About
The Friends of Karura Forest (FKF) is a Community Forest Association founded in October 2009 which transformed Karura from a dangerous no-go zone into one of Kenya’s most popular recreation areas attracting over 75,000 visits a month.
Our Mission and Impact
FKF aims to protect Karura, restore its natural ecosystem, provide access to the public, and create employment for neighbouring communities. This is all managed through a legally binding joint Forest Management Agreement (2021 – 2041) with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) which makes FKF a full partner in the management and conservation of Karura Forest Reserve.
Key Milestones
The forest’s renewal is all thanks to private funding and citizen involvement. Our achievements include:
- Security & Infrastructure: Constructed an electric fence round the forest, initially recruited and trained 24 forest scouts, built entry gateways, toilets and parking areas and developed 60 kilometres of maintained tracks and trails.
- Financial Self-Sufficiency: Within one year of reopening in 2010, the forest became financially self-sufficient through entrance and service fees.
- Trail blazer: A leading light among the over 250 Community Forest Associations working with KFS
- Restoration Success: We led a massive indigenous tree re-planting effort, increasing Karura’s indigenous vegetation cover from 25% in 2009 to more than 40% today.
- Research projects: These include archaeological digs, carbon sequestration investigations and inventories of flora and fauna.
- Biodiversity: Over 120 Colobus monkeys were successfully reintroduced, joining over 560 species of plants and 230 species of birds.
- Employment: Permanent and casual employment opportunities including security scouts and maintenance crews for local communities.
- Education: Thousands of schoolchildren visit Karura each year on guided natural history outings.
Empowering local communities
FKF is committed to sharing the forest’s benefits with its neighbours. Funds raised through bike hire, cafes, and membership fees directly support local communities and recently included:
- 293 Secondary School Bursaries for local children in the 2023–2025 period.
- 1,137 Forestry Contracts empowering local communities in restoration work.
- 10 registered groups actively engaged in forest stewardship/guardianship.
The partnership between FKF and KFS is a success story of participatory forest management – proving the power of community action in protecting vital natural resources.
