Hature Kenya, The EANHS — Action for Biodiversity Conservation

Nature Net

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tk Members

(At time of print)

WOW! OVER 1000 MEMBERS AND
RISING The above photograph
shows 1000th member Ms. Kavuli
Maillu receiving a congratulatory
bottle of wine from the Executive
Officer Ms. Shriti Rajani & Office
Manager Ms. Catherine Ngarachu

SEPTEMBER, 1999

COMMITTEES

IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS
Solomon Ngari
Sites Conservation Officer

T. \

Programmes for environmental
education and survey and montoring
ofSViarp's Longclaw are ongoing.

Do you want to participate in these
surveys?

KAKAMEGA

The Kakamega Guides Association
(KABICOTOA) is now implementing an
Environmental Education programme
sponsored by the African Bird Club (a
UK based organisation). The
programme is working with eight
schools around the forest.

The group is also establishing an
education centre and request any
materials that may be useful.

Do you have old magazines i.e.
EANHS Bulletins, Komba, Swara,
books, calenders, binoculars?

KIKUYU ESCARPMENT FOREST

For more information, on any of
the above, contact Solomon Ngari
at Nature Kenya - 746090 or
749957.

SUCCULENTA

Visit the
National Museum

Saturday 18 September,
from 10:00 a.m.

The intention is to spend several
hours at the Museum where some
members have already helped to plant
up the Succulent section of the
Botanic Garden. This will be almost a
year since the first planting.

VIDEOS A TALKS

THE WILDLIFE AND BIRDS OF
SEYCELLES

By Tim & Lisa Campbell

A Slide Talk - Tuesday 14
September at 4:30 p.m. Louis Leakey
M. Hall.

The Kijabe Environment Volunteers
(KENVO) operating at Gatamaiyu
forest have started bimonthly
birdwalks as part of their training in
bird identification.

Are you an ornithologist, botanist or
ethnobotanist, willing to contribute
to the development of this group?

KINANGOPS GRASSLAND

EXCURSIONS

PLAN FOR

TRIP TO THE COAST

POSTPONED

The Friends of Kinangop Plateau
(FOKP) have recently started a
community focus programme through
seminars to raise awareness about
Sharpe's Longclaw. The seminars will
be held in the main centres in both
the north and south of the Kinangop
highland grassland.

Please contact Carin Parfitt on
882827 if you plan to participate.

From Birds of East Africa, An Unreliable
Field Suide by David Bygotts

REGULAR MONTHLY ACTIVITIES

WEDNESDAY MORNING
BIRDWALKS

Bird watching walks at sites in and
around Nairobi. Meet at the
National Museum car park every
Wednesday at 8:45 am. Return
about 12:30 p.m.

Those who are not members can
get temporary membership at Kshs
100 per birdwaik. Payable on
arrival at the car park.

POT LUCK OUTINGS

Bird-watching outings held on every
third Sunday of the month, i.e. 19
September Bring a picnic lunch,
binoculars, field guides, etc. and
meet at 9:00 am at the National
Museum car park. Those attending
decide on the venue - hence "Pot
Luck".

TREE WALK

Arboretum guided Tree Walks on
the last Monday of every month
i.e, 27 September from 9:30 a m.
Meet at the new FONA offices
beside the Girl Guides HQ.

ARABUKO SOKOKE (COAST)

FOREST WALKS-Wednesday 29
September. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at
the Gede Forest Station.

BIRD WALKS-Saturday 4
September. Starting at 6:30 a.m.
from the Gede Forest Station.
Organised by Arabuko Sokoke
Forest Guides Association.

BUSH CRAFT: The Wilderness
Guardian

Timber - Durability

Seek local advice about resistance to
termites, borers, fungus, decay, etc.

In general, the closer the annual rings
and the darker the wood the more
durable it is.

ORNITHOLOGY DEPARTMENT

' CALL FOR RECORDS

Jean Sithaiga-Mwicigi
Department of Ornithology

Some interesting bird observation
records have been sent to the “Bird
Hotline" column of Nature Net.
Members are urged to forward these
and other bird records to the Dept,
of Ornithology, National Museums of
Kenya. AH records are useful for
supplementing the computerised Bird
Atlas database.

Observation lists for each birding
session should, preferably, be
submitted using the National Birdmap
Checklists. Confirmed breeding
records are useful for ALL species,
and those of probable breeding
(display, carrying nesting material
etc.) are only needed for rare species
or ones where there are few breeding
records. You are strongly urged to
fill in a Nest Record Card for each
breeding observation. Cards and
checklists can be obtained free of
charge from the Department of
Ornithology or Nature Kenya.

Records of certain species are
particularly useful for Kenya Birds.
These are indicated (e.g. category A,
B, or X) in the Check-list of the Birds
of Kenya (EANHS 1996), available
from the Nature Kenya office for
Ksh 100/=. Please note that for
unusual sightings, supporting details
(i.e. field notes, photographs etc.) will
be needed for review by the Bird
Rarities Committee for the record to
be accepted or published.

All bird records should be sent to:

The Records Officer

Department of Ornithology,

National Museums of Kenya,

PO Box 40658, Nairobi

OFFICE HOURS:Monday to Friday
9:00am to 3:00pm
ADDRESS: Box 44486, NAIROBI
E -MAIL: eanhs@africaonline.co.ke
TEL:(02) 74 99 57/ 74 60 90
FAX:(02) 74 10 49

WORLD BIRDWATCH ’99
2-3 OCTOBER

It is with much gratitude that we
acknowledge the following donors:

□ The British High Commissioner
for his offer to host the launch.

