PHYSICAL RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE Dick Foeken ABSTRACT This chapter describes the main physical characteristics as well as the main physical and social infra- structure features qfKenya's coastal region. Physical resources include relief, soils, rainfall, agro-eco- logical zones and natural resources. Aspects of the physical infrastructure discussed are the hierarchy of centres and the communication networks (railway Unes, roads, water facilities, etc.). The social infrastructure includes health and educational facilities. Thegeneral conclusion is that exceptfor its touristic resources such as the game parks, the coral reefs and the beacbes, the coastal region is in most respectspooriy endowed andpoorly developed. INTRODUCTION The aim of this chapter is twofold. First, the data presented offer the genera! context for many of the topics dealt with in the following chapters. Second, the chapter is meant to unfold the limitations set by the physical and infrastructural environments with respect to the development potential of the region. 1 The region concemed is Kenya's Coast Province with the exception of the largest part of 'inland' Tana River District. Hence, it comprises the districts of Some of the aspects presented in this chapter are dis- cussed in much more detail in some of the following chapters, notably 4 (Marine resources), 5 (Current environmental problems) and 23 (Water resources). As regards Taita Taveta, 62% of this district is occu- pied by Tsavo (East and West) National Parks (Kenya Taita Taveta 2 , Kwale, Mombasa, Kilifi, Malindi 3 and Lamu, as well as the south-eastern part of Tana River (Garsen Division; see Figure 1.1, p. 4). 4 1989e). With the exception of some rocky hills in the northern part of Tsavo West National Park, the whole area (more than 10,000 km 2 ) is a relatively flat plain, with low rainfall and consequently has no potential for rain-fed farming. Moreover, human habitation and agriculture are forbidden there. Hence, the parks are excluded in this chapter and on die maps. Up to the mid-1990s, Malindi District was part of Kilifi District. Where possible, data on the two districts will be presented separately. Otherwise, diey will be treat- ed as one, notably Kilifi District. Strictly speaking, the coastal region also includes the southeastern tip of Garissa District in North-Eastern Province. This area comprises largely of Boni National Reserve 29
Transcript
PHYSICAL RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Dick Foeken
ABSTRACTThis chapter describes the main physical characteristics as well as the main physical and social infra-structure features qfKenya's coastal region. Physical resources include relief, soils, rainfall, agro-eco-logical zones and natural resources. Aspects of the physical infrastructure discussed are the hierarchyof centres and the communication networks (railway Unes, roads, water facilities, etc.). The socialinfrastructure includes health and educational facilities. Thegeneral conclusion is that exceptfor itstouristic resources such as the game parks, the coral reefs and the beacbes, the coastal region is in mostrespectspooriy endowed andpoorly developed.
INTRODUCTION
The aim of this chapter is twofold. First, the datapresented offer the genera! context for many of thetopics dealt with in the following chapters. Second,the chapter is meant to unfold the limitations set bythe physical and infrastructural environments withrespect to the development potential of the region.1
The region concemed is Kenya's Coast Provincewith the exception of the largest part of 'inland' TanaRiver District. Hence, it comprises the districts of
Some of the aspects presented in this chapter are dis-cussed in much more detail in some of the followingchapters, notably 4 (Marine resources), 5 (Currentenvironmental problems) and 23 (Water resources).As regards Taita Taveta, 62% of this district is occu-pied by Tsavo (East and West) National Parks (Kenya
Taita Taveta2, Kwale, Mombasa, Kilifi, Malindi3 andLamu, as well as the south-eastern part of TanaRiver (Garsen Division; see Figure 1.1, p. 4).4
1989e). With the exception of some rocky hills in thenorthern part of Tsavo West National Park, the wholearea (more than 10,000 km2) is a relatively flat plain,with low rainfall and consequently has no potentialfor rain-fed farming. Moreover, human habitation andagriculture are forbidden there. Hence, the parks areexcluded in this chapter and on die maps.Up to the mid-1990s, Malindi District was part of KilifiDistrict. Where possible, data on the two districts willbe presented separately. Otherwise, diey will be treat-ed as one, notably Kilifi District.Strictly speaking, the coastal region also includes thesoutheastern tip of Garissa District in North-EasternProvince. This area comprises largely of Boni NationalReserve
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PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICSReliefThe general contour lines show a gradual rise fromthe shoreline to the interior (see Figure 27.3, p.424). On a smaller scale, however, there are somemorphological features which greatly influence theagricultural potential.
In Kwale, Kilifi and Malindi Districts, four topo-graphical zones can be distinguished: the CoastalPlain, the Foot Plateau, the Coastal Range or Up-lands and the Nyib Plateau (Kenya 1989a-b). TheCoastal Plain is a narrow belt along the coast, witha maximum altitude of about 60 metres.5 This zoneextends to 10 km inland in the area stretching fromthe Tanzanian border in the south to the town ofKilifi in the north. North of Kilifi town, the plainwidens until it reaches some 30 km inland off Ma-lindi. The Foot Plateau is the western extension ofthe Coastal Plain and has an altitude of some 60 to135 metres, although it is characterised by a rela-tively flat surface, altemated with a number of hills.The Coastal Range or Coastal Uplands rise rathersteeply inland from the Foot Plateau. The zone liesat an altitude of 150 to 460 metres and includes hillcomplexes such as the Shimba Hills in Kwale Districtand the hilly country between the towns of Mazerasand Kaloleni, as well as various isolated hills south ofthe Shimba Hills and north of Kilifi town. This zonehas good rainfall and fertile soils, with a fairly highpotential for agriculture. West of the Coastal Range,the terrain drops steeply to the Nyika Plateau,which has a gently rolling relief and gradually risesfurther inland to about 300 metres.
