• The animals from Ndarugo River invade residents' farms and destroy crops.
• Mbugua said since the incident, no parent can dare send their child to the river for fear that they might not come back alive.
Residents of Nyacaba village in Juja subcounty are living in fear of attack by hippos that have been roaming around the village for months.
The animals from Ndarugo River invade residents' farms and destroy crops.
Resident Maritha Mugure said they are now forced to go to the river to fetch water in groups after some residents escaped death when a hippo charged at them.
Resident Michael Mbugua narrated how a group of men rescued the women who had gone to fetch water from the river.
“We heard screams coming from the river and rushed only to find women running carrying water jerricans and were being pursued by a hippo. We repulsed it and it ran back to the river,” he said.
Mbugua said since the incident, no parent can dare send their child to the river for fear that they might not come back alive.
Even residents have stopped going out in the evening and are always home before 6pm.
“We even fear going to the farm to irrigate our crops. Our lives have been terrorised by these creatures. We get home before 6pm due to fear,” Mbugua said.
David Kariuki, a Nyumba Kumi elder, said they alerted Kenya Wildlife Service officials who visited the area some months ago.
"They came to survey the destruction that the animals did to the farms. We want the animals to be removed from this river to give us peace and to continue with our farming activities uninterrupted. We need to be protected from these hippos,” they said.
Edited by A.N