Southwest Indian Ocean Whale Watchers

Category: Humpback whales, Kisite Mpunguti MPA
Date: February 9th 2010
By: gvikenya

In 2009 GVI started to collaborate with a group of whale enthusiasts whose aim is to track the Humpback Whales traveling along the SW Indian Ocean. Thanks to our volunteers, GVI is lucky enough to be able to carry the marine mammal research every week day, all year around. This allows us to gather important information, not only on dolphins and turtles but also on whales that visit the Kisite-Mpungutti Marine Park and surrounding waters, from June to November, every year. Little is known about this migratory species behavior in the Indian Ocean and the information gathered by the many whale watchers in the east Africa region is making a positive contribution to better understanding these routes, the numbers of whales and the threats to their survival.

Mother and young calf traveling in the Wasini Channel

Mother and young calf traveling in the Wasini Channel

GVI has just received the annual report prepared by Matt Richmond & Nicole Bisang (Samaki Consultants Ltd. P.O. Box 77143 Dar es Salaam). In 2009, 30 whale watchers participated in this study, from northern Kenya to southern Mozambique, who provided 168 sightings that recorded at least 509 Humpback whales including 71 calves, in 34 different locations.

 

GVI and other organizations, diving centers, lodges and whale and dolphin watching companies, gathered the information collected on whales in their area, GPS coordinates of their location, number of animals, behavior and photographs. As these annual results came out, we found that GVI had the first whale sighting of the season, from all the participants. Our first whale was spotted on the 3rd of July 2009.

 

Tail fluke in Funzi Bay

Tail fluke in Funzi Bay

August seemed to have been the month with the higher number of sightings (257) and 2009 was also a good year for the little ones; of all sightings, 71 were adult and calf. Breeding and suckling of young is the main reason that Humpbacks visit the warm Indian Ocean waters.

 

The report also mentions the main threats to these animals in the SW Indian Ocean. Deepwater gill-nets have trapped several whales traveling along the coast and efforts should be made in order to reduce or coordinate the use of this gear away from peak whale routes or seasons. Also, dynamite fishing, oil spills and uncontrolled dolphin & whale watching tourism can have long term negative effects in the marine mammal population.

 

Humpback whale breaching in the Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Park

Humpback whale breaching in the Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Park

As for us, we will keep our sharp eyes on the Ocean and continue to contribute with information and pictures, and spreading the word about these amazing animals.

 

Thank you all – We meet again in 2010!

Asanteni sana – tutaongea tena mwaka 2010

& Obrigado a todos – até 2010 !

 

Good team effort!

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Nocturnal Adventures

Category: Coastal Forest, Shimoni Forest, Small mammals, Small-eared Galago, Suni, bush baby
Date: February 8th 2010
By: gvikenya

Last night was a particularly special night for the lucky folk based in Shimoni.  Instead of tucking ourselves into beds in our house in the village, we all packed water, first aid kits, roll mats and torches and headed out into Shimoni forest for a campout! 

We have done this before, but not since this time last year.  The reasons being that during January – March season, there is no chance of rain, and the mosquitoes are few and far between!  Any other time of year and one could end up getting rather wet and eaten alive by the biting critters.

Heading to transect 2

Heading to transect 2

We prepared a huge pot of potato salad, bought ourselves two whole chickens, scrubbed our handy homemade grill, and marched out to section 22 of transect 2 to set up.  We had been out scouting earlier in the day, and had found a nice open area that didn’t have too much coral rag.  We all gathered deadwood off the forest  floor for firewood and got the fire going without any trouble.  Julien (a volunteer from Portugal) proceeded to cook the chicken to perfection in a lime and chilli marinade! 

Arriving at the site

Arriving at the site

Once we were all fed and settled, we donned our forest boots and torches and headed out for a night walk!  Night walks are one of my favorite things to do in the forest – it is a completely different place at night.  The forest is alive with nocturnal creatures; the rustling of small feet in the leaf litter and the night calls of the various animals are all around you, making you strain your eyes into the shadows to look for the telltale reflections of eyes in the torchlight.

Clearing the area

Clearing the area

We were fortunate to get some awesome sightings of several sunis and a pair of small eared galagos (bushbabies) hopping through the trees.  These two animals are the ones most likely to be seen at night, as they are the most abundant nocturnal animals in the forest. 

 

Let there be fire!

Let there be fire!

