Suyian Soul

The colours of the whistling thorn’s galls are a fascinating purple, iridescent blues from which emerge deep reds, when the sun is low in the horizon. We are trapesing around in the black cotton soil of Laikipia, with ethnobotanist Ann Powys at Suyian Soul, the wildlife sanctuary and ranch she calls home.

She captivates us by pointing out red, black bottomed ants who are milking a small herd of aphids. We can see the aphids which feed on sap, being stroked by the ants with their antennae. This encourages the aphids to secrete honeydew, which the ants lap up. Ants lay their eggs in the galls of the plant and with their acrid formic acid secretions deter moths and butterflies from feeding on the leaves of acacia, Vachellia drepanolobium. In areas with no ants, the plant grows no galls. Ants seem to trigger gall production.

Only one blue butterfly, is allowed to land on the plant to lay its eggs under the leaves. Lycaenid is not affected, she says. Ants don’t release their formic acid in its presence. Because in this symbiotic relationship, the ants juice an enzyme from its larvae, without killing them. Plants also have their methods and no one is completely safe. They exude acrid tannins to warn their families that a browser is about. These tannins change the taste of the leaves to make them less delicious so the hapless browser who came in with the wind, just moves on. The disappearing Patas monkey however, has a special relationship with the whistling thorn. It feeds on the gum exuded by the plant and opens the galls to eat the ants, without harming the tree.

We move on to other plants and their uses for other creatures including humans. So many plants here are revered as medicines by local tribes. Traditionally, the Samburu have used the Acacia Nilotica for tea to help digestive disturbances. The Gikuyu, the Warburgia ugandensis, for its antibiotic effects on chest infection. The Turkana, Pokot, Samburu and Maasai will not go on a long journey without spitting on and carrying a staff of Euclea divinorum, which has sacred status due to its highly medicinal roots and root bark.

Many useful plants we know of and many we know little of, are facing extinction. Scientists tell us the world is 1.1 degree warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution, due to our use of coal, oil and gas. If the world reaches 2 degrees above preindustrial levels we will see cataclysmic changes in the environment. The Greenland ice sheet will melt and we will see a six foot rise in sea level, enough to swamp most coastline settlements.

We stop at a cave which has been

THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE CLOCKWISE: Laikipia; Ants milking aphids; Ann with a prehistoric tool; Hornbill in Laikipia; Medicines from the local area

inhabited by different people over the centuries. There have been shorter and taller bones found along with cave art and more recent artefacts. Evidence of conquests and migrations. Indigenous wisdom has suffered due to the lack of the written word which made military prowess and other related developments like fortresses, armour and technology easier to commission. In interviews with indigenous people, reports showed that tribal peoples understand why we are facing extinction. Their local knowledge of species balance may be the key to much of the work needed to be done in coming years.

Siham Drissi from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said “Biodiversity loss and climate change in combination to unsustainable management of resources are pushing spaces around the world, from forests, to rivers to savannahs to breaking point. We absolutely need to protect preserve and promote traditional knowledge, customary sustainable use and expertise of indigenous communities if we want to halt the damage we’re doing and ultimately save ourselves.

From the insect repellent leaves of the Teclea that were embedded in mud walls, to the root decoction that digests meat really fast and leaves that were used for cleansing food gourds, if you have any such knowledge from your grandparents and their parents, it may be your duty to pass it on. Tell your children and you might just save, a species.