2 June 2023 - A Rocha Kenya

5th edition; The Sokoke Forest MTB Challenge

Eyes on the prize

7Am sharp on Sunday morning (21st of May) found 74 of Kenya’s top riders at the starting line, ready for race. Every single one of them, young and old, earnestly looking at the Ksh. 50,000 cash prize money that lay waiting at the end of the 74KMs for the winner. Who was man/woman enough to ride on the tarmac, get through the winding paths of Watamu, climb the hilly countryside of Mijomboni, descend and ascend the valleys of Jilore, beat the sandy paths right in the heart of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and finally come cruising through the beautiful mangroves all the way to the finishing line?
And not to mention the heat that is so typical to the Kenyan coast! With our youngest rider at 15 years old and oldest at 55, we all waited eagerly to see who would emerge as the alpha of the team.

The fast and furious

The fast and furious 8, as we later came to call them, comprised of young energetic men who had eyes on nothing but the prize. I wish you could see them move; they never slowed down! Whether it was up the hills or down the valleys, whether the sand was too much or they bodies were covered in sweat, they still moved!

These first 8 broke away from the rest of the team as soon as we were done with the neutral zone (the tarmac). The number did drop slightly drop from 8 to 6, who served us to a wonderful sprint finish, crossing the line within seconds of each other. Here is how close it was, 02:39:19, 02:39:20, 02:39:21, 02:39:22, 02:39:23 and 02:39:24. Man that was a close one! They all had an average speed of 26.36kmph

Ladies in the house

Even though the race has grown over the years, that isn’t reflected in the number of ladies who attend. We did have our first truly international woman attending in the race (from South Africa) but that only raised the number of ladies participating in the race to 7. Even the alluring 110k cash prizes didn’t do much in increasing the numbers. But Dadarides did their thing as usual, with Sally, who was third in the previous year emerged as number one for the ladies (27 general) at 03:16:36.

About the family fun ride

As usual, we had a Family fun ride on Saturday, a day before the main event. The Family fun ride brings families together, provide an opportunity for parents to bond with their kids as they enjoy a ride together. In addition, it gives us a platform to create awareness about conservation to the young people. All 16 kids who took part in the race all received certificates at the end their 16km ride.

Thank you for making it happen

All in all, the race was wonderful. A big thank you to our partners who made all this possible. Our gold partners, Lordship Africa, who have been on our side from the very first year until now. We celebrate you! Kericho gold, our silver partners, thank you for sponsoring the t-shirts and water bottles printing. You guys are legends.

A big thank you to Turtle Bay Beach Club and more especially to Shafiq…your inputs planning, and dedication was one of the key pillars that saw this race through. And to all our other partners Ocean Sports, Coca-Cola, Tropical Heat and other partners, we say thank you. Thank you to our wonderful marshals who stood for hours on the road just to make sure that our riders don’t get lost along the way. And last and not least, thank you to our amazing riders who made this MTB Challenge, a Challenge.

Beware! Bees in Dakatcha

Conservation has never been sweater

Did you know you can bountifully reap from your efforts to conserve the environment? Climate change is no longer a theory in our books, it is a reality whose ramifications have shelved hunger in our homes. Its effects have forced us to chop down our forests and threatened endemic species of flora and fauna. But in the face of all of this we have managed to structure resilient systems that are geared towards sustainable use of Dakatcha woodland, which has been hit particularly hard.

One step at a time, we will make it

Concerted efforts from A Rocha Kenya, African Bee Keepers Ltd(ABL) and the community in Dakatcha has birthed bee keeping in this threatened habitat. With the trainings offered by ABL and the awareness on environmental conservation by A Rocha, the drumbeats are changing and the practical involvement of the community members has been lucid. The community has started appreciating the importance of pollinators especially bees. In addition, many have started taking personal initiatives towards conservation. Take for example these ten women from Danisa(village in Dakatcha) who took a personal initiative to plant thirty indigenous trees in their homes!

We can hear the buzzing

In this pilot phase, we have selected fifteen farmers across Dakatcha, given each of them four hives and placed another twenty hives in the A Rocha Kenya Dakatcha Nature Reserve. Forty-two of these have already been colonized despite setting traps when swarming had already occurred. We thank God for this. This buzzing is restoring hope in farmers, they are now starting to see the value of trees beyond charcoal burning.

