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 July-August 2013 | |
Friends of Karura Forest Newsletter
Community Forest Association
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Visitors Up
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Despite the cold July-
August weather, visitor numbers remain high and growing.
The total number of monthly visitors since the beginning of the year has averaged around 7,000 per month.
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VISITOR NUMBERS
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Bikes for Hire
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FKF has acquired sturdy multi-speed trail bikes for hire to use on designated forest trails. The bicycles are available at KFEET centre at KES 500/= per hour. FKF has partnered with
Wheels of Africa
for additional bikes as well as mechanical expertise.
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| Karura Creatures | |
Big...
During the Lantana-clearing for the picnic site, a 4+ metre Rock Python emerged from the swamp and took refuge in the branches of a small shrub, out of reach of the curious workers. It looked like it had just shed its skin - which snakes do every year or so - beautifully coloured and shiny.
 | | Rock Python |
Everyone was reassured that pythons are not poisonous and only dangerous if you are the size of a duiker. FKF scouts guarded the snake until nightfall. Next morning it was gone, presumably back to the quiet of the swamp.
And Small...
This little 10-cm freshwater crab was caught short out of water on Kima trail. It went into a defensive stance brandishing its red and yellow, but not very ferocious claws. Thephotographer picked it up carefully behind its claws and tossed it back into Turaco Stream.
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Picnic Site Historical
Information Needed | |
We understand that the picnic site area was the site of farmhouse in the 1930s, owned, it is believed, by the Rutherford family. Do any readers have information on the history of the site?
Contact Lucy 0725-939093 or info@karurafriends.org.
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| Works Corner | |
...and so on...
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Noteworthy Events
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RUNNING & WALKING FOR FOREST ENRICHMENT
FKF in collaboration with residents' associations neighbouring Karura Forest organised a charity walk in early August to raise money for replanting. Despite the chilly weather over 70 neighbours participated and later planted many indigenous seedlings.
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WEDDING SPLENDOUR  The last two months have seen four couples exchange their vows at Karura Forest or host their reception at KFEET grounds. One particularly splendid affair hosted more than 1,000 guests.
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| Get a Receipt! | |
Please make sure you sign-in at the gates and get a receipt for entry fees and maps.
Security and infrastructure maintenance in the forest depends on revenue from events and gate-takings.
Your gate fees help maintain the fence and Karura Scouts.
Please retain and be prepared to show your receipts to FKF Scouts on patrol.
Many thanks!
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Dogs On-Leash,
Many Thanks ! | 
Most dog owners (in the main forest) are now keeping their best friends on leash unless in sign-posted off-leash areas. A new map available at the gates shows the areas, along with the 5-, 10- and 15-km running and walking trails.
Please Read Dog Guidelines |
| No Captions Needed ! | |
Thanks for your cooperation!
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| Newsletter Archive | |
Missing an issue?
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Greetings!
Welcome to the fourth issue of Karibuni Karura (Kiswahili for 'Welcome, one and all, to Karura'). We hope to give you a glimpse into scope of activities and developments in Kenya's Karura Forest Reserve, over 1,000 ha of peaceful upland forest, fully within the city limits of a major African capital.
As you can see from the little graph on the left, Nairobians and visitors from abroad continue to stream in through the gates at an average rate of 2-300 a day. Not surprising. Apart from peace and quiet, good air, leafy peacefulness, birds and butterflies, over the past three years -- since the Friends of Karura Forest Community Forest Association was formed -- Karura has proven to be one of the safest places in Nairobi.
So, in case you haven't been following us on Facebook, or browsing the FKF website (where you will find all the forest facts, including entry and membership fees, eco-facts, maps and more...), we're pleased to share with you a short summary of what's been going on over the past two months.
Karibuni Karura!
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Security Fencing Completed
Karura Forest Now Totally Enclosed
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New security gates at junctions 13 (above) and 15.
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By the beginning of August, FKF in cooperation with the Kenya Forest Service commissioned an additional 1.9 km of electric fencing to separate the forest proper from the 50 ha KFS Headquarters compound (see map, light grey shaded area).
Thanks to the continuing generosity of the trustees of the George Drew Trust, Rupert Watson and Mary Binks agreed to donate KES 3m to erect a high-quality tamper-proof electric fence in two sections (see map, heavy orange lines). Sanyati Ltd. did the work as on the main Karura fence. And thanks to Steel Structures for providing guard huts for the KFK Scouts and KFS Rangers.
There are now two manned gates at junctions 13 and 15 in addition to a locked gate at the track leading to the Nursery in order to control casual traffic in and out of the forest. The remaining portions of the FKS compound are protected by the original electric fence along the Kiambu Road and up to Gate B. The northern section of the TBP (Tropical Biodiversity Project) area has an existing chain-link fence.
Visitors can still enter through Gate B off Old Kiambu Road, but should now park, pay and sign in at the junction No. 13 gate.
