Gatab

The omnipresent heat pushes me up to Gatab on Mount Kulal, an old, eroded volcano overgrown with primary forest and labelled a biosphere reserve by humans. I am curious about how this is managed and stay two nights at the guest house of the African Inland Church with a beautiful grassy lawn and in theory a view down to Loiyangalani and Lake Turkana, would there not be this very dense dust in the air. 1000 KES (7,50 EUR) conservancy fee and another 1000 for a local guide are mandatory in order to explore the forest. I could have done a fully-day’s hike up the summit but I am lazy and need also time for inner piece and nothingdoing. Half a day must be enough and so Shukri the guide picks me up in the morning. The forest is different, not as dense as expected but we manage to find huge old trees where I play Tarzan on the lianas. There are people living around the slopes of the mountain and the conservation activities try to cope with the challenge of respecting the demands of both the natives and the pristine nature. We find some grassy patches where successful re-forestation has been achieved and the new seedlings are protected against the grazing cattle which in theory is not allowed to be here. Shukri documents that with his phone and will report the violation to the community chiefs. Also logging is supposed to be controlled. We hear Baboons fighting about a fig tree. By incident I discover a super-tiny Kulal helmeted chameleon (endemic!) just next to our path on a twig where we pause for a second. Two seconds later another, slightly bigger just haft a metre away! Shukri is very excited because these are normally difficult to spot and he loves chameleons! Later he shows me also the Kulal White-eye, a tiny also endemic bird. Whatever resides up here must be endemic because migrating down from this mountain will lead to instant dustification of any bio-mass.

Shukri tells me that he has some orphan kids around his place and is searching for patrons to sponsor their school fees. This is interesting considering the fact that one day ago I met Jane in Loiyangalani who distributes scholarships to poor kids. I connect both of them and hope for the best. Primary school – the first 8 years – is very cheap in Kenya because only books, the uniform and peanuts have to be provided. Pushing a teenager through 4 years of secondary school is more costly but still pretty not expensive for Mzungus. Shukri estimates around 60.000 KES (450 EUR) for the first year and 30.000 KES for each subsequent year. This would give a kid the opportunity to much easier find a job and be able to care for her-/himself. So, if anybody is interested in investing some of his money into such activities, I can create a direct link to these honest and reliable persons in order to offer a transparent procedure without any dubious, intermediate organisations.Read more