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May-June 2014
Friends of Karura Forest                                                   Newsletter
Community Forest Association
In This Issue
Colobus Re-Introduction
G4S Security Appreciation
Certificate of Excellence
Karura at UNEA
New KFEET Centre
Ruaka Swamp Lookout
Golden Weaver Nesting
Quick Links


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3,107
The number of Kenya school kids who visited
Karura Forest in May-June 2014
Visitors Jun14
 Numbers of Monthly Karura Visitors
Where else in Nairobi...
... must you put the pram into 4-wheel drive?
Works Corner
The volunteers who make up the Friends of Karura and their team of Scouts, Tree-Minders, Fundis (skilled workers) and casual worker are working in the forest each and every day. Many recent infrastructure projects have made use of poles or timber from the clearing of Eucalyptus.. 
Fundi Sammy Gitonga and Driver Lucas Thoithi discuss installation of the KFEET playing field boundary fence
Playing field fence in use...
Gitonga (with bag) supervises unloading of wood for Ruaka Swamp observation platform
Platform construction underway
New toilet block under construction near Westgate Memorial site
Offcuts used to fence off worker's huts

New guard house and ticket counter completed at
main Limuru Road Gate "A"
Lantana cleared and holes ready for replanting along Karura River near junction 12a
...and so on...
Two More Bridges Completed
FKF Scouts have used Eucaypt poles and ingenuity to construct two temporary bridges across the Gitathuru River in the Sigiria side of Karura. 
Near Junction 70
 
Between Junctions 74 & 75
Not more than half a tonne, please, and remember
to break step when crossing in large groups!
Events, Events, Events...
 Karura hosts numerous environmental, social and educational events.  A sample... 
  
   
WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY TREE PLANTING 

 

This year's World Environment Day was marked on 5 June in Karura with students from the International School of Kenya by planting trees to give back to the environment.

In the afternoon, 30 students from Braeburn High School volunteered to weed the seedlings they had already planted in April.
 *   *   *
On 8 June the Young Jains of Nairobi gathered in Karura to plant trees and have a belated celebration of WED. The 60 enthusiastic group members got their hands dirty by planting 150 seedlings of the one thousand trees for which they have raised money.
The remaining seedlings will be planted at the onset of the short rains in October-November.  
 *   *   *

  BIZARRE BAZAAR   
 
The Bizarre Bazaar Summer Fair was held at the KFEET grounds on the weekend of 21-22 June. 2,200 adults and 300 children participated in the fun-filled shopping spree in the forest. Exciting collections of handicrafts, jewellery, furniture and house products from eighty of East Africa's finest crafts organisations were on sale. The young ones had fun with the bouncing castles, star jump and face painting. This was the fourth consecutive year that the fair was held at Karura Forest
Enhanced security at BizBaz entrance
*   *   * 
Exciting Plants Corner
A patch of huge 8m palm-like Draecena trees was discovered in the middle of an old and degrade Eucalypus plantation plot not far from Junction 4. It serves to illustrate that there are many indigenous species from the original forest just waiting to be freed from the oppression of old plantation exotics.
*   *   *
Cyrtorchis arcuata, one of the obviously happy epiphytic (having aerial roots and living on other things) orchids re-introduced to Karura by the Kenya Orchid Society
*   *   *
A colourful saprophytic (living on dead things) mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) on a tree stump
*   *   *

Poor Annual Rainfall

Slightly better-than-average in June could not make up for the striking April-May deficits compared to the 70-year average

And the net result is a deficit of ca. 160 mm for the year so far
Dogs, owners, bikers: head north!

The opening of Sharks Gate and the new bridge over the Karura River between Junctions 12a and 33, continues to provide easy access for dogs and their owners to the northern part of the forest, which is currently an off-leash areas  There is also a marked 12-km bike track.
A new map  can be seen online here.