□ Barclays Bank for the donation
of 50,000/-.

□ Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
and East FM 91.9 for airtime.

□ National Museums of Kenya for
website space.

□ Swarovsky for small gifts.

□ R. Willisher, R. Mangat & H.
Elkins for cash donations.

□ Tinga Tinga for designing &
printing of T- shirts available @
600/-.

□ AutoNews for space in their
magazine.

Are more donations needed? YES -
Sponsor a field guide for an
Important Bird Area site group @
1800/-.

WORLD BIRD COUNT

Besides the records of the weeke^fc
of October 2-3, other records from
the month of October may be sent in
to the office to be submitted for the
World Bird Count.

SEPTEMBER DIARY

Wed 1, 8 4 15 Birdwaik
Sat 4 AS Forest Walk
Sot 18 Visit to NMK
Sun 19 Pot Luck Outing
Wed 22 Birdwolk
Mon 27 Tree Walk

Wed 29 AS Forest & Nairobi Birdwaik

MUSEUMS and museum sites

K a r i a n d u s i

Horea Wanderi and Wydiffe Oloo
Dept of Sites & Monuments

The site of Kariandusi lies on the
eastern side of the Rift Valley, about
120-km north-north-west of Nairobi,
and about 2 km to the east of Lake
Elementaita. The site rests on the
Nakuru-Elementaita basin which
occupies the width of the Rift Valley,
flanked by Menengai crater to the
north and the volcanic pile of Mount
Eburru to the south.

Kariandusi Museum is located two
kilometres to the east of Lake
Elementeita along the main Nairobi-
Nakuru highway. Like Olorgesailie,
the site is characterised by the
presence of heavy hand axes and
cleavers. A walk through the site
takes visitors through several
excavation pits, undertaken by Louis
Leakey in 1928, each displaying a
scattered assortment of stone tools,
many made from obsidian: the black
volcanic rock found in lava flows.

Kenya is well known internationally
for her palaeontological and
archaeological sites; materials from
sites such as Kariandusi are a major
source of information about the
history of humankind, particularly
biological and cultural evolution.

Kariandusi is unique in that it is one
of the first discovered Lower
Palaeolithic sites in East Africa.
There is enough geological evidence
to show that, in the past, large lakes
occupied the basin, sometimes
reaching levels hundreds of meters
higher than the present lakes Nakuru
and Elementaita. Through potassium
argon dating, we know that this
Acheulean site has a time range of
about 0.7 to 1.0 million years, thus
falling in the lower Pleistocene age.

Kariandusi is also important because
of the commercial mining activities at
the diatomite deposits nearby. The
opening of the mines, apart from
unveiling more archaeological

materials, has made it possible for
dating of the site by use of pumice
and other datable materials in the
sediments. Apart from the open
excavation sites, there is a small site
museum with displays of excavated
fossils and stone tools.

The site was presented to the
Trustees of the Royal National Parks
of Kenya by Lady Eleanor Cole. The
museum, as all the other regional
museums and sites, now falls under
the protection of the National
Museums of Kenya.

Selected reading:

Gowlett, J. <& R. Crompton (1994);
"Kariandusi: Acheulean morphology
and the question of allometry." In
African Archaeological Review, 12. pp
3-42, Cambridge University Press.

Trustees of the Royal National Parks
of Kenya: “Kariandusi pre-historic
site"

BIRD HOTLINE 749957

eanhs@af ricaonline. co. ke

BIRDS OF THE MONTH - FOUR-
COLOURED BUSH-SHRIKE,

BLACK-HEADED BATTS, UMANI
SPRINGS CAMP, Janet Okero/ JUN

African Crowned Eagle, NAIROBI
ARBORETUM seen by Wednesday
Morning Birdwalk/AUG

African Black Duck. Black-backed
Night Heron, Ethiopian Swallow,
Three Banded Plover, White Earred
Barbet, SANGARE RANCH, Sukhy
Soin & family/ AUG

African Cuckoo Hawk & juvenile.
Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, BAHATI
FOREST (NAKURU), Bernard Chege/
JUL

Pennant Winged Nightjar,

KANYARKWAT, east of Mt. Elgon,
Josephat Mwok / JUL

Black-breasted Barbet, near RIVER

YALA, BUSIA, Janet Okero / JUL

SOCIETY NOTICES

Birds of
Kenya and
Northern
Tanzania @
.1800/-
from the
Nature
Kenya
office.

THE BIRDS OF AFRICA : 4 copies of
volume 5 are available @ 7,000/-
from Mrs. Moira F. Lincoln-'Gordon,

P. O. Box 30, Naivasha, or tel/fax
0311-21346

OLYTO BINOCULARS

Magnification 8 * 21 DCF
Sharp, clear image formation
4 pairs available from the office
@ 1100 /-

HELP SOLVE THIS MYSTERY:

David Stone of the University of
Arizona has been sent photographs
of Lake Teleki on Mt. Kenya. They
seem to show growth of some kind,
maybe algae, at the bottom of the
lake and spreading out in great
curving lines. Would you have
information about this? Contact
dstone@U.Arizona.EDU

CAPITAL FOR BUSINESS
PURPOSES: Templeton Meyers, a
capital placement firm, are seeking
additional clients. Interested parties
can contact them at 2942 Finch Ave.
E, Unit 87134 Toronto, Canada M1W
2T0 Fax: (416) 364-8170

■ ■

„ £S.

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