A mysterious pond in Kakamega rainforest, Kenya
Apr 29, 2022 • 6:24 AM UTC
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Microorganisms
ilikecookiee
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“We don’t get many visitors here. When people come to Kenya, they just want to see the big animals. They all go to safaris. But for me, the rainforest is much more interesting. I’ve been a guide here for almost 30 years. If more people visited, we would have more funds for preservation. We already lost so much rainforest. This is now the ONLY tropical rainforest in Kenya.” Words from our amazing guide, Solomon.
The rainforest was beyond fascinating. Solomon knew the names (Both the scientific name and the common name!! And he spelled out the scientific names for me so I could note them down) of EVERY SINGLE TREE we saw. There was Trichilia emetica, the bark of which locals use to treat stomach issues and gonorrhea. There was Croton macrostachyus , which is traditionally used to treat Typhoid. There was Yucca, the most common plant in the forest, the roots of which are SO good at water absorption that, according to Solomon, they’re the reason the rainforest doesn’t have mosquitoes (because the water is always uptaken too quickly after rainfall for mosquitoes to hatch)! Can confirm, no bites! And there were many, many more…
But of course, this is a microcosmos post. At the end of our hike, I asked: “What’s covering that little pond over there?”
But of course, this is a microcosmos post. At the end of our hike, I asked: “What’s covering that little pond over there?”
And it was the one question Solomon didn’t know the answer to, because “it doesn’t look like the type of algae we typically get here”.
We decided to make use of our empty water bottle to take a small sample from this mysterious pond. Correct us if we’re wrong, but we think Solomon answered the one question he thought he couldn’t answer, correctly! It looks like the green stuff is watermeal, not algae~ And, even without our Foldscope, we could see that the pond water is teeming with life!
We decided to make use of our empty water bottle to take a small sample from this mysterious pond. Correct us if we’re wrong, but we think Solomon answered the one question he thought he couldn’t answer, correctly! It looks like the green stuff is watermeal, not algae~ And, even without our Foldscope, we could see that the pond water is teeming with life!
We put a drop of the water under the Foldscope, and it is indeed teeming with life. Neither I nor Ezekiel are very experienced with species identification, but from the first video, we concluded the micro-organisms really enjoy making a good meal out of the watermeal, and from the second video we’re guessing that we’re seeing a large nematode? and perhaps some flatworms/large ciliates?
I agree with Solomon. Rainforests and all the wonders it houses – from the famous 800 year old GIANT Olea capensis to these cute little organisms whose names are, for the time being, unknown to our little group – are much more interesting. 🙂
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Wikipedia page for Kakamega: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakamega_Forest
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Wikipedia page for Kakamega: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakamega_Forest
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