Migori

Migori is a town and the capital of Migori County, Kenya. The town is located 63 km south of Kisii and 22 km north of the Tanzanian border. The town has an urban population of 31,644 and total population of 46,576 (1999 census ).

Migori is connected by road to the Masai Mara national park, but the road is in poor condition. Migori town is immediately after Awendo, (where the Sony Sugar Company is situated), Oyani, Stella and Kakrao areas.The road to Isebania is well tarmacked from Kakrao to Mwanza in Tanzania. The road connecting Migori town to Masara is also currently tarmacked.

Geography

Elevation is roughly 1500 meters above sea level (asl.) at Kakrao descending by 100 m asl. into the Migori river. The different peaks near the town are a little over 1550 m asl.

Rainfall is in two seasons like in most of Kenya and the highest rainfall is between March and May. Average rainfall is approximately 1200 mm and above, but the rainfall patterns are unique, as the small town has three patterns of rainfall according to the neighborhood. It could rain in Kakrao but around Onyalo school would be very dry and Namba would have a slight drizzle.

The soils are well-drained and tend to be loamy. This favors the cultivation of tobacco, sugarcane, maize, beans, coffee, groundnuts and vegetables. However, agricultural production is restricted by the drought periods if no irrigation water is available.

The town is home to the Suna people with a significant immigrant luo community in between. Recent migration has introduced a significant number of Maragolis. It is not surprising thus, that many villagers around the town speak Maragoli and Luo eg Ojijo pastor. There are also significant numbers of Kisiis, Kikuyus (Though the unfortunate skirmishes of 2007 left many of the Kikuyus traumatised). The language of business is Kiswahili, which shows the big difference with other Luo-dominated towns.

The Church and Mosque life is very vibrant and at times very loud but this is expected to change with the new Noise laws introduced by Nema. As of December 2015, nothing has been done to curb the noise. The call to prayer in the Islamic quarter begin at 4:00 am and can be heard throughout the town, alienating non-Muslim residents.

Trade and mining

There has been gold mining activities in the area. Mining was centered in Macalader area of Migori on the way to Sori (Karungu Bay). There is a significant gold mining activity in rongo constituency of migori county.

Most activity is centered on the main highway that crosses the town. Most activity is Small and Micro enterprises largely the Jua Kali with a concentration in auto mechanics, furniture works,tailoring, welding, trade and agriculture. Agricultural produce comes from surrounding areas like Ngege, oyani,anjego etc. Other profit making organisations include Barclays, KCB,K-rep, family finance, Co-op and Post banks.

in the 1980s to early 1990s, the town was well known as a hotbed of benga music. Several luo benga musicians like Ouma Omore and Prince Jully recorded and performed benga music in the town.

There is a National cereals board depot.

Plants and wildlife

Some common trees include Bondo (Euphorbiacandelabrum), Ochwoga (Carissa edulis), Mukinduri (Croton megalocarpus), Ngow (Ficus nataliensis), Onera (Terminalia brownii), Toona does well in the area but most trees are multi-branched, which may indicate bud borer trouble. Terminalia catappa, Cypress (a Cupressus lusitanica variant) does well in the area and some pine has been grown successfully.

The birdlife here is varied with many records of blue flycatcher, blue-spotted wood dove, harrier hawk, bat hawk, baglafecht weaver, tawny eagle, purple grenadier, beautiful sunbird, yellow-billed stork, hadada ibis, African citril, cape turtle dove, paradise flycatcher, yellow white eye, white-browed robin chat, black-headed gonolek, black kite among others.

Schools and colleges

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/11/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.