Bringing Water to Kasaani Village
Category: Community Conservation | Date: Jul 02 2009 | By: gvikenya
After months of planning, liaising and meetings, the outcome that we have all been working torwards for the ex-poachers and indeed their whole community of Kasaani village looks like it will finally become a reality! Following a meeting with Taveta District Council’s Community Development Fund yesterday, GVI Kenya are on course to help construct a water pipeline to bring drinking water directly to the village of Kasaani.
For over 10 years the community of Kasaani has struggled without water in their village; the absence of a water supply has meant that families in this community trek over 3km to obtain drinking water for their homes each day. Not only is this a tiring journey for all of those, including children, who have to make the uphill trip back to Kasaani carrying 20 litre containers of water, it also detracts from the time these families have available to devote to income generating activities and subsistence farming. The significance of this for the conservation of Tsavo West’s wildlife lies in the fact that many within the community had formerly relied upon the illegal poaching of wildlife to supply the bush meat trade in order to earn an income and feed their families. We have been working towards alternative livelihoods for them to subsitute the income they had derived from poaching and bringing a much needed water supply to the community not only rewards them for their commitment to this process but will actively support their ability to engage in these sustainable alternatives. This pipeline also has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life of all the people in Kasaani, as well as surrounding villages.
Although GVI has been working with the CDF over the past four months to find a feasible way to deliver a reliable supply of water to Kasaani, it was not until a few weeks ago that a viable proposal was established to deliver good quality drinking water to Kasaani from a pre-existing bore hole. This paves the way for a working partnership between GVI and Taveta District Council; construction of the pipeline is set to begin in August of this year.
Tags: alternative livelihoods, kasaani, sustainable development, taveta district council, tsavo west national park, water access
Bushbaby Returns
Category: bush baby | Date: Jun 12 2009 | By: gvikenya
Hi there, a while ago we were blogging about our midnight feasters… up to 3 bushbabies that climbed through our kitchen window under the cover of darkness to share our bananas! One of them was missing one his front legs which may be why he was such a common visitor for some easy pickings, but remained agile enough to leap around the kitchen with banana in mouth - he or she (they move too quick to be able to work out!) was named Yardy after a few suggestions… three feet in a yard!
However since March they had been notable by their absence and we were beginnig to wonder what had happened to them, hoping it was simply that with the arrival of the rains they were finding their food easily enough elsewhere. Bushbabies, in our case the small-eared galago, are nocturnal foragers of gums, flowers, seeds, fruits and insects so they have a diverse menu to choose from. They are also a little partial to alcohol, or at least fermenting fruits, and where I worked in Tanzania before, the swahili phrase ‘kama komba’ (like a bushbaby) was the local equivalent of ‘pissed as a newt’… a term for someone who it a little too drunk!
Anyway, the pleasing news for us at least, is that over the last few nights one of the bushbabies has been back to supplement its diet with our bananas and we don’t mind one bit! No confirmed sightings of Yardy yet, but we’ll be keeping a close eye on our kitchen window before bedtime once again, and will be sure to let you know!
Environmental Education For Shimoni School Kids
Category: Coastal Forest, Environmental Education, Shimoni Forest | Date: Jun 11 2009 | By: gvikenya
These last few weeks have seen an exciting new development for GVI’s forest team here in Kenya. For one day a week we’ve decided to swap our boots and compasses for chalk and lesson plans!
Over the last few months, GVI has started working more and more with the Shimoni Base Academy, a new school tucked away in Shimoni village. It is part funded by private donations, which allows the fees for children from poorer families to be subsidised. One thing that shocked us was the revelation that the children at Base Academy were not being taught science at school. It seemed like such a shame that these children were living right on the edge of one of the most important habitats for biodiversity and endemism in the world – Shimoni’s Coastal Forest.
And as we are conducting research in the forest, and know it rather well, we thought that dedicating an hour a week to environmental education based around the forest they live next to, could have a massive impact on the children and in turn could help to protect the forest in the future.
We spoke to a few of the children and discovered they knew very little about the forest, and didn’t even know what animals lived there. So we created a short-term syllabus to kick things off, starting with a basic introduction to forests in general, and the important roles they play in things such as the water cycle and preventing soil erosion.
We then led onto why Shimoni Forest in particular was so important, touching on its role as a international biodiversity hotspot, how it protects the in-shore coral reefs and its capacity as a vital natural resource. After that we moved onto the animals of Shimoni forest (the lesson we think they enjoyed the most!) including the threatened population of the sub-species of Angolan black and white colobus, and the rare Zanj elephant shrew. The lesson planned for this week will be based on the consequences of Shimon Forest disappearing. Hopefully this will highlight to the kids the importance of the forest in every aspect of their lives, now they are more aware of what it gives them! The overlying theme for our environmental education lessons is going to be instilling a sense of pride in Shimoni Forest, which is actually their forest, so that they will go away with a better understanding of its role in their lives, and their role in its safe keeping.
