Trees in my Garden 4

16. Nandi Flame (Spathodea). A truly local tree, named after Kenya’s Nandi Hills, and celebrated in ‘The Flame Trees of Thika’. Its greatest feature is its bright orange-red clusters of flowers, with petals edged with yellow, creating its spectacular flame effect. The bark is also good for curing liver complaints, and when boiled makes a great treatment for nappy rash! And hummingbirds love them. A flaming great tree!

17. African Wild Date Palm (Phoenix reclinata). A handsome maverick of a tree, 5 metres high with a regal crown of fronds. Even though this tree’s main purpose is to look impressive, you can, if you are hungry enough, eat its oval shaped fruit once they ripen from green to brown. Or you can try climbing up its old leaf scarred trunk, and sit opulently among its dioecious (either male or female) flowers!

18. Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina). When you need some shade, try sitting under this tree. It’s a big evergreen, with drooping foliage that keeps you cool all day long. Apparently it’s the official tree of Bangkok – well the sun’s pretty hot there, so they need all the natural air-conditioning they can get.

19. African Pencil Cedar (Juniperus procera). An evergreen highland forest tree. It has prickly leaves, and grows small yellow male cones and purple-blue female cones, which look a bit like berries. The timber is great for house-building, making poles, posts, furniture, pencils and as beehives. It’s also great for fuel. If you grind up the young twigs and buds and then soak them in water you will have a great cure for intestinal worms! Yum yum.

20. Indian Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica). Another tree familiar to British indoor plant aficionados. But this one is about 20m tall. It’s actually part of the banyan family of fig trees, and it lives in a co-evolved relationship with the fig wasp, that it relies on for pollination. In some parts of India these trees are used to form ‘living bridges’ by growing them over chasms, some of them over 500 years old! The ‘rubber’ name comes from the latex in the tree – at one time these trees were used to make rubber, but they are not the main commercial source of rubber – that is the pará rubber tree. In fact the latex can be fatal if swallowed – try eating liquid rubber and you will discover why.

Trees in my Garden 2

6. Mexican Ash (Fraxinus Pennsylvanica) . Yes, another Mexican one. Well muchachos, this is a big one with dark cracked bark. It’s not an exciting tree – good for general timber, posts and fuel. But you can depend on it to break (the) wind.

7. Trichilia (Trichilia Spp). Ever heard of this? AKA Cape Mahogany. Sound more familiar? These babies get big, although my one is quite young. They are great for all sorts of things. You can make soap out of the oil from the seeds. The timber is good for light indoor furniture, as well as poles posts and fuel. If you are a human its seeds could poison you, however if you are a baboon or other monkey you will love them! Plus, the oil treats cuts and bruises, the roots and bark are good for fevers, the leaves and fruit help ease bruises, cuts and eczema, and the seed oil relieves rheumatism. Also, the bark, roots and leaves are traditionally used for intestinal problems, plus dysentery, kidney problems, and parasite infestation. This is a useful tree! And it’s local!!

8. Jacaranda (Jacaranda Mimosifolia). Got a couple of these. At the right time of year its mauve-blue bell-shaped flowers come out in spectacular style – I’ll post when it happens. From Brazil originally but they are all over Africa these days. I’ve been to at least two African cities that call themselves the ‘purple city’ because of these trees, and I bet there are lots more.

9. Bastard Myrobalan (Terminalia Bellirica). Not a very nice name, but quite a nice tree, full of mysticism. It’s used to line avenues all over South East Asia because of its size and grandeur. Apparently its oil also has potential as a source of bio-diesel. Some tribes in India get high by smoking the kernels, and other bits of it are good as a laxative or for sore throats. Hindus also claim that the nuts of this true were used as dice in the Mahabharata, but they won’t sit under the tree as they believe it is full of demons!

10. Peacock Flower (Albizia Gummifera). A local tree, known as Mcani Mbao in Swahili. The bark can ease malaria, the pods cure stomach-ache, the roots are crushed for skin disease, the powdered bark makes a snuff for headaches, and the bark can also be made into an infusion for inflamation of the eyes. And the flowers – yes, they look like peacock feathers!  When the season’s right, I’ll show you.