KFS rangers and their families for the time being will continue to have controlled access to the 'Ranger Village' (grey area in upper left of map) through No. 15 until finance is secured to move their dwellings into the newly-secured KFS HQ area.
Runners and walkers doing the 15 km circuit will be let through the gate at No. 15 by the Scout on duty.
Before the fence was electrified, FKF Scouts engaged in a major beating exercise to drive a good number of bush pigs and bushbucks into the safety of the forest.
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New Picnic Area
Invasive species clearing opens new amenity
Visitors can now have access to a pleasant picnic area just opposite the KFEET entrance. The two-hectare area was hand-cleared of invasive Lantana and Mauritius Thorn by teams of contract workers from the Huruma informal settlement. The clearing goes right to the edge of Lily Lake.
The work revealed numerous indigenous saplings ready to take off -- augmented by the large re-planting efforts of the Davis and Shirtliff corporate family (see Apr-Jun Newsletter) and AbragCapital -- plus a few beautiful older trees, like the one pictured below.
FKF has installed benches with timber from the KFS. Swings and a slide for kids were provided by Rajesh Shah. There will be a designated barbecue site on a central slab remaining from the buildings of a farm that occupied the site in the 1930s.
 | A perfect tree at the Picnic Site.
Identification in progress. |
Entry: 250/= per adult, 150/= per child.
Please book and pay at KFEET Centre or contact Lucy Njoka on
+254 725 939093 or +254 739 262092
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Historic Borehole Discovered
A colonial relic unearthed during clearing
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Biselex team shows FKF Vice-Chair Cristina Boelcke-Croze and Scout Peter Kamau how to measure borehole depth
(note pipe in foreground)
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A water borehole dating from the 1930s was uncovered during the clearing operation at the new picnic site.
Appropriately enough, it was during the Davis and Shirtliff Founders' Day team that we identified the pipe as a borehole. D & S later opened it for inspection, which was carried out pro-bono by the drilling firm Biselex. The borehole is an astonishing 230m deep with a water resting level of 60m, which means the water 'lens' is an impressive 170m thick.
FKF commissioned Biselex to conduct a 24-hour pumping test to determine the amount and quality of the water. The tests indicate the potential delivery is impressive: some 7.5 cubic metres per hour.
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Biselex technician shows water sample
to Chantal Mariotte and Cristina Boelcke-Croze
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FKF and KFS are working on a plan to make the best use of this amazing discovery.
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Forest Enrichment
Gum-tree felling for the good
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Many visitors to Karura will have noticed -- perhaps with some alarm -- the flurry of tree-cutting of Eucalyptus opposite the KFEET Centre between the Picnic Site and the Turaco Stream swamp.
It's part of the FKF-KFS longterm management plan.
The idea is to replace exotic trees with indigenous species as well as provide an uninterrupted access from the Picnic Area to the swamp.
When the felling is completed and the timber removed by the contractor, the area will be cleaned and replanted. Plus some of the felled trees will be used to build a viewing platform on the edge of the swamp for watching and spotting bushbucks and pythons.
Watch that space...
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Kenyan Olympians Train in Karura
A quiet and safe training ground for top atheletes
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Asbel Kiprop lopes easily uphill
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The Kenyan World 2013 Championship Squad has been training along Karura Forest trails.
More than thirty runners under the watchful eye of Coach Sam Rono were working out just before the 2013 IAAF World Championship in Athletics held in Moscow in mid-August.
The Kenyan men an women put on a super performance and garnered three golds, three silvers and a bronze!
We are proud that Karura is providing a safe and secure training site for our top athletes.
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 | | Turaco Stream between 8a and 8b. © Amee Devani 2013 |
More Karura photos may be seen here
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Kenya's Karura Forest Reserve continues to surprise and amaze visitors from home and abroad. Although over half the visitors to Karura are Kenyan citizens enjoying some hours off from the hustle and bustle of Nairobi city life, Karura is also making its mark internationally.
Thanks for the kind words! And thanks to you, visitors to the forest, who continue to come and enjoy Karura quietly. Your gate and membership fees contribute to keep the forest secure and safe for all of us including the many resident furred, feathered and scaled inhabitants, whose survival ultimately depends on us.
Sincerely,
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The Board of Friends of Karura Forest
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Join the Friends of Karura Forest
Membership is open to all persons, organisations and corporations who support the FKF mission to protect, manage and enhance the Karura Forest Reserve.
Members enjoy reduced Annual Pass fees: click here to s ee the types of membership and view rates.
You can sign up at the KFEET (Karura Forest Environment Education Trust) Centre (the former BP-Shell Sports Club in the main forest), or stop by the FKF secretariat office in Muthaiga (address below).
Newsletter photos © Harvey Croze unless otherwise attributed
KARURA FOREST - SECURE, SAFE, SERENE
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