Tana River County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the former

Coast Province The Coast Province ( sw, Mkoa wa Pwani) of Kenya, along the Indian Ocean, was one of Kenya's eight provinces. It comprises the Indian Ocean coastal strip with the capital city at Mombasa and was inhabited by the Mijikenda and Swahili, among oth ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. It is named after the Tana River, the longest river in Kenya. It has an area of and a population of 315,943 as of the 2019 census. The county borders

Kitui County Kitui County is a county in the former Eastern Province of Kenya. Its capital and largest town is Kitui, although Mwingi is also another major urban centre. The county has a population of 1,136,187 (2019 census). and an area of 30,430 km2. ...

to the west,

Garissa County Garissa County is an administrative county in Kenya. Its capital and largest urban area is Garissa. The county had a population of 841,353 at the 2019 Census, and a land area of about .2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, Volume 2. Demog ...

to the northeast,

Isiolo County Isiolo County is a county in the former Eastern Province of Kenya. Its population is 268,002 (2019 census) and its capital and largest city is Isiolo. Isiolo County is to be the first county to be developed as part of the Kenya Vision 2030 pr ...

to the north,

Lamu County Lamu County is a county of Kenya located along the North Coast of the country and is one of the six Coastal Counties in Kenya. Its capital is the town of Lamu. It borders Tana River County to the southwest, Garissa County to the north, Somali ...

to the southeast and

Kilifi County Kilifi County was formed in 2010 as a result of a merger of Kilifi District and Malindi District, Kenya. Its capital is Kilifi and its largest town is Malindi. Kilifi county is one of the five counties that harbor the Kenyan Coast with 109km ...

to the south. The capital and largest town is

Hola In molecular biology, the δ (delta) subunit of DNA polymerase III is encoded by the holA gene in '' E. coli'' and other bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one bio ...

(also known as Galole). Apart from the River Tana, there are several seasonal rivers in the county popularly known as lagas, which flow in a west–east direction from

Kitui Kitui is a town and capital of Kitui County in Kenya, 180 kilometres east of Nairobi and 105 kilometres east of Machakos. it covers an area approximately 30,496.4 km squares and lies between latitudes 0°10 South and 3°0 South and longitudes ...

and Makueni Counties, draining into the River Tana and eventually into the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

District subdivisions

Despite the large area of th
Tana River district
its only local authority is Tana River County Council. The district has three constituencies:

Garsen Garsen is a small town located in Tana River County, Kenya. It is on the west bank of the Tana River. Location Garsen is located on the banks of the Tana River, in Tana River County, approximately south of Hola, the location of the county headq ...

, Galole and Bura,15 wards, 54 locations, and one hundred nine (109) sub-Location

Religion

The county consists of 81% Muslims, 18% Christians and 1% of people in other religions (including

Atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

Population

The major

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

s are the Somalis, of which the Wardey are the largest clan. The minority groups are the Pokomo people, Pokomo (many of whom are farmers), and the Orma (clan), Orma people. The county is generally dry and prone to drought. Rainfall is erratic, with rainy seasons in March–May and October–December. Conflicts have occurred between farmers and other people over access to water. Flooding is also a regular problem, caused by heavy rainfall in upstream areas of the Tana River. A recent survey prepared by ALMRP, Tana River District presented to the Tana River District Steering Group (2004) found that the county is 79% food insecure and with an incidence of poverty at 62% (Interim Poverty Strategy Paper (I-PSP), 2000–2003, Kenya).

2012 ethnic violence

On 22 August 2012, in the worst violent incident in Kenya since 2007, at least 52 people were killed in ethnic violence in Tana River County between the Orma and Pokomo groups.

Villages and settlements

* Ariti * Balguda * Baomo * Baomo * Borobini * Bohoni (town), Bohoni * Bongonoko *Chathoro * Chewani * Chiffiri * Laini * Ijara * Fitina * Furaha * Handarako * Idsowe * Ingile * Irangi * Wacha Kone * Wenje * Maziwa Bura Irrigation and Settlement Project (Kenya), Bura Irrigation and Settlement Project is located in Tana River County. During the years 1981-1988 about 2,200 families from different parts of Kenya were settled in this irrigation scheme. Tana River County consists of forest, woodland and grassland which are minor centers of endemism. The forests are designated National Reserve status if they have >4 plant endemics and >7 vertebrate endemics (IUCN, 2003). Despite the apparent adequate natural resources, the region remains marginalized from the rest of the country. Efforts at development always seem to center on the huge River Tana, despite massive failures in all the previous irrigation projects in the district, i.e. Bura, Tana River County, Bura,

and th
Tana delta
rice irrigation project which failed after the water works were damaged by the El Niño rains in 1998.

References

External links

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – Kenya AdminLevels 1-4Tana River District: a showcase of conflict over natural resources
at Intermediate Technology Development Group, ITDG
Map of the District
*Bura Irrigation and Settlement Project (Kenya), Bura Irrigation and Settlement Project *http://www.mambolook.com/tana-river {{Authority control Tana River County, Counties of Kenya Tana River (Kenya)