Further inland, off Kwale District, some conspic-uous hills such as Kilibashi (840 m) and Kasigau(1630 m), and hill complexes like the Sagala Hills
5 The Coastal Plain should not be confused with the'coastal strip'. The former is a physical-geographicalcategory, while the latter is a political-geographicalunit, notably the area from the sea shore up to tennautical miles inland (see Chapter 1).
(up to 1510 m) and the famous Taita Hills (highestpeak 2150 m) dominate the landscape of Taita Ta-veta District. These hills are relatively wet 'Islands' ina semi-arid and and 'sea'.
North of Malindi District, no topographical zonescan be distinguished. The Coastal Plain widens andcovers the whole of south-eastern Tana River andLamu Districts. Both districts are less than 100 mabove sea level, most of it even lower than 50 me-tres.
Soils and soilfertilitySoils in Kwale, Kilifi and Malindi Districts broadly cor-respond with the topographical division describedabove Qaetzold and Schmidt 1983). In the CoastalPlain, soils have developed on coastal sands and corallimestone and are generally well-drained but vary indepth and structure. Their fertility—or topsoil phy-sical performance—is moderate to low. The soils ofthe Foot Plateau are deep and well-drained, but alsowith moderate to low fertility. Soil units in theCoastal Range vary greatly. Depending on the waysin which they were formed and the type of parentmaterial, they range from well-drained, deep, sandyand clayey soils with varying degrees of fertility, toshallow, coarse, sandy soils which are prone toerosion, especially on the steeper slopes of the hillsand hill complexes. Finally, the soils of the NyikaPlateau are sandy and clayey in nature. In general,their fertility is low although in certain places fertilesoils occur. Many soil units in this zone are degradedbecause of erosion.
This broad Hast-West pattern is intersected bythe Sabaki (Galana) River and the Tana River. Alongboth rivers as well as along their tributaries, exten-sive alluvial plains with well-drained, deep, loamysoils occur. These are areas of relatively high fertility.The Tana delta consists of a deep, firm, crackingclay, with a saline and sodic or sulfidic deeper sub-soil. As a result, most of the delta is less fertile than
Physical resources and infrastructure 31
the rest of the river banks.The soils in the Taita Hills are dominated by rela-
tively well-drained, fairiy deep soil types, consistingof stony, sandy clay loam. Their fertility is relativelyhigh. The lower slopes of the hills consist of well-drained, very deep soils, but with a low fertility. Thenemainder, lower part of the district is dominated bysoils which consist of well-drained, deep, friablesandy clay, with a low fertility.
Figure 27.4 (p. 425) offers a rough picture of thesoil fertility in the study area. Based on a more de-tailed classification byjaetzold and Schmidt (1983),three categories are distinguished, 'high', 'moderate'and 'low' fertility. The figure shows that less fertilesoils—i.e. with moderate to low fertility—are pre-dominant. Relatively fertile soils are mainly foundalong the Sabaki and Tana rivers, the uplands in Kilifi,the inland plateau in Kwale, the Taita Hills, and theTaveta area (at the foot of the Kilimanjaro). As willbecome clear in the following section, a combinationof fertile soils and relatively high rainfall is quite rareand is only found in the Kilifi Uplands and the TaitaHills.
It should be noted that Figure 27.4 (p. 425)gives only a generalised picture of soil fertility in theregion. Due to differences in such soil-forming fac-tors as parent material (rock), topography, age, cli-mate, hydrology, soil fauna and human activity, soilsdiffer greatly locally, both in type and in fertility. Forinstance, 13 major soil classes occur in a relativelysmall area such as in Kilifi between the towns of Kili-fi and Bamba in the norm and Mtwapa and Mazerasin the south (De Meester & Smaling 1987). In thesame area, seven fertility classes could be distin-guished, but generally fertility is quite low (Smaling&Janssen 1987).
RainfallGenerally, rainfall diminishes as one goes inland.However, due to the direction of the trade-winds
(south-east and north-east) and the differences inrelief, rainfall does not show a perfect east-westgradiënt (see Figure 27.5, p. 426). Rainfedl is highestin the south-eastern part of Kwale District. TheCoastal Uplands also catch a fair amount of rainfall,which is visible as 'wet strips' in the figure. Furtherinland, rainfall quickly diminishes. In Kwale and Kilifi,the 700 mm isohyet can be found at 40 to 50 kmfrom the sea, after which semi-arid conditions start,only interrupted by the higher rain catchment areasin Taita Taveta. In Lamu, the amount of rainfall dur-ing the long rains decreases at a rate of about 100mm per 5 km going inland.
