Karura Forest #17: Tree-Planters Stone
The cache, a small screw-capped plastic pot, is hidden under a grey stone near a large concrete headstone-like slab which commemorates the 2007 tree planting by a local company 'to celebrating' (sic) 15 years of directory printing - they completed a 6th planting in 2013. This is located about 200m north-west of Junction 34 in the northern part of the forest (see trails map in the Gallery).
Tree planting is supported by local corporate, charity and educational institutions, environmental groups and religious organisations (eg. see here for photos) and is usually part of the World Environment Day activities on 5 June each year. The activity has also been supported on occasion by visiting
celebrities, like Miss World (see here and Jamaican music hall star Shaggy (see Gallery photos).
Of course the most famous tree planter of all is the celebrated Kenyan environmentalist, the late Professor Wangari Maathai, who devoted much of her life to planting trees and saving forests - including Karura. See GC54FHH Karura Forest #12: Wangari's Corner for 
more on her life and legacy.
Karura Trees
Exotic tree plantations cover some 630 ha of the total 1,000 hectare (2,500 acre) Karura Forest. They mainly consist of fast-growing trees used typically for fuelwood and building and telegraph poles. Species include imports from South America, Australia and the Asian sub-continent, such as Araucaria cunninghamii (Hoop Pine/Australia), Grevillea robusta (Silky Oak/Aust.), Eucalyptus saligna (Sydney Blue Gum/Aust.), E. globule (Southern Blue Gum/Aust.), Cupressus torulosa (Himalayan Cypress/S.Asia) and Cupressus lusitanica (White Cedar/Mexico & S.America).
Almost all the plantations in the forest have passed their economic rotation age. The Eucalyptus range from 38-83 years, Araucaria, 44-46 years, and Cupressus 34-46 years. Most of these plantations have already become to succumb to age-related drying. Part of the Friends of Karura Forest – Kenya Forest Service management plan includes a campaign to replace the degraded plantations with suitable indigenous species.
See here for an interesting recent presentation on participatory forest management including the major challenges to indigenous forests in Kenya and details of achievements so far, and plans for Karura Forest.
Indigenous trees cover approximately 260 ha (not including some 25 ha in the largely alienated 110 ha. salient east of Kiambu Road). Species include Olea europeae subsp. Auspidata (African Olive), Croton megalocarpus (local name: Mukinduri), Warburgia ugandensis (Uganda Greenheart, local name: Muthiga from which the nearby neighbourhood Muthaiga got its name), Brachyleana huillensis (Silver Oak, local name Muhugu - the iconic image on the FKF logo), Uvaridendron anisatum (no info available on this tree), Markhamia lutea (Nile Tulip or Trimpet, local name Muu), Vepris nobilis (Large-leaf Cherry Orange, local name: Munderendu), Juniperus procera (East African Juniper or Cedar, local name: Mutarakwa), Craebea brownii, Newtonia buchananii (E.Africa Newtonia – a huge specimen is located at the mouth of the Mau Mau Cave), Salvadora persica (Toothbrush tree, local name: Mswaki), Ficus thonningii (Common Wild Fig, local name: Mugumu), Trichilia emetic (Natal Mahogany, local name: Muwamaji), Calondendrum capense (Cape Chestnut, local name: Muroroa) and Dombeya goetzenii. Most of the trees have medicinal properties.
The riparian belts along the Gitathuru and Ruaka streams host groves of Arudinaria alpine (African Alpine Bamboo), Kenya’s native bamboo species. The exotic giant bamboo Dendrocalamus giganteus (China & SE Asia) is mainly found growing within the tree nursery along the Karura River.