Once Upon Time, It Was A River
That’s right, the river I once knew 14 years ago is now gone and left behind a very beautiful gorge.
Back when I was still at school, we could visit this river to have some fun, try fishing, hiking, among others. It had huge volumes of water and had no sign of vanishing anytime soon. The water was super clean, this explains the presence of fish especially the mudfish. It was one of the main water sources for the community nearby.
Lack of rain is one of the causes of the disappearance of this magnificent river. Nakuru has not been receiving rains like before whereby, it may be dry for a long time then abruptly receive very heavy rains within a short time. The area has poor soils that are not able to store water hence losing it as soon as it rains. The area is heavily industrialized hence most of its vegetation has been cleared out.
The areas around this area are no longer the big farms but now small human settlements. More people have settled into the area and replaced the vegetation with buildings. The area has developed but at a cost. Maybe the occupants were not well equipped on how to integrate development and nature. It was necessary to clear everything while settling down.
On the bright side, the gorge left behind has a beautiful environment for hiking and learning. I was able to see a very healthy beehive that seemed to have never been disturbed. The bees were very quiet, you could easily miss them out. The vegetation was greener than the ones outside and the atmosphere was much cooler and cleaner. The scorching sun was very minimal inside there. It did host several bird species but I was not able to spot any animals while hiking through.
As much as I was happy to enjoy the gorge, I was a sad person for the loss of the river. The kids who are currently schooling at my former school may never get to know that there was a river by their school. For once I was to vividly get an idea of how our future generation will go through if we fail to stop the extinction of various species of both flora and fauna. They will never get to enjoy nature and worst of all suffer severe climate change.
We need to plant more trees and make it a culture, trees should be part of our lives.
It’s a collective force and everyone has a part to play. Let’s all take our positions and respect mother nature by eliminating our harmful activities to the environment. We only have one planet and it needs us like never before, it has worked its best to overcome the threats we present to it but it’s slowly giving up. But it’s never too late to salvage whatever is remaining. We just need to make a little effort and nature will heal itself. It’s a win-win situation.
