Ogiek People Ancestral Territory (OPAT) Atlas

The development of OPAT was planned by the Ogiek Indigenous People as an attempt to define their territorial domains towards securing of their ancestral territories, rights and interests, cultural heritage, and natural resources within the Mau Forest Complex. The exercise was technically supported by ERMIS Africa with Financial assistance from ESAPP-Switzerland.
Production of this atlas is uniquely different from conventional atlas-making procedures in that it presents spatial tacit knowledge depicted by semi-illiterate indigenous community while at the same time utilizing highly specialized spatial information technologies within a framework of participatory learning approaches. The said knowledge has been accumulated over generations and results from intimate interactions with natural ecosystem and explicit knowledge acquired and practiced by professionals in the management of territories, culture and natural resources.
To facilitate participatory generation of spatial information, the Community Mapping Team was organized to represent the 25 Ogiek clans. Each clan was comprised of 10 members including men and women elders, youths and school going children. In this way, genders equity, intergenerational learning and inter-clan harmonization objectives were achieved simultaneously. A mapping calendar was developed to harmonize the mapping exercise with community reproductive and productive chores at household, social domains, farms, hunting grounds and schools. Nessuit village which is centrally located for the various clan domains spread around the Eastern Mau Forest Complex was chosen as the mapping venue chosen by the participating communities
Several participatory geographic information systems (P-GIS) technologies including: sketch mapping, satellite imagery, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and aerial photography, were collaboratively explored to determine their efficacy and suitability as technologies and approaches that would empower the community in terms of the following criteria: ownership of the information and process, collaborative learning between the facilities and the community members, and validation of the mapping approach within contemporary technological context.
Aerial photography was chosen as the most suitable mapping technology due to its ability to depict ground features in pictorial format thus aiding semi-literature elders, and youths in image interpretation. For easy photo interpretation, 66 aerial photograph enlargements acquired in 1991 at scale of 1:25,000 were enlarged from diapositives to a scale of 1:6250.The photos were scanned using a large format scanner (A0 size) to preserve their plannimetric integrity which would be distorted in the field due to remote handling techniques and variable weather conditions. The digital photo scans were ortho-rectified using ERDAS IMAGINE and utilizing the corrections parameters detailed in the camera calibration certificate acquired from the company which conducted the aerial photography mission. Control points for geo-referencing the aerial photos were acquired from topographic map sheets acquired from Survey of Kenya and supplementation of points from GPS field surveys
A mosaic of the hardcopy aerial photographs was constructed on the ground by the elders to connect the various territorial segments fragmented in the various photos. The mapping team traced, using colored marking pencils, the various spatial elements including: boundaries, rivers and other water sources systems, cultural sites, and natural resource management units. In addition, place names and names of the various spatial elements were appended on the mosaic. Further, members of each clan provided their signatures or thumbprints which were scanned and appended on each clan map for purposes of ratification of the atlas.
Harmonization of the inter-clan spatial elements like common boundaries, social fields and place names was arrived at through meetings and dialogue between neighboring clans and global positioning systems
Upon successful delineation of the spatial elements, the aerial photos were moved to ERMIS Africa GIS lab for transcribing onto ortho-rectified aerial photo scan toward composing of the map. Draft maps for each clan were composed through collaborative visualization by ERMIS GIS experts and representative sof the clan mapping teams to ensure correct transcribing of the information provided in the field. The draft maps were then printed and presented to the community mapping team and finally to larger clan assemblies for consensus on true representation of Ogiek People Ancestral territories and relatedfeatures
The final layout and printing of the Atlas was finalized in Switzerland and sent back for dissemination and sharing within community clans. Copies of the clan maps/atlases were further distributed to schools and universities, government offices, public libraries, donor agencies, civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations.