Nature Blog

KBA in Focus – Kinangop Grasslands

Posted on by Christine Mwende

Joshua Sese

Stretching across the windswept Kinangop Plateau in Kenya’s central highlands on the edge of the Great Rift Valley, the Kinangop Grasslands Key Biodiversity Area is a rare and irreplaceable ecosystem where open montane grasslands coexist with vibrant rural livelihoods. This site is neither a national park nor a gazetted reserve, but a mosaic of natural high-altitude grasslands largely under private ownership, making its conservation both special and challenging.

The area is globally significant for its exceptional biodiversity, most notably as the stronghold of the Kenya-endemic and endangered Sharpe’s Longclaw, which relies on intact grass tussocks for feeding, roosting and nesting. The site also supports the endangered Aberdare Cisticola, the magnificent Long-tailed Widowbird, over 200 recorded bird species and important amphibians such as the Kinangop River Frog and Mountain Reed Frog. The rolling plains and seasonal wetlands also contribute to local water systems, supporting downstream communities.

Despite its importance, the grassland faces mounting pressure. Conversion to crop farming, land subdivision and fencing, settlement expansion and infrastructure development have led to widespread habitat loss and fragmentation. Rapid human population growth has further intensified demand for land, accelerating the decline of suitable habitat for specialist species like Sharpe’s Longclaw.

To secure the future of Kinangop Grasslands, conservation organisations, researchers, local landowners and government agencies are working collaboratively to integrate biodiversity safeguards into land-use planning. Leading this effort is the Friends of Kinangop Plateau, Nature Kenya’s Site Support Group founded in 1997. The group has been instrumental in habitat conservation and restoration, biodiversity research and monitoring, environmental education and community empowerment.

Nature Kenya acquired four Nature Reserves to safeguard some of the grasslands in perpetuity. In the reserves, a controlled grazing system using sheep maintains grassland structure suitable for Sharpe’s Longclaw. Wool from the sheep is purchased by the Njabini Wool Crafters Cooperative Society, generating income for local communities whilst preserving habitat. One reserve also hosts a resource centre that serves as a hub for environmental education and conservation outreach, reinforcing the message that people and grassland biodiversity can thrive together.

 

HALF OF KENYA’S KBAs ARE UNPROTECTED, I BELIEVE.

Bird Ringing Takes Flight at Lake Elmenteita

Posted on by Christine Mwende

By Aloise Garvey

Lake Elmenteita Serena Camp launched an exciting new bird ringing project in December 2024, marking a significant step in sustainable tourism and avian conservation in Kenya’s Rift Valley. The three-week pilot programme, conducted with Kenya Wildlife Service, National Museums of Kenya and Nature Kenya, successfully ringed 129 birds despite challenging conditions.

Lake Elmenteita lies along a critical flyway for migratory birds travelling between Europe and Africa. The camp has committed to annual ringing sessions to track these remarkable journeys and contribute valuable data to international conservation efforts.

This inaugural season presented unique challenges as the lake reached its highest water levels in years, rendering much of the shoreline inaccessible. Nevertheless, the team captured an impressive diversity of species, with Marsh Sandpipers and Ruffs dominating the catches.

Among the highlights were several notable birds: the elusive Greater Painted Snipe, a rare Corn Crake, a Lesser Flamingo, Donaldson-Smith’s Nightjar, River Warbler and Common Nightingale. The nets also captured Kittlitz’s Plovers, various sandpiper species, Willow Warblers, Barn Swallows, Spotted Thick-knees and Isabelline Wheatears, testament to the lake’s rich bird diversity. All birds were released safely after measuring and ringing.

Building on this successful pilot, the project will run annually each November for two weeks. Lake Elmenteita Serena Camp invites bird ringers and enthusiasts to join future sessions.

For more information or to participate, contact Aloise Garvey at aloisegarvey@gmail.com, Naturalist at Lake Elmenteita Serena Camp.