On average, annual evapotranspiration is muchhigher than annual rainfall, starting at about 2,000mm near the coast and increasing further inland(Michieka, Van der Pouw & Vleeshouwer 1978).This means that on a yeariy basis there is a consider-able water deficit. In the cooler Coastal Uplands andthe hills in Taita Taveta, evapotranspiration is less.But, while evaporation is fairiy equally distributedthroughout the year, rainfall is not. There is "a pro-nounced concentration of rainfall at the beginning ofthe April-June rains, particularly in the hinterland"(Smaling & Boxern 1987: 14). This means thatthere is a water surplus in the soil during relativelyshort periods of time only. This determines thelength of the growing periods, which are generallyshort in Coast Province.
In general, three patterns of climatic seasonalityare distinguished: (i) with no real dry season; (ii)bimodal with two rainy and two dry seasons; and (ui)unimodal or monomodal with one wet and one dryseason (Walsh 1981). In Kenya, only the two lattertypes occur, although in some parts of the countryrainfall is fairiy equally distributed throughout theyear (Braun 1985). The distinction between bi-modal and unimodal climates is an important onebecause, potentially, in a bimodal climate two har-vests per year are possible and in a unimodal climate
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only one. Thus, provided rains are 'normal', in a bi-modal climate not only the time-gap between har-vests is reduced, but also storage problems andpossibly food shortages.
Along the coastline, a unimodal climate prevails.It is unimodal because there is only one rainy season—the long rains in April, May and June. The rains arenot immediately followed by total dryness, but by aperiod of so-called intermediate rains, lasting untilNovember or even December. The real dry monthsare January and February. Further inland, at a dis-tance of about 15-25 km from the coast, this (weak-ly) unimodal dimatic regime gradually tends towardsa more bimodal climate. However, the period be-tween the first (or long) rains and the second (orshort) rains is not entirely dry. Going further inland,bimodality is more pronounced, particulariy in TaitaTaveta. In this zone, the second rains of November-December are at least as important as the first rainsin March-April; in some places, such as Chakama ineastern Kilifi and in the lower parts of Taita Taveta,they are even more important.
The distribution of rainfall throughout the yearcan be measured in a single figure, the so-calledDegree of Rainfall Seasonality (DRS; see Foeken1994), whereby DRS is higher as more rainfall isconcentrated in relatively short periods. The highestDRS values can be found in the most pronouncedunimodal regimes, of which Lamu (DRS = 67%) isan example. The rainfall stations in the more out-spoken bimodal climates have fairly high values aswell, such as Taveta (DRS = 51%) and Voi (DRS =54%). The lowest values occur in the weakly bi-modal zone, Lunga Lunga in southern Kwale (DRS= 39%) and Ngao in Tana River (DRS = 36%) be-inggoodexamples.
The coastal region is characterised by a high de-gree of rainfall variability between years, betweenthe same months in different years, and betweenplaces. As regards annual rainfall fluctuations, devia-
tions of 30-40% of the annual mean are quite normal(Hoorweg, Foeken & Klaver 1995). Moreover, thecoastal region is known for frequent droughts.Herlehy (1983) lists ten more or less seriousfamines that occurred in the Mazeras-Kaloleni-Mariakani area between 1880 and I960. Six of theselasted for three years or more. Lack of rainfall wasusually the prime cause, often accompanied by epi-demics and plagues of insects. After I960, severalmore periods of serious food shortages occurred:1964-65,1969-70,1973-76,1979-80, and 1982-84.In most cases, inadequate long rains and/or com-pletely failing short rains were the main causes.
Rainfall distribution within years can fluctuatestrongly. An average amount of annual rainfall doesnot guarantee a distribution according to monthlyaverages. As shown elsewhere, years with the sameamount of rainfall can show highly different monthlydistributions (Foeken 1994). Even in years with'normal' or 'above-normal' rainfall, the monthly dis-tribution does not necessarily coincide with theneeds of the agrarian cycle. Some of the faminesmentioned above were not so much caused by ashortage of rain but by the erratic distributionthroughout the year, making the farmers' timing ofplanting very problematic and forcing them to doseveral replantings of maize. In other years, exces-sive rains, causing water logging of the soil, de-stroyed many crops. Generally speaking, the drierhinterland is harder hit by droughts than the coastalstrip. There are examples of years in which hardlyany pasture and water was to be found, forcing manylivestock owners to seil their cattle, if the animalssurvivedatall.
Finally, there also exist important spatial fluctua-tions. Showers tend to be very localised and a 'good'year in one place does not mean a 'good' year some25 km further away (for a coastal example, seeFoeken 1994). In short, it is very uncertain when therains will start, how much rain will fall, where it will
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fall and how the rain will be distributed over the sea-sons. Since rainfall determines the agricultural cal-endar, this makes the erop cyde equally uncertain.
