By: David Nyaga
River Gura is located in Kenya, Nyeri County and it flows from the Aberdares Ranges. It is the fastest flowing river in Africa thus referred to as the ‘Uasin Bolt’.
The river traverses several constituencies in Nyandarua and Nyeri County and waves it’s way through the River Tana which then drains into the Indian Ocean.
The river has major streams that empty their waters into it such as the Thuti and Gikira which makes the river to flow faster with a lot of water.
The river has been used in a lot of activities for example economically. Letβs take a look at one of the popular factories in Nyeri County, the Gathaithi Coffee Factory. It largely depends on River Gura where water is pumped and used in washing the coffee cherries and also cooling down the machines. This has made the factory to sprout anonymously since people from various regions such as Kangaita and Tambaya sell their coffee there.
Moreover, River Gura has dynamic waterfall commonly known as the Gura Falls which led to the innovation of the Gura Hydro Power Project which has been of importance to the Kenya Tea Development Authority since power is supplied to the tea factories for example in Othaya,Nyeri.
Therefore,the river has been of great importance especially to the people of Nyeri County and they should continue making efforts to protect it since the wise said’ prevention is better than cure’.
