Thousands of herders are fleeing their traditional grazing lands as a biting drought engulfs east Africa, and their animals have swept through farms and conservation areas.
Still, an undertow of grievance about history has always informed relations in Kenya’s highlands and is playing a major role in the crisis.
Local people say the latest migration of thousands of herders with tens of thousands of cows, goats and sheep in search of water and pasture has been triggered mainly by harsh weather patterns.
Their call to them to forcibly occupy the holdings of all large landowners in the area, black and white, has rattled Laikipia.
Shuel, who previously managed a Maasai-owned group ranch, says there should be a sensible compromise between heated demands for radical land restitution and the apocalyptic claims of a race war from British tabloids that focus on the perspectives of white settlers, many third-generation Kenyan citizens.
The UK conservation charities that bought the 90,000-acre ranch from Rowland took it in a completely new direction.
Ol Pejeta is operated on a non-profit basis and has an extensive community service set-up that includes the offer of grazing to pastoralists affected by drought.
The CEO of Ol Pejeta, Richard Vigne, says the latest confrontation points to the need for a more coordinated approach to ensure that communities benefit more from local resources.
“There must be a long-term, government-endorsed approach to secure this land for sustainable management.
A plan to build a 280-mile game-proof fence around Mount Kenya, not far from the Laikipia region, was endorsed by Pope Francis on his visit to the country in November 2015.

Kenya’s tourism industry and conservation efforts are being threatened by drought-induced violence.
On the night of Mar.
29, suspected herdsmen burnt an exclusive safari lodge owned by prominent Italian-born, Kenyan author and conservationist Kuki Gallmann.
The raid was the latest in a series of attacks on private properties in drought-stricken Laikipia.
Over the last few months, cattle herders have invaded luxury lodges, ranches, and conservancies in search of fresh pasture for their herds.
Kenya is one of the several east African nations affected by a harsh drought, with the Red Cross stating that three million Kenyans are in need of emergency food aid.
The spike in attacks has also left a bloody trail, with a dozen people dead, including mothers and children.
Tristan Voorspuy, a dual Kenyan and British national, was also found dead in early March after he ventured to inspect burnt houses on the Sosian safari lodge.
Residents and ranch owners say the attacks against them have intensified after the government recently deployed the military to quell the violence.
Cattle herders have also blamed the government for reportedly shooting on hundreds of their livestock grazing these ranches.

How drought is wreaking havoc across East Africa.
A member of the Turkana community of Lolupe, north of Lodwar in the Turkana region, searches for gold specks.
A first downpour relieved pastoralists in the drought stricken Kenyan Turakana region after a twelve month span that pushed livestocks and communities to the brink of another looming humanitarian crisis.
A boy looks at a flock of dead goats in a dry land close to Dhahar in Puntland, northeastern Somalia.
Drought in the region has severely affected livestock for local herdsmen.
A young herder from the Samburu pastoral community in Kenya grazes his family cattle on the dwindling pasture on the plains of the Loisaba wildlife conservancy, where controlled livestock grazing from surrounding manyattas (Samburu settlements) is helping mitigate conflict over increasingly scarce water and pasture during a biting drought season.
A member of the Turkana community of Lolupe, north of Lodwar in the Turkana region, searches for gold specks.
A first downpour relieved pastoralists in the drought stricken Kenyan Turakana region after a twelve month span that pushed livestocks and communities to the brink of another looming humanitarian crisis.