An unusual meeting of guides
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 24 2009 | By: ngongforest
Every first and third Saturdays of the month are forest walk days in the Sanctuary. I arrived at our normal meeting point at the racecourse restaurant parking before the usual walk time.This was to give company to those who might have arrived early. As I waited, I was kept busy by a troop of Sykes monkeys that jumped from tree to tree searching fruits to feed on. On the other side of the parking was a troop of olive baboons emoting dust bins to get the left overs from the restaurant as there was a big party the previous night.
Sykes Monkey
Minutes passed, it was past nine no one had turned up for the walk, i decided to take a short walk towards racecourse main gate. On my way, i met three gentlemen who had Binoculars hanged on their necks and walking in a hurry towards the parking. I immediately knew they were here for the walk. I said hi to them and they quickly apologized for being late and blamed it the notorious traffic jam on the road leading to the site. They introduced themselves as volunteer guides from Nature Kenya and that they had come to assist in guiding.
Nature Kenya Guides in the forest
This particular Saturday, there were no visitors to guide so we decided to have our own ‘guides walk’. It was interesting as every body was specialized in a certain field, Onesmus was very good in shrubs and herbs which has been a problem to me as I seem to specialize more on trees. Kassim was good in birds and mammals of the forest. Through working closely with entomologists from ICIPE with projects in the Sanctuary, I have improved on identification of butterflies, beetles and various forest birds.
Butterflies: Sub family- Charaxinae
Beetle: Phonacinus spp
By the time we were winding up the walk, we had spotted over ninety species of birds and three species were new to me, the black cap, Red tailed or Familiar chat and the Madagascar squacco or Malagassy pond heron which we saw at the dam. To me it was an educative walk and i felt visitors missed a great day.
By Nicholas Akach
akach.nicholas388@gmail.com
This Saturday is a Forest Walk day at Ngong Forest
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 20 2009 | By: ngongforest
Located at approximately 6Km from the city center, The Ngong Forest Sanctuary is an interesting site for non invasive outdoor activities which includes forest walks, bird watching, jogging, picnicking , cycling, dog walks and, horse riding. We have organized annual events like forest fun run, kids run and art in the forest while some activities like bike rides are ocassionally organized on Sundays, forest walks are there every 1st and 3rd Saturday of the Month.
Forest walk
Horse riding
Cycling
If you want to have a feel of the forest, join us this Saturday for a forest walk
What will you need for the Walk?
Well, we have our rangers who will take you through the forest, help you in the identification of birds and tree species
Come with your binoculars ,a note book, a pen, a bird guide book and of course the right outfit for a walk!
What will you be required to do before the walk.
Kindly inform us, you can call us on 0729840715 or 020 2113358 , or Email to office@ngongforest.com
Venue
Ngong Racecourse at 9.00 Am, you will find our rangers at the site
Charges
For information on entry rates, visit our website on www.ngongforest.org
Income generated from the walks contributes towards recurrent costs.
If you would like to donate towards protection of this adorable forest reserve,donate in the open donation option on the right.
Thanks to our supporters,friends,donors ,readers of our blogs and not to mention our visitors.
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Finally,our Visitors have a Car Park
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 11 2009 | By: ngongforest
For a long time,visitors in the Sanctuary have been having a hard timed parking their cars on uneven ground next to our main gate. With kind donations from donors, the Trust has finally managed to embark on upgrading this area into a basic car park, designed to hold approximately 43 cars and 6 buses . Whenever such projects requiring manual or casual labour arise, Ngong forest community members are given top priority. For this Car park, more than twenty casuals were hired for days to dig out grass and uproot a few tree stump in the parking area.
Ngong forest community members at work
A huge, old , hollow elephant tooth brush tree that has been leaning dangerously had to be removed to give way for the development of the car park. A colony of bees that had been using the hollow part of the tree as their habitat were transfered to one of the empty hives in the apiary. This was quite a task that only trained members of our bee keeping group could handle. The operation was carried out late in the evening as bees are naturally not active at night.
One of the women harvesting the honey
After clearing the tree stumps, a grader was employed to level the ground followed by rolling and compacting.
Several tonnes of quarry chips and hard core will be spread evenly on the surface in order to make the surface all weather .
Forest community members spreading quarry chips
When complete, the car park, which is surrounded by indigenous trees will provide ample parking space especially during the sanctuary’s events and we will not have to hire parking space from the adjacent Telkom ground as it has been the case before.
Through support from our donors,an Education center comprising of an auditorium,offices,orientation banda will now be fully usable after the completion of the car park .
Visit us for different Eco friendly activities, the sanctuary is a spectacular site for bird watching, picnics, forest walks, forest art ,horse riding, dog walks,come experience this in one of the few indigenous forest existing within Nairobi city in Kenya.
If you would like to donate towards protection of this adorable forest reserve,donate in the open donation option on the right.
Thank to our supporters,donors ,readers of our blogs and not to mention our visitors.
By ranger Joseph Karanja
Email: jranjus@yahoo.com
Community policing wins war against electric fence vandals
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 04 2009 | By: ngongforest
The electric fence that surrounds the Sanctuary has in the recent past suffered attacks by vandals and thieves especially in sections powered from Hillcrest camp that was vandalized two years ago. Since then, it has been a hide and seek game between the rangers and thieves. The area most affected is along the Southern Bypass that cuts across the forest thus opening access to the forest . The Trust is currently seeking for funds from donors and well wishers to replace and re-energize the vandalized sections.
Part of the fence where wires have been cut and others missing
For several days now we have been patrolling ,laying ambushes along the targeted areas of the fence in the hope of arresting the vandals.We have intensified our day and night patrols,reinforced patrols with Kenya forest service guards, with little gain. We decided to change tactics and approach the local community who are partners in conservation,to assist. we were not sure how they would take our idea of helping us to collect information on any scrap wire business in their areas of residence. This approach has worked wonders!
While on our usual routine day patrol, one local community member informed us that he has witnessed wires being sold to a scrap metal dealer next to his stall but he was not sure where the wires were from.
It was then that we decided to tour Bangua Village, which is a few kilometers from the forest. At around 5.30 PM, we encountered a man with rolled wires put in a sack walking to the scrap metal dealer’s stall, we arrested him and took him to the police station for further questioning , he had also confessed that he is not the only one who has been stealing the fence wires. We hope the police will make use of the information provided by the culprit to break this cartel and arrest all those involved.
One of the fence wire theif who was arrested
Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary is protected through kind donations from friends and well wishers. Kindly join us by donating towards protection of this unique forest reserve.
By Nicholas Akach
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100% of your donation, minus a small bank fee, will go to your intended purpose.
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