Page 101 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 5
P. 101
AFRIKA IS GOD’S
in helping restore life to the then
barren landscape. Out of 26 Dr. Haller and his team also
plants, only 3 survived, and out planted hundreds of indigenous
of those three, the Casuarina plants then monkeys, birds and
was selected. insects moved into the now
During a tour of the park and habitable area and eventually
Butterfly Pavilion at the Nature Dr. Haller introduced Oryx and
Trails many years ago, I was told eland which were adapted to the
that one of the challenges they harsh climate.
faced was that there was no
ground cover that could allow Over time Haller Park also be-
the soil to retain water. The Ca- came home to orphaned ani-
suarina is naturally designed to mals and animals displaced by
withstand hardship because of flooding, and grew into an in-
its narrow leaves, which also fall teresting attraction - shelter for
to the ground when dry and form the animals on one hand which
a protective layer on the ground, was funded by the curiosity and
preventing excessive moisture interest of nature enthusiasts raculous cycle of regeneration..." It
loss. This allows the ground and students, on the other. One goes on to say that, "Man had tak-
some much-needed time to heal can now feed giraffes pellets by en life from the land. But now man
and transform. hand or observe Oryx and Hippo had used nature to return it."
feeding side by side as the play-
But, these leaves/needles were ful, opportunistic Vervet mon- A few weeks ago, I watched a
seemingly indestructible; noth- keys snatch up the tasty snacks, neighbor's hired grader, destroy
ing seemed to be able to break and stuff their cheeks with them. rock and plant life that had been
them down. And then one day, Those are probably the healthi- there for who knows how long... in
Dr. Haller happened upon one est monkeys in Mombasa, with just a few minutes. Man's capacity
of those delightfully large black the easiest food supply there is. to destroy and uproot in the name
millipedes, chomping away at of profit has been tremendous. If
the leaves. The combination of According to the Haller Founda- only more of us had the hunger and
it eating the leaves and leaving tion website, Haller Park is now desire to return to practices that
behind its waste, allowed the "home to a million trees, mon- actually are regenerative in nature.
leaves to be broken down into keys, birds and insects. 30 spe- If only more of us acted on that
material that could be used by cies identified by the Internation- hunger and desire. We can change
other plant life to grow. Dr. Haller al Union for the Conservation of things. We just need to actually get
brought in hundreds of these Nature (IUCN) as endangered up and change things.
guys and they got to work break- flora and fauna can also be
ing down the needles and creat- found there, symbolizing a mi-
ing a pile of humus that in a de-
cade was almost twelve inches
thick. The perfect environment
for greater biodiversity as the
Casuarinas began to naturally
extend their territory across the
park, some reaching heights of
20 to 30 meters, with 2.4 me-
ter thick trunks. All of this hap-
pening over a few decades. As
they spread, some among them
reached their peak and began to
fall to ground, creating wonder-
fully rich environments for other
life to thrive and flourish.
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