The construction of the 30 kilometres stretch of a solar-powered Maasai Mau fence is complete.
Kenya Water Towers Agency has been building the stretch from the Kebeneti area to the Triangle area to protect the water catchment land from human encroachment and destruction.
Agency’s acting director general Julius Tanui said it is going to be energised, solar power and main energisers will be used in the fence.
Top Choice Surveillance Limited has been fending off a section of the water tower from Sierra Leone through Chebitet to Masaita area, at Sh80 million.
Tanui handed over the fencing site to the contractor at Maasai Mau on January 8 last year.
The agency had planned to put up an electric fence around the entire water tower covering 119km.
The intermediate fence will prevent future encroachments into the water tower, allow natural regeneration, mitigate human-wildlife conflict and reduce illegal extraction of natural resources.
The degraded areas of the forest are those from which illegal settlers were evicted.
Farming, cattle keeping, illegal logging and charcoal burning damaged the water tower.
Authorities said the forest is a critically important biodiversity conservation area.
It is home to diverse flora and fauna species including 393 plants, 132 birds, 49 mammals, 10 reptiles and amphibians and 368 spiders, among others.
It has indigenous tree species that had been threatened by illegal logging and charcoal burning.
Maasai Mau was the most encroached water tower of the 22 blocks of the Mau Forest Complex Water Tower due to human pressure and destruction.
The forest covers 114,355 acres.
In 2018, the government kicked out the illegal encroachers.
Under the first phase of the reclamation exercise, 11,119 acres of forest land was recovered from areas that included Kass FM and Kosia in Maasai Mau.
In 2019, under Phase II reclamation, the government recovered 42,267 acres comprising Kamwengoi, Siera Leone and Kipchoge areas.
Therefore, the total area under rehabilitation is approximately 53,000 acres.
In 2019, seeds of 13 species that had been selected for aerial seeding were planted in the tower.
These included cape chestnut, Moringa, Mukinduri and forest Dombeya.
Others were African redwood, pencil cedar, mama Mutere, Nile tulip, black ironwood, Podo, parasol tree, Meru oak and African satinwood.
Some 1,981kg from the 13 tree species was broadcasted in Maasai Mau.
This is estimated to have included approximately 60 million individual seeds, which will yield an estimated 30 million seedlings at a conservative germination rate of 50 per cent.
The effective stocking rate, discounting for damages, losses and predation by birds and rodents, is calculated to be 7,500 seedlings per hectare.
The high-starting stocking density takes care of various conditions.
The Kenya Forest Research Institute in 2019 piloted aerial seeding in Maasai Mau.
Kefri has already recommended the method saying it is cost-effective and fast.
In its technical report, Kefri said 8,895 acres of degraded forest land was aerially broadcast with suitable indigenous trees species.
Traditionally, forest restoration in Kenya has mainly employed the conventional method of raising tree seedlings and transplanting them in the field, a method that is fit for restoring small areas.
“Using the conventional method to restore vast degraded landscapes such as those committed by the government is not likely to deliver the desired results within the set timelines,” the 43-page report said.
The report said most of the degraded were located in areas with inaccessible and difficult terrain and their restoration using the conventional method would imply huge cost and may take years.
It said aerial seeding is appropriate for reforesting large areas that are disturbed and inaccessible due to difficult terrain.
Aerial seeding is a technique for direct broadcasting of seeds by use of aerial means such as drones, planes or helicopters and therefore can be done quickly at a relatively low cost.
The technology is relatively new in Kenya and localised protocols of its application are lacking.
The aerial seeding in Maasai Mau was pioneering in terms of its scale and the process of panning towards its implementation.
The piloting was instrumental in generating the much needed in-country lessons and insights, providing research data and learning opportunities.
The piloting enabled Kefri to develop aerial seeding protocols to guide its application in the country.
The study was preceded by an evaluation that compared the costs of rehabilitation using five different technologies.
They were manual seeding planting, aerial seeding using Winged aircraft (procured services), aerial seeding using Helicopter (procured services), aerial seeding using UAVs (procured drone) and aerial seeding using Winged aircraft owned by the government.
“The evaluation established that application of aerial seeding technology would cost Sh3,043 per hectare, significantly lower than the cost associated with the conventional method (manual planting of seeds) estimated at Sh102,780 per hectare,” the report said.
“The country would therefore make a significant saving by using aerial seeding to address the restoration targets of 5.1 million hectares.”
Already, nine tree species planted in Maasai Mau through aerial seeding have germinated.
They are among 13 species planted in 2019 after illegal settlers were expelled from the forest.
A study by the Kefri showed good germination by East African yellowwood, broad-leafed croton for timber and medicinal use, cape chestnut with abundant flowers.
Sudan teak, large-leafed Cordia, forest dombeya, Meru oak, black ironwood and African cherry also germinated.
Kefri is following up with seeds yet to germinate and is currently drafting another report.
The area to be saved in Maasai Mau is home to elephants, leopards and giant forest hogs.
Some of the areas in the water tower were completely degraded and could not be restored by natural regeneration, hence, the need for fencing.
The water tower is very critical as it supports so many rivers.
The Mara-Serengeti transboundary ecosystem relies on the Mara River whose origin is the Mau Forest Complex, with the largest tributary, being the Amalo River that originates from Maasai Mau Water Tower.
The ecosystem supports wildebeest migration, a renowned tourist attraction phenomenon classified under Unesco as a world heritage site and the eighth wonder of the world.
The entire Mau Complex Water Tower is a major catchment for 12 major rivers.
They are Sondu, Mara, Nyando, Yala, Ewaso-Ng’iro, Molo, Njoro, Nderit, Makalia, Naishi, Mumberes and Nzoia.
The rivers feed three lakes, Turkana, Baringo and Nakuru and two transboundary lakes- Natron and Victoria.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris