In colonial Africa, as elsewhere, conservation has invariably been linked to the dynamics of political life. The colonial state in Africa set down the parameters within which conservation policies were defined. Attitudes to the African environment evolved as the colonial period progressed, and conservation accordingly took on new forms and new roles. Although historians have been able to mark out ‘conservation eras’, to monitor the rise of public awareness of particular issues, and to chart the emergence of technical expertise in the general field of conservation management, they have also stressed the conflicts of interest present at every phase of the evolution of conservation policies (Powell, 1976; McCracken, 1982; Anderson, 1984; Beinart, 1984; Ofcansky, 1984; Helms & Flader, 1985; Anderson & Millington, 1987).This chapter takes up these themes in an examination of the colonial history of conservation in the Lembus Forest of Kenya.

Lembus was awarded to a commercial company for the development of a timber industry while the British conquest of the region was still incomplete. It was one of the largest and most favourable land concessions made to Europeans in Kenya. The subsequent administration of this concession, and the political battles that ensued for control over the management of Lembus, are the central concern of this chapter.