Members of FdN/fPcN visited the Ogiek in the Mau Forest in December 2009 and January 2010 and again lent them a helping hand. It is all or nothing for the Ogiek these days and they urgently need help to sustain & retain their habitat, culture and even themselves. The reason for the concern showing on the faces of the Ogiek is the offensive large scale operation of the Kenyan government to save! the remaining Mau forest. Odd because this is what the Ogiek want too. For decades, the desire of the Ogiek has been to protect the forest in the valleys, which is their habitat & homeland, from illegal logging, degradation and from the migration of unauthorized Kenyan peoples, looking to settle in the area. Additionally, they now fear that that the new nature conservation initiative will disposes the Ogiek because the forested highlands of the Mau area, with their important water sources are to be turned into a "protected area", with people being excluded.

Mon, 11/19/2007: A LOW FOG ENVELOPES the steep and remote valleys of southwestern Uganda most mornings, as birds found only in this small corner of the continent rise in chorus and the great apes drink from clear streams. Days in the dense montane forest are quiet and steamy. Nights are an exaltation of insects and primate howling. For thousands of years the Batwa people thrived in this soundscape, in such close harmony with the forest that early-twentieth-century wildlife biologists who studied the flora and fauna of the region barely noticed their existence.