Karura Forest #28: Butterfly 'Lake'
The cache, a small tablet camo-pot, is hidden behind bark pieces at the back of a large stump near this wetland area in the middle of the less visited eastern part of the forest. Please take care when retrieving and replacing the cache to look out for muggles and ensure it is replaced correctly concealed using the materials available.
To access the cache, enter the forest at Gate B off Kiambu Road and then proceed some 500m up the dirt road to the parking area adjacent to the inner entrance gate and payment kiosk at Junction 13.
After paying the entrance fee, proceed via Junctions 13a, 14, 15, 16 to Junction 17 @ S 1 14.529 E 36 50.302. Here take the small signposted trail heading west a short distance to the more open wetland area and cache location.
For background information on Karura Forest including access, fees, opening times, features, a detailed trail map and useful links,see GC4PD3V Karura Forest #1: Intro, Info & Entry.
Over 4,000 species of butterfly occur in the Afro-tropical region (sub-Saharan Africa, Arabia and Madagascar). Some 559 species have been recorded in Kenya (of which 34 are endemic) - see here for a list, and over 100 of these been recorded in the nearby City Park - Karura Forest would be expected to have similar numbers and types.
The forest provides varied habitat for many beautiful species like:
African Queen (Danaus chrysippus), also known as the African Monarch or Plain Tiger, is a very common medium-sized, butterfly (wingspan 70-80mm) widespread in Asia and Africa. It belongs to the Danainae ('Milkweed butterflies') sub=family of the brush-footed butterfly family, Nymphalidae. Its coloration is mimicked by multiple species. It is believed to be one of the first butterflies to be used in art - a 3,500-year-old Egyptian fresco in Luxor features the oldest illustration of this species.
Desmond’s Green Banded Swallowtail (Papilio desmondi or teita) is found in Africa and belongs to the the Papilionidae family with some 550 species. See here for the interesting sub-species colour & pattern variations and here pp 22-24 for detailed information on the species and more photos.
Common Leopard (Phalanta phalantha) is a medium-sized sun-loving butterfly (wingspan 50-55mm) of the Nymphalidae or Brush-footed Butterfly family (with about 6,000 species!) found in Sub-saharan Africa and Southern Asia and seen in plains, gardens and edges of clearings.
Common Dotted Border (Mylothris agathina agathina) is a medium-sized forest butterfly (wingspan 50-65mm) of the Pieridae family 
(with some 76 genera and 1,100 species) found in north-eastern, eastern, central & southern Africa. See here for more information and here for photos. Their slow and deliberate flights and conspicuous appearance indicates that they are distasteful to avian predators and the toxins within their bodies most likely derive from larval foodplants.
Narrow Green Banded Swallowtail (Papilio nireus lyaeus) This medium-large butterfly (wingspan 75–95mm) is found throughout most of eastern, central & southern Africa. See the opus magnum here pp 10-18 for (very!) detailed information on this species and its numerous sub-species and here for some fine photos.
See 'Some butterflies of Kenya' for a short video and here for info on and photos of Kenya butterflies (part of an impressive comprehensive blog/web-site on Kenya natural history). See here for details and great photos of Butterflies of Africa . . . and much more.
See East African butterfly families for an interesting and well presented blog with more quality photos, here for a great poster of the Common Butterflies of Nairobi National Park and here for a similar poster for City Park - most (if not all?) of the species illustrated may be found in Karura Forest.