expansive Soysambu ranch.
The stretch, which used to be a rough section, made motorists to slow down due to potholes, but since the rebuilding of the highway, vehicles cruise at high speed, drivers seeming to disregard the animal hazard.
The ten Kilometre stretch of road neighbouring has claimed the lives of 21 people since the beginning of the year.
The accident that killed four siblings was a tragic ending to a day the family had started off on a cheerful note.
They were full of joy, returning from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, after seeing off their sister who left for Japan.
The deceased were Ken Ford (22) a family friend who was the driver and siblings Nancy Kerubo (23), Boniface Mbene (18) and Caroline Kwamboka (21).
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Nancy was a journalism intern at the Nakuru Kenya News Agency office while her sister Caroline was a student at Kenyatta University.
"We had all shared a meal in Nairobi before we happily saw her off at the airport," said Mr Ferdinand Mose, an uncle to the victims.
The collision involved a double cabin Toyota Surf carrying the victims and a bus with 32 passengers heading to Nairobi.
Police said, unaware of the lurking danger, many speeding motorists have hit wild animals crossing at Mbaruk. Apart from the fatal accidents, there have been more mishaps involving wildlife
Exapansive Ranch
The animals cross from the lower section of the expansive Soysambu ranch to the upper section, mostly at night.
"We have been experiencing accidents, once or twice per week, involving animals as they cross the road," Soysambu Wildlife and Community Manager Charles Muthui said.
Muthui said buffaloes, Zebras and Elands often cross the road in the night to go to the upper section of the ranch.
"They usually cross at night to look for food in the other sections of the ranch known as the ‘triangle," he adds.
Rift Valley Provincial Traffic Enforcement Officer Vitalis Otieno attributed the accidents along the section to carelessness, reckless driving and speeding.
"Accidents along the stretch can be avoided if only the drivers are careful and look out for the animals," he adds.
Otieno cautioned drivers against exceeding speeds of 80km per hour for heavy commercial vehicles and 100km for small cars.
Otieno said in the meantime, the road signs will be upgraded to billboards warning motorist of danger ahead.
The families of the victims said the Kenya Wildlife Service should control the movement of animals onto the busy highway.
"We are angry because we believe the accident could have been avoided," said Pastor David Ford of the Free Pentecostal Fellowship in Kenya who lost his son, the driver, in the accident.
The Pastor had given out his vehicle to the Okinda family to take their daughter to the airport.
The local community near Mbaruk complain that loitering animals destroy their crops.
"I have not been harvesting anything for long on my farm because the crops are usually destroyed by the animals," says a resident Mr John Njenga.
He says his 18-year-old son was recently saved from the horns of a stray buffalo, which charged and tried to gore him.
But Soysambu Wildlife and Community Manager Charles Muthui says the company is in the process of partnering with other stakeholders to put an electric fence along the ranch.
The Manager does not however say when motorists and residents will be saved from the agony of the marauding animals.
Editor’s note: Photographer Lucas Thuo of The Standard who took these pictures last week, died on Friday 10 July in a road accident near Njoro town. May God rest his soul in peace.
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