As an advocate admitted to the Bar in Kenya with an accomplished background in Indigenous Peoples’ human rights, Kiptoo is committed to continue the Endorois’ struggle in reclaiming their rights and ancestral lands, despite the slow pace of justice in his home country.

Across India, the Mau Forest and Lake Bogoria in Kenya, and Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Indigenous communities are being evicted, harassed, and cut off from their ancestral lands—all in the name of “conservation.” In these powerful video testimonials, Indigenous people speak out about the violence and injustice they face under fortress conservation. Their stories demand attention—and action.

Forests pulsate with life, essential for the Ogiek people and all humankind. For the Ogiek, a hunter-gatherer society rooted in the high-altitude regions of Kenya's Mau Forest Commission and Mount Elgon for millennia, these woodlands are life itself, the source of their sustenance, culture and spiritual beliefs.

While glossy images of the Maasai and their iconic lands often grace travel brochures, a starkly different reality of land theft and displacement unfolds behind the scenes.

A few months before we visited the Ogiek community to film their testimonies, without any prior notice many households had been evicted, an estimated 167 houses and a school burned down.

Indigenous Peoples and nations from Peru and Kenya came together to share their stories related to the exclusionary conservation model that has made them invisible for decades.

"If the officials come and shoot us we are ready to die, but not to leave the forest"

In carrying out its species protection and conservation goals through Project Tiger, India has been found responsible for the commission of large-scale and systematic human rights violations committed against the Indigenous communities living within or near the protected areas.

The court issued several orders, including a permanent injunction prohibiting NRT and its partners from conducting any conservancy operations, including recruitment and deployment of rangers, in the affected areas.

In 2017, the government published Legal Notice Number 265 which converted over 13,000 hectares belonging to the Endorois people into Mukutani Forest, Baringo County. This was done without the legal requirement of free prior and informed consent and compensation.