Please Read Dog Guidelines
Bikes for Hire
Trail bikes may be rented at the KFEET Centre.
Bikes for hire
 
A bike specialist mechanic is on duty  to make certain our bikes-for-hire are in top shape and clean of Karura mud for the next rider.
Only 500/= for 2 hours
Bike helmets are mandatory.
Please stay on the designated bike trails: a dedicated 12 km bike circuit now open in the north.
PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP & RESIDENCY REQUIRED
POLITE NOTICE

Documentary proof of Kenya Citizenship or Residency will be required to be shown at the gate in order to qualify for Citizen or Resident entry fees.

  

'RESIDENTS' are defined as non-citizen persons living in Kenya. Non-citizen persons living in other East African Community countries (Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda & Burundi) are considered to be NON-RESIDENTS for the purpose of the Karura Forest entry fee schedule.


Thanks for your cooperation!
Get a Receipt!
Please make sure you sign-in at the gates and get a receipt for entry fees and maps.
Security and maintenance in the forest depends on revenue from events and gate-takings.
Your gate fees help maintain the security fence and pay the Karura Scouts.
Please retain and be prepared to show your receipts to FKF Scouts on patrol.
Many thanks!
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Parting Shot

Karura Wildlife: Bushbuck mother and calf


The exciting Colobus project described below aims to re-introduce the monkeys to Karura under the guidance and experience of the Institute of Primate Research. The project is a sure sign that the recovery and rejuvenation of the forest has reached an important stage of results. Fittingly, the whole process echoes the evolutionary hallmark of primate survival and success: societal cooperation.

Where would Karura be today if it were not for the cooperation of various energetic stakeholders and communities united by the sole purpose of the conservation of Karura Forest? In the spirit of our founding patron, Prof. Wangari Maathai, many have committed themselves in support of Karura. Young and old, rich and poor, citizens and foreign visitors have rallied to ensure that we secure the forest and improve its biodiversity by increasing indigenous tree cover and protecting the flora and fauna. The re-
introduction of the colobus monkeys is one such effort.

We have also received great support from the Kenya Forest Service which recognises the importance of participatory forest management and is supporting and encouraging our conservation efforts. As you may be aware, we are together fighting a legal battle to ensure that not an inch of this forest is ceded to a developer.

We are deeply indebted to the many corporate donors who have supported our efforts in various spheres of forest management and infrastructural development that enables secure and safe access to the many visitors. This type of inter-institutional, inter-community and cross-cultural synergy is surely one of the highest forms of cooperation.

We cannot leave these few comments without giving due recognition to the government agencies and their citizen advisers who were enlightened enough to craft a policy environment - as embodied in the Forests Act 2005 - that encourages citizens' groups in the form of 'community forest associations' like FKF to be created, thrive and deliver results for the people of Kenya today and the future.

The FKF Board is proud to be an integral part of the process. 

The Board 

Friends of Karura Forest

Colobus Re-Introduction Well Underway
Fifteen individuals @home in Karura

 

First Colobus
First releasee contemplates his new home in the Karura canopy: never seen so many leaves!
Colobus Monkeys (Colobus guereza kikuyuensis) have been re-introduced to the Karura Forest. Kikuyensis, also known as the Eastern Black-and-White Colobus, is the sub-species confined to Mt. Kenya and the Aberdares. 100 years ago it was all one big forest down to Nairobi and Karura certainly was home to the colobus and other forest mammals.  

 

Under the careful and experienced protocols of the Institute of Primate Research, FKF, along with KFS and KWS, and with more generous support from AFEW (African Fund for Endangered Wildlife) is working hard to bring this iconic highlands primate back to Karura.   

 

IPR making first nighttime delivery of colobus

Remnant, endangered populations on the fringes of the Aberdares have been identified for translocation.  

 

Target groups are being gently encouraged to seek food in humane trap cages, and the holding-acclimatisation cage in a hidden location in the heart of Karura has already received the first Three groups of IDPs (internally displaced primates). 

 

Mother with infant (white fur, less than 3 mo) pulls the hair of an annoying youth

Fifteen individuals have now been released into the forest in small family groups of six (including two infants), three and six. The last group, which had been eking out a living in a miserable 10m strip of small forest trees, started feeding happily in the the Karura canopy minutes after leaving the holding cage. They had never seen so many big trees and so many lush leaves in their entire lives.

