Thompson Falls Sport Camp and Hostel Conservation Efforts
Posted: Sunday, March 26, 2006
by havel
AFRICAN HOME ADVENTURE TOURS AND TRAVEL
LAKE OL BOLOSSAT – The Next Battle Field on Resources!
Ever heard of a Lake in Central Province , Kenya ? Most people would say NO!
Lake Ol bolossat is an internal drainage basin lying to the South of Nyandarua County Council at an altitude of 2.34m. It is the only lake in the Central Province of Kenya. The lake receives water from the Aberdares, the Satima escarpment, Dundori hills and rainfall The wetlands is supposed to have a buffer zone of 4300 hectares and water mass buffer zone of approx 480 hectares. Lack of conservation efforts and accelerated human encroachment has resulted into serious environmental degradation. The future of this lake is very bleak! Government agents have done very little to conserve this highly potential economic resource. A recent pedestrian passage constructed very close to Manguo Hippo point continue to stress the Hippos and Birds yet the same attracts lots of international and domestic tourists visiting Thomson Falls all year round. What a contradiction? Three divisions ie Ol Kalou, Ol Joro Orok and Ndaragua all within Nyandarua District share the lake. Government, Local Authorities and Politicians are convinced of its importance in theory but this has not translated into actions mean while destructions continue unabated!
b) The famous Thomson Falls and thriving tourist industry in Samburu , Shaba , and Buffalo Springs is made possible by the flow of Ewaso Nyiro River .
c) The lake and its environs have a high Ecotourism potential, being a breeding area for a number of bird species. It has been documented to have some 20000 birds belonging to 82 species in the past. The bird count of 1999 ranked this lake as second to Lake Naivasha in bird abundancy.Some of the birds found here include the great crested crebe,white pelican, great egret, saddle billed stork, yellow billed duck, the lesser flamingo,starlings,black smith plovers and Owls. Some snipes breed here before flying back to Europe . It is habitat to some over one hundred and fifty hippos, which occupy the open water, marshes and swamps around Manguo, Ndemi and Ziwani.
d) Research potential for students in various fields
e) High Altitude sports training – Being the only wetland situated in a high altitude climatic area, it has great potential for promoting athletics training, cycling expeditions around the lake and water sports.
f) The lake support agriculture and livestock upon which many families depend on.
and has potential for bee keeping and papyrus harvesting.
Threats and Issues to Lake Ol bolossat Wetlands Lack of Community conservation awareness and education, Lack of commitment by Government and other Conservation agencies, Lack of access roads to the lake, Lack of marketing as a tourist destination, Deforestation of the surrounding water catchment areas, Encroachment on the riparian area, Massive siltation and Pollution of water due to draining of fertilizers and other agro based chemicals
Some hope at last,
Thomson falls Sport Camp & Hostel in Nyahururu among others have been aggressively campaigning on awareness and advocacy on Lake Ol bolossat that has seen the involvement of Kenya Wetlands Forum, Kenya Wildlife Services,NEMA,Provincial Adminstration,Local authority, National Museum of Kenya,Nature Kenya Youth Committee, Ministry of Tourism and local communities. These resulted in bird count held in August 2005, Lake Olbolossat Conservation workshop, Sept 2005 and World Wetlands Day activities whose theme was SAVE OL BOLOSSAT FROM EXITINCTION in February 2006
What Next? Intensive tree planting, Mammal inventory, Plant Species inventory, Bird count regularization, Tourism marketing and Continuous community education on environmental conservation.
(By Joseph Mbugua – Passion driven Conservationist and the ESOKs Eco Warrior Award Winner 2005, Email thompsonfall20@yahoo.co.uk ) Mobile 254 722 635149
26 th March 2006
THOMPSON FALLS SPORTS CAMP AND HOSTEL - A service provider for Adventure,Sports and Conservation in Kenya
WEB http://www.sportsscamp-hostel.com/
email thompsonfalls20@yahoo.co.uk
Kenya Youth Hostels Association
WEBSITE: www.yhak.org
EMAIL ; info@yhak.org
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)The Article is good and raises hopes of conserving the forgotten lake. I first heard about the lake in May, 2007 and made a commitment to visit this little known place. I made my visit on 1st July 2007 but was surprised that such a place existed in Central Province, the Province which I come from. It is my hope that something will be done to conserve this Lake. Alice.
