Heavy rains destroy acacia trees in Tseikuru

Heavy rains pounded Tseikuru this week, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

Most of the damaged trees were acacia.

The Kamanga-Nziitu River had many trees immersed as others blocked its path.

In Muuna, a house belonging to one resident named Musyoka was hit by a giant acacia tree. The tree destroyed the fence too.

Mwingi Times has not established whether the owner was inside during the Tuesday torrent.

It is worth noting that acacia are not your ordinary trees. They have high quality wood that makes charcoal, kilns in brick making and fencing.

The acacia also take a very long time to mature meaning their destruction leaves many years of deforestation.

There has been some regulations on exploitation of acacia trees by the government. In far flung areas of Kyamututa and Mbundu, trucks come to the region to ferry charcoal. They are driven by foreigners.

This, they do at a throw-away price. Sometimes, a 50kg sack goes for as little as Sh600.

When Mwingi Times visited the area in June this year, it spotted a saloon car meandering in the thickets of Masyungwa location looking for charcoal.

“They are coming to fetch our charcoal at cheap prices”, said one resident who opted to speak anonymously given the sensitivity of the topic.

Asked how they managed to sell the charcoal yet there were police roadblocks across Mwingi-Garissa road that links up from Nairobi, the local said that they cope by bribing the police.

There is need to invest in modern ways of fencing rather than relying on acacia trees to set boundaries. One way of doing so is by using barbed wires and chain link. One can use milk-producing trees locally called Ndau which are evergreen and they are effective in preventing trespassers.

A fenced compound is a guarantee for high yielding grass and groundcover which helps in livestock keeping.

Ordinarily, Kamanga-Nziitu River has high volume of water that is swept to Tana River, the largest river in Kenya. Some of the logs swept from the upper parts of Tseikuru found their way to Tana River.

Story by MUSYOKA NGUI