Mountain Dispatches – News from Mount Kenya Trust

Making a splash at the Mini 10to4 supported this year by Kisima Farm.
Photo by Tim Collins

Weeks prior to the Tropic Air 10to4 weekend our teams our partners and hosts are tweaking, mapping and marking routes, security teams and water stop managers are briefed and the Borana Race Village and registration venues are set up before we even begin to welcome all the participants. We hosted record numbers of participants and the many exhilarating events of the weekend ran smoothly.

Following feedback from last year’s event, we introduced a new two-day race – the WILD – and were delighted that it was well-received. The new Mini routes boasts an absolutely spectacular route around the Ngare Ndare River from Race Village. This route weaves it way along the river bank past fig trees and palms that are monumental testaments to the Borana conservation area. Thanks to the Riding Wild Team on Borana Conservancy, we were also able to run the Rose Dyer Adventure Ride in honour of Rose and her love for horses and her help with the 10to4 since its inception.

It’s always a proud moment for us when people say what a great time they’ve had, and we’re eternally grateful to everyone who helped manage the many cogs in the whole process to turn; not just the people see at the race village if you are a participant.

The funds raised by the 10to4 help us cover costs that we may not have covered by our generous grant donors. Typically we need the funds to help us with our operational costs for dedicated patrol teams, education projects, our Naro Moru fence team, the community healthcare projects and firefighting.

Congratulations to all the riders and the winners. Richard Harney is the 2023 winner of the Paul Sherwen Memorial Trophy for raising the most sponsorship, little champs Ru and Affie Langan Farmer won the Jasper Hoorwood Memorial Trophy for raising the most sponsorship in the children’s category, and Mount Kenya Trust’s Enock Ochieng won the Spirit of the Event trophy for going above and beyond in his role managing security teams, route reconnaissance and mapping.

Thank you all for being there as a host, a sponsor, a volunteer, a ranger or a participant. We’re truly grateful!

Top: Petal power! Riding through the Tambuzi Water Stop is always magical!
Above left: Children cheer on the participants along the routes
Above right: The Rose Dyer Adventure Ride is a spectacular wilderness experience on Borana Conservancy

FOREST RESTORATION

This season, we have targeted planting in 35 ha of Lower Imenti Forest, 7 ha of Upper Imenti and 14 ha of Timau Forest.

To ensure that we have enough tree seedlings to meet the target, the Trust has been working very closely with the community tree nurseries. This has ranged from establishing a tree nursery in Lusoi Hill to embarking on seed collection and assisting the Ontulili Primate Protection tree nursery group on group development, The Trust also purchased an 8,000-litre water tank for the lower tree nursery to help with water storage during the dry season.

For riparian restoration, we have supported the respective Water Resource Users Associations (WRUAs) of the Timau and Sirimon rivers with 2,000 and 1,000 assorted indigenous tree seedlings respectively.

Top: Inspection of a forest restoration site in the Imenti Forest Reserve
Bottom: Seedlings at our Turaco Tree nursery

Top image: SMART patrol map from MKT team patrols and fence management between January and March 2023
Above right: The Imenti Patrol team were called regularly to help with elephants moving onto farms during the first part of the year.
Above left: Rescue of a live Suni from a snare

Children from 10 schools began our second phase of MKT’s Junior Ranger Project this year. It’s been an inspiring journey, so much so that we wish we could take more children and more schools through the fun and interactive learning sessions and have more time with each child.

The education team took part in school debates organised by Borana Conservancy to talk about forest clearing to inspire children to talk about the pros and cons of different land use practices. They also designed and and held an educational session for the Teleswani Water Users Association members to enhance knowledge and conservation issues around riparian land and the advantages of riverine conservation.

Top: Recycling and art! A fun day of crafting with discarded plastic
Left: Paxton works with children who are planting woodlots in schools  Right: Edwin guides pupils through some of the interactive JRP learning modules.

Left: Ketty addresses a high-level Meru County forum to report on some of the findings from the Trust’s ASRHR project in schools.
Right: Mentoring youngsters about issues in a safe setting with trained teachers and student peers about the facts of life as an adolescent.