Same female makes a break for freedom once cage door is opened






Peter Fundi, IPR project leader, confirms that the IPR vegetation surveys earlier this year suggest that Karura could support up to 100 individuals. The Sigiria side is being surveyed as well.

 

Karura is home to two pairs of Crowned Eagles, which are well-known to prey upon colobus monkeys. So some predation, combined with natural mortality from parasites and competition with Sykes Monkeys, should serve as a brake on population growth.  

Project Leader Peter Fundi explains the holding-and-release strategy to Cristina Boelcke-Croze, Chantal Mariotte, and Chuka University students Edward Irungu and Nelly Ogada

 

IPR has four student investigators - two undergrads from Chuka University, a University of Nairobi masters candidate and a KWS biologist - to follow the monkeys. The students are getting to know the monkeys have have given each individual a name. Thus the colobus' survival and behaviour will be monitored, and there will be a constant presence to ensure their safety.

 

The project is an encouraging example of how the community forest association process as embodied in FKF can catalyse cooperative action to achieve positive conservation result.
G4S Security Update
Security firm recognised for continuing support

G4S Security  Security Services (Kenya) Ltd was recently given a Friends of Karura Forest Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of the five-year partnership between the two organisations.
G4S-FKF Partnership: (L to R) G4S' Simon Roberts, FKF Vice-Chair Cristina Boelcke-Croze, G4S CEO Martin Otiti and FKF Chair Karanja Njoroge
In the five short years since FKF was launched, G4S has provided CSR support to Karura in several important ways:
  • A full-time Security and Fence Manager to help with all matters related to events and associated security issues in the forest
  • Security Guards at each of the four entry gates into the forest
  • Emergency response services in case of fire or accidents
  • Guard services and an alarm response service at the Karura Forest Environmental Education Trust (KFEET) Centre
In addition, under the growing umbra of insecurity throughout the country, G4S top trainers have recently schooled FKF Scouts and KWS Rangers in screen-and-search techniques to enhance security at the entry gates.

Together we are helping to keep Karura safe, secure and serene.
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TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence
 International tourism recognition for Karura

TripAdvisor, possibly the English-speaking world's the most important window to travel reviews of hotels, restaurants and attractions, has awarded Karura Forest Reserve a 2014 Certificate of Excellence!

As if that weren't honour enough, TripAdvisor Reviewers have provided feedback that ranks Karura as the Number 3 Things-To-Do attraction in Nairobi, topped only by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (what can beat baby elephants?) and Nairobi National Park.

The award and reviewers' comments are a gratifying 5-year birthday tribute to the work of FKF and KFS staff and volunteers, and the numerous Kenyan corporate donors (see here) who have demonstrated  Corporate Social Responsibility begins at home. Thanks also to the 14,000 visitors a month who are voting with their feet (and bicycles).
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Karura Featured in International Corridors
FKF poster display at major UN ministerial meeting
Karura display now in UNEP's atrium
FKF was invited to provide images and text for a poster display on Karura Forest Reserve at the First United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) of UNEP (the United Nations Environment Programme) during the last week of June at the UN Office in Nairobi.

The display was exposed to a high-level assemblage of nearly 100 ministers of the environment, heads of many UN agencies including Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, and very senior government representatives including H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya, and Karura's good friend, Dr. Judy Wakhungu, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Water and Natural Resources.

Delegates learned that Karura is a "...shining example of how individuals, governments and corporates can jointly serve to secure and protect natural resources." 
New KFEET Centre Design Concept
Architectural competition inspires eco-innovation
The winning design from Boogertman & Partners: an exciting synergy of wood and water in a natural amphitheatre
KFEET (Karura Forest Environment Education Trust) announced an architectural competition last year inviting submissions of designs for a new Centre facility in support of environmental education and forest conservation.  

 

KFEET is currently occupying the venerable Shell/BP sports clubhouse (see poster image, right) that was built in the 1950s. Although part of Kenya's history and worthy of preservation, the facility is too limited for Karura's growing educational demands. 

