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Kenya Inaugurates Seventh World Heritage Site
On April 18, Kenya inaugurated its seventh UNESCO World Heritage Site, Thimlich Ohinga. The site was first placed on the World Heritage list last July because of its state of preservation, its archeological significance and its ability to articulate the interaction between man and his environment. The site is 360km west of Nairobi in Migori County, and local authorities have planned to develop critical infrastructure around the site including roads, power and clean water. According to UNESCO, Thimlich Ohinga is “a dry-stone walled settlement was probably built in the 16th century CE. The Ohinga (i.e. settlement) seems to have served as a fort for communities and livestock, but also defined social entities and relationships linked to lineage. Thimlich Ohinga is the largest and best preserved of these traditional enclosures. It is an exceptional example of the tradition of massive dry-stone walled enclosures, typical of the first pastoral communities in the Lake Victoria Basin, which persisted from the 16th to the mid-20th century.”