Kibe Mwangi, Am suprised about our greed for land. Visited the lake on 29th July evening. Its expansive, approached it from the flower farm at Olojororok. Kikuyus are busy grazing? its a shame to the Commissioner of Lands who allocated this beauty for total mismanagement. Men its exciting! Hon Mwiraria must do something?
ignatius Maigua, I have always thought of this lake as a resident and would want to be very much involved in its conservation could we start by possibly securing the water catchment areas sorrounding it by planting trees and enganging the sorrounding community to owning the project.
Muthoni Kamau: I went to school last two of my primary years near this lake and went to Nyandarua High school, so for about six years of my young life, I lived near this lake. I have been in the community many times after as a civic educator and human rights activist. Right now I am back in school, doing my Masters and PhD at Cornell University. I am passionate about this lake, and would want to do my research around it. Thank you for this article, it is really helpful. My philosophy about education is that people, all people including those of us who have never been to a modern school, have a lot to offer, for knowledge is not a preserve of schools and the academy, but it is what we all create in our daily interaction with nature and each other. I therefore like to believe that I can learn alot from the people in this watershed, even as I come from such a high learning institution and have something to share with them too. There are many scientific researches that need to be conducted, for instance, measuring and sizing up the aquifer, hydrology of the lake has been poorly done, the ecology of each and every species there need to be studied if good conservation strategies are to be developed, socio-econmic issues of the communities around the lake and downstream the tributary river to River Ewaso Nyiro, invasive species, etc. I could conduct my research around any of these issues since I am in the field and department of natural Resources. However, my passion is always to work with people, and therefore I am more a community oriented person, and would not feel satisfied coming there, doing a scientific research and writing my dessertation, without that information being available to the community members and local organizations. I call this extractive research, which is what has been done for years, especially by outsiders who treat local people as part of the object world. I therefore would like to conduct a Participatory Action Research, where the people are co-researchers, where we create new knowledge from what we observe through various activities, and we act on our findings, thereby creating even more knowledge. I know there is still a lot of indigenous knowledge held by some members of the communities and I would like to have this brought to the fore to guide action towards conservation of the lake and the biodiversity in this area. I also know that the young generation have also better exposure to new ways of getting information and external knowledge, which would be useful in augmenting indigenous knowledge for a bigger fuller picture. My research would not be participatory not empowering if women are not the center of the process, given that most of the adverse effects of the lake drying up affect them more. They still have the responsibility of fetching water, and in most instances also watering animals, and when push comes to shove in terms of home economics, women have also taken the responsibility of providing the food that in earlier days they were supposed only to prepare for the family, now they have to breadwin and bake the bread as well! So women have lots of knowledge given their involvement in nurturing communities and societies, and should be meaningfully engaged in such a process. Do you think we can work together? What ideas would you have for such a process? For instance right now I am working on fact sheet about watershed management: am arguing that if the community is assisted to harvest rainfall on a big enough scale, they will not need to water their animals at the lake, and hence will also not graze around the lake as well, they will have water in the homestead, saving the women the trouble of walking far and wide to fetch water and saving the children from watering animals in the lake, they will have water for kitchen gardening for fruits, vegetables, etc that improve the dietery and nutritional needs of families especially when people have only dry maize to feed on, the harvesting will reduce overland run off hence reducing the chmicals getting into the lake, and most of all, families will stop sinking bore holes for domestic water supply, hence letting the lake have more of the ground water. DO you think this is a viable and important project? How do you see it happening? Let me know. I also want to do GIS around the lake so that it can be on the virtual map as well. adn I want to research ont he effect of the bore holes ont he aquifer. The birds have been counted, but what about their ecology; breeding, eating, and migratory requirements--have these been well studied? Without full information about the birds, even those who are counting them are not helping conserve because the lake may be drying up in vital areas for the birds to breed, maybe these are the areas that others are putting up camping sites to attract tourists! So what conservation is that? Anyway, I have demonstrated my passion, and I hope to get enthusiastic people who we can work with, in my role as a student, so as to conserve this vital lake and the ecosystem it supports. I know I have written too much but...
Ignatius Maigua of Ndaragwa Leshau is an interested party in this lake conservation and would not mind a tour on the same for the purpose of familiarisation with interested people.
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