On a bright Sunday morning, it’s like an outdoor gym in the city’s forest sanctuary with runners warming up to start the fundraising marathon. The run has been organised by an online supermarket, Greenspoon. While our green heroes and heroines begin the 21, 10, or five-kilometre challenge, the rest of Nature Kenya’s Sunday bird group has logged on to the bird apps like Birdlasser to create the bird list for the day.
While every pair of eyes is trained to search the skies and space around us, there’s a loud smattering of calls emerging from the forest. A flock of Eurasian bee-eaters, their colours vivid through the binoculars is homebound for its nearing the end of winter in the northern climes of Europe and Asia.
A sky-rocketing tree stands above the rest, home to the African Crowned Eagle, one of Africa’s mightiest raptors of the African skies. Nicholas Akach, the forest warden with Ngong Road Forest Association joins us, himself a keen birder. Born in the forest by virtue of his parents working here, Akach is passionate about his home ground and has stories to tell.
“One night I was working late in the office and there was a heavy thud on the door. It was raining and l thought that there might be thugs,” he recounts. “But when I peered through the window, there was the leopard.”
Gate to n Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary. Photo | Rupi Mangat
I first heard about Nairobi’s urban leopards from Yumi Yamane, a leopard researcher.
“I think there are three leopards in the forest,” continues Akach. “But they are so shy that you almost never see them.” Akach is among the lucky few to have seen the shy and secretive cat.
“When I was doing my research,” tells Yamane, “there was one dominant female leopard in the Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary. But she was killed by hyenas. I had a report that she had some cubs.”
Nobody knows what happened to the cubs. Yamane is the only leopard researcher and her findings can guide the survival of the city’s leopards – only if the city planners and her citizens care enough.
“There was one male leopard and another female leopard often in the forest sanctuary coming in from Nairobi National Park,” she continues.
And she brings an important point across. That the leopards and many other wild creatures come in and out of Nairobi National Park to look for new mates to breed with.
“Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary is really a good place for leopards because of the forest and the river running through it. Of course, the many stray dogs from Kibera are perfect for them because leopards prefer to eat dogs. There are no lions in the Sanctuary, they are not much disturbed.”
Strolling through the forest paths with trees on either side, l can only imagine how exciting a night walk would be here with the forest alive with the night creatures like porcupines, owls, and of course the leopards.
Nest of the African Crowned Eagle in Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary. Photo | Rupi Mangat
“This forest is so important for leopards,” continues the leopard researcher. “Leopards do not like open areas. They need to hide, especially during the day. So if there is no forest or no thick bush, they cannot survive. They will move to other areas.”
I’m trying to imagine what is left for our urban wildlife as the city is increasingly losing its green spaces with forests like Ngong Road being bisected by new roads or hived off for buildings.
“We still have a good forest around Karen,” explains the leopard lady. “Karen is between Nairobi National Park and Kikuyu and Limuru, which used to have good forests, ideal for leopards.
“If there is no forest in Karen, the leopards cannot continue healthy reproduction,” states Yamane.
Nairobi is a unique city. It can have its high-rise buildings like any city in the world. But no city can compare to Nairobi with its wildlife.
The remaining forests like Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary, Ololua, and places like the Karen Country Club and old heritage buildings with old trees need to be saved. Rivers with riverine forests are very important for leopards. In the residential area, trees and bushes on more than half an acre of individual compound. There must be no more development like the Southern bypass and standard gauge railway in Nairobi National Park and the forests because that really kills wildlife.
