The Karsts of Vipingo

Limestone Karst in Vipingo

A Karst is a distinctive topography in which the landscape is largely shaped by the dissolving action of water on carbonate bedrock in our case limestone.This geological process, occurred over many thousands of years, resulting in unusual subsurface features of complex underground drainage systems and caves.

Staff at the limestone caves in Vipingo (can you spot Sabine)

How a Karst is Formed

The process of karst formation involves what is referred to as "the carbon dioxide cascade." As sea water picks up CO2 in the atmosphere, it which dissolves into the water. As it hits the ground, through wave action it percolates through the soil and picks up more CO2 to form a weak solution of carbonic acid. The infiltrating water naturally exploits any cracks or crevices in the rock. Over time these fractures enlarge as the bedrock continues to dissolve. Openings in the rock increase in size, and an underground drainage system begins to develop, allowing more water to pass through and accelerating the formation of underground karst features.

Traditional Healer at Vipingo Caves

Swallow Tail Butterfly at Forest Trail Photo taken by Huig Bouter

The Lizards of Haller Park

NILE MONITOR LIZARD

Varanus niloticus - Monitor lizards are considered to be the most highly developed lizards, possessing a relatively rapid metabolism for reptiles, several sensory adaptations that benefit the hunting of live prey, and a lower jaw that may be unhinged to facilitate eating large prey animals. It has been said that the name of monitor lizards is derived from a superstition that the creatures would give a warning about the presence of crocodiles, the name actually resulted from a mishearing of the Arabic word oaran (lizard) as the German warnen (to warn), which was subsequently Latinized into monitor.

They all have very long claws and a tail which can be used to lash out at the smallest sign of aggression. Don't be fooled by their size, since a lash from even the smallest Monitor can leave a serious welt. Unlike many lizards, the monitor lizard cannot grow its tail back if it is lost.

Monitor Lizard Basking in the sun

The monitor's diet consists of anything it can get its claws on, anything that it can fit in its mouth, from fish, beetles, whip scorpions, crocodile and birds, to eggs, crabs, other lizards, snakes, nestling birds, and squirrels.

Monitior Lizard chilling out

To reproduce, monitors often lay from 7-35 soft-shelled eggs in a hole dug near a riverbank or grove of trees along the water. Varanus niloticus lays her eggs in termite mounds. The heat from the termites in the mound helps incubate the eggs.

In Haller Park this lizard is distributed in all the wetlands of the Ecosystem and also at the Reptile Park where they are kept for a close range viewing and education purposes.

Agama Lizards

An Agama Lizard - only reptile known to do press ups

Sally shares her dairy Cubes with a monitor lizard and Egyptian geese

Haller Park and indeed the rehabilitated quarries would not be what they are today if it was not for

The Red Legged Millipeeds

In begining of the rehabilitation process, an indigenous pioneer tree, Casuarina equisetifolia, was used to initially colonize the barren quarry floor. A lot of needles were shed, quickly forming a dense carpet of leaf-needles on the bare quarry floor. Due to their high tannin content, the needles are too tough and bitter for bacteria to break down into humus that other plants could grow in.

Our Unsung Heroe

With the help of the millipedes, and over a period of 30 yeas a humus layer of 10-12 cm depth has been created.

Millipedes in Love

Baby Millipede

Some Fun facts to know

Number of named species :- about 10 000

Millipede with the most legs :- Illacme plenipes 375 pairs or 750 legs altogether

Millipede with the least legs :- Polyxenus lagurus 12 pairs or 24 legs altogether

Longest known living Millipede :- Graphidostreptus gigas and Scaphistostreptus seychellarum both at 28cm or 11 ins

Longest known Millipede ever :- Arthropleura sp. were up to 1.8 metres or 6 feet long and 0.45 metres or 1.6 feet wide (though there is some discrepency about whether they actually were a millipede)

Crazy Millipede - species name unknown – spotted in Haller Park a light coloured millipede that did not curl up when touched but went into an incredible dance routine hence its name.

Last month staff members as well as Lafarge Eco Systems donated food items to the International Red Cross to feed the Internally Displaced Families in Mombasa, victims of the ongoing spate of violence experienced in the country. Our Human Resources Manager Emily Waita hands over cartons of long life milk, lentils, sugar and wheat flour, to the Red Cross Representative, as other members of staff look on.

Happy and prosperous new year to you all!