Sunis are tiny antelope, whose shoulders rarely rise above 40cm off the ground.  They are primarily nocturnal, and feed on leaves, shoots and fruits on the forest  floor.  They are very shy creatures, but get stunned in the torchlight, so night walks are the only times you can get a really good look at them.  Small eared galagos are one of my favorite animals – relatively large for a bushbaby, with incredibly soft, wooly fur, bushy tails and huge eyes that glow red in torchlight.  Apart from being very cute, they are considered to be the closest living representatives of the earliest primates.  Their form of locomotion has been retained, and you can see the subtle differences between them and other primates. 

Julien in charge of the chicken

Julien in charge of the chicken

Unfortunately we didn’t manage to get any good photos of the animals seen, but it was a great experience for all present.  We are going to do this a couple more times in the next couple of months hopefully, to take advantage of the season and to get some good photos of the nocturnal wildlife.  We’ll keep you updated (naturally…)

Relaxing after the night walk

Relaxing after the night walk

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Twende is a Mother!

Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, bottlenose dolphins
Date: February 5th 2010
By: gvikenya

The GVI Marine team is happy to announce that TWENDE dolphin is a mom!

 

The mother - Twende ("let's go" in Kiswahili)

The mother – Twende ("let's go" in Kiswahili)

Twende is the number 004 of our catalogue and she is regularly seen by the research team socializing and feeding in the Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Park. She has never been seen next to a calf since the research  started in 2006 so we believed Twende was a male dolphin.

 

004 Twende_catalogue photo

004 Twende_catalogue photo

Pictures taken last week, on the 27th January 2010, show Twende next to a new calf! The two never separated during our 30 minute sighting, and have shown a lot of interaction such as rubbing and breast feeding.

Twende and her baby blog

Twende and her baby

 

For all of you ex GVI staff (this one is for you Sergi!) or volunteers that remember seeing Twende, current or future GVI volunteers, and all other dolphin lovers, we wanted to share this baby smile with you! Enjoy the pictures!

 

GVI Marine Team *

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The Elusive Humpback

Category: Cetacean research, Dolphin-watching tours, Dolphins, Eco-tourism, Humpback Dolphins, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Marine Debris, Reef fish research, Uncategorized, Wasini Locally Managed Marine Area, Year of the Dolphin, bottlenose dolphins, mpunguti island, wasini island
Date: February 4th 2010
By: gvikenya

I was sitting outside the cottage discussing the different types of hornbills found in Kenya, as a Trumpeter Hornbill had just flown over head, when Sergi (the marine officer of expedition 094) pulled me aside to talk about my independent project. I was secretly chuffed that I got given the one I did, as there was a choice of three. The title of my project was “Data Analysis of Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins (Sousa chinesis) collected by GVI Kenya Marine Team from 2006-2009.”
 HBD sightings

These animals are very shy animals and are not as well known as the bottlenose dolphins. Maybe because they are shy or perhaps because of their habitat distribution, there is very little data available. So this was a great opportunity to be able to provide some information. The GVI Marine Team has been collecting data on them since 2006. Whilst out on the boat on a survey day, if we have a spotting we follow them around, taking photos and also monitor their behaviour. Using a GPS (Global Positioning System) we are able to plot the route taken by the dolphins that day.  This allows us to see the areas where the humpbacks dolphins feed, rest, socialise, breed etc. As well as being able to gain data on group sizes and composition.

 So I went forth and did some research on our friends the humpbacks and also plotted the information on our study area (see picture) which is the Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Park and Reserve and the surrounding area.
 Humpback dolphins occur in small groups (3-7) and are distributed throughout Indian and Western Pacific oceans as well as the coast of south east Africa. Inhabiting tropical and subtropical waters (15oC – 20oC), they prefer coasts with mangroves, rocky reefs, estuaries and lagoons. Typically found in waters less than 20m depth, they only venture a few miles from the shore line (as shown on the map), and occasionally they swim up rivers. The distinctive hump on their dorsal fin gives rise to their name; and they are medium sized 2.5m – 2.8m.
 

boat trWasini channel and the surrounding waters are prone to quite a lot of boat traffic and fishing. Humpbacks tend to avoid boats, although marks caused by propellers have been observed. This is a concern not only because of the damaged caused to the dolphin but also because of the resultant change in their behaviour, e.g. leaving the area. Another concern is that being situated on the coast; the communities living here depend upon fishing as a resource. Recent efforts have been made to educate some of the local community as to the importance and implications of over-fishing and pollutants.

 HBD spyhopping

It is my aim to develop a catalogue of the humpback dolphins, as this will allow us to determine population numbers and residency rates in this region. This is a technique called mark-recapture, and it uses the dorsal fins to identify each individual, mostly from the notches made by other dolphin or boats, but also by the shape, colour and size of the fins. Plus, on the cheeky side I will get to name some of them!

