A Dog's Paradise
If you visit in the early morning, you'll likely be greeted before you reach the first row of trees — usually by Kale, a shaggy black street dog who has appointed himself unofficial warden of the site. The forest has become a favourite haunt for the neighbourhood's dogs, who patrol the shaded paths, doze in the cool hollows between saplings, and supervise every planting day with great seriousness. Local residents say the dogs arrived almost as soon as the first trees did, drawn by the shade and the quiet away from the traffic. The community has embraced them: water bowls appear along the fence line in the dry season, and no volunteer lunch break passes without a few hopeful faces waiting patiently at the edge of the tarpaulin. In a city that can be hard on its street dogs, this small patch of green has become something of a refuge — proof that an urban forest shelters far more than birds.