The Wonderful World of the Maasai Mara Migration

The news from the camps was that the wildebeest were beginning to appear. They start by crossing the great plains of the Serengeti from the Tanzania side into the Maasai Mara in Kenya. No river to cross if you do it that way. So why don’t they all take that route?

We set out by road from Nairobi. Six hours later we were on an escarpment, looking down onto the plain, with glimpses of the the great Mara river running through it, surrounded by banks of dark green trees.

We had heard that the wildebeest were gathering on the other bank of the river, closer to the border with Tanzania. Next morning we set out early from camp and headed in that direction, through the Mara plains. There was an abundance of wildlife; elephant, impala, tommies, buffalo, hippo, even lions. But we were here to see the wildebeest crossing. One of the wonders of the natural world, a must see, but hard to get the timing right.

Hours went by, and we saw some amazing creatures. In one place we saw wildebeest on the opposite riverbank. But they seemed quite far from the river and were just grazing. The point was, they needed to want to cross to get the best grass, where it had rained. So why cross if there was still grass on the other bank?

Many hours passed and we started to wonder if we were too early – would it be another week before they started crossing?

Then we saw a group, in another part of the river, on the opposite riverbank, but looking our way. Were they thinking of crossing? We drove through the bush and settled down with our lunch to wait.

We weren’t the only ones waiting.

They started coming to the riverbank edge, having a look, but then retreating again. This went on for maybe half an hour. Then other vehicles started arriving on the other bank, and before we knew it there was a herd of them. Everyone sensed the crossing was soon to begin.

But some idiots in vehicles were getting too close to the wildebeest, blocking the way. Some rangers came by, complaining about the tourists, but they were on the other side of the river and nothing could be done. The wildebeest were getting nervous. We also moved back and just watched. Then suddenly, someone said a few had moved to the river. We moved closer. And it started.

Incredible. ‘Can anyone see any crocs?’ someone shouted. We couldn’t. But this was the sight we had come to see.

The first crossing was over in five minutes. But suddenly more and more wildebeest started arriving from over the horizon. Within minutes there were thousands of them.

But the cars were scaring them. The newcomers didn’t want to cross. We decided to move on. And before long we found another group.

They were as neolithic as the last herd.

We watched them cross. And then we trundled back to camp, satisfied. It had been a ten hour Sunday safari. But fully worth it. We had come here to see what the cavemen had seen, and we saw it. OK, it was a little Hong Kong Disney for a while too, but I guess that’s the world we live in. That evening we found a cave and ground up rocks to make paint before producing, on the walls, with our fingers, crude interpretations of what we had seen earlier that day (the beest, not the Shanghainese tourists).

Trees in my Garden 1

1. Pigeon Wood (Triema Orientalis). Indigenous. Good for coughs, pneumonia, bronchitis, and as an antidote for poisoning. Pretty good for attracting pigeons, doves and butterflies. Wood good for poles and fuel. Leaves make handy mulch and fodder as well as brown dye. Bark makes black dye. Looks OK, functional, but unspectacular.

2. Mexican Cypress (Cupressus Lusitanica). Exotic, native to Mexico and Guatemala. High altitude evergreen conifer tree. Good for furniture, construction wood, fuel, poles, posts and pulp-wood. Not bad as a hedge or shade tree. Just doesn’t belong in Kenya…

Here are its seed cones.

3. Rose Apple (Eugenia Jambos). Exotic, native to India and Malaysia. Quite a small ornamental tree, with funny little fruit that turn yellow when ripe and with pinky green dense leaves.

The mini-apple fruit smells like a rose, hence the name, and you can make jelly and jam out of it! Wine?

4. Mango (Mangifera Indica). Well, everyone knows what a mango is. But did you know the flowers have pyramidal heads and are pollinated by flies and other insects? The ripe fruit come in various shapes and colours too, from round and yellow to oval and orangey pink. And if you ever get bored of the fruit you can make a canoe out of the wood. The wonderful world of the mango.

5: Bottle Brush. From down-under. It’s main feature is its bright red flowers, shaped like, yes … bottle brushes! The sunbirds and the bees love them. Why wouldn’t you? When the seasons right, I’ll put in a picture of it in flower, but for now here’s how it looks.