Porini - The Karima Forest, Kenya | African Biodiversity Network

Porini - The Karima Forest, Kenya

The Karima Forest in Nyeri, central Kenya, where ABN partner Porini are working with a group of elders to regain their governance of this sacred forest.

The Karima Forest is set on a hill in the heart of Nyeri district.	During the colonial period, settlers uprooted the indigenous trees and re-planted with eucalyptus and other foreign species.	The eucalyptus trees have taken all of the water from tributaries which used to run off the Karima forest. Now the land is dry.
In the heart of Karima forest the indigenous trees were left untouched.	Here the climate is lush, the plants buoyant.	Working with Porini, the elders here have been uprooting the eucalyptus and re-planting indigenous tree varieties.
This tree is in the heart of the Karima forest, it is the oldest tree here and is viewed by the elders as sacred.	Rituals have been traditionally held around this tree by the community for centuries.	The outskirts of the forest have been lost to tea plantations