Agroecological zonesAgroecological (or agro-climatic) zonation providesa tooi for assessing which areas are climatically suit-able for various land use alternatives, with particularemphasis on the suitability for erop cultivation. InKenya, two approaches for defining agro-climatic oragro-ecological zones are used (Smaling & Boxem1987). The first one is based on annual averages ofrainfall, potential evaporation and temperature. Thisis the classification used by the Kenya Soil Survey(Sombroek, Braun & Van der Pouw 1982). The sec-ond zonation is based on zones of temperature andmoisture availability, more or less following the firstmethod, but in addition 'length of growing period' istaken into account, i.e. the seasonal Variation in rain-fall and evapotranspiration (Jaetzold & Schmidt1983: 9).6
The five districts bordering the Indian Oceanbelong to one temperature belt orzanegrvup withmean annual temperature higher than 24°C andmean maximum temperature lower than 31°C. Thiszone group is denoted as Coastal Lowlands (CL),with cashew nuts and coconuts being the character-istic main crops. The lower parts of Taita Taveta alsobelong to this temperature belt. The higher parts ofTaita Taveta belong to three cooler belts: LowerMidlands (annual mean temperature 21-24°C),Upper Midlands (18-21°C) and a small area ofLower Highlands (15-18°C).
Within these zone groups, main zones are dis-
6 Growing periods are defined as "seasons with enoughmoisture in the soil to grow most crops, starting witha supply for plants to transpirate more than 0.4Eo(i.e., >40% of the open water evaporation), comingup to >Eo (in the ideal case) during the time of peakdemand, and then falling down in the maturityphase again."
tinguished by mean annual rainfall, i.e. by "their pro-bability of meeting the temperature and water re-quirements of the main leading crops". Five mainagro-ecological zones exist in the coastal districts,ranging from CL3 (where '3' stands for 'semi-humid') to LM6 (where 6 stands for 'and'), eachcharacterised by certain crops and/or agricultural ac-tivities. The spatial distribution of the main zones isshown in Figure 27.6 (p. 427) and the major charac-teristics of the main zones are listed in Table 3.1.
The five most important agro-ecological zonescan be briefly characterised as follows:• CL3. The Coconut-Cassava Zone has a mediumpotential for agricultural activities and covers 6.5% ofthe arable land. The annual precipitation ranges from1,000 to about 1,300 mm, but the short rains do notallow for cultivation of a wide range of annual crops.Coconuts form the principal erop in this zone, de-manding at least 1,050 mm of rainfall in order to bereasonably productive (coconut palms can also befound in drier zones, but productivity is quite lowthere; moreover, slow growth increases the dangerof pests and diseases). Unfortunately, in KwaleDistrict the zone coincides with a large area withrelatively infertile sous. In Kilifi District, the CL3 po-tential is higher. Large Stretches of the soil in theTana River CL3 zone are not suitable for the leadingCL3 crops, due to seasonal flooding and water log-ging. In Lamu District, soils are also often not suit-able for the leading crops of the zone, because theyare prone to water logging in many places or, nearHindi, are too heavy in nature.• CL4. The Cashewnut-Cassava Zone covers 19%of the arable land and has a low to medium potentialfor cropping. Rainfall ranges from about 800 toabout 1,100 mm annually, but only in six out of tenyears are the amount and distribution of the longrains adequate for the production of annual crops.Cultivation of annual crops during the period of theshort rains is normally not possible. Sisal is doing
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Table 3-1 Agro-ecological zones: main characteristics
well in this zone; the Vipingo sisal estates in Kilifi arelocated in this zone. In Lamu, the boundaries of theCL4 zone can only tentatively be established, due tothe small number of rainfall stations in the district.The real extent of the zone is important to know todecide the settlement prospects in this sparselypopulatedarea.• CL5. The Lowland Livestock-Millet Zone (25%of the arable land) is characterised by an average an-nual rainfall of about 600 mm to 900 mm and unreli-able rains. Due to the short duration of the longrains, erop production in this zone should be re-stricted to drought-resistant crops. In general, theCL5 zone is more suitable for ranching than for eropcultivation. In Kwale District, and to a lesser extentalso in Kilifi District, some CL5 strips can be seen inCL6. This is caused by the fact mat, after descendingbeyond the Coastal Uplands, the air rises again, coolsoff and, therefore, loses some moisture.• CL6. The Lowland Ranching Zone is the largestin size (41% of the agricultural land) but has virtually
no potential for arable agriculture. Annual precipita-tion is less than 700 mm on average and is ex-tremely unreliable. Agricultural activities are re-stricted to non-intensive types of livestock rearing. Itis the largest of the different agro-ecological zonesin the region, covering almost 14,000 km2.• \M6.TheLower Midland Ranching Zone is onlyfound in Taita Taveta and accounts for 4% of theland. Rainfall is less than 500 mm annually, making it,like CL6, only suitable for extensive grazing.
Table 3.2 offers an overview of the respectiveagro-ecological zones in each of the districts. If thewhole area is considered it is clear that high potentialareas (zones 2-3) are quite small covering about 8%of the land. Some 20% can be classified as medium(zone 4) and the remaining 72% as low potential(zones 5-6). According to official estimates, CoastProvince has the highest propottion of low potentialland of all provinces, with the exception of NorthEastern Province (Kenya 1991: 93). There are im-portant differences between the districts although
2 = sub-humid; 3 = semi-humid; 4 = transitional; 5 = semi-arid; 6 = aridc. Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks are excluded.d. Garsen Division only.
