Geography Year 11 Karura River Studies Trip

“Take nothing except memories and leave nothing except footprints”.

Mr Kimani began the trip with a memorable quote. We were first introduced to our walking guides Titus and Arnold. Then we took a walk through the beautiful forest to the river. We began our measurements upstream at the alluring waterfall. Everyone got into the water to take part as a group. We began by measuring the depth of the river followed by its gradient. Then collected pebbles and used a clinometer and power scale index to identify a trend in the discharge at each point within the river.

Followed by the velocity of the river which was the most entertaining activity. A tennis ball is used as a float between a10m distances and then timed to see how long it took to travel between the two points.. It got a bit messy trying to catch the ball if you missed it and it drifted downstream. The coordination and teamwork involved was very impressive.

Afterwards, we took a brief lunch break and proceeded to vegetation studies. Using a footpath, we measured the amount of vegetation cover further away from the foot path within 10m. Majority found this task the most complicated which required a lot more teamwork than expected. Unfortunately due to time we had to head back to school. By the end of the trip most people were exhausted and fell asleep on the bus. It was definitely a very educational experience especially alongside the guidance of Mr Kimani.

“Geography is everything, and everything is geography”, Mr John Kimani the Geographer.

Reported by: Abigail O.