Cotton Processing, Food Security and Ex-Poachers
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 05 2009 | By: gvikenya
We recently returned to Mahandakini, a village located in the southern part of Kenya close to the border with Tanzania. The village has a population of around 2,000 people, many of whom having given up poaching in nearby Tsavo West National Park and have been seeking to engage in sustainable income generating activities. GVI’s role is to assist the community with capacity building to support alternative livelihoods. During our week long trip to Mahandakini we continued where we left off last time, developing a Food Security Programme for the community and cotton processing industry that Mahandakini is endeavoring to establish.
Throughout the week at Mahandakini, we worked in two groups; the first focused on developing the Food Security Programme, whilst the second spent time assisting with the development of a cottage cotton industry in Mahandakini. as part of the Cotton Processing group we worked through problem solving with the community, providing training on using natural dyes and assisting with financial management. The primary obstacle facing the cotton processing industry in Mahanadakini is the lack of funds for the processing and ginning machines necessary to undertake large scale cotton processing. Over the week, we managed to initiate a plan for the community to develop the cotton industry by selling the cotton they are already growing, and buying cotton material which can be dyed and manufactured into value-added products. In this way the community will be able to start generating income immediately, some of which can be used to save up for the cotton processing equipment required for spinning and weaving.
Our week wasn’t all about cotton though; we took time to visit some of the amazing sights in the local area. We visited caves which were used by British soldiers who were fighting in Kenya during World War 2 and are now home to thousands of bats, went swimming at beautiful Njoro Spings the source of which is melt water from Mt. Kilimanjaro, and visited Ziwani Voyager Ranch, a great opportunity to see some local wildlife including elephants, hippopotamus, zebra, antelopes and a vast array of birdlife. Finally the week culminated with a wonderful traditional dinner prepared by some of the women from the ex-poachers group; the community invited us to share a meal with them as a sign of their appreciation for the work we had achieved together!
Tags: alternative livelihoods, capacity building, cotton, food security, Mahandakini, sustainable development, tsavo west national park
Humpback Dolphins Sighted With Four Calves
Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Humpback Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles | Date: Jun 04 2009 | By: gvikenya
Today we chugged our way along the coast of the Shimoni peninsula all hoping for an exciting day to finish off the marine research week. Not long after leaving the Western end of the Wasini Channel our hopes were fulfilled when Shafii sighted Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins just off the coast. First contact was with a mother and calf but shortly afterwards we spied another group about a hundred metres away and so headed off to check them out… and were rewarded with a group of twelve to fourteen humpback dolphins literally frolicking in the shallow waters.
Humpback dolphins are meant to be ’shy’ but this group were anything but as they spy-hopped, breached, swam around the boat and generally showed off, posing for the paparazzi on the boat. Most excitingly, there were four mother and calf pairings - baby humpbacks are particularly cute with their little humps and tiny dorsal fins and they gave our two photo-identification photographers plenty of opportunities while the rest of us ooh-ed and aah-ed at the display. It can’t be a bad day when you are sat on a boat in the sunshine watching a group of dolphins at a time of day when you would normally have been arriving at the office to start work! We had a spectacular snorkel in the warm waters off Kisite Island then spied a turtle swimming on the surface as we headed back to base.
Tags: Cetacean research, dolphin research, indo-pacific humpback dolphin, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, photo-identification, Turtles, wasini island
Bottlenose Dolphin ‘Besty’ And Her Calf At Kisite
Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles, bottlenose dolphins | Date: May 26 2009 | By: gvikenya
As I mentioned before, the Kusi winds and rain make life difficult for dolphin research on the open seas. Yesterday our efforts on the water went unrewarded again… although I stick with my little mantra that “no data is still valuable data”!
Today however the team aboard ‘Lampard’ started with a promising early sighting, a group of four bottlenose dolphins sighted around the eastern end of Wasini Island. But the rough seas made for tough conditions under which to follow the small travelling group, let alone try to take the photos from which we would be able to try and identify the individuals.
So the search continued, rounding the end of Wasini Island in to Mpunguti marine reserve, cruising between the two Mpunguti islands and on in to Kisite marine park. The destination was Kisite Island where we hoping that the sheltered side would allow us at least to look for turtles in the water along one of our snorkel transects. However before we ready to jump overboard, another group of four bottlenose dolphins approached the boat as the wind and waves subsided… leaving us with good conditions and a perfect opportunity to get back to what we had been trying earlier, photo-identification.
