The Uasin Gishu people were a community that inhabited a plateau located in western Kenya that today bears their name.

[1] Thompson notes that the original home of the 'Wa-kwafi' was "the large district lying between Kilimanjaro, Ugono and Pare on the west, and Teita, and Usambara on the east.

In both places they found superb grazing-grounds and plenty of elbow room, and there for a time they remained quietly...According to Maasai traditions recorded by MacDonald (1899), in taking over the plateau, the Uasin Gishu conquered a people he referred to as 'Senguer' and almost annihilated this community.

[9] Though seemingly disparate, the totality of these narratives are in congruence with the large scale movement of pastoralists from the plains into the forested areas, assimilation of forest-dwelling communities and wide-spread identity shift.

He states that "somewhere about the same period - at the time an old man can remember according to the native expression - the Masai dwelling on the Uasin Gishu plateau attacked those of Naivasha".

[10] According to Thompson's account the war lasted several years, during which time famine came upon the 'Wa-kwafi' causing large numbers to move to Njemps and Nyiro.

[1] Thompson states, that following the extinction of Laikipiak identity, "The Masai swept from north to south, and left not a man in the entire land, those who escaped the spear and sword finding refuge in Kavirondo".

[1] MacDonald's portrayal of the force of attack parallels Thompson's account, Civil war broke out between the Masai and Guash Ngishu who were helped by their kinsmen of Lykipia.

After some initial defeats, the Masai detached the Sambur of Lykipia from the hostile alliance and then crushed the Guash Ngishu so utterly that the latter could no longer hold their own against the dispossessed Nandi and their kindred, and ceased to exist as a tribe.