Mukurweini valleys (6396)
Kenya, Africa

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Year of last assessment: 2011

National site name: Mukurweini valleys

Central coordinates: Latitude: -0.5980, Longitude: 36.9950

System: terrestrial

Elevation (m): 1300 to 1600

Area of KBA (km²): 1117.38143

Protected area coverage (%): 0.39

KBA classification: Global/Regional TBD

Legacy site: Yes

Site details

Site description: This IBA consists of often deep and broad-bottomed stream and river valleys with Lantana thickets, on the lower south-east slopes of the Aberdare mountains (IBA KE001), in the upper catchment of the Tana river. The area of the IBA cannot be precisely defined without further survey work, but it includes at least 20,000 ha in the catchments of the Ruarai, Tambaya, Thiha and Sagana rivers on either side of the Thangathi–Kanunga road near Mukurweini town. This is a zone of high agricultural potential and is intensively cultivated, the major crops including coffee, maize and arrowroot. Little natural vegetation remains in most places, apart from scattered indigenous trees such as Newtonia buchananii and Ficus thoningii. Thickets of the exotic Lantana camara occur at the edges of cultivation, in fallow farmland and unweeded coffee plantations, and in inaccessible river valleys.

Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance because it meets one or more previously established criteria and thresholds for identifying sites of biodiversity importance (including Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, and Key Biodiversity Areas) KBA identified in the process of compiling the CEPF Ecosystem Profile of the East Afromontane Hotspot. Species taxonomy and threat category was based on IUCN Red List 2010-4.

Additional biodiversity: See Box and Table 2 for key species. Turdoides hindei, a threatened Kenya endemic with a very restricted range, occurs at relatively high densities (4.7 birds/km of watercourse; population estimated at 380 birds in 88 groups). It is confined to the valleys, with group territories centred on patches of the exotic shrub Lantana, which the babblers depend on for shelter and nest sites. Other bird species are typical of forest edge and scrub habitats in the central Kenya highlands, but species diversity in this agricultural landscape is low. Non-bird biodiversity: None known to BirdLife International.

Delineation rationale: 2013-07-10 (BL Secretariat): following CEPF East Afromontane ecosystem profiling process, the reported IBA area of 30000 ha has been changed to 110000 ha (as measured in GIS from latest boundary polygon, rounded to nearest 10%).

Habitats

Land use: agriculture

IUCN Habitat	Coverage %	Habitat detail
Savanna	50
Artificial - Terrestrial	50

Threats

Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: This is one of the few areas where Turdoides hindei occurs in reasonable numbers. Further survey work is required to discover the limits of its distribution. Conservation issues are similar to those described for the Kianyaga valleys (IBA KE003): the babblers depend on small thickets of the exotic Lantana camara for shelter and nest sites, and fewer and fewer refuges are available as the human population grows and pressure on the land increases. Unlike Kianyaga, birds are not extensively hunted in Mukurweini, but the effect of human disturbance on nesting success may still be considerable. One privately owned bird sanctuary, Wajee Camp (10 ha), already exists, with Turdoides hindei a major visitor attraction.

Threat level 1	Threat level 2	Threat level 3	Timing
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops	Small-holder farming	Ongoing
Agriculture & aquaculture	Wood & pulp plantations	Small-holder plantations	Ongoing
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching	Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Ongoing

Additional information