Source: Jaetzold & Schmidt 1983.
the low potential area is always largest, particularly inTana River and Taita-Taveta (Lamu is the exceptionbecause the District does not extend far inland andhas virtually no really arid land). In addition, as alreadymentioned, in most of the high potential areas thephysical performance of the soil is rather poor.Hence, in general, erop performance is also poor.For instance, in the central part of Kilifi District(which is mainly CL3 and CL4 zones) yields of themajor food erop (maize) tend to be very low. Themain causes are too much, too little or inadequatelydistributed rainfall and low soil fertility (Waaijenberg1987).
Natural resources
Further natural resources that will be discussed areminerals, forests, water, wildlife, and marine re-
sources.7 A large variety of minerals is found in theregion, particulariy in Taita Taveta and Kilifi Districts,be it not in large quantities. Examples include as-bestos graphite, kaolin, kyanite, gemstones, ironore, limestone, zinc, manganese, nepheline, copper,lead, barium, gypsum, titanium and sak. Althoughseveral of these are known to be present in ex-ploitable reserve deposits, few are actually mined. In1952, the exploitation of asbestos started in TaitaTaveta, but due to high production costs mining wasabandoned nine years later (Kenya 1989e). At pre-sent, the only ongoing mining activities concerngemstones (Taita Taveta), iron ore (Kwale), lead(Kilifi), barium (Kilifi) and salt ponds (Malindi andTana River). Building stones, coral limestone, sand
7 The data are mainly derived from the respectiveDistrict Development Plans 1989-1993 (Kenya 1989a-f)and 1994-1996 (Kenya 1994b-g).
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and clay are important for the building industry. Themain constraints to the exploitation of the mineralsin Kenya's coastal region are "low levels of technicalknow-how, lack of adequate investible funds, inade-quate research to explore the reserve deposits anddiscovery of new market channels, conflict withother existing natural resources especially forestsand arable land, risks of erosion and poor supportiveinfrastructure in terms of passable roads duringrains, unavailability of electricity and telephone ser-vices" (Kenya 1989a: 9).
Forests are of great importance for a number ofreasons, notably the conservation and improvementof water supplies, the prevention of soil erosion, na-ture conservation, as well as the needs of the localpeople in terms of wood fuel, building poles andtimber. In the early 1980s, there were more than5,000 km2 of forest in the Coast region, mainly inKilifi (Jaetzold & Schmidt 1983). The largest ofthese is Arabuko-Sokoke forest, covering about 420km2 (Hoorweg 1998). It is well-known for its largearray of rare and endemic wildlife species (Bennum1995). In Taita Taveta, nearly 110 km2 of protectedforest reserves exist. In Tana River, forest areas areconcentrated in the coastal strip and some smallpatches along the river banks. The latter are the onlytrue representatives in East Africa of a type ofriverine forest found in West Africa, containing alarge number of plant and animal species (Butynski1995). Finally, in Lamu some smaller forests existsuch as the Witu Forest Reserve and the Lungi andBoni forests. The latter two forests are apparentlythreatened by the local slash and burn agriculture(Kenya 1989e). Forests in Kilifi are threatened be-cause of poor exploitation and re-afforestation tech-niques (Kenya 1989a). Some riverine forests inTana River are endangered due to overexploitationfor fuelwood (Kenya 1989f). The mangrove forestsalong the coast perform a vital function in the coastalecosystem. They supply inshore waters with nutri-
ents from their leaves and provide food for fïsh.They also provide poles, which are used for buildingand to a lesser extent on boats, and as fuelwood, aswell as tannin which is extracted from the bark(Kenya 1989b). Although mangrove forests can befound in all the districts bordering the Indian Ocean,most of it is situated in lamu, where it probably cov-ers about 400 km2 (Hoorweg 1998).
Water is an important development input any-where. It is needed for erop cultivation, for domesticstock, for human consumption and for industrialprocessing. In general, the provision of potable wa-ter is a major problem in the coastal region (for amore extensive discussion, see Chapter 23). Apartfrom the rivers Sabaki (Galana) and Tana there arefew permanent streams; most rivers are seasonal.Particularly in the drier hinterland and in LamuDistrict, both surface water and underground wateris scarce. This poses problems for many communi-ties because women have to walk long distances tofetch (often unsafe) water from dams in the longdiy season. Moreover, due to the unreliable rainfall,dams often do not fill up during the rains and sufferfrom serious silting. The latter also applies to manywells. The river Tana is a major source of water forlocal use and irrigation but it also forms a seriousthreat because of annual floods, while the terrainaround it is susceptible to soil erosion. On the otherhand, the river provides fish for human consumption(Kenya 19890- Lamu has hardly any surface freshwater sources for humans and livestock and this isconsidered a major constraint to economie devel-opment (Kenya 1989e). The major sources of drink-ing water are traditional water catchments (djiabas)which are scattered over the district. However, manyof these groundwater sources are shallow. Thereare a number of small fresh water lakes in thedistrict, Lake Kenyatta and Lake Amu bemg themost important ones.
