A forest of the Kikuyu Escarpment
Published Saturday magazine, Nation newspaper 13 May 2017
Along the path in the forest that rhymes with mutamaiyu or the African olive tree or the Olea europaea (African variety) someone signals to the left and a whole bunch of humans vanish into the evergreen forest that’s part of the larger Kereita forest – a place of the warriors – on the Kikuyu escarpment.
Following the markings on the GPS the group’s looking for a stunner – the Bar-tailed trogan which l have seen at eye-level in the forests of Mount Kenya. It’s not a bird that you ordinarily find flying around – although if we did, the world would be more colourful.

“Gatamaiyu forest is an IBA,” tells the doyenne of all birds, the amazing Fleur Ng’weno. “It was listed as an Important Bird Area because it has a wide variety of forest highland birds and also because the Abbot’s starling is found here.”
The Abbot’s starling is the smallest of the starlings with a shrinking home in a few evergreen forests in Kenya and Tanzania and the concern is how to keep the forests safe for the bird and other creatures including us.
While the die-hards who have to see the Bar-tailed trogan trudge away on the dry crisp leaves of the forest floor through the vines and ferns, we walk a few feet – only to see an eye-sore: a chunk of indigenous trees clear-felled for a road that will lead to an eco-lodge and forest cottages. It’s an oxymoron – for eco means working within the environment to keep it alive and healthy.
Thirty minutes later, the Bar-tailed trogan fan club emerges from the depths of the forest – a little crestfallen because they didn’t see it.
Along the path, another forest speciality pops up – the Evergreen forest warbler. It’s not green but a drab brown –the green in the warbler refers to the montane forest.
Within the group is another group that’s got a new interest – butterflies. After just a few showers, richly patterned and gorgeously coloured butterflies flit about. I’m in love with the Pied piper that’s black with patterned white dots and a winged beauty of sub-Saharan Africa.
The curios fish out their ‘Pocket Guide Insects of East Africa’ by our own Kenyan insect-guru – Dino Martins. Although we have a love-hate relationship with the six-legged invertebrates, we couldn’t do without them as in one of Martins studies, he found that one in three of the foods eaten by humans are made possible by a pollinator, while in chimps it is nine out of ten foods. For a gorilla it’s two out of every three foods.
Crisp leaf-laden paths trail off every few feet etched by forest creatures that appear when all have left. The day gets hotter, a flock of White-tailed crested flycatchers flit in a grove. Finally where the elephant dung lies all dry from many months ago, we make our way three kilometres back to the fishing lodge. This time, there are feathers of the flycatcher on the path which points to a successful hunt by a predator while blood-sucking horse flies become as irritating as mosquitoes. Life’s not easy in the jungle.
Invigorated by food and rest at the fishing lodge, Peter Mureithi of Nature Kenya takes us in search of waterfalls ducking the forest vines, stepping over fallen trees laden with thick green moss and braving the steep embankments of the valley when we spot a pair of black and white colobus monkeys watching us from high up a tree. They rarely come down to earth spending most of their lives high in the trees munching leaves.
Deeper in the forest the tree ferns grow larger and the sound of water closer. Half an hour later, we sight only the water from the river deep in the ravine minus the fall.
We’ve missed a path and have to call it a day because it’s getting late.
Get to Gatamaiyu

55 kms from Nairobi. Take the escarpment road along the Great Rift Valley. Turn left at Kimende – the forest is 8 km from there. The hike starts at the fishing lodge where you can camp. There’s a small fee to pay.
It’s a beautiful drive through the southern end of the Aberdares, along little villages and tea farms and woolly sheep wandering around.
Join Nature Kenya www.naturekenya.org for exciting trips – walking’s a great way to stay fit and become aware of the natural world.