Sarah Watson was a conservation intern on 094 Expedition, and is currently doing her work placement with GVI, as staff member on the Marine and Terrestrial Programmes

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Category: Bushbuck, Coastal Forest, Colobus, Elephant Shrew, Shimoni Forest, Shrews, Small mammals
Date: February 1st 2010
By: gvikenya

Once again - HUGE apologies from all of us for the lack of blogs.  Fingers crossed, our technical issue is solved and the power cuts seem to have vastly reduced in number!  Things are looking up, so hopefully we will be back in our routine and giving you all daily updates on things down here on the south coast of Kenya.  Enough of that…..BLOG!!!

On Friday one of our forest teams was treated to a sight that has not been witnessed by GVI since our arrival in 2006!  I have been here for one and a half years, and the closest thing I have seen to this creature is an old skull, in the northern parts of the forest.  Chris, one of our volunteers from the USA, tells us what happened:

“It was a nice evening walk through Shimoni east forest, with the intention of getting some evening colobus behavioural surveys.  It was a nice night, and we were looking forward to seeing how black and white colobus behaved in the cooler parts of the day.  As it turns out, we got a much more exciting sighting than a colobus monkey (which is a phrase rarely uttered here…).

Preparing to head into the field

Preparing to head into the field

As we were walking up and down the north / south spine we had sighted some colobus in a tree in the distance.  To get a better look we decided to follow a village path which led towards the colobus.  This route turned out to be fruitless however, so we were deciding what to do when we heard the familiar sounds of a Zanj elephant shrew in the undergrowth.  We crept around the corner to see if we could see it, but instead of a shrew we were faced with a very large antelope looking straight at us!  We had a great look at it in the brief seconds before it took off into the undergrowth. 

We later identified it as a bushbuck!  It was an amazing sighting because they are said to have been completely hunted out of this area, and hopefully this is a good sign for the future.”

Chris Allen

Bushbuck

Bushbuck (Kingdon, 1997)

In the past, I have asked some of the local people about the presence of bushbuck in Shimoni’s forests, and many have said they used to be quite abundant, but were hunted out of the area.

The bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) is a small bovine, that converges with many antelope and small deer.  They are found across most of sub-Saharan Africa (excluding the south west) and are essentially dependent on thick cover, which would make the coastal forests of Shimoni ideal (Kingdon, 1997). 

From the excitement of the group (especially Kez who has been working here for over a year), I could tell it was an incredible moment for them all, and I am seething with envy!  I am over the moon that this beautiful animal may be making a comeback in the area, although one sighting is not enough to claim that quite yet.  With all our eyes and ears open, hopefully this will not be the first and last time!

Until next time…

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Apologies…

Category: Uncategorized
Date: January 28th 2010
By: gvikenya

Hello everyone

Just a quick note to apologise for the lack of blogs this week We have been having serious electricity issues down here in Shimoni – almost no power for the whole of this week! Now the power is back (hopefully fo good!) we are having technical issues with posting our blogs. We hope to get this sorted as soon as possible, so will be business as usual soon I promise!

Regards

Matt
GVI Kenya

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Fundraising Target Reached!

Category: Coastal Forest, Colobus, Community Conservation, Friends of Shimoni Forest, Friends of Shimoni Forest Scholarship Fund, Shimoni Forest
Date: January 21st 2010
By: gvikenya

Well well, I don’t really know where to start today.  A couple of days ago I told you all about Kevin Malone, who kindly donated a wopping £350 to Friends of Shimoni Forest.  That brought our total up significantly.  Today however, I have checked again and I am gobsmacked, proud and excited to tell you we have reached our target of £1000!

The money from this fundraising is going to some amazing causes.  Shimoni’s forests are suffering terrible degradation everyday, putting the survival of some extremely vulnerable species in serious jeopardy.  Not only this, but thousands of people in the area rely on the forest for natural resources such as fuel, medicine, fishing tools and cultural practises.

With this money raised, FSF are planning on pushing forward with the Friends of Shimoni Forest Scholarship Fund and sending local children to secondary school on the condition they give something back to local conservation.  Other destinations for the money include paying the wages of forest patrols, finalising the tourist trail and setting up alternative livelihoods.