Wildlife is of importance for tourism, which is
Pbysical resources and infrastructure 37
the main source of foreign exchange for the countiy(see Sindiga, Chapter 15). As mentioned, over 60%of the land surface of Taita Taveta District consistsof the Tsavo National Parks. The number of visitors— on average 95,000 per year in Tsavo West and113,000 in Tsavo East in the 1988-1991 period(Kenya 1993) — can be considered as an indicationof the economie importance of the parks. Althoughthe Shimba Hills Game Reserve attracts fewer visi-tors (on average 34,100 in 1988-1991), it is, never-theless, an important source of income for the dis-trict. The other land protection area is DodoriNational Reserve. Due to its peripheral location andlack of infrastructure provisions, however, it attractsalmost no tourists. The same applies to BoniNational Reserve in the extreme southeastem cor-ner of Garissa District. In Tana River, abundantwildlife, both game and birds, can be found in theriver delta, offering a substantial tourist potential.
A major problem is to find a balance betweenwildlife protection, on the one hand, and humansettlement, on the other. In Taita Taveta, many cat-tle ranches and agricultural farms border the TsavoNational Parks. livestock is regularly taken by preda-tors such as lions and cheetahs while elephants, wildpigs and baboons regulariy devastate farms (Kenya1994f). On the other hand, farmers encroach on re-serves and parks. Shimba Hills National Reserve issurrounded by small farmers whose crops suffer se-rious damage, particulariy from elephants. The farm-ing families have to guard their crops day and night(Kenya 1989b). In Lamu, wildlife, particulariy ele-phants, were threatened by poaching and by cuttingand burning scrub for human settlement (Kenya1989e). It is in these areas as well as in the TanaRiver delta, that questions regarding the balance be-tween wildlife protection and human settlement aremost pressing. In Gede, Malindi District, theKipepeo Project started in 1993 in an attempt tocombine local community development and nature
conservation. Using leaves from forest trees, vil-lagers living adjacent to Arabuko-Sokoke forest pro-duce butterfly pupae which are exported to the liveexhibit industry in Europe and America (Cordon1995).
Marine resources consist of living resources(fish and mollusk shells) and non-living resources(fossil coral rocks and sandy beaches; see Aloo,Chapter 4). Fishing is widespread along the coast,from Vanga in the extreme south to Kiunga in theextreme north. In Lamu, fishing is the mainstay ofthe district's economy (Kenya 1989e). In general,the artisanal fisher uses traditional methods withsmall boats and simple methods. Moreover, thevarious creek sites along the Kilifl coast "offer excel-lent potential for aqua and marine culture which isvirtually untapped, due to lack of technical know-how and poor infrastructure" (Kenya 1989a: 8).
INFRASTRUCTUREHierarchy ofcentresOfficially, four types of service centres are distin-guished according to the number of people to beserved: urban centres (120,000 or more), rural cen-tres (40,000), market centres (15,000) and localcentres (5,000). Figure 27.7 (p. 428) shows thespatial distribution of the first two categories.
Most of the centres of the first two categories,urban centres and rural centres, are situated in ruralareas that are relatively densely populated. Theseare also the areas with a high agricultural potential.Some other centres have sprung up because of theexistence of factories or mining activities such asGongoni and Fundisha (both in Malindi). Moreover,the centres tend to be located in areas with electric-ity, a relatively good road network and water. In themore marginal zones, urban and rural centres arerare (Kenya 1989a).
Table 3.3 shows the number of urban, rural andmarket service centres in the different districts (the
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local centres have been left out because their statusis often unclear). The right-hand column shows theaverage number of people per centre (different cat-egories taken together). This is a crude estimation,since on the one hand some centres serve peoplefrom more than one district (Mariakani is an exam-ple) while, on the other hand, centres within thesame category can differ substantially regarding thenumber and types of services they provide. Never-theless, the figures suggest important differences in'service levels' between the districts.
Strengthening smaller urban centres in order toreduce the rural-urban gap is a major governmentobjective (Obudho & Aduwo 1990) but centres dif-fer greatly regarding their service potential, evenwithin categories. Taita Taveta District may serve asan example (Table 3.4). The district has four majorservice centres, notably Wundanyi, Voi, Taveta andMwatate (Kenya 1994f: 18). Each centre servesmore or less the population of the division with thesame name, although Wundanyi, being the districtcapital, also has a district function. The market cen-tre of Mwatate serves a population that is notsmaller than the other (urban) centres, but in 1989it had only 49 businesses (Kenya 1989e: 19-20). Onthe other hand, the number of businesses in Taveta,which was only recently turned from a market cen-
tre into an urban centre, was three times higher thanin the district capital Wundanyi. This fairty low servicelevel in a district capital can also be found in Kwaletown, which in 1989 had "less than twenty shops,complemented by numerous kiosks mainly sellingessential commodities" (Kenya 1989b: 16). Inshort, as a policy objective, the population figures at-tached to each category of service centre are farfrom being achieved (Kenya 1984).
