Eburu Forest

At the entrance to Eburu forest we met Mercy Natembeya, a Kenya Forest Service ranger.  She came with us, bringing her gun, to keep us safe in case we met a buffalo.  Mercy’s motto is ‘Prepared for anything’!

Our guide Simon Lomelo, from Lake Naivasha Nature Club, told us that the Mau forest was once enormous - more than 10,000 square kilometres in size. It is one of Kenya’s most important ‘water towers’: a source of rivers which provide water for people and animals.

Over the last hundred years, as the population of Kenya grew, people cut more and more trees for building and cooking.  Two thirds of the Mau forest trees have been cut. Today 22 pieces of forest remain where the great forest once stood. 

The light green shows where the forest used to be. The darker green show the areas which have been protected (they are ‘gazetted’ by government which means trees cannot be cut).  Eburu forest is at the bottom on the right hand side.

(this map comes from the Eburu guidebook , p 16,and is shared with permission of Eburru Rafiki)

The Mau Eburu forest itself was almost lost in the 1990s as more people moved to Naivasha.  It was saved, just in time, by the combined efforts of local people and the Rhino Ark project.  They built a 43 km fence around the forest, making it possible to control who could come in, and what they could do there. Thanks to their hard work, the forest is now looking very healthy, new trees have been planted, cleared areas are regenerating and it is a haven for birds and animals including the rare Mountain Bongo.  You can read more about the Rhino fence here.

As we drove into the forest Simon showed us the many beehives hanging from the trees. Though cutting trees and hunting in the forest is not allowed now, local communities, particularly the Ogiek people, who once lived in the forest, still use it to keep bees and to collect dry wood and medicinal plants.  The friends of Eburru are promoting tourism to bring employment and business opportunities to local people.  A camping site with a natural sauna fed by a volcanic steam vent has already opened in Eburru village. 

In the centre of the forest we found a big clearing. You can camp here (bring all your supplies and water) and take several interesting walks (the walks are described in the Eburru guidebook, but you need to take Mercy, or another forest ranger, with you in case of wild animals). The Western summit trail, the deep valley trail and the Ndabibi Forest Glade trail all begin from this spot. We set out to explore the Western summit trail…

Mercy led the way, and Simon pointed out interesting plants, birds and butterflies.  People come from all over the world to see the special birds in this forest.  The Doherty bushshrike, Narina’s trogon and Crowned Eagles, which feed on the colobus monkeys, are amongst some of the birds you may see here. 

Narina's Trogon.

Click this link http://rhinoark.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/birds-of-Eburu-brochure.pdf to see the full list of birds in Eburu forest.

When air passes over mountains, the moisture inside it forms into clouds, bringing rain.  If there are trees on the mountain, they add to the moisture in the air through evapotranspiration. So forested mountains make for lots of rain. We saw this for ourselves on our day in Eburu. While Naivasha town stayed dry, clouds began to gather over the forest. 

As the clouds became thicker, we heard thunder in the distance. Mercy advised us it was time to head back to the car!

We got there just in time!

… and drove down the hill through thunder and lightning, rain and then hail.

As we drove back through Eburru village, the slopes were white with hail.  We even saw people making snowballs.

We had such an interesting and exciting day in Eburu.  We are definitely coming back soon to see some more.