ABSTRACT
A history of expropriation of land and resources stretching back over one hundred years has shaped the nature of pastoralism in Laikipia. Using pastoral responses to the severe drought crisis in Laikipia and surrounding areas as an entry to examine patterns of vulnerability and innovation, this chapter explores how the squeeze from a variety of competing land uses, and the tenure patterns associated with changing forms of land expropriation are shaping new forms of pastoralism. A complementary response by pastoralists involved reciprocal agreements that individual herders negotiated with Kikuyu and Meru small-holders living adjacent to the Mount Kenya forest. In the lead up to moving livestock up the mountain, elders from group ranches visited farming communities on the mountain in April 2009, concerned to avoid stoking tensions with farmers that erupted in 2006 when pastoralists last came to the mountain.
