Restoring the Ngong Hills Forest

The Rotary Club of Ngong Hills (RCNH) has launched a tree-planting campaign to restore the Ngong hills forest. The campaign, ‘Save the Ngong Hills Forest’, seeks to restore the forest cover on Ngong Hills by planting over 5000 trees. This is the first of a series of tree planting campaigns that the club intends to organize this year.

Speaking during the campaign’s launch, John Mwangi, President, Rotary Club of Ngong Hills, said that the campaign has six components.

‘It will include tree planting, fencing of specific areas of the forest, cleaning-up of the forest, preservation of the Maasai cultural heritage, promotion of ecotourism, walking, and hiking.’

He added that increased tree cover will contribute to a clean environment that will help rejuvenate over 80 water springs that had disappeared due to encroachment and depletion of the forest cover. 

The tree planting exercise brought together participants drawn from the Rotary Club of Ngong Hills in partnership with the Rotaract Clubs of Ngong Hills and Kenyatta University, Scouts group of Kajiado North, the Go Green Movement.  

The Ngong Hills forest is located on the northern tip of Kajiado County and it’s about 25 kilometers from the city. The forest covers an area of 3077.6 ha and sits upon the knuckle-shaped Ngong Hills. It is managed by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS). It is estimated that the Ngong Hills Forest requires about a million trees to restore the forest cover. It also requires general fencing and geo-mapping. The restoration of this important water catchment area is also part of the government’s agenda.

Recently, the Kenya Environment and Forestry Cabinet Secretary, Keriako Tobiko, called on the KFS and other stakeholders to formulate a team that would see the fast-tracking of Ngong Hills Forest Collaborative Framework. The framework would among other things seek to enhance and promote partnerships for restoration and rehabilitation of the degraded areas of the forest. This will involve the mobilization of both public and private sectors to grow trees and raise resources that will secure the forest. President Mwangi sees great potential for the Rotary Club of Ngong Hills to be involved in these efforts.

‘Protection of the environment is a key Rotary focus area. We intend to have more tree-planting sessions to ensure that we play our part in restoring this forest from which our club’s name is derived,’ said President Mwangi.

Apart from being a forest reserve, the Ngong Hills are of a great historical and cultural significance to the Maasai people, who know them as ‘Oldoinyio Oloolaiser’, the mountain of the Laiser’, one of the clans of the Maasai, from which the famous ‘laibon’, Olonana (Lenana), was descended. Restoring the forest will thus contribute to the preservation of the Maasai culture.

The Ngong Hills are a popular hiking trail location for visitors. The trail runs all the way along the ridge/peaks of the Ngong Hills as far as Magadi Road near Kona Baridi, an estimated 11.5 kilometers. The hills provide an impressive extended viewpoint. The summit of the hills is marked by Point Lamwia (2,483 m above sea level), which offers stunning 360-degree views of the Great Rift Valley to the west, Nairobi National Park to the East and the Nairobi suburbs to the North East. President Mwangi says the Rotary Club of Ngong Hills will organize hikes on the hills not only to encourage restoration of the forest but also to boost the health of hikers. 

‘Hiking is a form of preventive healthcare. It’s about the adoption of a lifestyle of exercise to boost immunity and general health.’

The Rotary Club of Ngong Hills will have season 2 of the tree planting in October 2020. Other Rotary clubs and well-wishers are highly encouraged to collaborate with the RCNH to make the next event successful. You too can contribute by buying or donating trees that will be planted in October 2020. 

Make your donations and contributions to : Rotary Club of Ngong Hills: Paybill No: 7251235.  Account Name: Trees

Article by :Rtn Anthony Wafula |tony.wafula@gmail.com