God loved the birds and created trees.

Man loved the birds and invented cages.

Bamburi loved the birds and created the Bamburi Nature Trails

 Egyptian gees with ducklings at one of the ponds in the Quarries

The rehabilitated Bamburi Quarries are certified bird havens. From the Ngunni Game Sanctuary, Haller Park, Forest Trails, Central Quarry, Kikambala and Vipingo, we have documented well over 280 bird species inhabiting the quarries. This goes to show just how successful the rehabilitation efforts by Bamburi Cement Ltd through Lafarge Eco Systems have been.

Malachite Kingfisher in Haller Park

The varying vegetation and landscapes play host to warblers such as the Grey Backed Camroptera and the Throated Wattle Eye that breeds in Haller Park; nocturnal birds such as Vereaux Eagle Owl, Square-Tailed Nightjar and the Spotted Thicknee; raptors such as the Pigmy Kingfisher and the African Fish Eagle; forest birds such as the Tropical Boubou; shoreline birds such as Pied Avocet and the Crab Plover; wetland birds such as White-Faced Whistling Ducks, Egyptian Geese and Little Grebes, grassland birds Flappet Lark and the Grassland Pipit.

Kauz the Owl

Some of species that are uncommon and rare such as the Purple Swamp Hen was last spotted 25 years ago in the region was spotted at the Central Quarry on 9th January 08, by our Ornithological tour guides. Other rare species spotted within our quarries include the Greater Painted Snipe and the Narina Trogon

Carmine Bee-eater at the Kikambala Quarry.

Bird walks are offered to all birders. Book your tour now!!! Our fully trained ornithological guides are waiting.

Hippopotamus Amphibius

Hippos move easily in water, they walk or jump on the ground. They are well-adapted to their aquatic life, with small ears, eyes and nostrils set at the top of the head. By closing its ears and nostrils, the adult can stay under water for as long as six minutes.

Sally and Potty at the Game Sanctuary in Haller Park

In their natural habitats hippos spend the day resting in the water or sunbathing on the shore. At night they come out to graze. They can move considerable distances to their grazing grounds, and climb steep banks. At Haller Park they also come out of the water every day at 4pm, when they are fed some concentrate food goodies. Well informed visitors time their visit to see Hippo feeding at 4pm, and take some nice close-up shots!

Owen n' Cleo cooling off last week

Sally - The first hippo to be brought was Sally, rescued as an orphan by the Leakey family in 1970 from Lake Baringo. She lived alone at the nature trail until 1986 when she was joined by Potty. When she was alone she used to escape a lot. But since Potty joined her, she didn't need to go out any more to look for company and attention outside, and the escapades have stopped.

Potty - It is not known where Potty originally came from. He was in a mobile circus in Germany when he was confiscated by German authorities as he was not kept well. Potty is currently between 30-35 years old. He was small for a hippo bull when he arrived, with a big head and a small body. Now he is a huge, massive bull. Potty and Sally are virtually inseparable. Although they mate, Sally and Potty have never produced any offspring.

Cleopatra say Cheese!!

Owen - you all know the story of Owen, his stint with Mzee tortoise as surrogate parent, until his introduction to Cleo and their 'lived happily ever after' status as now!

The editorial team wishes all the bloggers Happy Holidays. We take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support. Thank You and Merry Christmas to you all and a new year full of blessings.

Meet our natural seed dispersers

Every animal in Haller Park plays an important role in our Eco system. This week we focus on the Elands and Oryx.

Herds of Eland and Oryx antelopes were introduced to utilize the agriculturally unproductive reserve land of the cement factory, and to act as seed dispersers form the original bush- and grassland into the disused, open quarries.

Elands Foraging in Haller Park

Dr. Rene’ Haller decided to try to farm indigenous antelopes, which are adapted to harsh, dry conditions and poor vegetation, and are also largely resistant to the many livestock diseases. He acquired a small herd of eland antelopes from a game farming research project in Naivasha and Gilgil in 1976 and in 1978 a group of 9 Oryx was purchased from Galana Ranch. Eland are big antelopes, whose food consists mainly of leaves and leaves and young shoots, fruits, pods etc., and fresh grass during the rainy season. They can digest a number of plant species which are toxic to domestic livestock.

TheOryx and Eland herd off in search of greener pastures.