Customer
[url=http://neurontin.monster/]buy gabapentin cheap[/url]
Customer
[url=https://paxila.foundation/]paxil ssri[/url]
Customer
[url=http://prednisone.party/]prednisone 20mg tablets[/url]
Customer
[url=http://levothyroxine.gives/]synthroid 88 mcg cost[/url]
Customer
[url=https://atomoxetine.charity/]buy strattera without prescription[/url]
Customer
drug information and news for professionals and consumers. Some trends of drugs.
[url=https://clomiphenes.online]where to get cheap clomid prices[/url]
earch our drug database. Everything what you want to know about pills.
Customer
safe and effective drugs are available. Commonly Used Drugs Charts. [url=https://amoxicillins.online/]amoxicillin generic[/url]
Best and news about drug. Cautions.
Customer
Long-Term Effects. Definitive journal of drugs and therapeutics. https://amoxicillins.online/ amoxicillin 500mg price in canada
Everything what you want to know about pills. Get here.
Customer
Read information now. Cautions.
https://finasteridest.online how to buy generic propecia without insurance
Everything what you want to know about pills. Top 100 Searched Drugs.
Customer
order minocycline 100mg stromectol 3 mg tablet or ivermectin 9mg
http://charter-choice.org/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=stromectol.science ivermectin 6
[url=http://vitasee.net/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=stromectol.science]stromectol nz[/url] generic stromectol and [url=https://www.warshipsfaq.ru/user/fbepksci]what does minocycline treat[/url] ivermectin tablets order
Customer
Everything what you want to know about pills. Get information now.
[url=https://stromectolst.com/#]stromectol tablets[/url]
Read here. Best and news about drug.
Customer
stromectol generic ivermectin 2ml or ivermectin 400 mg brands
http://wildatlanticgin.com/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=stromectolst.com stromectol ivermectin tablets
[url=http://acmedialysis.org/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=stromectolst.com]ivermectin pill cost[/url] stromectol cvs and [url=https://www.sg0536.com/home.php?mod=space&uid=1107499]stromectol for humans[/url] ivermectin 18mg
Customer
Learn about the side effects, dosages, and interactions. Medicament prescribing information.
[url=https://stromectolst.com/#]stromectol south africa[/url]
Drug information. Comprehensive side effect and adverse reaction information.
Customer
Get information now. Read information now.
[url=https://stromectolst.com/#]ivermectin 500mg[/url]
Get here. Everything information about medication.
Customer
Everything about medicine. Generic Name.
https://stromectolst.com/# stromectol tablets buy online
Top 100 Searched Drugs. Some trends of drugs.
Customer
minocycline 100 minocycline 100 mg capsule or stromectol canada
http://poetryfound.org/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=stromectol.science ivermectin cream canada cost
[url=http://sprinternyrv.com/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=stromectol.science]ivermectin 1 cream generic[/url] what is minocycline 50 mg used for and [url=http://www.zpxsxk.com/home.php?mod=space&uid=2132780]ivermectin 9mg[/url] ivermectin 400 mg
Customer
Everything information about medication. Get information now.
https://stromectolst.com/# stromectol 15 mg
Top 100 Searched Drugs. Actual trends of drug.
Customer
drug information and news for professionals and consumers. What side effects can this medication cause?
[url=https://stromectolst.com/#]cost of ivermectin medicine[/url]
Definitive journal of drugs and therapeutics. Some are medicines that help people when doctors prescribe.
Customer
ivermectin 6mg tablet for lice buy minocycline 100 mg tablets or minocycline 50 mg pills
http://americanwestdream.net/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=stromectol.science minocycline 50mg
[url=http://pnra.us/__media__/js/netsoltrademark.php?d=stromectol.science]minocycline 50 mg online[/url] ivermectin cream cost and [url=http://tc.yuedotech.com/home.php?mod=space&uid=268593]buy stromectol[/url] stromectol 3 mg tablets price
Customer
Get information now. Medicament prescribing information.
https://stromectolst.com/# ivermectin eye drops
Read information now. Learn about the side effects, dosages, and interactions.