A Walk in the Forest

It was a quiet day here. The weather was so so with temperatures around 65-70 and clouds in the sky most of the day. A perfect day for a walk in the Karura Forest which is just down the road from us. Our neighbors, a Kenyan Indian / Irish family with kids 4 and 7 years old also at the German School, invited us to come along. I was relieved to hear that there was such a place and so close to our house, as I was afraid there wouldn't be a place to get out into nature in the city without putting your life at risk.

Karura Forest is managed by the Kenyan Forest Service. It was saved from numerous housing projects in the late 90s becoming a symbol of a successful campaign against land grabbings in Kenya. Only in the past few years a fence was built around the forest, transforming it from a dumping site for hijackers and murderers to a beautiful park with waterfalls, caves, marshlands and woodlands. Of course, as a result it is only used by those who can pay the entrance fee (only $2) which ends up being expats and wealthier Kenyans. Another example of the great divide in Nairobi which you can not escape. More on that another time.

The forest has mainly deciduous trees, none of which you could find in New England or even much of the US. The soil is a rust color (as it is everywhere including our back garden) and looks/feels like clay. It apparently has a lot of iron and aluminum in it and gets its clay-like consistency from long periods of heavy rains and intense heat. Right now it's rather dry and creates this reddish dust that gets into everything.

The advantage of the clay is that the paths through the forest are hard enough for some good biking. Sascha and her two new friends biked a good few kilometers to Butterfly Lake (a dried out pit at the moment) and back. So, getting exercise and fresh air in Nairobi does not seem to be a problem despite my fears.

Butterfly Lake?