Oryx are smaller antelopes, very well adapted to dry habitats. They are grazers, able to digest fiber exceptionally well. They can survive on dry, poor grass rejected by livestock and even elands, and are able to efficiently conserve water. Both species feed in the bush and grassland, but go to the quarry ponds to drink, and to open quarry to rest. On the way, they distribute the seeds of their favorite food plants with their droppings. Many seeds are adapted to this way of seed dispersal, and their seeds pass through the digestive tract unharmed. They germinated easily in the nutritious substrate of the decaying faeces. Both species have been domesticated successfully over 5 generations, and are being herded by herdsmen almost like cattle

World Bank Environmentalists plant mangrooves at the South Quarry Viewing Point

This week Haller Park hosted World Bank environmentalist. They really loved the park and contributed to ourrehabilitation efforts by planting mangroove trees in the new marshes at the South Quarry Viewing Point.

Did you know that the area that Bamburi Cement now sits on was once underwater? Here is a fossilised rock in Haller Park

Old Fossil rock in Haller Park

Several of you have been asking about Stephen:

Jambo all! I’m still here, but I’m glad the responsibility for the blog has been taken over by the team! it leaves me more time to spend with the animals

Stephen with the bush babies at night

Here I am feeding bushbabies. These are small monkey-like creatures, active at night, with big eyes, good hearing and very loud voices. They feed on fruits, insects, birds eggs & chicks.They got used to coming for bananas early evenings during the time we hand-reared several bushbucks and duikers, and fed them – amongst other things – bananas. We got puzzled when we found banana peel left over in the morning, while during the day the bushbucks were eating bananas peel and all. Hiding ourselves one evening, we saw the bushbabies. Later on genet cats, giant pouched rats and even the Sudan Plaited Lizards would come for their bananas in the evenings. Over the almost 15 years we have been doing this we must have taken care of several generations!

Stephen feeding a Duiker

Some of the bushbuck and duikers we released from the smaller enclosure where we reared them, and they still come back every few days for their share of dairy cubes, bananas and carrots, and it is my last duty and pleasure for the day to feed those animals of the night. Sometimes Sabine joins me, when she gets time, to keep in touch with the animals we have brought up together.

Genet Cat in Haller Park

We are planning to start night walks for special visitors again next year, so that they can also experience Haller Park at night, which is such a different world compared to daytime! Different animals are out which you can’t see during the day, the sounds and scents of nature are much stronger as sight is obviously limited, and all this makes you feel much closer to and part of nature!

Mzee in the Kaya

The Forest Trails

The Forest Trails located 1km from Haller Park, is a rare facility designed specifically for recreation. Started in the early 90's the Forest Trails started of as a 1 million trees project hence its name. The aim was to use rehabilitated quarries and mining reserve land to provide wood fuel for the cement kilns and the local communities, and building timber for local industries and the community as well. To date some of the original poineer trees the casaurinas still stand tall though the park is now used primarily for recreation as most of the area is still being quarried.

Some of the features include

THE TRAILS

The 3.6km Leisure walk enables visitors to see alternating landscapes from empty quarries to lush forest, lakes, streams, palm grooves and plantations of indigenous trees.

 The Canadian Cross Country team at the Forest Trails

You can keep fit on the jungle jogging trail that’s 4 km or bike and exercise it through Vitapacour Trail that’s 1.7 km or for the really fit the 10km bic-athalon.  Lucky cyclists may meet the Eland and Oryx herd, meet Bushbucks or Duikers or sight some of the 180 documented bird species found in the rehabilitated quarries.

 Duiker in the trails

Excavation of limestone by Bamburi Cement Ltd in Mombasa started in 1952.  The excavation was done by a Ruston Bucyrus machine. Purchased in 1953 the excavator was used to dig coral limestone from the South Quarry. Its huge head with ripper teeth dug out coral which was loaded into trucks and carried to the factory’s crushers. It was also used in the reclamation work which formed the initial stages of the complex of rehabilitation process the creation of Haller Park.

Between 1965 and 1970 the machine was phased out. The excavator lay forgotten as a piece of scrap somewhere in the quarry, too heavy to take away and too cumbersome to dismantle. The forest which was planted to cover the bare quarry area continued to grow and soon the trees would surround the old machine. The excavator was renovated and is now a center of attraction and a yardstick for changes in technology. It continues to capture the interests of many visitors in the Park.

Meet the newest member of the Haller Park family as she poses with her proud parents.