Forest tracts amounting to nearly 2,000 square miles have not yet been 

 demarcated or brought under the administration of the Forest Department. 



The existing territorial charges are at present adequate, and new forest 

 areas brought under the adminstration of the department may be conveniently 

 included in one or other of them until such time as it is found convenient to 

 increase the number of divisions. 



3. FOREST TYPES. 



3. The forests of Kenya Colony are essentially evergreen, a fact which 

 is due primarily to a well distributed rainfall and the absence of the long dry 

 season which is accountable for the deciduous forests prevailing in the 

 typically monsoon climates of India and Burma. 



A complete study of the various forest types and sub-types in the Colony 

 has not yet been made; meanwhile the following rough classification may be 

 taken to include the main types : 



(1) Mangrove forests, situated along tidal creeks on flat muddy 

 ground lying between high and low water mark. The prevailing species 

 are those commonly found in the eastern region of the mangroves, and 

 include Rhizophora mucronata, Ceriops Candolleana, Bruguiera gym- 

 norhiza, Avicennia officinalis, Lumnitzera racemosa, Sonneratia caseo- 

 laris, and Heritiera littoralis. These forests are of considerable economic 

 importance in supplying poles, fuel and tanning bark. Mangrove poles 

 are at present exported more largely than any other form of forest 

 produce, their chief destinations being the ports of the Persian Gulf and 

 South Arabia. 



(2) Coast forests. These forests are situated in the tropical coastal 

 belt, rising to an elevation of about 1,200 feet. They contain such trees 

 as Afzelia cuanzensis (mbemba kofi), Trachylobium H ornemannianum 

 (gum copal, mtandarusi), Mimusops sp. (n'gambo), Combretum Schumanii 

 (mpera mwitu), Brachylaena Hutchinsii (muhuhu), Erythrophloeum 

 guineense (mkelekele), Tamarindus indica (tamarind) and others. 



(3) Scrub forests. Under this term may be included a number of 

 types extending mainly over large arid waterless tracts between the 

 coast and the highlands, and consisting either of impenetrable thorn bush 

 or of acacia scrub of varying density sometimes merging into open 

 savannah types. The most important tree, occurring near the coast, is 

 the African blackwood or ebony, Dalbergia Melanoxylon, but it is of 

 small size and is usually crooked. Along rivers and watercourses 

 special types of fringing forest make their appearance, among which 

 may be mentioned the acacia (" fever-thorn ") belts along the Athi and 

 other rivers and the poplar (Populus Denhardtiorum) belts along the 

 Tana River. 



(4) Savannah forests. These are open types of forest in which the 

 trees are scattered over grass-lands. The trees are for the most part 

 evergreen, attain a height of 20-40 feet, and often have rounded crowns. 

 Among the more typical species are Combretum splendens, Erythrina 

 tomentosa, Dombeya umbraculifera and Bauhinia reticulata. Special 

 dry savannah types also occur in which species of acacia, often flat- 

 topped, are prominent. 



(5) Plateau forests.- These forests are situated on red laterite soil 

 on the plains of the highlands at an. elevation of 5,000 to 6,500 feet, and 

 are typically represented in the neighbourhood of Nairobi, where the 

 normal rainfall is 40 inches, and the climate is equable and fairly cool. 