Besty with her distinctive dorsal fin notches
Both Andy and Jamie were armed with cameras in a photo-ID duel. It was the two adult dolphins that were our key target, as they would hopefully be individuals catalogued over the past 3 and a half years that we could recognise. And in fact they both were, Nene (or individual 083) and Besty (individual 017 - the 17th individual we formally identified, from 2006). Besty was accompanied by her calf and the fourth individual was a sub-adult. With the local dolphins having been elusive for much of the last few months, it was pleasing to enjoy these four showing off in the calm waters around Kisite Island. The calf in particular seemed to be in playful mood, posing for the camera with ’spyhops’ - holding the head vertically out of the water.
Nene with Besty’s calf spyhopping
No turtles on the transect, but the day was far from disappointing and seeing Besty again is like meeting up with an old friend.
Tags: bottlenose dolphins, Cetacean research, kisite island, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, marine mammals, turtle research, wasini island
Grass, Soap And Tourism - Helping Ex-Poachers Kick The Bush Meat Trade
Category: Community Conservation, Eco-tourism, Environmental Education, Human-Wildlife Conflict | Date: May 25 2009 | By: gvikenya
Every few months our team rides the rough, red dusty road through Tsavo West National Park, to the village of Kidong, a small but significant dot on the vast landscape that stretches between Tsavo West National Park across the border to Mt Kilimanjaro. We are aiming to support this community-based organisation for former poachers convert conflict with wildlife in to conservation.
The Kidong Education and Cultural centre is already teaching local farmers to protect their crops from elephants using chili peppers but they aspire to make the centre substitute income from poaching with a livelihood from hosting… tourists! On our most recent visit we worked with members of the community to bring together two of the skills we helped teach them previously; making soap from neem trees and paper from elephant dung. With one eye on the potential tourists we have been helping them develop their new found cottage industry of soap making in to a marketable product for tourists, experimenting with moulds and packaging made from recycled paper using elephant dung. With ex-poachers turning elephants from pests in to products, we hope the story behind the packaging will be enough to spark the interest of new customers!
The other side of the equation of course is bringing tourists to the centre in the first place and having already facilitated the collation of the people’s history, culture and evolving relationship with wildlife, we spent time developing a 15 minute presentation to kick off their cultural experience for the eco-toursits we will be targetting. There is still work to be done at the centre to get it ready for eco-tourism but we are also working behind the scenes on ways to get their restaurant built by the end of August.
Our new introduction to their ever-expanding repertoire of environmental sustainability was a workshop on the wonders of vetiver grass… this humble horticultural tool is being viewed as something of a miracle plant by those in the know. Tolerant of arid conditions, but able to cope with high rainfall, it is being used worldwide to stabilise soils against erosion, slow waterflow with its deep root system to ensure rains drain downwards rather than run-off and can be used as almost anything from livestock fodder to weaving mats and baskets. Using a strain that is infertile but propogates readily ensures its use can be controlled but easily expanded. So convinced were we by the benefits of the grass, that before leaving we planted 100 of them to get the community started!
And just to remind ourselves of why tourists should choose to visit Kidong on their safari stop off, the magnificent Mt Kilimanjaro appeared from behind a curtain of clouds and we found time to cool off in its refreshing (some might read ‘freezing’!) meltwaters at the idyllic Njoro springs.
I look forward to reporting progress in a few months time,
Corti
Tags: bush meat trade, capacity building, Eco-tourism, Elephants, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Kidong, Kilimanjaro, poachers, soil erosion, sustainabe development, tsavo west national park, vetiver grass, water conservation, wildlife
Dolphins: You Wait For Days Then They All Come Along At Once
Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins | Date: May 22 2009 | By: gvikenya
Hi there,
We’ve been a little quiet on the dolphin front lately, but we can blame it all on the weather… and power cuts! Our research boat ‘Lampard’ has been going out, but with rains keeping us anchored for hours on end, and the Kusi winds stirring up the seas, we’ve not had much luck finding dolphins lately. After all, they have a lot of ocean to swim around and when you rely on fleeting glimpses of dorsal fins breaking the surface, choppy waters can easily hide them.
Yesterday, after 5 hours at sea in a fruitless search for both humpback dolphins and bottlenose dolphins it was looking to be another frustraing day when conditions were against us. But technology has a role to play, even in out at sea and friendly phone call alerted us to dolphins that had been sighted so we headed over to look for them before heading home for lunch.
