e-vmuoi sicr 
By Ian MacKay and Fleur Ng'weno 
N£W$ VP PAT£! 
Forest Policy 2004 
The draft Forest Policy 2004 is now in its 
final stages of revision. 
Its broad objective is to increase the forest 
and tree cover in the country. The new 
Forest Policy will guide the development 
of farm forestry, dry-land forestry, private 
sector and community involvement and 
management and reforms in the 
management of forest resources. 
Watch future issues of Nature net for more 
details! 
Trees for Sale! 
40,000 seedlings are ready for planting: 
Grevillea robusta (Mikima) 
Eucalyptus sa/igna (Blue Gum) 
Cassuarina (Whistling pine) 
Cuppressus lusitanica (Cypress) 
Potted @ 10/- each 
Bare rooted @ 5/- each 
Available from Kereita Forest Station 
Contact Julius Kimani 0722 220868 
or Peter Manji 0722 291679 
email keenvo@yahoo.com 
Indigenous tree seedlings (mainly Prunus 
africana ) also available 
IN T7t£ MAIN 
There are some intriguing news items sent 
by email. Here is one - 
Flying for the Environment in 
Africa 
A well known conservationist from the World 
Conservation Society, will be doing a 600 
hour, low level aerial transect across Africa 
transversing every major eco-reglon on the 
continent to identify places that are still 
ecologically intact. 
Bate/eurs, a non profit organisation that flies 
for the environment, will provide support, 
Bateleurs is requesting your support in this 
by recommending places you consider to be 
the wildest place in different eco-regions. 
They are also going to need a whole lot of 
local assistance. 
For more information visit their website 
www.bateleurs.org where you can also 
complete a questionnaire or e-mail 
pete@ecoassist.co.za 
Moon, May 04 
May 4th - Full Moon - Lunar Eclipse! 
The sun and earth and our moon are 
aligned on May 4 th - resulting in a lunar 
eclipse. The shadow of the earth will 
slowly sweep across the surface of the 
moon. The eclipse starts at 9:50 p.m. and 
lasts for about an hour. In southern 
Africa it will be a total eclipse, however 
it will not be total here. 
May 11 Last Quarter: May 19 New Moon: 
May 27 First Quarter 
May Stars 
The constellation of Hydra, the Water 
Snake, reaches far across the sky, just 
south of overhead. Hydra contains the 
longest string of stars in any 
constellation. About halfway along Hydra, 
a group of stars form a cup shape. This 
constellation is called Crater. Next to it 
are four stars in the constellation Corvus, 
the Crow. 
Crux, the Southern Cross, is low in the 
southern sky. There are two very bright 
stars to the left (east) of the Southern 
Cross. They are part of the constellation 
Centaurus, the Centaur. Rigil Kentaurus 
(also known as Alpha Centauri) in 
Centaurus is our nearest stellar 
neighbour, at about 4.3 light years away. 
The head of the constellation Scorpius is 
rising in the east. The bright reddish giant 
star Antares, the eye of Scorpius, is just 
south of the moon on the 6th. 
Planets, May 04 
The planets Venus, Mars and Saturn are 
close together in the northwest, over the 
sunset. On May 9 ,h they line up in a near 
perfect row. Venus is at its brightest on 
May 2 nd . On the 22 nd , it is near the horizon 
and close to the moon in the evening 
twilight. 
Mars is midway between Venus and Saturn 
on May 9 ,h . At the end of the month, Mars 
and Saturn are very close together in the 
constellation of Gemini. Saturn is the 
brighter, larger object and has a more 
orange colored glow. 
Jupiter is also shining brightly, in isolation 
in the eastern sky, almost overhead. It is 
very large and easy to find. The satellites 
of Jupiter are fun to watch though 
binoculars! (The magnification factor is far 
less important than simply using binoculars 
with large lenses. The larger the lenses the 
more light can be gathered. Of course lens 
power helps, but if the magnification is too 
high the image will just be hard to keep 
Steady). 
Hydra, Corvus and Crater 
A story from ancient Greece 
The Greek God Apollo once sent a raven to 
fetch him a cup of water from a fountain 
some distance away. The raven flew at once 
to the fountain, but seeing a luscious fig 
tree just putting forth its fruit, he could 
not resist the temptation to wait for the 
fruit to ripen. So he stayed, waiting 
comfortably among the shady leaves of the 
fig tree until the fruit was fully ripe and 
he had scoffed it all. He then prepared to 
return to Apollo - with the cup full of water 
- but suffering from a guilty consience and 
realizing his very late arrival would not go 
unnoticed he returned with a water snake 
in his claws, which he had seized beside 
the fountain. He explained to his master 
that the creature had attacked him and 
was therefore the cause of his delay. 
Being wise and all-seeing, Apollo naturally 
knew this for the lie it was. In his anger 
he placed all three of them, the raven, the 
snake, and also the cup full of water, among 
the stars, carefully arranged so the 
serpent keeps guard over the cup of water 
and the poor raven, try as he might, can 
never get near enough to rescue his thirst. 
And that is why, of all the birds, the raven 
does not carry water to his fledgings. 
