GVI Kenya

Category: Charcoal Burning, Coastal Forest, Colobus, Logging, Primate Research, Shimoni Forest | Date: Mar 26 2009 | By: gvikenya

Hello again everyone,

Today I’m going to write the first of what I hope will be an ongoing story about a particular troop of Colobus that inhabit Shimoni Forest (east).  It’s a troop that we at GVI are beginning to know quite well, and are becoming rather fond of. 

 One member of the Angola troop

There is an area of forest, where our north / south spine runs through our third transect.  The area is made up mainly of a fairly large clearing, which is surrounded on two sides by tall, mature forest.  To the west of the clearing (the negative sections of our transect) the forest becomes dense with lots of thickets and low canopy, whereas to the east the clearing continues for a fair distance.

We’d always noticed there were a high number of Colobus sightings in and around that area, but because of the distances between the sightings (often up to 400 metres) it was assumed they were different troops.  But recently, we have been attempting to conduct behaviour surveys in the late afternoon and early evening (the times in which our data set is falling behind in). 

What we’ve noticed is that all the smaller groups we’d been seeing scattered around during the day, are actually subgroups of a much larger troop that come together in the early evening, and presumably sleep together as a large group.  Colobus troops are known to do this; sleep together in larger groups, and then separate during the day to feed in smaller subgroups. 

We’ve named the troop the ‘Angola’ troop.  So far, we have conducted 4 hours and 10 minutes worth of behaviour surveys on different individuals in the Angola troop, but still haven’t got a complete set of demographics.  The largest count we have is 14 individuals, with 3 males, 2 females, 1 sub-adult and 1 infant.  I have no doubt there are others hiding away in the canopy that we haven’t seen, and that our total count isn’t spot on yet, but I intend on making it a goal in the coming weeks to try and identify every individual in the troop and successfully age and sex all of them.

This troop is becoming special to us, firstly because of the hours we’ve spent quietly observing them in the canopy , and secondly because the spot they inhabit is a man-made clearing, and illegal logging and charcoal burning continues to plague the entire area.  All it would take would be for a few of the larger, key trees to be felled, and that entire troop would be displaced.

I will continue to keep you all updated on the Angola troop, and we will hopefully have a much more detailed picture of all the individuals for you all soon.

Take care, and I shall be back soon
Matt

Tags: Angola troop, angolan black and white colobus, Charcoal Burning, Logging, man-made clearing, primate behaviour, troop demographics

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Category: Coastal Forest, Small mammals, Small-eared Galago, Suni, bush baby | Date: Mar 18 2009 | By: gvikenya

Hello again everyone

Well I hope you’ve enjoyed the last couple of blogs from some of the other members of GVI here in Kenya.  I thought I’d do this one myself, to tell you about the exciting night we had.

Last night we embarked on our second night sleeping out in Shimoni East Forest.  This being our second time, we were even better prepared (with spare batteries for the torches this time!) and had another awesome night.

We headed in at about 6pm, when the forest is bathed in that amazing orange light, and the temperature has fallen to a slightly more pleasant level.  We headed east for about half a kilometer, approximately in the middle between transect 1 and 2.  We went back to the same spot we went to last week; a rather convenient natural clearing that is (almost) devoid of coral rag.  After collecting deadwood and preparing a safe spot for our cooking fire (we want to leave as little evidence of us being there as possible), we all laid out our roll mats and made ourselves comfortable. 

The forest is such an amazing place to be as the sun is setting; you get the feeling all the creatures of the day are winding down, and you get that period of about 20 minutes where there is silence and calm.  Then once the sun has set, all the night noises begin…
After an incredible dinner of nyama choma (BBQ’d meat!), we all gathered our torches, whistles and compasses and headed off for a night walk deeper into the forest.

A.P - A former student of the Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute - getting ready to cook dinner

We were not to be disappointed!  About 5 minutes after leaving we head a noise just to the right of us.  We all spun around and shone our torches to where the sound came from, and standing right there, no more than 3.5 metres away from us, was a suni!  A Suni (Neotragus moschatus) is a tiny antelope with long, slender legs, that stands no more than 30-40cm off the ground.  It was immediately stunned by the torchlight, allowing us an unbelievably close view of a usually very shy antelope.  It then proceeded to walk slowly around the area, foraging on nearby leaves, never going more than 6 or 7 metres away from us.  We watched it in silence for at least 10 minutes.  It was, hands down, the best sighting of a suni I have ever had!