The Untold Stories of Kenya’s Forgotten Reptiles

Posted on by Christine Mwende

By Thomas Odeyo

Imagine this: the only home you’ve ever known is fast disappearing. You have no time to adapt, no chance to move, and no one even knows your natural history. You are fading into the unknown, leaving scientists with questions that will never be answered. This is the silent crisis facing many African reptiles, including those in Kenya’s Shimba Hills.

The Shimba Hills ecosystem is celebrated as part of East Africa’s coastal forest, a renowned global biodiversity hotspot. Most people know the area for its sable antelopes and the Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary. Yet another treasure lies beneath the mixed forest canopy and across the open grasslands: a reptile community that makes this Kenya’s richest reptile habitat.

From the secretive Usambara soft-horned chameleon to the nimble Pygmy Limbless Skink and the seldom-seen Banded Shovel-snout Snake, Shimba Hills tells stories still unfolding. Here, reptiles wait in quiet resilience for their evolutionary tales to be documented whilst facing the vulnerability of our changing world.

Uncovering Hidden Threats

Recent research sought to identify which reptiles are most at risk and why. Scientists analysed reptile records across Shimba Hills, mapping their distribution against climate, habitat, and protection status. The findings revealed that habitat specialists with narrow ecological niches face the greatest vulnerability.

Species such as the Usambara soft-horned chameleon, Black Garter Snake, Green Keel-bellied Lizard, and Kenyan Coastal Half-Toed Gecko have highly specific habitat requirements. As species native to the coastal forests of Kenya and Tanzania, they exist within narrow thermal and habitat ranges. However, even these insights remain limited by significant data gaps. For many Shimba Hills reptiles, basic knowledge of population trends, behaviour, and microhabitat use is still missing.

A Double-Edged Crisis

These results reveal a troubling imbalance. Reptiles face threats from both habitat destruction and climate change. We continue converting the forest fragments and microhabitats upon which reptiles depend, whilst climate change shifts temperature and rainfall patterns.

A single conservation strategy cannot tackle this mounting vulnerability.

For example, protecting areas within reserve boundaries helps, but many threats operate beyond these borders. Similarly, general biodiversity conservation interventions prove insufficient without targeted strategies that account for habitat specialists and climate-sensitive species.

Filling the Knowledge Gap

This crisis demands complementary conservation approaches. Efforts cannot stop at reserve boundaries, and whilst protected areas remain crucial, they can only safeguard species within their borders. Most importantly, we must fill the knowledge gaps before species vanish and their stories remain forever untold.

The reptiles of Shimba Hills represent more than scientific curiosities. They are indicators of ecosystem health, controllers of insect populations, and survivors of millions of years of evolution. Their silent scales hold secrets we’re only beginning to understand.

By studying these remarkable creatures now, we ensure that future generations will witness the same diversity that makes Shimba Hills special. The question remains: will we act quickly enough to preserve these evolutionary tales before they fade into silence?

 

A Battle Between Greed and Survival

Posted on by Christine Mwende

By Ayiro Lwala

Yala Swamp is no ordinary wetland. As Kenya’s largest freshwater swamp, it provides fish, papyrus, grazing land, fertile soils, clean water and protection against floods. For generations, it has sustained my people and nature. Yet today, this treasure is being carved up at an alarming rate, and its future hangs in the balance.

This natural gem has drawn the attention of investors eager to convert vast portions into large-scale farms. They see profit in rice, sugarcane and other commercial crops. With deep pockets and political influence, they scramble for leases and concessions, each determined to secure a bigger slice of the wetland. What plays out is cut-throat competition, a race to exploit land and resources with little regard for the delicate ecological systems that make Yala invaluable.

Expanding agribusiness clears papyrus, drains wetlands and displaces local communities from places where they earn livelihoods. Fish breeding grounds are destroyed, bird habitats vanish, pollution soars, and natural flood regulation weakens. In the pursuit of billions, the priceless environmental services of Yala Swamp are being decimated.

