Gede Ruins
Gede Ruins is a 12th Century Swahili village that was mysteriously abandoned
some 600 years ago due to unknown causes. It is now a National Museum, and the
ruins are heavily overgrown with beautiful indigenous forest trees, baobabs and
tamarind.
Well worth a walk and a visit. Look out for Syke's Monkeys, and the Golden
Rumped Elephant Shrew can also be seen here. A quiet, careful look in some of
the old wells can turn out the odd owl, too.
Kipepeo Butterfly Project
Right at the entrance to Gede Ruins is the Kipepeo Butterfly Project. This
innovatiove project is aimed at giving the forest edge communities opportunities
to get an income directly from the forest, by live breeding the unique butterflies
of the Arabuko-Sokoke forest, and sending them to live butterfly display centres
around the world.
The project has led to a large increase in household incomes in those households
participating in the project, and since butterflies are shortlived and hard to
breed abroad, the market is quite reliable. |
