Contacts: Friends of Karura Forest Community Forest Association
We would encourage you to become more than just a visitor to Karura. Please help to protect the forest by becoming a ‘Friend’.
Membership & Administrative Enquiries
Agnes Wanza: + 254 (0) 722 891 654
Nelson Onyango, Accountant: +254 (0) 711 616 132 (Mon, Wed, Fri)
Events & General Enquiries
Lucy Njoka, KFEET Education Officer: +254 725 939093 or +254 739 262092
lnjoka@karurafriends.org
John Chege, Chief Scout: +254 (0) 724 215 423
jchege@karurafriends.org
FKF e-mail
rafiki@karurafriends.org
Maps
The New Revised Karura Forest Map is now out, showing all tracks, junctions and main forest features. Only 500/=, at main gates, K.F.E.E.T. Centre or administrative office at Triad House, 83 Muthaiga Road, Old Muthaiga.
An illustrated list of main bird species is available F.O.C.
Opening hours: 06:00 AM to 18:00 PM
Friends of Karura Forest
Community Forest Association
PO Box 63402-00619
83 Triad House
Limuru Road
Muthaiga, Nairobi
General Enquiries: +254 (0) 722 891 654
rafiki@karurafriends.org
15 comments
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Lesley Stern
25 July 2012 at 12:40 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
I joined as a friends of the Karura Forest last August and at the same time purchased an annual pass. I recieved 1 email when I first joined and recieved nothing since. As my membership and pass are up for renewal soon, I must say I would consider only purchasing the annual pass and not bothering to renew my membership as there is nothing to be gained from being a member. I have not even has anything to encourage me to rejoin. I am sure I can not be the only person to whom this has happened.
Your comments would be appreciated.
admin
26 July 2012 at 14:36 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
We’re very sorry that you haven’t had our monthly newsletter since you joined, We’ve just checked with our (volunteer) admin, and it seems that your email was transliterated incorrectly off your application form (your ‘@’ came out as ‘e’ — clearly an error!) Anyway, we have corrected your contact, so with the newsletter and updates on the website, we hope you will have access to all the info you need. FKF is comprised of a minuscule staff of young Kenyan professionals plus a number of professional volunteers, and we are trying our best to keep up to speed. As your membership fees go in their entirety to support the forest, we do hope you’ll continue to participate and enjoy the forest with friends and family. Thanks for your support!
Steve
24 November 2012 at 18:49 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
How can you get away with charging residents double the price that Kenyans would be charged and better still holiday makers (non residents are charged 6 times more)? This is blatant discrimination and not the way to encourage visitors… In the UK all parks and museums are
free to all and even if there was a charge it would be the same price for adults regardless of where they hail from.
Admin
26 November 2012 at 07:33 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Good question. Unfortunately, the current efforts to secure and organise Karura receive no financial support from the government, apart, of course, from the day-to-day presence of the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) ranger corps, the Chief Forester and his deputy. All of the improvements you enjoy today — the security fence, the FKF Scouts, parking space at the gates, infrastructure at the caves and falls, signage, etc. etc. — are there because of the efforts of the FKF Community Forest Association and Corporate Social Responsibility donations from local businesses and individuals. Free access, at least for the foreseeable future, is not an option: the recurrent costs of keeping Karura safe and secure have to be met somehow. As to the disparity in entrance fees: arising from joint management discussions with KFS, we are obliged to follow a fee scaling similar to the other natural resource parastatal, the Kenya Wildlife Service.
Nina
2 January 2013 at 13:23 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
I visited my family in Nairobi over Christmas and had the most wonderful afternoon in Karura Forest. I want to compliment you on your efforts to restore and maintain the forest and I think you are doing a wonderful job, as it is so important to preserve these wonderful natural habitats. I have one question — as we were walking around there were many seed heads like white cotton wool that were falling on the ground from a shrub or tree, and my daughter-in-law told me that this ‘cotton wool’ is everywhere in great abundance. I think it came from a shrub, and I picked some up off the ground and have brought it back with me to England and would like to grow it, but I cannot find its name (Latin or common). I have looked up all of the shrubs and trees that you list on your website, but none of them produce seed heads like this. Can you give me its name?
