Mau forest is the largest indigenous forest on a mountain range in East Africa. It has the highest rainfall rates in Kenya which gives rise to four major rivers which fed 3 Kenyan lakes. It is therefore a vital catchment area for my country. The forest is home to a diverse number of plant and animal species including the great forest elephants, therefore bears great ecological value to my country.

This is how dense the forest cover is in areas where it has not been cut down.

This forest has however been through a lot of challenges throughout it?s history, most notably deforestation to clear land out for agricultural use. Other challenges ravaging the forest include logging and settlement of people within and around the forest. Last month, a considerable section of the forest was consumed in flames that came about as a result of a dry spell in the country.

This is a section of land that was previously covered in dense trees but is now used agriculturally and people settled in it.

On the 24th of April, a day after finishing our semester exams, my class from the university headed up to Mau forest together with one of our lecturers, where we got a first hand view of the extent of tree cover loss. The sight was devastating. We embarked on a tree planting spree on a section of the cleared area. A number of locals in the area who understood the need for the trees and wished to have it restored joined us in the planting party. We used the miyawaki method of planting which we had learnt at a workshop during the semester, which we taught the locals so that they may continue with the tree planting even after we left. Unfortunately, we were not able to cover the entire area we had planned for due to heavy rains that led to a hailstorm. Therefore a number of the holes prepared were left without trees. We however hope to head back soon to complete our pre planned section and restore the forest?s previous glory and also contribute to bringing our national forest cover up from the from the current 6%.