The why behind the Sokoke Forest MTB Challenge

An ecosystem worth riding for

”Beyond the white sands and coral reefs of the Malindi-Watamu coastline, lies Arabuko-Sokoke Forest (ASF) and Mida Creek. ASF is the largest remnant of a dry coastal forest which originally stretched from Somalia down to Mozambique. It, therefore, contains an unusually high number of rare and endemic species. Mida Creek harbors important mangrove forests with a high diversity of species. It is of international importance for some of the waterbird species it supports. In addition, it is a key spawning ground for several fish species and a feeding ground for young turtles. This makes it one of the most important regions for conservation in mainland Africa. Mida together with Arabuko-Sokoke Forest have therefore been designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.”

Why we need to intervene, urgently

At the Kenyan coast, the effects of climate change have been evident. The hot climate and the unreliable rains have seen to the shrinking of options available for affording day to day needs. What is available to the community is fishing in the Creek or depending on the ASF resources. But since the creek is some distance away, it is the forest that serves as the primary (and almost only) source of livelihood to most of the community! The ever-rising cost of living has made people rely HEAVILY on the ever-reducing forest resources. This has resulted in logging, illegal hunting, destructive cutting down of trees and excessive charcoal burning. Is there hope to this forest and her endangered species?

Double-edged conservation scheme

Yes, the forest needs to be conserved, but also the community needs to survive. The main challenge was finding a balance between this two; partnering with the community towards the conservation of ASF but also making sure they are not in a situation where they have no option but to over-utilize the forest resources.
That is how ASSETS (Arabuko-Sokoke Schools and Eco-Tourism Scheme) was born. Its main objective being to reduce the pressure exerted on the forest by the neighboring community.

To achieve this, we put a few steps in place. The first thing was to try and relieve the families of major demands/needs, especially payment of school fees. ASSETS provides eco-bursaries for children from families that are within 5kms of ASF. Provision of eco-bursaries forms the backbone of the ASSETS programme.
The second thing was to educate the community about the sustainable ways of enjoying the forest resources, ways that don’t doom the forest in the long run. At the end of the day we preach conservation, not protection. These includes eco-tourism, butterfly farming, Bee farming etc.
The third thing was teaching the community about alternative sources of livelihood like kitchen gardening, energy saving jikos, tree planting, solar lamps etc.

We have the course, now we ride

The wonderful news is that over the course of 20 years, we have seen this concept work. People have been transformed and parts of the forest conserved, especially in areas where we engage the communities. We have seen changes in attitude and witnessed the zeal for conservation grow.

The main challenge, however, has been getting enough money in the ASSETS account. That is where the Sokoke Forest MTB Challenge comes in. Among other ways like the Mida Boardwalk and donations from partners, well-wishers and friends, the Sokoke Forest MTB Challenge is one of the solid ways through which we raise money for ASSETS.

As our tag line says (Racing for conservation), we race for conservation of ASF and the Mida-Creek. All the proceeds (donations towards the race, contributions from the riders and registration fees) from the race go into the ASSETS programme. This money is used to pay school fees for kids living around ASF and all other conservation efforts under ASSETS.

Team tree planting in the slippery Dakatcha

Why Dakatcha Woodland

Nothing resonates more with a conservation organization than choosing to spent a team building day planting trees.
Since 2014, A Rocha Kenya has been in the process of buying land in the Dakatcha Woodland in order to create a reserve (the A Rocha Kenya Dakatcha Nature Reserve). Dakatcha Woodland is an important ecosystem that is home to the Sokoke Scops Owl (an endangered species as per the IUCN list), the Golden-rumped Elephant Shrew (an endemic species that is only found here and in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest) and a breeding ground to the Clarkes Weaver (also an endangered species). However, the woodland is being cleared out at an alarming rate for charcoal burning and sisal farming. That is why we started purchasing land, not for farming or charcoal burning, but for conservation. Read more about this from our concept note here.

After buying, what next?

