Mount Ng'iro, also known as Mount Nyiru or Mount Nyiro, is a mountain in the north of

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. ...

overlooking the

Suguta Valley The Suguta Valley, also known as the Suguta Mud Flats, is an arid part of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya (Africa), directly south of Lake Turkana. Location The Suguta valley today is one of the driest parts of Kenya, with annual rainfall below ...

, part of the

Great Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley () is a series of contiguous geographic depressions, approximately 6,000 or in total length, the definition varying between sources, that runs from the southern Turkish Hatay Province in Asia, through the Red Sea, to Moz ...

, to the west. The mountain is surrounded by desert, but is forested on its upper slopes. It lies in the territory of the

Samburu people The Samburu are a Nilotic peoples, Nilotic people of north-central Kenya. Traditionally, they are semi-nomadic pastoralists who primarily herd cattle but also keep sheep, goats and camels. They refer to themselves as Lokop or Loikop, a term with ...

. Some subclans under the Lmasula

phratry In ancient Greece, a phratry (, derived from ) was a group containing citizens in some city-states. Their existence is known in most Ionian cities and in Athens and it is thought that they existed elsewhere as well. Almost nothing is known about th ...

cultivate bees on the mountain, and as bee-keepers claim exclusive rights to the land and water. There are 78.9 square kilometres of

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 ...

on the mountain. African juniper (''

Juniperus procera ''Juniperus procera'' (known by the common English names African juniper, African pencil-cedar, East African juniper, East African-cedar, and Kenya-cedar) is a coniferous tree native to mountainous areas in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It i ...

'') is the predominant tree at lower elevations and in drier areas, growing in pure stands or with ''

Myrsine africana ''Myrsine africana'', also called Cape myrtle, African boxwood or thakisa, is a species of shrub in the family Primulaceae. It is indigenous to Southern and Eastern Africa, the Azores, the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia and East Asia. Descripti ...

''. ''

Faurea saligna ''Faurea saligna'' is a graceful, semi-deciduous tree in the family ''Proteaceae''. It grows to about , or up to under forest conditions. Found from tropical Africa south to the Transvaal, Swaziland and Natal, often in large communities on ...

'' and ''

Ilex mitis ''Ilex mitis'' (commonly called Cape holly, African holly, waterboom or umDuma) is a tall, dense, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It makes an excellent fast-growing hedge for gardens - growing tall, straig ...

'' are the predominant trees in more humid high-elevation areas. In high-elevation areas with the most condensing mist the bamboo ''

Oldeania alpina ''Oldeania alpina'', the African alpine bamboo, is a perennial bamboo of the family Poaceae and the genus '' Oldeania''. It can be found growing in dense but not large stands on the mountains and volcanoes surrounding the East African Rift betwe ...

'' forms dense thickets 6 to 8 meters tall. ''

Lasiosiphon glaucus ''Lasiosiphon'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Thymelaeaceae. Its native range is tropical and southern Africa, Madagascar, southwestern Arabian Peninsula, India, Sri Lanka. Species 50 species are accepted. *'' Lasiosi ...

'' is the dominant tree in summit forests, forming close stands up to 8 meters tall. There are grassy clearings around the summit, maintained by regular burning and heavy livestock grazing by Samburu pastoralists. The clearings are interspersed with thickets of ''

Hypericum revolutum ''Hypericum revolutum'' is a shrub or small tree in the genus ''Hypericum'' native to Arabia and Africa. It is evergreen, with leaves opposite, closely spaced and crowded at the ends of branches, c. 20 × 5 mm, green to slightly glaucous, se ...

'' and young junipers.Rainer W. Bussmann (2002). "Islands in the Desert—Forest Vegetation of Kenya's Smaller Mountains and Highland Areas (Nyiru, Ndoto, Kulal, Marsabit, Loroghi, Ndare, Mukogodo, Porror, Mathews, Gakoe, Imenti, Ngaia, Nyambeni, Loita, Nguruman, Nairobi)," ''Journal of East African Natural History'', 91(1), 27-79, (1 January 2002)Benny Bytebier, Rainer W. Bussmann (2000). "The Vegetation of Mount Nyiru (Samburu District, Kenya): A Checklist and Syntaxonomical Survey," ''Journal of East African Natural History'', 89(1), 45-71, (1 January 2000) The Nyiro shrew (''

Crocidura macowi The Nyiro shrew (''Crocidura macowi'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Mount Nyiro in northern Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated popula ...

'') and Mount Nyiro bearded chameleon (''

Kinyongia asheorum ''Kinyongia asheorum'', also known commonly as the Mount Nyiro bearded chameleon, is a species of lizard in the family Chamaeleonidae. The species is endemic to Kenya. Only four specimens are known. Etymology The specific name, ''asheorum'' (La ...

'') are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the mountain. Mount Nyiru Forest Reserve was established in 1956, and covers an area of 454.96 km².UNEP-WCMC (2024)
Protected Area Profile for Mount Nyiru
from the World Database on Protected Areas. Retrieved 4 June 2024.

References

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* * * {{Kenya-geo-stub Great Rift Valley Ngiro Ngiro

See also

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