With A Rocha at Mida Creek

Mary and Ted, Volunteers at A Rocha, had been asked to go to Mida Creek and look at the signs there with a view to re-doing them as they were a bit tatty and out-of-date. We were invited to go with them which was a great opportunity to see this amazing area, which is East Africa's largest mangrove creek and a vital part of the marine eco-system in the Watamu / Sokoke World Biosphere Zone.

Mangroves are trees that are able to survive inundation by salt water twice a day, and in soil which is unstable and poor in oxygen. They also have to deal with the swollen river carrying silt during the wet season, as well as violent storms that hit the coast.

All mangrove trees expel some salt at root level, and can tolerate salt in their tissues in quantities that would kill other plants. Although mangrove trees are adapted to grow in salt water, they still require regular flushing with freshwater and will die if immersed in saltwater all the time.

We saw the different types of root: Avicennia - shallow cable roots spreading out from the trunk. Bruguiera - knee roots, that emerge from the ground then loop back in. Rhizophora which send out roots from their trunk and branches arching down to the ground for extra support and air absorption.

The mangrove roots provide a rich source of nutrients for the fish, crabs, shrimp and oysters found in this area. These fish and crustaceans then provide the food for Mida's famous bird population and the local villages, completing the food chain.

We were shown around by a guide, Sahid, who took us on the boardwalk, constructed so visitors could view the Mangroves without damaging them.

He pointed out a number of birds too and we enjoyed sitting in the bird hide viewing the vast sand flat where the tide had gone out. We then walked onto the sand for further bird spotting but had to turn back due to the intensity of the midday sun.

Here a flock of Sacred Ibis flies overhead.

We also saw Three-banded Plover, Little Egret, Yellow-billed Stork, Woolly-necked Stork and Greater Flamingo.

Mida Creek is a key stop-over and non-breeding site for migrating birds. It offers the ideal resting and feeding location for birds migrating from Europe, Asia and the Middle East to eastern and southern Africa. The birds re-fuel on the variety of invertebrate food items buried in the muddy sandflats at low tide and roost on the exposed sandbanks and on the mangroves at high tide.

The creek habitats are threatened by over-fishing, over-extraction of groundwater and over-harvesting of mangrove poles. If you'd like to know more about Mida Creek click on this link:

http://www.assets-kenya.org/midacreek.htm