The
Arabuko-Sokoke Forest is located on the coast of Kenya, 110 km north of Mombassa
and is protected as a national Forest Reserve. The Arabuko-Sokoke National
Park is only a small portion of the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve, a few
square kilometres in size and is located on the north-western edge of the
forest. The National Park was gazetted only in the late 1980s and in fact
straddles the Forest Reserve boundary with about 50% lying outside the
boundary. This outer section actually lies outside an electric elephant fence
installed in 2006/7 and is now fully inhabited by local communities to the
extent that there is no sign on the ground to show where the National Park
begins or ends.
The National Park sadly doesn't add any
particular protection to the forest which is the largest fragment of coastal forest
(420 square km) left in East Africa, and is an area of high endemism,
containing endemic mammals, birds and plants. The Reserve, however, is jointly
managed by the Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Wildlife Service, National Museums
of Kenya and the Kenya Forest Research Institute and is one of the better
protected forests in Kenya.
The forest
was first protected as a Crown Forest in 1943, and was gazetted in the 1960s.
The forest is threatened by the desire for land by local people. Several
national and international conservation organisations are working with the Kenya
Wildlife Service to protect the park.
The forest contains three forest types,
mixed forest, Brachystegia and Cynometra, each of which protects
different communities of plants and animals.
The wildlife
at the park consist of ;Blotched
Genet, Caracal, syke’s monkeys, Bushbuck,
African Civet, Sokoke Mongoose, Ader’s
Duiker, waterbuck, Golden-rumped
Elephant-shrew and syke’s monkeys.Birdspecies are
also present.
The Arabuko-Sokoke Forest
protects many endemic and near endemic species. The Clarke's Weaver is completely endemic to the forest, while the
Emonymous Sokoke Scops Owl, Sokoke Pipit, and the Amani Sunbird and Spotted
Ground Thrush are found only here and in a forest fragment in Tanzania. The
park adjoins Mida Creek, a mangrove forest that is an important shorebird
wintering ground, protecting species such as the Terek Sandpiper and the Crab
Plover.
The endearing Golden-rumped
Elephant Shrew, an endemic elephant shrew the size of a rabbit, is the most
noticeable of the park's endemic mammals; the Sokoke Bushy-tailed Mongoose and Ader's
Duiker (found only here and in Zanzibar) are more elusive. The forest also has Savannah
Elephants, African Civets, as well as sokokes, baboons and Vervet Monkeys. The
park is also recognized as an outstanding center of amphibian diversity.
Places to stay are a lot around
the areas bordering the park.
Lots of activities take place in
the park to suit you.
References Wikipedia and KWS
01:20
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