BORANA
The list of trees gives an outline of the abundant different species that occur around Borana Lodge. To date, we have recorded 48 different indigenous species.
In our library, we have reference books to inform you about the many handsome and interesting plants growing around the Lodge.
All the firewood for the Lodge comes to us courtesy of elephants. What they destroy we chop up to keep us warm.
A long slender-branched "wait-a-bit" thorn that sends out its long slim branches covered with hooked thorns that make walking difficult. The tiny leaves are a favourite fodder for the greater kudu.
The "Whistling Thorn". There is a magnificent specimen at Ngare Ndare that is of record size with a trunk about eighteen inches in diameter. The usual trunk is about two inches thick.
Another "wait-a-bit" thorn. It sometimes grows in thickets where lion like to hide. When it is in blossom, the white flowers make its rounded bushy tops look like old men's heads. The bees then have a great harvest to make Kenya's best honey.
The tree that supplies "gum arabic". This gum is widely harvested by the desert tribesmen.
Grows in the lower country and often shows the most dramatic colours in its bark that range from yellow through to an astonishingly bright brick red. These colours are caused by fungous growths and vary in intensity seasonally.
The finest of the great spreading flat top thorn trees. The trunk is black and seedpods are twisted and are much loved by all the animals. The Elephants shake the pods down and lesser animals hurry around for their share.
The yellow thorn or "fever tree" is a magnificent, tall, yellow-trunked tree. It obtained its name of "fever tree" because it likes to grow near water and that is where one is apt to be bitten by mosquitoes.
The "poison arrow" tree. A concoction of the twigs and leaves produces a dark gum that is a lethal poison for arrows.
A tall tree of the river valleys.
The dried fruits of this tree are never allowed to mature at Borana because baboons eat them first. The dried fruit is called “The Desert Date”, and the unripe fruit “Egyptian Myrobalan”. The kernel yields an oil called “Zachum”, which was possibly an ingredient in the spikenard mentioned in the scriptures. This useful fruit is used to kill the snails that are the host of the bilharzia parasites and also the Cyclopts flea, which is the carrier of Guinea-worm disease. Although these fruits are not toxic to humans or animals: they can be used to poison fish. This is a fine example of Mother Nature's great bounty to mankind. The massive damage to these trees over the last five years by elephants is clear proof that elephants have not been residents here for many years. Giraffes also are co-villains in the damage.
The purple flowering "Cape Chestnut". This tree grows in the highlands of Africa all way from Cape Town to Addis Ababa.
"Lamuria". A thorny bush with a fragrant, pinky white flower.
"Miraa" or "Khat". The chewed leaves and twigs are a much-valued stimulant. Tons of it are flown out of Nairobi each morning to Miraa addicts in North Kenya and Somalia.
A tree that is common around the Lodge. This tree is highly fire resistant. The distribution of all the plants and trees in this area is based on whether or not they survive the fires that occasionally sweep through all the grasslands in Kenya. We have surrounded the whole ridge on which the Lodge stands with firebreaks. In the long term, there will be a change of vegetation as plants and trees that are fire resistant colonise the area. These new plants will, in turn, encourage new birds and beasts to come and feed on them.
There are many species - the common one here is "Comiphera africana", from which is obtained the myrrh of frankincense and myrrh; the gift of the three kings.
A handsome tree with white flowers. The timber is a high quality cabinet-making wood called "Muringa".
The large "Cabbage tree". Its leaves are good fodder, and salt and feed troughs are carved from its soft wood.
The white or pinkish white flowering tree just below the Lodge.
A palm-like tree growing in the rocks on the steep hills.
An interesting small tree that has a unique capacity to colonise bare or rocky ground. It is fire resistant and its hard, straight stems make fine building poles.
A many-branched, dark green, leafed tree that is fire resistant. If thinned out and single stemmed, it will grown into a fine shade tree.
The most easily recognized euphorbia. It can grow into a large tree. In some areas farmers create strong live fences by planting the branches in a line. People are apt to call trees of this family 'cactus', but there is only one true cactus in Africa and that is a tiny plant.
This is the "Euphorbia" growing around the Lodge. Beware of its sharp spines. Also beware of the white milk that seeps from a cut in its branches. If any of this gets in your eye, the best known palliative for the severe pain is an eye bath in fresh blood!
The large, dark green African wild fig tree. Some of these trees are sacred to the local tribesmen. When they are fruiting, green pigeons and starlings flock in to eat the small fruit.
A rare, large leafed fig tree that grows along the lower reaches of the Ngare Ndare River. This tree is much loved by baboons for its yellow, fig-like fruit.
The "red pencil cedar". Classically, all the best pencils were made from this wood and the older generations are familiar with the aromatic scent of its shavings. All the major woodwork in the Lodge is made from this wood. It was harvested from long dead trees in the neighbouring state forest reserves. These were killed more than fifty years ago by the massive locust swarms that used to sweep down from the north. They came in such numbers that their sheer weight broke branches off and the trees died. The wood of their trunks is so durable and resistant to termites that they have stood like monuments to the past for the last fifty years. The timbers in the Lodge have mainly come from trees that have fallen, as the standing ones are not suppose to be cut. It is interesting that the Food and Agricultural Organization of United Nations has had such success in killing desert locusts while they are in the "hopper" stage that we have not seen a severe locust swarm for many years.
The "German sausage tree". A favourite tree for anyone who needs to climb to safety, or for a high viewpoint. It is easy to climb and its branches do not break. One can stand up looking over its topmost branches.
A tree much loved by leopards for they can easily and securely hide their kills in the dark shady tops of these trees. It is reputed that Lomilogo seeds will only germinate after they have passed through the gut of a Rhino. The other favourite is the Boscia angustifolia and in many of these trees on Borana you may find old remnants of leopard kills, or even – if you are lucky – a fresh kill.
The "Brown Olive" is a long-lived tree that can survive fierce fires. Its wood is hard and heavy and its strong fruit give a bitter flavor to the wild pigeons that feed there. Beside the Rhino Gap escarpment track are the standing trunks of long dead olive trees. In these trunks are many holes into which African pedestrians long ago put their prayer stones. These stones are symbols of their hopes of not being charged by rhinos. Sixty years later, they are still there. One valley on the ranch is called the Wishing Tree Valley.
The "Wild Date Palm". This grows along the river valleys on the ranch.
The "Podo" is a magnificent dark green evergreen tree growing rarely along the Ngare Ndare River.
A strong, thick-trunked tree growing along the Ngare Ndare River. It has a fine grained wood like walnut and fruits that stain ones lips purple.