Tag: Endangered species

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.

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?

 

KBA in Focus: Kakamega Forest

Posted on by Christine Mwende

By Joshua Sese 

Kakamega Forest Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) stands as Kenya’s only remnant of the ancient Guineo-Congolian rainforest that once covered much of Central Africa. Renowned for its exceptional biodiversity, the forest hosts numerous endemic and threatened species, including rare birds, butterflies, and primates such as the De Brazza’s monkey. Its rich ecosystem of towering trees, streams, and glades makes it a vital refuge for wildlife and an important site for research, conservation, and ecotourism.

Kakamega Forest faces numerous conservation challenges. Expanding agriculture, settlement, and illegal logging continue driving deforestation and habitat fragmentation, whilst overharvesting of firewood, timber, and medicinal plants places additional pressure on forest resources. The spread of invasive species, particularly guava and Lantana camara, has disrupted natural regeneration by outcompeting native plants and altering forest composition.

Poaching, encroachment, and weak enforcement of conservation laws compound these threats, as does climate change, which is shifting rainfall patterns and affecting the forest’s microclimate. Limited funding and community livelihood challenges also hinder effective management.

Several interventions are already underway to protect this unique rainforest. The Kenya Forest Service and Kenya Wildlife Service jointly manage the forest, focusing on protection, habitat restoration, and community engagement.

Community groups, including the Kakamega Forest Community Forest Association and the Kakamega Environmental Education Programme, work closely with government agencies to conserve the forest. These groups involve local residents in participatory forest management, promoting sustainable use of forest resources and alternative livelihoods such as beekeeping, ecotourism, and tree nurseries.

Reforestation and enrichment planting programmes are restoring degraded sections and controlling invasive species spread. Conservation organisations, including Nature Kenya, Friends of Kakamega Forest, and international partners, support biodiversity monitoring, environmental education, and awareness campaigns.

The area’s designation as a Key Biodiversity Area and Important Bird Area has helped attract research and conservation funding, enhancing long-term management planning and scientific understanding of this vital ecosystem. However, much more needs to be done to secure Kakamega’s future as the last stand of ancient rainforest in Kenya.

Kiang’ombe Hill: Where tiny creatures tell a big story

Posted on by John Mwacharo

By Howard Atubwa 

The first thing you notice about Kiang’ombe Hill is not what you see, it is what you hear. As dawn breaks over the Embu County horizon, a melody of croaks and chirps rises from the undergrowth. The Savanna ridged frog, that tireless mountaineer, calls from both the base and peak, its voice carrying through the mist like nature’s own clock. Nearby, something even more extraordinary is happening: an endangered Spawls’s pygmy forest gecko clings to a tree trunk, its presence here rewriting scientific understanding of its range. This forest is full of such surprises, if only we can protect it long enough to listen.

But the forest’s chorus is growing quieter each year. Where ancient Podocarpus trees once stood, blackened scars from wildfires now stretch across the landscape. The acrid smell of charcoal kilns hangs heavy in the air, mingling with the earthy scent of freshly turned soil where farms encroach deeper into the woodland. Speke’s hinge-back tortoises, those armoured survivors, find their pathways increasingly blocked by cattle trails and fallen trees. Even the water itself is changing. Streams that once ran clear now choke with silt from eroded slopes, threatening the Marsabit clawed frogs that depend on them.

The tragedy of Kiang’ombe isn’t just what we’re losing, but what we might never discover. That Mt. Kenya dwarf gecko you nearly missed on the tree bark could hold secrets about adaptation and survival. Those variable skinks darting through the leaf litter are invisible engineers of this ecosystem. And the red-headed rock agamas basking on sun-warmed stones aren’t just beautiful, they’re barometers of the forest’s health.

Yet hope persists in unexpected places. Local guides from the Community Forest Association still walk these trails, their knowledge spanning generations. Conservationists are documenting species before they vanish. And the forest itself continues its quiet resistance. Frogs still sing where puddles form, geckos emerge after rains, and seeds take root in the ashes of old fires.

The question hanging over Kiang’ombe is not whether it’s worth saving, but whether we will act in time. This is not just about protecting reptiles and amphibians, it is about safeguarding the water sources communities depend on, preserving a living laboratory of evolution, and honouring a place where wilderness still whispers its secrets. The frogs will keep calling as long as they can. The question is whether anyone will answer.