And, finally, we were not disappointed… not just a large group of bottlenose dolphins, up to 30 individuals, but in playful mood too. Males getting a little excitable at times, females with calves, and sub-adults enjoying themselves - or to be less anthropomorphic, leaping and turning over! Out of the spectacle we were able to identify some of our best known individuals, inlcuding ‘Besty’, ‘Freshy’, ‘Sawa’ and ‘Stima’ with her calf.
Besty and Stima, both identifiable by distinct notches in their dorsal fins
Very satisfying to know they are all out there still a definite incentive to keep braving the rain and wind day after day!
Hopefully they’ll give us some more news to pass on to you soon!
Corti
Tags: , bottlenose dolphins, Cetacean research
Litter-Picking In The Mangroves
Category: Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Mangroves, Marine Debris | Date: May 13 2009 | By: gvikenya
Low tide amongst the mangroves revealed hundreds of tiny male and female fiddler crabs scuttling between little holes in the sand. The aim of our day though was to attempt to clean up some of the mountains of rubbish that travel the Indian Ocean currents from as far as south east Asia, to wash up on the East African coastline, trapped amongst the mangroves here on the southern shore of Wasini Island having floated through the Kisite Marine Park. Seeing all the cool little creatures that make the mangroves their home was an added bonus!
The open beach, exposed by the receding water, was so covered in small gastropods (and occasionally hermit crabs in shells they had commandeered from the gastropods) that we could not set foot on it for fear of crushing a delicate little home, and had to content ourselves with watching a group of yellow-billed storks through the trees. The male fiddler crabs put on a bit of a show for us and performed a strange sort of Mexican wave display with their one large claw; whether this was to try and attract the ladies or warn off others we weren’t quite sure.
All along the tide line seaweed intermingled with broken pieces of plastic, glass bottles, plastic bags and bottles, toothbrushes and flip flops. A five by ten meter path along the beach yielded five bin liners of rubbish and a bucket of glass, which was all we could carry back with us. It would take an army to clean all the debris that collects here from other parts of the world, and even then you’d be left with the feeling that just as much would be deposited after the next high tide. Walking back to base under the strain of our rubbish bags did, however, leave us with a small sense of achievement and as they say ‘every little bit helps’!
Tags: beach cleans, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Mangroves, Marine Debris, ocean currents
New Arrivals To The GVI Kenya Team
Category: National Scholarship Programme | Date: May 12 2009 | By: gvikenya
At the weekend we welcomed 6 new members joinng our research and community development programmes, volunteering their time, enthusiasm and hard-work:
Left to right: Merijn, Kennedy, Muffadal, Karen, Deepa and James
Merijn has joined us for 5 weeks from the Netherlands, where he usually spends his days designing computer games… he’s started his real-life GVI Kenya adventure with great enthusiasm and being named after a hobbit (in Dutch, of course) we reckon he’ll feel right at home in our coastal forest and the rural communities we live and work with!
Kennedy is volunteering with us for 5 weeks under our National Scholarship Programme, to gain more experience in wildlife research and conservation to compliment his studies. Coming from Nairobi, he is undertaking a degree in Environmental Studies and Community Development at Kenyatta University having already completed his diploma in Environmental Management at Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute.
Muffadal is a student at Moi University in Nairobi pursuing a Tourism Management degree, having also graduated with a diploma in the subject from Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute. He will be with for a total 12 weeks for his industrial attachment under our National Scholarship Programme and is excited to learn about and experience some of Kenya’s finest marine habitats and wildlife during his time with us, particularly the dolphin populations and their relationship with coastal tourism.
Karen joins us for 5 weeks from the UK. Having studied for a biology degree in Glasgow, she has been ’sidetracked’ for the last few years by a job in investment banking in London… but it seems she’s seen the light and is getting back to her biology roots before launching in to a new career. With this in mind she also has an interest in the community education work we do.
Deepa is also from Nairobi, but has been working in investment banking in London as well, having studied in Brighton and Reading in the UK. She joins us for 5 weeks having recently got married and moved back to Kenya where she hopes on moving in to financial management within the NGO sector. We hope that the exposure she will have to a wide range of environmental and community development projects will give her valuable experience and insights.
And finally, James from Hull in the UK will be with us for 5 weeks, while undertaking a BTEC qualification in Supervising Biological Surveys. Having already volunteered in Zimbabwe on lion rehabilitation, James should take to our wildlife research in Kenya with ease.
We hope you’ll get to hear more from them over the next 5 weeks…
Bye for now, from a particularly wet and windy patch of the Kenyan coast!
Corti
Tags: kenyan students, National Scholarship Programme, volunteers
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