the EANHS 
Bulletin 
Volume 28 Number 2 
COMMENT 
Nairobi was mostly forest a hundred years ago. A 
thick belt of forest lay between the grasslands of 
the Maasai people and the cultivated hills of the 
Kikuyu people. To build the city, the forest was 
cut down. The colonial government claimed for¬ 
est as Crown land, and allocated it as needed for 
the city’s infrastructure. Most of us in Nairobi 
live on former forest land. 
Three large patches of forest were retained, 
managed by the Forestry department: Karura For¬ 
est adjacent to Limuru and Kiambu roads; Ngong 
Road Forest between Langata and Ngong roads; 
and the forest in Nairobi National Park. Rainfall 
ranges from much higher in Karura, in the middle 
in Ngong Road Forest, to much lower in the Park. 
The three forests therefore have different plant 
communities and bird life, and together form a 
very rich reservoir of biodiversity. 
Ololua Forest, in Kajiado district but adjoin¬ 
ing the City boundary, completes the picture of 
the remnant forests of Nairobi. 
At Independence, Crown land became State 
land, but it continued to be parcelled out for pub¬ 
lic use or private development. Large areas of 
forest, including Karura, were given out to peo¬ 
ple connected to the administration of President 
Kenyatta. Windsor Hotel, for example, is built on 
South Kiambu Forest land. Even the UNEP and 
ICRAF headquarters are built partly on Karura 
Forest land. 
Today, there is much less State land available 
for allocation. Therefore schools, hospitals, agri¬ 
cultural show grounds and private developers turn 
to forest land as their last source of “free” land. 
All the forests in Kenya currently face immense 
pressures. Landless people, migrants from over¬ 
crowded areas, public utilities and political sup¬ 
porters all want more and more land. Meanwhile 
loggers and sawmillers try to harvest as much 
timber as they can today. 
Karura Forest was apparently divided in two 
by the Government a few years ago. One half, 
containing the finest stands of indigenous forest 
and the Forestry Department headquarters, re¬ 
mained as forest It is now protected from further 
allocation by a title deed. 
The other half, which contained some indig¬ 
enous forest, some plantations of exotic trees, and 
August 1998 
Articles 
A botanical 
wetland habitats 
Abraham M. Muaasya, 
Laban O. Ojiambo 
ark. 
gweno d< 
Projects 
Kipepeo Project wins International Prize. 
land. Gordon 
Earthwatch Fellowships 8 
The European Song Bird Project in Osca, Hungary 
(19 July-31 July, 1998), Paul Matiku 8 
Short Communications 
New records of side-striped jackel and African 
Striped Cuckoo at Buyangu, Kakamega Forest. 
Mwangi Gathua 
Hunting for Aframomum, family Zingeberaceae, 
in Masaka District Uganda. Ann Birnie, Tony 
Katende & Paul Ssegwa 
Society News 
EANHS Annual General Meeting, 
15 June 1998 
Chairman’s report 
Treasurer’s report 
Notices 
Request for information-East African crocodile 
sightings. Stephen Spawls & Kim Howell 
10 
10 
10 
12 
15 
15 