Every penny counts towards this cause, there are no admin costs or middle men, so this money can take FSF a long way!  I can’t even put into words how over the moon I am to see this, and how much it will mean to the people here, so I will say it simply;

Dear John “the Jam” Gerber, Timothy McCollough, Kevin Malone, Shirley Corti, Jennifer LeClair, Becky Law, Rick Hill, Katherine Blackwood and two anonymous benefactors,

From Friends of Shimoni Forest, the people of Shimoni, the colobus monkeys and other inhabitants of the forest, and everyone else working hard for the cause,

Thank you.
Really, seriously, thank you.

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A Blue Day

Category: African Fish Eagle, Cetacean research, Dolphins, Funzi turtle club, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles, bottlenose dolphins, turtle research
Date: January 21st 2010
By: gvikenya

Yesterday we had an incredible blue day out in Marine. The days start quite early, by 6:00am we are all taking our breakfast, while the sun is still half asleep. At 7:00am we are already in the boat, searching for some animals in the blue pristine waters of the Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area.
Just as we went off, we saw this beautiful African Fish Eagle, just staring at the water, resting in a tree by the water. This big eagle is commonly found in this area and nests in high trees, especially acacias, figs or euphorbias and feeds mainly on fish, but also water birds and carrion.

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The magestic African fish eagle (Haliaetus vocifer) 
After surveying the beautiful Funzi bay, we changed course and headed to Nyuli Reef and the Marine Reserve. In the shallow waters of Nyuli, we had another interesting sighting; two big green turtles were mating just about 30m from our research vessel. We turned off the engine and witnessed the courtship and mating behavior, while we recorded the coordinates on our GPS. Hopefully all went well for this pair and soon enough the female can lay her eggs in the sandy beaches of Funzi Island. Green turtles can lay more than 100 eggs, which take about 60 days to incubate and hatch. In Funzi, the Local Turtle Conservation Group, helped by KESCOM (Kenya Sea Turtle Committee), and GVI Conservation interns, patrol de beaches and provide environmental education to local people to help to conserve and protect this endangered species.

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 The mating turtles

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A turtle surfaces and is caught on camera
We continued our survey and headed to Kisite Marine Park, when we found a group of dolphins socializing and traveling. Excitement on the boat, while we grab our marine mammal sighting form, GPS and camera for photo-id. Some of the animals in the group are well known to the research team, such as chiizi, as well as two mothers and their calves. The water was so calm that we were lucky enough to see the calf breastfeeding under the water, just next to the boat. Wooohh! The mother and calf association in dolphins is very strong and the baby dolphins can breastfeed for more than two years. The mother’s mammary slits are located in either side of the genital slit.

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 A mother (catalogue number 37 or “Patsy”) and her calf

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“Patsy” and her calf
 

The day went on and we decided to snorkel transect 9. As if it couldn’t get an better, we had two turtle sightings while snorkeling; one juvenile hawksbill turtle and one adult green turtle. This green turtle seems to be resident at this spot, since we have seen her over and over on transect 9. It is very easy to identify her, as she is missing the back right flipper. It might have been caught in a net or hit by a propeller while younger, but managed to survive and heal its wounds. Alongside with the turtle we witnessed the amazing reef fish variety of the Marine Park.

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 The turtle spotted on transect 9
 

Hopefully, all the data GVI is collecting will continue to contribute for this ecosystem to maintain its unique characteristics and help to conserve its biodiversity for the years to come!

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Massive Donation Made To Friends Of Shimoni Forest

Category: Cetacean research, Coastal Forest, Community Conservation, Friends of Shimoni Forest, Friends of Shimoni Forest Scholarship Fund, Shimoni Forest
Date: January 18th 2010
By: gvikenya

Hello again everyone,

Today’s blog has but one purpose.  That purpose is to extend the warmest thanks we here in Shimoni can muster, to someone who we all know quite well, and who has made the most extraordinary donation to Friends of Shimoni Forest.  That man is Kevin Malone.

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 Kevin on Kisite Island
 

Kevin is from the United States and was a volunteer with GVI in Kenya for 5 weeks in March / April 2009.  During his time here he joined both the marine and terrestrial research teams, as well as spending time in the classroom in Mkwiro Primary School and out with the community development team in Tsavo West.  Kevin’s hardworking attitude and immediate dedication to the programmes shone from the start, and his sense of humour was infamous within days of arriving.  We were sad to say goodbye to Kevin after so short a time, but unfortunately that is the nature of what we do out here.
I received an e-mail from Corti (who set up the justgiving donations page for Friends of Shimoni Forest) this afternoon, informing me of an ENORMOUS donation made towards Friends of Shimon Forest (FSF).  The money raised on this website goes towards the Friends of Shimoni Forest Scholarship Fund, which pays for local children to go to secondary school, on the condition that either they themselves, or their family, assist FSF in conservation work.  The money will also go towards funding initiatives such as forest patrols, alternative charcoal and reforestation of indigenous saplings.   
From what I hear, Kevin donated £350!!  That has brought the total up to £690!  I cannot even explain how much this means to all of us, as Kevin’s money alone will pay for a child to go to secondary school for the best part of two years.  This money could also pay the wages of someone patrolling the forest for 210 days.  This money could also buy 2100 indigenous saplings to be replanted in the highly degraded areas of the forest.
It’s amazing how far money can go out here, especially when donated in British pounds or US dollars.  A relatively small amount can go such a long way, and really help change things.  And with people like Kevin, who are willing to make such generous donations, we are making incredible headway.

