Lukusitsi River Project

Quarterly report July-September 2026

By Mark Nicholson

The project received wide publicity this year from Indigenous Tree Planting Day and World Environment Day when we had at least 200 visitors. April to August was unseasonally dry but the rain returned in September. Tree growth has been good nevertheless (at some stage it would be good to have a rain gauge). East Africa has been warned that El Nino rains due in October may be very heavy.

Site 1

Tree growth in the grass area in the middle of site one has been much slower than in other shady areas. This is probably due to poorer soil or absence of shade. Some species like Gambeya albida, a huge forest climax species when mature, hate it when seedlings are planted in full sun. Manilkara butigi likewise. We have now found seven species of tree not previously recorded in Kenya.

We’ve been concentrating on collecting climbers and lianas the plant along the fence to reduce incursions. Weeding and particularly removal of young guava has been continuous but it is an expensive operation.

We were losing many Prunus africana seedlings from duiker damage. George decided to protect the young seedlings with bags, a highly successful intervention.

Site 2.

The trees are fully planted on site 2 and are actually growing faster than on site 1. The herbaceous vegetation is different, which suggests slightly different soil. We have decided not to weed on site 2 other than around small trees to compare growth rate with trees on site one. The downside is that weeders are more fearful of snakes here than on Site 1 owing to the long grass. We have had several encounters with Rhinoceros Vipers which make their presence known by the loudest hiss of any snake in the world! Site 2. will be expanded and fenced this year to 2 or 3 ha.

Site 3.

Also fully planted with over 1000 trees and we are fencing there now to triple the area from 1 ha to 3 ha. towards the river. Huge numbers of guava have been removed and used as a barrier along the outside of the fence and in time these will be carried away by women once the wood is dried.

We have a good relationship with KFS staff who now bring their bosses and partners to see our project. Why? Because it is small and successful. All other projects have absurd area or tree planting targets and low survivability. We are on target for 1000 recorded species by the end of 2026, 600 of which will be woody plants. Main bottleneck remains lack of a proper tree nursery.