Physical infrastructureThe coastal region is transected by two railwayUnes, but only the smaller one (Voi-Taveta) has a lo-cal function. The Mombasa-Nairobi rail link servesmainly for the transport of goods from and to theseaport of Mombasa, and to a lesser extent for pas-senger traffic between the two major cities of thecountry. The Voi-Taveta line is only in use on marketdays in Taveta (twice a week), for both passengereand goods.
The rood network is heavily concentrated in thecoastal belt, the coastal range and the Taita Hills(Figure 27.7, p. 428). This coincides with the areasof relatively high agricultural potential, tourist hotelsand population concentration. Only a few roads arebitumenized, namely the international trunk roads(Mombasa-Nairobi, Mombasa-Tanzanian border,
Table 3-3 Service centres
District
KilifiKwaleLamuMombasaTaita TavetaTana River (SE)
Total
population(1989)
591,903383,05356,783
461,753207,27347,206
1,747,971
urbancentres
32123-
11
ruralcentres
422**1-1
10
marketcentres
248
10**-92**
53
populationper centre*
9,86512,7682,366
24,3036,2819,441
10,222* Centres of different categories are taken together here, in the sense that l urban centre = 8 market centres
and l rural centre = 3 market centres.** Estimations.
Sources: Kenya, 1989a-f; 1994a; 1994b-g.
Pbysical resources and infrastructure 39
Table3-4 Taita Taveta District: major service centres
Centre
WundanyiVoiTavetaMwatate
cate-gory*
U.C.
U.C.
U.C.
m.c.
popu-lation**
54,22352,67341,51556,137
busi-nesses
9422127349
popuiybusiness
577238152
1,146* u.c. = urban centre, m.c. = market centre
* * This concerns the 1989 population of the four divisions inwhich the centres are located.
and Voi-Taveta for the first 30 km), the nationaltrunk road between Mombasa and Malindi (and re-cently extended to Garsen, half-way completed inmid-1998), and three relatively short branches lead-ing to district centres (Wundanyi and Kwale town)and an important agricultural centre (Kaloleni). Mostother roads are made of gravel or earth and areimpassable during the rainy seasons. Moreover,large areas, particulariy the hinterland of the coastaldistricts, have hardly been opened up. For instance,the western part of Kwale District is mainly servedby undassified and poorly maintained tracks (Kenya1989b). According to the Kilifi District DevelopmentPlan, "during the wet season, all activities in themarginal areas such as Ganze, Magarini, Kaloleni andinward Malindi, come to a standstill as roads are im-passable [while] other places are even never access-ible by any motor transport" (Kenya 1989a: 25).This was spectacularly demonstrated by the collapseof the road network in these areas during the ElNifio rains of 1997. The road network in MombasaDistrict suffers from two handicaps. First, mostroads are in poor condition, some being even un-usable. Second, some roads are too narrow for themany heavy commercial vehicles coming from orgoing to the port (Kenya 1989d).
There is an international airpon in Port Reitz,Mombasa. Malindi has a national airport, which is im-portant for transportation of tourists. Minor landing
strips are scattered over the region. The largest con-centration is found in Tsavo West National Park(Figure 27.7, p. 428), serving the tourist lodges. Thehinterland of both Kwale and Kilifi Districts hardlyaccessible by road are also not accessible by air.
As mentioned earlier, water and electricity sup-pfy are major constraints in the coastal region. Be-cause of the scarcity of drinking water, the city ofMombasa has to draw its water from quite far away(see Chapter 23). Of the four sources, two — theMarere River and the Tiwi Boreholes, both in KwaleDistrict — are some 20 km away and two are muchfurther away - the Sabaki River 100 km north, andthe Mzima Springs 200 km inland. The city still ex-periences a serious shortage of water, due to thehigh demand of the increasing population, industriesand tourist facilities (Kenya 1994e). In Kwale, therewere 27 large-scale water supplies in 1989, most ofthem located in the eastern half of the district. Atthe same time, twenty of these were in Operation orunder construction, the others were not in use. Inthe coastal strip, unprotected wells are an importantsource of water supply, but are also liable to contam-ination due to rope and water buckets for drawingthe water (Kenya 1989b). Kilifi District had some527 km of water pipelines in 1989 while another 64km were under construction (Kenya, 1989a). InTana River, each of the four divisional headquarters,including Garsen, has its own water supply System,which are, however, inadequate. Along the river,various protected wells have been constructed bythe Ministry of Health. In some places, there are sur-face dams, but they are threatened by siltation(Kenya, 19890-
Electricity is supplied by various sources. Mom-basa and the centres along the tarmac roads to Voiand to Malindi are connected to the national grid. Inaddition, there is a diesel power generating plant inKipevu, Mombasa. At the time of writing this chap-ter (1997), both sources had serious capacity prob-
40 Foeken
lems. In recent years daily rationing of power lastingsix hours had become normal practice in Mombasaand its immediate surroundings, reaching a climax inthe course of 1996 when rationing lasted twelvehours or more (The Daily Nation, 25 October1996: "Power crisis hits the Coast"). As a result,many businesses found themselves in serioustrouble or even had to close down completely. Out-side the 'tarmac zones' electricity supplied by meansof generators is only available in a few places (al-though many private houses in the coastal strip havetheir own generators), usually the district headquar-ters and other main market centres.
