Pretty Lantana’s sleeping secret 11 January, 2009

Lantana, in white, gold, purple and multi-coloured (lantana camara)

In last year’s posts I wrote more about animals and birds, somewhat less about plants. (Though, in my defence, the website did once include photographs of every flower in the garden in our last house – see them here.)

To redress the balance, here’s a shot of three varieties of the widespread Lantana plant growing together on a bank of our garden. The multi-coloured version (lantana camara) grows uncontrollably if left to itself. There were hectares of the stuff on scrub ground in Wairaka, Uganda, where we once lived, creating thick bush on soil too poor to grow much else.

The little flowers in the florets (technically ‘umbels’, apparently) change colour as they grow, leading to the different hues in the flowers.

The purple, gold and white varieties, on the other hand, keep the same colour until they die.

The story we were told by elderly villagers in Uganda was that Lantana was imported by British colonialists as a herbaceous border plant, but that it escaped and spread widely – helped in part by the fact that it is poisonous to many herbivores, so not controlled by grazing. The same sources suggested that Lantana is much loved by tsetse flies, and may have promoted the spread of sleeping sickness that so devastated cattle-keepers a century ago.

An internet search on the subject supports the local lore, which is pleasing from a communications point of view, if not a medical one. Researchers at the Swiss Institute of Zoology in the University of Neuchâtel have confirmed that Lantana is invasive to Africa, that tsetse flies do like to hide in its foliage, and that the plant emits volatile gases which attract the flies. It’s all in the Journal of Insect Physiology; or you can see the neat PubMed summary, like I did.

We don’t get many tsetse flies around here, but we can also confirm that butterflies do like Lantana very much. That makes it a great garden plant, however damaging it has been to Africa’s human and bovine health in the last century.

A unicorn in Nairobi Safari Walk 1 May, 2008

Nairobi Safari Walk is a cheap and pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. Adjacent to the Nairobi Wildlife Park and managed by Kenya Wildlife Service, the downside is that the animals are in enclosures. There are partly-convincing stories as to how they came to need this residential care.

Normally there aren’t many surprises, but this time we were taken aback to find a Unicorn.

Perspective is important, of course – from the side and rear it looks quite mythological. Only head-on is it clear that this poor oryx has lost one of his pair of antlers.

The designers of the walk put a lot of emphasis on education, and much of it is pitched at younger visitors. Some of the sign boards are quite humourous. One, explaining the differences between primates, monkeys and humans, says that primates get around on all fours or their hind legs, monkeys swing and scamper in the trees, while humans use matatus (the infamous Nairobi minibus taxi).

Other displays, like the one shown here, let children and interested adults answer questions and check they have the answers right on the reverse of a spinning board.

The walk is inexpensive – $10 for a tourist adult, 300 KSh ($5) for a resident adult, and small change for a citizen. Visitors used to be forced to check any food they had with them in at the office, but today (the May Day holiday) we saw dozens of visitors with picnics.

The tickets, clearly borrowed from the park next door, offer helpful advice, such as not to “drive round” at more than 40kph and not to misuse your horn. Someone should have told that oryx.

Sweetwaters game reserve 17 April, 2008

Jane’s birthday today, so we set off today for three nights at Sweetwaters Camp, in a private game reserve west of Nanyuki, roughly between Mt Kenya and the Aberdares. It’s around four hours leisurely drive from Nairobi. We made it all the way with a chocolate birthday cake intact, a small complication to the travel and a secret which the children found great fun.

Sweetwaters has some history to it – there is a European oak on site planted by Edward Prince of Wales. It was once owned by businessman Tiny Rowland. The Serene Hotels chain now runs the luxury tented camp. They do a good job. The quality of the construction and upkeep is excellent, and the staff training is second to none that we have experienced in Kenya. Better, a considerable amount of effort has gone into making sure the camp supports the ecological conservation of the game reserve.

The waterhole which the tents overlook has a resident population of storks, cranes, ibis and impala, and is visited by zebra, giraffe, gazelle and warthogs. The park has a still-wider population, including all the Kenyan ‘big five’, and is a bird-watcher’s paradise. (See the gallery for some more shots.)

More on the trip tomorrow.