Loita Forest

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The Loita Forest, also known as the Loita Naimina Enkiyio Forest or the Forest of the Lost Child, is an upland community forest directly adjacent to the plains of the Masai Mara and the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. [1]

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It is one of the few forests in Kenya not yet subject to surveyal, but is estimated to cover an area of about 330 square kilometers. [2] The forest contains a wide array of flora and fauna and has been noted as providing "great cultural and spiritual value to the local communities living adjacent, especially the Loita Maasai". [3]

Geography and ecosystem

Loita Naimina Enkiyo Forest ranges 330 square kilometers or 33,000 hecatres and is located about 50 kilometers east of the Maasai Mara National Park in Kenya, [4] being contained within 2 divisions of Narok district: Entasekera and Olorote and within the Loita Division. [5] It is located at about 2,300 meters above sea level It is part of a larger forest system in Narok County known as the Mau Forest Complex, the largest closed-canopy forest system in Kenya. [6] The area completely lacks roads, making it some of the most remote areas for Maasai clans. [7]

The forest has been described as a "dry upland forest" [8] and an "old-growth cloud forest", with prevalent tree species including cedar and podocarpus trees, [Note 1] as high at 40m high including . At higher elevations, bamboo (including Yushania alpina) thrives, while bushes and shrubs can be found in the thicker forest areas. [8]

As many as 50 species of mammals can be found in the Loita forest, including elephants, [9] buffalo, hippo, antelopes, [10] lions and leopards, [1] primates. [11] The most recorded species of mammal in one study was the bushbuck, a medium-sized African antelope. [11]

Name and history

The translation of "Forest of the Lost Child" is based on a Maasai legend about a young girl. According to the legend, the girl was taking care of some animal calves when some of them got loose and wandered into the forest. The girl went into the forest to find them. The calves eventually returned home without her. Family members and Maasai warriors marched through the forest to find her, but the girl never came out.[ citation needed ]

Researchers believe that the Loita Maasi have been using the Loita Forest for significant periods of time for "grazing, firewood, building poles and water, medicinal plants and ceremonial sites". [8]

The forest was featured on an episode of The Wild Thornberrys which was called "Naimina Enkiyio." In the episode, three Maasai children tell Eliza Thornberry about the legend with further details, such as the existence of a monster who supposedly grabbed the young girl, dragged her to its hiding place and never let her go. They also spoke of the existence of a muddy pool that pulls the victim in and drowns them, and of the existence of giant warriors in the forest who pounce on their victims, kill them and then cannibalize them. However, the episode lists the location as Tanzania, not Kenya, though the Loita Forest itself is in Kenya. However, Maasai Land is divided between the two countries, and the story of the Lost Girl ("Entito Naimina") or Lost Child ("Enkiyio Naimina") is well known throughout all sections of Maasai Land.[ citation needed ]

Loita High School, the only secondary school in Entasekera Area and the entire Loita Division is also found in the big southern part of the Loita Forest. Jeremiah Ole Moonka is the school administrator.[ citation needed ]

Notes

References

  1. 1 2 Lewis, Nell (2024-08-09). "This remote, mystical forest has been protected for centuries. Now it's under threat". CNN. Retrieved 2024-11-25.
  2. ↑ "Conflict over the Management of the Loita Forest in Kenya | Climate-Diplomacy". climate-diplomacy.org. 1992-01-01. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  3. ↑ Francis, Karanja; Tessema, Yemeserach; Barrow, Edmund (December 2002). "Equity in the Loita/Purko Naimina Enkiyio Forest in Kenya: Securing Maasai Rights to and Responsibilities for the Forest" (PDF). IUCN.
  4. ↑ "Land subdivision threatens survival of Maasai community forest". IFAW. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  5. ↑ Wily, Liz; Mbaya, Sue (2001). Land, People, and Forests in Eastern and Southern Africa at the Beginning of the 21st Century: The Impact of Land Relations on the Role of Communities in Forest Future. IUCN. p. 134. ISBN   2831705991.
  6. ↑ Kazungu, Washe; Baba, Check Abdel Kader; Onura, William; Klümper, Frederike (January 2024). "Opportunities for enhancing recognition of tenure rights for community forests: The case of Loita Community Forest in Narok County, Kenya" (PDF). TMG Think Tank for Sustainability.
  7. ↑ Lewis, Nell (2024-08-09). "This remote, mystical forest has been protected for centuries. Now it's under threat". CNN. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  8. 1 2 3 Mbuvi, Musingo Tito E.; Kungu, James B.; Gachathi, Francis N.; Leley, Chemeku; Muthini, Joseph (Mar 2019). "Annonated checklist of plant species of Loita Forest (Entim e Naimina Enkiyio Forest or the forest of the lost child), Narok County, Kenya" (PDF). International Journal of Advanced Research in Biological Sciences. 6 (3): 54–110.
  9. ↑ Bolles, Claire (2023-03-23). "Isiah, the New Collared Elephant in Loita". Mara Elephant Project. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  10. ↑ "Conservation from behind the lens | New Internationalist". newint.org. 2022-07-25. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
  11. 1 2 Broekhuis, Femke; O'Meara, Robert H.; O'Meara, Sarah; Barton, Michael; Harrell, Christopher; Western, Guy; Elliot, Nicholas B. (29 November 2018). "An assessment of mammals in Naimina Enkiyio Forest, Kenya". African Forest of Ecology. 56 (4): 755–758. Bibcode:2018AfJEc..56..755B. doi:10.1111/aje.12532 – via Wiley Online.

Further reading

01°30′S35°40′E / 1.500°S 35.667°E / -1.500; 35.667

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