Thompsons Falls. [Photo/wikimedia.org]Straddling Nairobi and Kiambu counties is a natural gem that abounds with a diversity of life.
It is a 51-hectare piece of natural forest where the melodious chirping of birds and the brush of wind against the generous spread of evergreen trees combines with immense undergrowth to give it an attractiveness unsurpassed in most other areas of Kenya.
Thogoto Forest has an underground water flow that converges at the Gitwe spring making it a magnet for those who love life away from hustle and bustle of Nairobi City.
In this magical place, one is likely to expel modern-day anxieties as they listen to the sound of sparklingly clear water splashing against age-old rocks.
One cannot miss the incessant wanderings of numerous water beetles that inhabit the spring.
As one dips tired feet into the ice-cool water, they are bound to experience an unmitigated joy that only nature, in its purest, can offer.
It is evident that Thogoto has retained some of the mythical features savored for ages by people who upheld the forest as a shrine where they engaged Ngai, their God. However, the magic has been in peril.
For decades, the forest has suffered immensely after it was handed over to institutions manned by officials not as attached to its spiritual significance nor respectful of its importance as a lifeline for millions living downstream.
Right from the colonial period, the British authorities destroyed much of its diverse species and hastily replaced them with fast-growing, water-hungry eucalyptus to feed locomotives.
Today, this water-guzzler occupies more than 93 percent of the forest. Nevertheless, a group of determined people has come to Thogoto’s rescue.
They also saw the need to learn from well established community-led forest conservation practices and especially the Kijabe Environment Volunteers Organisation (KENVO) that has successfully restored the Kereita Forest in Kiambu.
With a length of 390 kilometers, the Athi flows from Kiambu, through the semi-arid area of Ukambani and into the Indian Ocean near Malindi Town in Kilifi county.