Mau Forest is a forest complex in the

Rift Valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. It is the largest indigenous

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

. The Mau Forest complex has an area of .BirdLife IBA Factsheet
/ref> The forest area has some of the highest rainfall rates in Kenya. Mau Forest is the largest

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

in Kenya.Daily Nation, July 22, 2008
Selfish interests threaten Mau forest
Numerous rivers originate from the forest, including the Southern Ewaso Ng'iro, Sondu River,

Mara River The Mara River is a river that begins in Narok County in Kenya and ends in Mara Region in Tanzania. It lies across the migration path of ungulates in the Maasai Mara/Serengeti National Park, Serengeti ecosystem. The River's flow The Mara Rive ...

and

Njoro River Njoro is a third order stream flowing into Lake Nakuru, Kenya. Its source is in the Mau Forest. It is also known as Ndarugu River. Efforts are being made to address the significant ( faecal) water pollution problems of the river, especially in the ...

. These rivers feed

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...

Lake Nakuru Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley lakes, located at an elevation of above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park. About 10,000 years ago, Lake Nakuru, together wi ...

and

Lake Natron Lake Natron is a salt lake, salt or soda lake, alkaline lake located in north Ngorongoro District of Arusha Region in Tanzania with its far northern end crossing into Kenya. It is in the Gregory Rift, which is the eastern branch of the East A ...

. The western slopes of the

Mau Escarpment The Mau Escarpment is a fault scarp running along the western edge of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. The top of the escarpment reaches approximately 3,000 m (10,000 ft) above sea level, and is over 1,000 m higher than the floor of ...

are covered by the Mau Forest.

Ecology

Typical tree species in the Mau Forest include '' Aningeria adolfi-friederici'', ''

Strombosia scheffleri ''Strombosia scheffleri'' is a medium-sized tree that is native to Afrotropical realm, Tropical Africa, the species is sometimes planted as a shade tree in coffee and cocoa plantations. It belongs to the family ''Olacaceae''. Description ''St ...

'', and ''

Polyscias kikuyuensis ''Polyscias kikuyuensis'', also called the parasol tree and mutati, is a species of plant in the family Araliaceae. It is endemic to Kenya, where its wood is used to make boxes and similar items. The species is confined to wet upland forest, and ...

''. ''

Olea capensis ''Olea capensis'', the black ironwood, is an African tree species in the olive family Oleaceae. It is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa: from the east in Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan, south to the tip of South Africa, and west to Cameroon, Sierra ...

'', ''

Prunus africana ''Prunus africana'', the African cherry, has a wide distribution in Africa, occurring in montane regions of central and southern Africa and on the islands of Bioko, São-Tomé, Grande Comore, and Madagascar. It can be found at above sea level. I ...

'', ''

Albizia gummifera ''Albizia gummifera'' is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae, native to sub-saharan Africa and Madagascar, and naturalized in Brazil. It is also known as peacock flower. It is recognisable as a very large deciduous, flat-topped tree reach ...

'', and ''

Podocarpus milanjianus ''Podocarpus milanjianus'' is a species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is native to the highlands and mountains of tropical Africa. Description ''Podocarpus milanjianus'' is an evergreen tree which can grow slowly up to 35 meters in ...

'' are also found there. Endemic bird species in the area include Hartlaub's turaco (''Tauraco hartlaubi''),

Hunter's cisticola Hunter's cisticola (''Cisticola hunteri'') is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is found in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are tropical moist montane and high-elevation shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, ...

(''Cisticola hunteri'') and Jackson's spurfowl (''Pternistis jacksoni'').

Destruction

The forest has been traditionally inhabited by Ogiek people, whose

hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

lifestyle is sustainable. However, due to immigration from other ethnic groups, large parts of the forest area have been cleared for settlement. Human activities, especially

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksdeforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

of more than a quarter of the area since 1973. This is due to the increased charcoal trade in places like Narok town and the supply of logs to saw mills in Baringo,

Nakuru Nakuru (nicknamed Nax) is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and it is the fourth largest city in Kenya and the largest in the Rift Valley region. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban population of 570, ...

and

Narok Narok (sometimes referred to as NauwongoTown) is a town west of Nairobi that supports Kenya's economy in south-west of the country, along the Great Rift Valley. Narok is the county capital of the Narok County and stands as the major centre ...

counties. In 2008, the inauguration of the Sondu-Miriu hydro power plant was postponed due to low water levels, that are said to be resulting from the destruction of the Mau Forest.

Mau Forest evictions

In the summer of 2008 there was a political row over resettlement of people, who had been allocated land there during the KANU era during the 1980s and 1990s. Some of the settlers are famed politicians, like Franklin Bett and Zakayo Cheruiyot. In 2004 Paul Ndung’u released "Ndungu Report", which listed these land allocations, terming them illegal and recommended revocation of them. Some evictions were implemented between 2004 and 2006, without a resettlement scheme. On July 15, 2008, the then Prime Minister,

Raila Odinga Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He was the Member of Parliament (Kenya), Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata Constituency from 1992 to 2013 and has ...

issued an order that the evictions be implemented by October 2008 in order to protect the forest from destruction. The order has been opposed by number of Rift Valley area politicians, led by

Isaac Ruto Isaac Kiprono Ruto (born 4 March 1959) is a Kenyan politician. He is the Chama Cha Mashinani Party leader. He was elected the first governor of Bomet County in 2013 Kenyan general elections. He hails from Tumoi, Sigor in Chepalungu constituenc ...

. Some politicians, led by Minister of Agriculture

William Ruto William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto (born 21 January 1967) is a Kenyan politician who is the fifth and current president of Kenya since 13 September 2022. Prior to becoming president, he served as the first elected Deputy President of Kenya, ...

, propose that if evictions are implemented, the government should allocate them land elsewhere. The evictions began in November 2009. Some prominent people are set to lose their land, including family members of former president

Daniel arap Moi Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He is the country's longest-serving president to date. Moi previously served as the thi ...

. Also under threat is the Kiptagich Tea Factory owned by former president Moi.Daily Nation, December 22, 2009
MP vows to fight Moi eviction bid

References

External links

* * {{coord, 0, 36, 35, S, 35, 44, 08, E, type:forest_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title East African montane forests Forests of Kenya Environmental racism

Ecology

Destruction

Mau Forest evictions

References

Further reading

External links