An afternoon spent under the canope of the beautiful Kakamega Forest, where we walked down to the Yala River from the Rondo Retreat and back. This is one of my favourite places to go nearby. The variety of butterflies is extraordinary, and it’s fun to watch the red-tailed monkeys playfully jump through the trees overhead. 

We’ve been planting trees in the field around our workshop. Four moringa (moringa arborea) and a mango tree. Moringa is a special tree and deserves it’s own separate blog post (when I get round to it). To save us having to water the plants each day, my colleague Caleb suggested we use glass bottles to do it for us.

After digging a small hole next to the plant, you fill it with water. Ensure the glass bottle, is fully filled with water, then tip it upside down and press it into the hole, pointing towards the plant. Water will be absorbed from the bottle as the soil and roots need it, so you only have to visit your plants every few days. It’s basically a low-tech drip irrigation. We are hoping the moringa trees will shoot up fast now. Apparently they can reach a height of 3 meters in a year.

Yesterday I went to my favourite place in London - Kew Gardens. It’s a wonderland of plants, trees and other wonderful species from all over the world. It also does vital conservation research. 

Favourite spots are the Madagascan palm tree - that was about to outgrow the palm house but instead started producing a beautiful chandelier-like flower last year, which also signals it is at the end of it’s life before dying. The incredible orchid displays are also a favourite and last year I remember, in particular, the Madagascar Star Orchid, which Darwin took great interest in, proposing that a pollinator must exist somewhere which would have a very long-tongue to pollinate it. This moth did indeed exist, although it wasn’t discovered for another 40 years! Finally the trees are just stunning and if you can’t make it to Kew, you can get a tiny flavour of what’s there on Google Street View. 

I was reminded yesterday of the critically endangered Wollemi Pine that sits in a cage under lock-and-key. It was odd to see a tree surrounded by a cage and after visiting the People and Plants exhibition, I was really struck again at our complete dependence on nature, and how even our everyday choices of what we buy influence the natural world. If you’ve never been to Kew, do try to go. My top tip is to make use of the daily free tours. They show you lots of stuff you would otherwise miss.