GVI Kenya

Category: Cetacean research, Humpback whales, Kisite Mpunguti MPA | Date: Sep 04 2008 | By: gvikenya

The exciting news from our marine research programme today was the reappearance of humpback whales in Kisite Marine Park. The mother and calf pair surfaced near to Kisite Island this morning in front of the team aboard our research vessel ‘Bardan’, a traditional local dhow that also goes by the name of ‘Lampard’ thanks to its Chelsea FC supporting owner. Lampard also happens to be the nickname I go by with the children in Mkwiro village so I’m feeling an affinity with our new boat!

Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) photographed close to Kisite-Mpunguti MPA in August 2007

The photo identification survey was attempted this morning, however with these majestic whales, unique identification comes from the pattern of notches on the tail flukes as opposed to the dorsal fins of the dolphins that dominate our cetacean research. Unfortunately this pair did not demonstrate much tail-diving behaviour and so opportunities to photograph their tail flukes for analysis were few and far between.

Mother-calf pair Humpback whales surveyed last year in Kisite-Mpunguti MPA

However it is very exciting still to have the opportunity to record the movements of these infrequent visitors to the Kisite-Mpunugti marine protected area. This is only our second sighting of them on marine surveys this year, the first coming almost a month ago, again a mother-calf pair, although we can’t yet determine if they were the same pair. Humpback whales were also spotted in the Wasini channel at the beginning of July, but not whilst our research vessel was at sea. Taken together this represents valuable data in understanding their migratory movements on the south Kenyan coast which this year covers at least a two month period. In addition it is a remarkable experience for our expedition members that have been conducting our cetacean research on the bottlenose and humpback dolphins, to see their larger relatives close up in the same waters. I hope that I will have more to report in the coming weeks as it is always a privilege to see these kings of the ocean.