 

UNEP provided initial funding for the competition and had this to say on a Karura poster display at the recent UN Environmental Assembly (see related article, above):  


As part of the vision to make Karura Forest into a pinnacle of the emerging Kenyan Green Economy, a new purpose built facility for the education centre is in the making. In keeping with the primary purpose of the Centre, which is conservation and citizen engagement, UNEP funded an architectural competition that delivered inspiring models for green architecture. The winning submission combines the vision of a world-class environmentally sustainable education centre with an attempt to education people on sustainable livelihoods, green energy sources and green lifestyles.


An international panel of judges including UNEP's Executive Director, Achim Steiner, announced the winner in a ceremony held in Karura Forest.

Final deliberations: (L to R) Karanja Njoroge, Lilian Kithinji, Steve Oundo (Chairman of the Jury),
Achim Steiner, Rob de Jong


KFEET and UNEP are now seeking funding to realise the the stunning and ambitious design.

You can read more about KFEET here.  
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Community Forest Association
Ruaka River Swamp Lookout Platform
Work to improve northern Karura continues

A viewing platform is now overlooking the Ruaka River Swamp. It has been constructed in a large Albizia tree. It affords an excellent view over the papyrus and into the canopy of the large trees edging the swamp.

A pair of Crowned Eagles has been spotted: the newly introduced colobus monkeys had better stay alert.
View from the platform

A nearby picnic site is planned for the near future as part of the programme to open up and improve access and infrastructure in the northern part of the forest (the part that was nearly grabbed before Wangari Maathai made her stand in 1999). 

 

The platform was designed and built by bespoke free-lance carpenter, Sammy Gitonga, with timber from the Eucalyptus clearing exercises that visitors have seen over the past few months. The work was paid for from gate fees.

 

Enjoy! But please use with care and caution; read the rules and watch your step.  

Golden Weaver Breeding
Nest-building in Turaco Swamp















A pair of Holub's Golden Weavers could be easily watched in early may busily  building nests over Turaco Swamp, across the road from KFEET. Although not rare, they are less frequent in Nairobi where they are on the eastern edge of their East African range. Above, the male is weaving a foundation nest ring out of fibres stripped from sedge leaves.
 












The construction eventually grows within a few days to a bulbous, closed nest with an entrance underneath. Holub's usually build several nests within a few metres (three can be seen in the right-hand image above). Only one nest is eventually used. As the pairs mate for life or at least over several seasons, the object of all the extra nest-building work is probably not to impress females, as the social weavers do with raucous male displays at nest entrances. Multiple nests could be an anti-predator ploy to confuse or a least divert temporarily an attack by the African Harrier Hawk, who just loves weaver chicks for breakfast.
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We read in the press with dismay of the onslaught of development on Kenya's world-renowned protected areas: the Southern Bypass clipping 38 ha off Nairobi National Park; the same road slicing through several hectares of Ngong Forest; drilling for geothermal energy leading to de-gazettement of parts of Hell's Gate; a new standard gauge railway cutting through the Tsavo National Park. And the list goes on.

We all support development, but it must not pass on a burden to future generations. Sustainable development should never be a just buzz phrase. It may cost a bit more to implement development solutions that preserve our incredible natural landscapes, our children's inheritance. But it is a price we must be prepared to pay. Short term solutions are invariably costly in the long term.

Our wildlife activists might take a leaf from the book of community forest associations such as the Friends of Karura Forest that has so far saved Karura from development.

A provision in the Wildlife Act, although less prominent than Section IV of the Forests Act 2005 allows that "Communities, landowners, groups of landowners and existing representative organizations may establish a community wildlife association ... The object and purpose for which an association is established is to facilitate conflict resolution and cooperative management of wildlife within a specified geographic region." (Wildlife Conservation and Management Act 2013, Section 40).

We encourage our wildlife conservationists and communities in affected areas to pick up that banner and run with it. We're right behind them.

 
Sincerely,
Friends of Karura Forest
The playing field of KFEET. Note the new perimeter fence-cum-bleacher built with Eucalyptus from FKF reforestation clearing
 
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 see 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.
Activities in the Karura
KARURA FOREST - SECURE, SAFE, SERENE