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 Kevin preparing to go into the forest
So finally – thank you again Kevin.  You.  Are.  A.  legend.

Best wishes to all
Matt

*if you would like more information about Friends of Shimoni Forest, the work they are doing, or if you would like to make a donation, please visit www.justgiving.co.uk/shimoni   

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Karibu Tena (Welcome Again!)

Category: Cetacean research, Coastal Forest, Colobus, Community Conservation, Dolphins, Environmental Education, Friends of Shimoni Forest, Friends of Shimoni Forest Scholarship Fund, Funzi turtle club, Humpback whales, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Nyuli Community Conservation Group, Pantropical spotted dolphin, Primate Research, Shimoni Forest, Turtles, bottlenose dolphins
Date: January 14th 2010
By: gvikenya

Jambo!

I’d like to start by saying I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and a merry new year!  I know we did; many of the GVI team were in Kenya over the holiday period, enjoying the festivities under the warm African sun, whilst others jetted off back home to see family and friends to slightly cooler parts of the world such as Englnd, Scotland and Portugal. 

We are all back together again however, and raring to get back out on the boat, into the forest and continue our work with the communities.  January marks the start of our first 3 month research period for 2010, and we have a rather large, brand new team of dedicated volunteers from all over the world to help us achieve the aims and objectives for this year.

2009 was an excellent year for us here on the south coast of Kenya.  Firstly, it’s always a good feeling to get another full years worth of marine and terrestrial research added to the databases.  We now have a solid 3 years of data establishing and monitoring the bottlenose and humpback dolphin populations in and around the Kisitie-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area, as well as 3 years establishing and monitoring the population of the rare subspecies of the Angolan black and white colobus monkey that is found in Shimoni’s coastal forests. 

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 GVI staff, volunteers, and members of the Funzi Turtle Club 

In addition to that, we’ve got some great data recording some amazing sightings, including humpback whales with their calves (15 sightings!), rays, nesting turtles, elephant shrews and endangered birds such as the southern banded snake eagle.  And that is naming a mere handful!  If you want to have a look back at some of the blogs we’ve written about these amazing experiences, feel free to search for them in the categories section.

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 Green turtle spotted in the Marine Park

2009 also saw some amazing achievements for us and the people we work with.  Just a couple of examples would include the Permanent Secretary to the Minister for Forests and Wildlife coming down to speak to the secretary of Friends of Shimoni Forest about the destruction in the forest.  Or the amazing donations made by you all on www.justgiving.co.uk/shimoni which has allowed the launch of the Friends of Shimoni Forest Scholarship Fund which will pay for local children to go to secondary school, and get them and their families involved in local conservation. 

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 East African subspecies of the Angolan black and white colobus

On the marine side of things some highlights would include providing environmental education courses, one to the Funzi Turtle Conservation Group and one to the Nyuli Committee, training local guides and rangers on sea turtle biology and conservation, with over 30 people taking exams and gaining certificates.  GVI had its first ever sighting of the Pantropical spotted dolphins, and also became a member of East African Whale Watching which tracks whales travelling up and down the east African coast.  

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One of the pantropical spotted dolphins

Despite all of the great things that happened last year, there is still plenty of work to do.  This stunning area and its amazing people still face many problems, some of which we aim to try and help with over the coming year.  For many of us here the start of 2010 saw the one and a half year mark since we first arrived in Shimoni and Mkwiro, and I think I can speak for everyone when I say it has been our home since we arrived, one which has won a special place in our hearts.  Personally I feel extremely lucky and privileged to step into a new decade here, and I am so excited at the thought of what can be achieved this year.

I look forward to keeping you updated on progress as things move forward, and please feel free to contact us and leave comments and messages.  We love hearing your thoughts and ideas!

Happy 2010

Best wishes

GVI Team, Kenya

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