From 2014 to date, we have managed to purchase over 6500 acres of the targeted c.12000 acres (Thanks to our devoted partners in this, especially Rain Forest Trust, World Land Trust and IUCN Netherlands). Destruction in the bought pieces has significantly reduced and the woodland is booming again. However, buying land and having it under A Rocha Kenya’s ownership is just the first step, restoring the already damaged areas is the next step.
One of the keyways of achieving this, is tree planting! Planting as many indigenous trees as possible, in the areas where they have been cut down.

Forget the slippery grounds, let’s go plant trees

For the staff team building activity this year, we decided to travel to Dakatcha and be part of this noble task- plant trees! The rains are back, the soil is ready, and the seedlings are in place, just what could stop us! Our journey started early, 6:30 in the morning. With about 100kms to cover and a prayer in our hearts that it won’t rain before we got out of the woodland. Trust me, rain will always be good news in Dakatcha, but if it rains and for some reasons you are still in the forest, with an automatic Matatu that isn’t four-wheel, that good news changes to terrible news very quickly. You see, the Dakatcha soil is slippery, and I mean slippery…it takes patience and a miracle for even the four-wheel off-road land cruisers to pass through.

Finally!

After enduring the long winding roads and 2 stop-overs by the traffic police (for the usual road inspections), we finally made it to Dakatcha, at about 10am. We dropped the utensils and left Francis roasting goat meat for later as we proceeded to the planting sites. And just when the engines came to a stop, at the heart of the woodland, it started down-pouring- heavily! According to KK, our tree nursery staff, there is no better feeling than planting trees in the rain. That is why we all alighted, stepped right into the rain and started the planting. I guess those who did the actual planting had more fun, but for the rest of us with jembes digging the holes, it was a whole lot less fun- but fulfilling nevertheless.

Five hours later

A team of 14, and 900 seedlings to plant, no wonder we finished at 3:30pm. My hands were hurting, and I had lost my shoes. Everyone was tired and, you remember the rain right? Well, it didn’t rain for that long to be fair, but 30 minutes is more than enough to cause the damage we so hoped we could escape. We had a passenger’s vehicle that was built for tarmac roads deep inside the forest, on a road that had just been cleared a few days ago and was slippery! Just what could go wrong?

Turns out, everything could go wrong

Well, we just had to enter the vehicle and barely start our journey before getting an answer to that question. Everything could go wrong, and everything did go wrong. With the driver’s foot on the acceleration pedal, the tires would rotate but the vehicle stayed stagnant! To make things even more juicy, we couldn’t reverse to gain momentum. The vehicle couldn’t go forward or backward, it appeared it was happy to stay where it was, much to our dismay!

After 45-60 minutes of intensive shouting, pushing, digging and the occasional pulling, we were ready to give up. The only thing that remained constant was the drizzling rain. Our faces dropped as our hearts sunk, were we ever getting out of here? Or camp by force? Not to mention that the well roasted tender goat meat was just waiting a few kms away. Goat! That is right, we can call for reinforcements from the team at the goat roasting. And so we did! They showed up, with the strength we so much needed. Their fresh and motivated faces, their psyched voices and the endless ‘we are going home’ assurances lifted us up from beneath the ocean of despair to take the fresh breath of hope that we so much needed, and boy we did.

Stanley started rallying everyone behind the vehicle. Asking us to stand up and push as he led by example. At some point I think he fell down and got back up, he must have! The mud left on his trousers and shirt was good evidence of the struggle we had. The vehicle got out alright, but we had to run and urge the driver not to remove hist foot from the gas, all the way from the forest. It did get stuck a few times but we are there, right behind it, ready to push. We made it out, with our voices dry, our legs weak and our hearts full of stories to tell.

Conclusion

We can’t finish this amazing story without thanking WWF’s Russell E. Train Education for Nature Program. They have been kind enough to fund the practical restoration of the A Rocha Kenya Dakatcha Nature Reserve. Thank you for funding the planting of 10,000+ seedlings in the reserve. Here is the an update video about the A Rocha Kenya Dakatcha Nature Reserve

This was by far the best team building activity we have ever had. Planting trees was truly fulfilling but rallying behind one another as a team to get that vehicle out of the woodland was something else entirely. Being there to hold each other’s hand, showing up when one of us needed us, lifting each other up and staying in the fight long enough to seen everything through was probably the best lesson a team could ever learn. And am glad I got to experience that with my team!

Daily Archives: 2 June 2023