Admin
2 January 2013 at 18:39 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Thanks for your comments and pleased you enjoyed your visit to Karura. We’re pretty sure that you were seeing the ‘packing’ from the seed pods of Bombax ceiba, the ‘kapok’ or ‘silk cotton tree’. It’s an exotic member of the Malvaceae family that originates in various forms from India to Indonesia. Other members of the genus are found in South America, called ‘palo boracho’ (drunken branch). Many gardens surrounding the Karura have Bombaxes, and the season just past when the cottony fluff from the pods floats around the neighbourhoods, sometimes so thick that it can clog swimming pool pumps. The trunk and branches are protected with formidable thick thorns; the wood is soft and quite useless. It has large pink and white flowers, which accounts for its popularity as an ornamental. We think it would have a rough time growing in the UK outside of a tropical house.
Nina
2 January 2013 at 19:02 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Thanks you so much for the information, and I’ve had loads of fun looking this plant up. I might try and grow it as a greenhouse specimen — and even try to Bonsai it, as I know that I don’t have room for it to get very big. It will be a little bit of Kenya growing in England (although well protected from the frosts) if I’m successful. I look forward to my next visit to Kenya and visiting Karura Forest again in future and thanks again for such a quick and informative reply.
Admin
3 January 2013 at 13:03 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Hi, Nina, just to be clear… Bombax is not indigenous to the Karura: it’s an exotic ornamental. So you’ll really be having a little bit of the Indian subcontinent growing in the UK. Maybe on your next visit you can slip a few Croton or Vepris fruits into you pocket. Best.
Nina
3 January 2013 at 13:17 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Thanks for the extra information! Interesting about the Croton as we grow that as a houseplant in the UK (it obviously wouldn’t survive outdoors here). I help to run a website devoted to a wide variety of plants and their suitability as food for tortoises (many people keep tortoises in the UK, but of course they are not native to this country), and we have an entry for Croton:
http://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plants_19.asp?mode=main&catID=648 , but not one for Vepris — yet. I can see that my pockets will hold some little treasures by the end of my next visit!
Nina
29 January 2013 at 20:25 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Hi again! I was just wondering if it would be possible for you to identify a caterpillar that I saw in the forest over Christmas? I took a photo of it and have been trying to look it up but without success. Is there a way I can send you the photo of it? It is quite amazing looking with a small black head and very long thick white hairs, like a Lion’s mane.
Thanks you,
Nina
Admin
30 January 2013 at 10:53 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Hi, Nina. By all means send me the image. I’m collecting odds and ends, including a few images of butterfly and moth larvae, to take to the National Museums of Kenya for id’ing. Meanwhile, you might try scanning Google Images to see if you can find any beast similar to yours. Or perhaps submit your image to http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/identify. Good luck and let us know how you get on. Harvey. hcroze@karurafriends.org
Nina
30 January 2013 at 11:08 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Hi Harvey and many thanks! I’ll send you the image, but I’ll also contact the butterflies and moths site and will let you know what they say. It was quite a splendid looking caterpillar and it would be nice to know which butterfly or moth that it will eventually become.
Best wishes,
Nina
Lorna Solopian
2 February 2013 at 12:46 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
I just saw the pictures of the visit you made to my former school, Karura Forest PrImary School and wanted to say, THANK YOU for the good work and God bless you!
Admin
4 February 2013 at 18:31 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Hi, Loma, thanks for the note and the good wishes. Come back for a visit one day, or visit us on Facebook.
adit
24 April 2013 at 08:59 (UTC 3) Link to this comment
Hello! we had our annual school cross country in Karura forest and we enjoyed.I’m proud that Dr. Maathai had done so much for eco-conservation and inspired people like us young generation. I’m doing project on environment conservation in which i’m making wood free,plastic free,eco-friendly pencil out of newspaper wastage and had dedicated my project to great visionary Professor Maaathai.