07/10/2026
THE PERILS OF 1890-1900
In 1890, Nairobi to Murang'a was 70 miles. It took 5 days. Because the forest was trying to unalive them.
According to Sir Gerald Portal's own words in his 1893 diary The British Mission to Uganda:
"The Kikuyu tribes were practically holding the Company's station in a state of siege."
That station was Fort Smith, Dagoretti. Its owners could not leave it.
Portal wrote:
"We left the open plain and plunged into the darkness of a dense belt of forest, which forms the natural boundary of the regions inhabited by the treacherous, cunning, and usually hostile people of Kikuyu."
That belt is Kiambu - Karura to Githunguri. No roads, only hidden paths. The Company marched like this:
"we were careful to keep all our people close together, every man within a couple of paces of his neighbour. One European marched in front, one in the rear, and one in the middle."
Being alone meant you would not return. Portal said they would "lie like snakes in the long grass" and plant "poisoned skewers in the path, set at an angle of about forty-five degrees."
At the fort, Portal confessed:
"We were surrounded day and night by a complete ring of hostile Wa-Kikuyu... for any one to wander alone for more than two hundred yards from the stockade was almost certain to not return."
That was the road the Gospel had to travel.
When the first missionaries heard the call to reach the interior, this is what stood before them. The forest did not care if you carried a gun or a Bible. It stopped everyone.
It took courage, years, prayer, and the help of local guides whose hearts God touched first, to finally establish mission stations at Kahuhia, Weithaga and Tumutumu beyond the forest.
Today people drive that road in 2 hours. They walked it for 5 days in fear. People preach freely because they walked faithfully.
They pacified the road, but they also produced leaders who would later demand justice.
History Note: This diary describes Fort Smith, Dagoretti (1890-92). Fort Hall, Murang'a was built later in 1900. The same forest defense made Nairobi-Murang'a the most feared road in the Protectorate.
Photos : Arrows, War pits designed to stop invaders to Gīkūyū country in early 1900s, A Gīkūyū warrior 1906
Photo Credit: Routledge
