I have helped make Karura Forest safe

Alice Macaire, wife of British High Commissioner Rob Macaire, embarked on a journey to transform Karura Forest into a safe recreational centre barely six months after arriving in Kenya two years ago.

Karura forest had become a security threat with Kenya Forest Service officers finding at least one dumped body a month. Alice's efforts are paying off, and those close to her say she has great networking and mobilisation skills. She spoke exclusively to KIUNDU WAWERU on her role as a diplomat's wife and the chairperson of Friends of Karura forest.

My family loves the outdoors. When we moved here two years ago, I found our home was next to this beautiful forest and I asked our staff if I could go in there.

Sections of Karura Forest. Photos: Martin Mukangu/Standard

Prof Maathai said her dream for Karura was not to see skyscrapers but rather a forestry education centre. We took that up and we recently launched the Karura Forest Education Environmental Trust. The guest of honour was Noah Wekesa, the Minister for Forestry and Wildlife.

Not safe

One of the committee members was John Chege, from Huruma slums. He felt that the forest should be fenced because their children may wander there only to find dead bodies dumped there. Women from Huruma also collected firewood from the forest either for cooking or for sale; and they, too, were not safe.

Chege also agreed that some people from Huruma benefited from attacking people in the forest. We had to come up with a project that would make all these groups benefit positively from the forest.

In another meeting, Al Kags, who is in our board, asked representatives from Huruma whether they knew the attackers. It turned out that most of them were in the meeting!

One man rose and said they did what they did because they had to feed their children. We realised that our first solution in incorporating the people from the slums was in the form of scouts.

We recruited 15 men who got trained by KFS rangers; but as there was a long-standing enmity between these two groups, we brought in a neutral person — Danny, a British Army officer who trained them for six months. Together with 14 rangers, the scouts now patrol the forest 24/7. The women have been allocated two days a week to go in and collect dead wood.

We still needed about Sh8.5 million for fencing, but I must say I’m lucky to be the British High Commissioner’s wife and I get to meet influential people. I met with the director of East African Breweries and asked him if the company could fence a section of the forest. To our pleasant surprise, they agreed to finance the entire project! To support the salaries of the scouts, we approached Barclays Bank and Prime Bank and they came to our rescue.

Today, with 900 hectares of Karura forest protected by an electric fence, it is safe! Many people have come to appreciate the forest as a recreational site and they regularly visit to unwind with their families.

We have introduced gate charges and reduced the number of gates open to the public to maintain security. Kenyans adults pay Sh100, children Sh30 while foreigners pay Sh200 and Sh50 for adults and children respectively. The money collected goes into a kitty shared by Friends of Karura and KFS.

Love valley

I’m happy about what I’m doing and I enjoy being in Karura. There is a love valley (laughs) that people can use for thrills or weddings. There are also caves where the Mau Mau used to hide, a small lake and cool picnic and camping sites.

Our biggest challenge is the negative image still associated with the forest. The other day I was walking this man on a tour and told me he once came to identify the body of his sister who had been dumped there.

Looking into the future, I hope people can begin to see Karura as safe and visit in large numbers. You know, this could be the city’s central park and the number one family destination.

My children enjoy the forest so much — we ride on ponies there and even swim at the foot of the waterfall that flows down Karura River.