Social infrastructureTable 3-5 offers an overview of different categoriesof health facilities in each of the districts. In thewhole study area there was on average approxi-mately one facility per 8,500 persons in 1989. Thesefigures differ considerably between the districts. InKwale and Kilifi Districts, the ratio of facilities ismuch lower than in the other districts. The Situationin Lamu seems to be most favourable. Still, the pic-ture is probably distorted. For instance, in Mombasa,facilities are much better than in all other districtswhile the distance to each facility is comparativelysmall. In Lamu, large areas are quite sparsely popul-
ated; hence, people have to walk great distances tothe nearest health facility, even with the risk of be-ing attacked by bandits. Moreover, quite a numberof refugees from nearby Somalia have arrived in re-cent years, causing overutilization of several healthcentres (Kenya 1994d). With 159 hospital beds andcots per 100,000 inhabitants in 1993, Coast Provinceranked second in the country after Nairobi (Kenya1994h). However, the provincial figure is biased be-cause of the facilities in Mombasa. For instance, inKwale only 72 beds were available in 1993 (Kenya1994e), which is about half the national average. InTaita Taveta, on the other hand, the Situation wasbetter, notably 142 beds per 100,000 inhabitants(Kenya 1994f).
As regards the educational facilities in the re-gion, the number and distribution of secondaryschools is taken into consideration. Table 3.6 givesthe number of secondary schools per district in1989, as well as the size of the so-called secondaryschool cohort, i.e. the population of the age group,14-17 years of age. The right-hand column showsthat in the whole area, there is one secondary schoolper approximately 1,250 potential pupils. But in TaitaTaveta and Lamu, for the same number of pupilstwo schools are available. A major constraint formost schools (including primary schools) are their
Table35 Health facilities, 1989
District
KilifiKwaleLamuMombasaTaita TavetaTana River (SE)
Total
Hospitals3
531
1031
23
healthcentresb
657
1552
40
clinics--5
14-1
20
dispensaties
34331227228
136
other
21-8
16-
27
total
474225744612
246
populationper fecility0
15,14910,1682,6927,8664,9224,517
8,411Notes: a. Includes District Hospitals, Sub-District Hospitals and Provincial Hospital (Mombasa).
b. Includes Health Centres and Sub-Health Centres.c. Based on the 1993 population projections.
Sources: Kenya, 1989a-f; 1994b-g.
Pbysical resources and infrastructure 41
Table3-6 Secondary schools
DistrictKilifiKwaleLamuMombasaT. TavetaTana River
Total
nr. ofsecondary
schools(1992)
39226
3239
** 11
149
nr. of14-17 yrs
old(1993)'69,00033,7553,414
44,24021,21316,942
188,564
nr. of 14-17yrs. old persecondary
school
1,7691,534
5691,383
5441,5401,266
* Population projections.* * Since the 14-17 years population projection for Garsen
Division were not available, the Tana River figuresconcern the whole district.
Sources: Kenya, 1994b-g.
poor facilities due to poor maintenance of thebuildings, lack of equipment, lack of desks and lackof teachers' houses, among others. Secondaryschools are usualty confronted with lack of dormito-ries, workshops and laboratories, and electricity, es-pecially in the marginal areas (Kenya 1989a).
CONCLUSIONCompared with ether parts of the country, Kenya'scoastal region is not favoured in terms of physical re-sources. The agricultural potential is relatively low,which is due to the limited amount of precipitation,the high level of rainfall variability and the lack offertile soils. Droughts are quite common. Moreover,it is only in a few areas that sufficient rainM and fer-tile soils go together. As a result, erop performance
is generally poor.Various minerals, some in exploitable deposits,
are present in the area but few are actually beingmined, and mostly at a modest scale. There are stillsubstantial forest reserves, but in various parts of theregion these are threatened by human activities.Water supply is a major problem, since there are veryfew permanent streams. People in rural areas oftenhave to walk long distances to the nearest watersource. Mombasa suffers from a chronic watershortage. In the national parks and reserves, wildlifeabounds. This is important for tourism, but the localpopulation hardly benefits from it. Finally, marine re-sources are perhaps the most important resource ofthe region, as the beaches and the coral reefs attractmany tourists from all over the world. The touristsector, in tum, influences the distribution of coastalinfrastructure. It is mostly in the limited areas wherethe tourist hotels are located that infrastructuralprovisions like roads, water facilities and electricityexist. These are also the areas where quite a num-ber of relatively well developed service centres canbe found. In the major part of the region, the physi-cal infrastructure is poorly developed. Finally, al-though quite a number of health and educationalfacilities can be found all over the area, they are gen-erally too few and most of them are under-equip-ped. In conclusion, in terms of physical resourcesand infrastructure, most of Kenya's coastal regioncan be characterised as poorly endowed and poorlydeveloped.
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