View of the hills 100px, A member of the Dorobo, c. 1913, poison-hunters who inhabited small hill villages. Cherangani Hills Forest (Cherangany Hills Forest) is a collection of thirteen forest reserve blocks in western Kenya, located in the

Cherangani Hills The Cherang'any Hills are a range of hills in the western highlands of Kenya. The hills are one of Kenya's five main forests and catchment areas. The highlands, the large central plateau, is divided by the Mau Escarpment which rises from the bord ...

on the western ridge of the

East African Rift The East African Rift (EAR) or East African Rift System (EARS) is an active continental rift zone in East Africa. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago. In the past it was considered to be part of a ...

. The forested area is about , of which has been gazetted into forest reserves. These forest reserves form the upper catchments of the Kerio and Nzoia and

Turkwel The Turkwel River (sometimes spelled Turkwell River) is a river flowing from Mount Elgon on the border of Kenya and Uganda to Lake Turkana. The river is called the Suam River from its source to the border at West Pokot County of Kenya. The name ...

rivers.

Forest types

The three western blocks, Kapkanyar, Kapolet and Kiptaberr, are larger and more consolidated and constitute about 20% of the Cherangani Hills Forest. Most of the rest of the forests are fragmented, cut by grasslands, bushlands, and croplands. The forests themselves are quite varied in composition. To the west, the lower elevations are "'' Aningeria''-'' Strombosia''-''

Drypetes ''Drypetes'' is a plant genus of the family Putranjivaceae, in the order Malpighiales. It was previously in the family Euphorbiaceae, tribe Drypeteae, and was the sole pantropical zoochorous genus of the family. The genus comprises about 200 ...

''" forest, grading into mixed '' Podocarpus milanjianus'' forest on the higher elevations. To the east are "''

Juniperus Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

''–'' Nuxia''–'' Podocarpus falcatus''" forest, particularly on south facing slopes. On the eastern slopes these are interspersed with '' Podocarpus falcatus'' forest, much disturbed by human activities. sizeable remnants of "''

''–''

Maytenus undata ''Maytenus'' ''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is a genus of flowering plants in the family Celastraceae. Members of the genus are distributed throughout Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Micronesia and Australasia, the Ind ...

''–''

Rapanea ''Rapanea'' is a genus of plant in family Primulaceae. It has often been placed in synonymy with ''Myrsine'', and many species have been moved to ''Myrsine''. , Plants of the World Online does not accept the genus, regarding it as a synonym of '' ...

''–'' Hagenia''" forest can be found in the high valleys. In some of the stream valleys tree ferns such as '' Cyathea manniana'' can be found as well as small patches of the bamboo '' Yushania alpina''.

Forest blocks

* Kapkanyar Forest Reserve, * Kapolet Forest Reserve, * Kiptaberr Forest Reserve, * Lelan Forest Reserve, * Embobut Forest Reserve, * Kerrer Forest Reserve, * Kaisungurr Forest Reserve, * Toropket Forest Reserve, * Chemurokoi Forest Reserve, * Kupkunurr Forest Reserve, * Cheboit Forest Reserve, * Sogotio Forest Reserve, and * Kapchemutwa Forest Reserve

Flora and Fauna

In total, 1296 species, including 17

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

species have been documented found in the Cherangani Hills Forest, belonging to 130 families and 608 genera. This flora represents 18.50% of the Kenyan species, 43.83% of the Kenyan genera and 54.17% of the Kenyan families. Threatened plants include; ''Peucedanum aculeolatum'' Engl., ''Pimpinella lindblomii'' H. Wolff, '' Polyscias kikuyuensis'' Summerh., ''

Ethulia vernonioides ''Ethulia'' is a genus of Asian and African flowering plants in the family Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterale ...

'' (Schweinf.) M.G. Gilbert, '' Euryops brownei'' S. Moore, '' Gutenbergia rueppellii'' Sch. Bip., ''Senecio pseudosubsessilis'' C. Jeffrey, ''S. rhammatophyllus'' Mattf., ''Helichrysum meyeri-johannis'' Engl., '' Guizotia jacksonii'' (S. Moore) J. Baagøe., ''Impatiens hoehnelii'' T.C.E. Fr., ''

Impatiens meruensis ''Impatiens meruensis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Balsaminaceae. It is found in Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Its natural habitats include mountain forests, streambanks, and swamps. It may grow in the spray zones of wate ...

'' Gilg, '' I. pseudoviola'' Gilg, ''I. tinctoria'' A. Rich., ''Cynoglossum cheranganiense'' Verdc., ''

Lobelia aberdarica ''Lobelia aberdarica'' is a species of plant in the family Campanulaceae. It is restricted to the uplands of Kenya and Uganda (1860-3350m). It has been found in the forests of Cherangani hills, Kenya. Its natural habitat In ecology, the ...

'' R.E. Fr. & T.C.E. Fr., ''L. cheranganiensis'' Thulin, '' Lobelia deckenii'' (Asch.) Hemsl., ''L. duriprati'' T.C.E. Fr., ''Wahlenbergia scottii'' Thulin, ''Euphorbia brevicornu'' Pax, ''Trifolium cheranganiense'' J.B. Gillett, ''

Hypericum kiboense ''Hypericum kiboense'' is a flowering plant the family Hypericaceae, section '' Adenosepalum'', subsection '' Adenosepalum''. Description The species is a shrub that grows to be 2.5 m tall with orange or red stems. Its flowers are golden and ti ...

'' Oliv., ''Galega lindblomii'' (Harms) J.B. Gillett, ''Abutilon mauritianum'' (Jacq.) Medik., ''Diaphananthe montana'' (Piers) P.J. Cribb & J. Stewart, ''Habenaria altior'' Rendle, ''Polystachya bella'' Summerh., ''Calamagrostis hedbergii'' Melderis, ''Delphinium macrocentrum'' Oliv., ''Rubus scheffleri'' Engl., ''Galium kenyanum'' Verdc. ''Spermacoce minutiflora'' (K. Schum.) Verdc. and ''Cyphostemma cyphopetalum'' (Fresen.) Desc. ex Wild & R.B. Drumm.

Conservation issues

The Cherangani Hills Forest is threatened by increased pressures from a growing local population, as well as by pressure from downstream inhabitants. The problems range from

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature ...

, to conversion of the forest to cropland, to excessive use of forest products in making charcoal and providing local lumber.

Gallery

file:Rachel the tireless tree planter, Kenya photo 16.jpg, Environmentalist Rachel Nyakeri and Wildlife Society officials identify invasive vegetation file:Rachel the tireless tree planter, Kenya photo 7.jpg, Bee-keeping project to curb deforestation file:Rachel the tireless tree planter, Kenya photo 8.jpg, A planted woodlot of exotics which relieves collection pressure on the forest file:Rachel the tireless tree planter,Kenya photo 6.jpg, A

tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most i ...

fish farming project

Notes

{{Coord, 01, 18, N, 35, 25, E, display=title Forests of Kenya