In a football stadium tucked away in Western Kenya, the contenders pace and snort under a brilliant blue sky as gusts of wind carry the cheers of thousands of spectators.
Oblivious to the noise and bets being placed, Iminyi and Ingwe prepare for battle, racing up and down the pitch as if possessed before the match begins with a sharp command. They charge in a cloud of dust and lock horns.
The fight is on.
This is bullfighting Kenya-style; an altogether different version from the better-known and more controversial Spanish bloodsport, that is now drawing huge crowds to Khayega, about 500km from Nairobi.
One weekend a month, members of the Idakho and Isukha communities of the Luhya tribe march their prized fighting bulls to Khayega for the matches that some local leaders hope to turn into a draw for safari-going foreign tourists.
Between 5 000 and 7 000 spectators troop to the bullfights to see the spectacle and place small wagers on the fights.
The younger the bulls, the longer the fight, with a match between adolescents lasting as long as half an hour. A contest between older veterans usually last about four minutes, according to owners and trainers.
The beasts are bred for battle and are fed with molasses-spiked grass and isolated from heifers at age three — when they are ready for the ring — to prevent them from mating which supposedly saps their energy.
On the eve of a fight, they are psychologically prepared by dieting on remnants of a traditional brew and other special concoctions believed to increase their aggressiveness.
”We are usually very cautious, we guard our bull all night to keep opponents from bewitching it, otherwise it will be defeated in a very short time,” said Joseph Ileswa, a 76-year-old fighter bull owner.
On this particular Saturday, the bout between Iminyi, which means ”soaring bird” in Luhya, and Ingwe, which means ”leopard,” is over in five minutes as Ingwe breaks from Iminyi’s grip and flees to roars from the stands.
Bird has beaten leopard, an irony not lost on Ingwe’s Isukha fans who are disconsolate in defeat, having lost money and pride, while Iminyi’s proud Idakho owner is hoisted aloft by jubilant supporters of the new champ.
Iminyi succeeds the infamous ”Osama bin Laden,” who was retired several months ago, and ”Nelson Mandela,” a ferocious fighter who died in 2003 of old age after eight years at the top.
Iminyi’s owner, Bonny Khalwale, a local member of Parliament and staunch supporter of the Luhya bullfighting culture known as ”mayo,” sees the matches as a potentially lucrative tourist draw and is seeking government funds to help promote it.
”We need a special arena, tarmac roads to the stadium and big hotels and lodgings so that tourists can access the area with ease and have somewhere to sleep,” he said.
Khalwale’s efforts to obtain a one-million-shilling ($13 000, €10 300) grant from Nairobi, though, are currently stalled and not everyone shares his enthusiasm for the fights.
Jean Gilchrist, director of animal welfare at the Kenya Society for the Protection and Care of Animals, is particularly concerned at the rising popularity of the events.
”We are trying to get away from cruel animal sports and Kenya seems to be going in the opposite direction,” she said, lamenting the increasing crowds at the Khayega stadium.
”It’s one of those things that is hard to stop because they see it as tourist attraction.” – Sapa-AFP