The tragic Kiamunyi bee attack that took a young life

Caleb Kiprono Boit spent most of his Sunday in church. At around 3 p.m., he decided to head home.

As is custom, he boarded a matatu and made his way to Kiamunyi, passing by the Grand Winston Hotel. After alighting, he began the short 80-meter walk to his house. But he never made it.

Just as he was approaching home, something terrifying happened—Caleb found himself in the middle of a sudden bee attack.

Instinctively, he tried to swat them away and ran toward his house. Unfortunately, the swarm was relentless.

The bees overwhelmed him, stinging him repeatedly until he could no longer run and was forced to walk.

In CCTV footage shared with Mtaa Wangu, the 32-year-old is seen shirtless, staggering toward a gate, with bees visibly clinging to his head. He eventually sits down at the gate, clearly in distress.

According to his uncle, Wesley Bii, the attack lasted for over an hour. By the time help arrived, Caleb was lying on the ground, helpless.

“Some good Samaritans came across him and rushed him to the Nakuru County Teaching and Referral Hospital,” Wesley recalls. “He was taken to the Intensive Care Unit. He was in so much pain, swollen all over. Sadly, we lost my nephew on Monday.”

An autopsy later confirmed that Caleb died due to toxins from the bee stings.

“He had injuries all over his body,” Wesley adds. “Even when we saw him later, he still had bee stings lodged in his skin—and even in his eyes, there were visible wounds.”

Doctors informed to the family that Caleb had suffered severe swelling in his respiratory tract. “Because of the swelling, air couldn’t reach his lungs to be oxygenated and circulated through his body,” Wesley says.

The family is devastated and concerned. They say the beehive had posed a danger to residents for some time. There had been previous incidents involving bee attacks, and Caleb, tragically, became the latest victim.

In a phone interview, Sarah Karemi, the Beekeeping Officer, at the County Government of Nakuru confirmed that the issue had been brought to their attention just the day before.

“After we were informed, we held a meeting with the Disaster Management team, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forestry Service, and the County Agriculture Department to discuss the best course of action,” she explains.

She personally visited the scene and confirmed that the bees had built a colony on a tree near one of the area’s homes. “We spoke to some community members who were present, and one individual volunteered to remove the hive,” she says.

Sarah clarified that the bees were wild and did not belong to the homeowner. “They had simply swarmed on a tree along his fence. We negotiated with the homeowner, and he contributed Sh2,000. That amount was used to pay the person who removed the hive, under the supervision of one of our officers,” she notes.