The irony is painful. During a community meeting on sustainable use of the swamp, 73-year-old Mama Alice Achando gave a moving account of how past large-scale land allocations devastated her village. She recalled how what was once a dry-season lifeline for food production was handed over to private investors, cutting off local families from fertile lands they had depended on for generations.

Traditional food security systems collapsed, leaving households in poverty. Vital lakes like Kanyaboli and Nyamboyo dried up after water inflows were blocked, killing fish stocks and stripping communities of both food and income. Livestock that wandered into the investors’ fields were confiscated, whilst some villagers faced arrest for simply passing through land that had once been communal.

Mama Alice described how her once-thriving Mugane village, rich with fish and sweet potatoes, descended into hardship. Her story was so raw and powerful that it moved many in the gathering to tears.

Investors chase short-term profit, yet the true wealth of Yala lies in its ability to provide food security, water purification, climate resilience and biodiversity. Destroying these services for quick cash is stealing from our future.

We cannot afford silence. Communities, conservationists and citizens should demand accountability from leaders who sign away public resources for private gain. The choice is stark: will Yala Swamp be sacrificed to commercial greed, or will it be safeguarded as the living system that supports millions of lives?

 

Winged Scientists: What Dragonflies Reveal About Our Water

Posted on by Christine Mwende

By Makena Murithi

Forget complex chemical tests. The most telling sign of a healthy freshwater ecosystem might be the iridescent flash of a dragonfly’s wing. There’s a familiar magic to a summer’s day by a pond, punctuated by the insect’s darting flight. Like a living jewel, a dragonfly hovers with prehistoric grace. But what if this beautiful acrobat is actually a tiny, winged scientist on a continuous monitoring mission? This is the power of a bioindicator: a species whose presence, absence, or abundance tells a story about the health of its habitat.

Dragonflies are among nature’s most eloquent messengers for freshwater health because they spend most of their lives not in the air, but as underwater nymphs. Breathing through gills, they are intimately connected to their aquatic environment, absorbing its conditions directly. This long juvenile stage, which can last for years, makes them highly vulnerable to changes. They are sensitive organisms, threatened by pollutants, silt that clogs their gills, and low oxygen levels. 

Different species have different tolerances, creating a natural indicator scale: a diverse population signals a clean, well-oxygenated habitat, whilst only a few pollution-tolerant species suggest a system under stress. Their complete absence is a major red flag.

This natural surveillance benefits us directly, as both nymphs and adults are voracious predators of mosquitoes and other pests.

Telling Aquatic Stories

Whilst the science is global, its application is powerfully local. Kenya is a hotspot for Odonata diversity, home to a stunning array of dragonflies and damselflies. The National Museums of Kenya Invertebrate Zoology collection acts as a vital ‘library of life,’ preserving specimens essential for identification and research.

By learning to recognise a few key species, we can read the stories written on the water. The presence of the striking Blue Basker (Urothemis edwardsii), a sentinel of health, indicates permanent, clean water. In contrast, the dominance of the beautiful but tolerant Broad Scarlet (Crocothemis erythraea) can signal a disturbed habitat. The majestic Blue Emperor (Anax imperator), a top predator, only patrols waters with a robust food web.

Join the Mission

You don’t need a lab coat to participate. Dragonflies are ideal for citizen science: they are active by day, conspicuous, and with apps like iNaturalist, it’s easier than ever to identify them. By simply visiting a local water source, observing the diversity of species, and logging your findings, you contribute valuable data to real scientific projects. Your observations become part of a crowd-sourced tool used by institutions like the National Museums of Kenya to track the health of our precious freshwater ecosystems.

Ultimately, protecting dragonflies means protecting the water we all depend on. So, the next time you see one skimming the surface, see it as more than a jewel. See it as a guardian and a scientist. Its silent flight is a living report card on the health of our most vital resource.

Visit the National Museums of Kenya to explore our incredible collections and learn more, or join a local wetland clean-up event to help ensure these winged scientists have a healthy home for generations to come.