The suni!

We carried on the walk, our spirits soaring, and were lucky enough to get a brief sighting of a small-eared galago (bushbaby), and another suni, although it simply didn’t compare to the first one!

Its eyes reflect the torchlight

Suni decides to start moving away

We then headed back to camp, and joined Adam (the unfortunate one who drew the short straw and had to stay back to watch the fire), where we all lay around the dying embers, and fell asleep to the sounds of the forest.

It was the second successful camp out in the forest, and I’m pretty convinced this is going to become a regular activity!
That’s all from me for now, I’ll be back soon!
Regards,
Matt

Tags: , bushbaby, night walks, Small-eared Galago, Suni

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles | Date: Mar 16 2009 | By: gvikenya

Jon “JR” Olson is a U.S Naval Attache based in Helsinki.  He has joined GVIs marine research proramme on the south coast of kenya for 2 weeks.  He has kindly writtten this blog about his first day out on the water.

I woke up feeling exhilarated as this was to be my first official day working as a member of the dolphin research project in the Kisite/Mpunguti Marine Protected Area.

By 0600 I was showered, had organized by personal snorkel gear, camera, sunscreen, some additional clothes, etc, and was in the kitchen eating a quick breakfast.  By 0630 our group of nine people was hauling the gear down to the water and loading up SQUIRREL, our shuttle boat.  A few minutes later we were motoring our way across the Wasini Channel bound for Shimoni Village and our moored research boat known as BARDAN.  After transferring our gear to BARDAN, we got underway on our search for dolphins and other marine life.

Within minutes of starting out, we spotted our first pod of bottlenose dolphins, right in the middle of the Wasini Channel.  We spent 45 minutes following a pod of seven dolphins as they transited west down the channel.  We took dozens of photographs, logged the entire event, and ended the sighting around 0745.  BARDAN then turned east and we headed out into deeper water destined for Kisite Island by way of Funzi Bay.  We motored slowly under cloudy skies, which, on this particular morning, considering my still pasty white flesh, was OK with me. 

Bottlenose dolphin feeding on a turtle

The conditions were absolutely perfect for searching the seas for pods of dolphin and other marine species.  And, as luck would have it, while transiting south from Funzi Bay, we spooked a large surfacing turtle which promptly inhaled deeply and rapidly dove back into the deep.

Some two hours after we departed Shimoni, we arrived in the channel area of the Kisite Mpunguti islands.   It was not long before we spotted a small group of tourist dive boats and we set course for those boats as it was likely they would be accompanied by some type of marine life.  Once again, we were lucky and as we arrived in the vicinity of the tourist boats, we spotted a number of pairs of bottlenose dolphins, all of them engaged in socializing behaviors, and possibly some feeding.  We tracked these pairs of dolphins using cameras, the event and sighting logs, and maintained contact for approximately 30 minutes.  The dolphins then disappeared and we began making our way toward our snorkeling destination near Kisite Island where we would snorkel a defined path, known as a transect, in search of more turtles.

A bottlenose dolphin with severe scarring.  Thought to be the result of a shark attack

Once in the water, which, to me, feels like bath water because it is so warm, we started our transect and were not disappointed after sighting three turtles, two of which we were able to specifically classify as Green Turtles.  Once back in the boat at the end of our snorkel phase, we logged the information on the turtles in the Mega Fauna log and then proceeded back to the northeast, heading back to base for lunch and afternoon of data entry into the computers and some time spent correlating dolphin photos with individual dolphins. 

 It was amazing to me to see the truly distinctive dorsal fin marks on each of the local, or resident, bottlenose dolphins listed in the photographic data base.  After expert tutelage by GVI intern Karen, I was able to quickly identify a number of dolphins in the data base with photos taken by other research teams, providing much needed data for GVI to inform the Kenya Wildlife Service about key aspects of dolphin behavior.  This information will allow KWS to develop better policies for protecting the Marine Protected Area, which will, in turn, protect the bottlenose dolphins habitat.

As I finish this blog, I realize it is almost 10PM and I have to get up again shortly after 0500 tomorrow morning.  I get to do it all over again!  I can’t wait!

Tags: , bottlenose dolphin, green turtle, marine research, shark

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Category: Reptiles, Rodents | Date: Mar 09 2009 | By: gvikenya

Today’s blog has been written by Lorrayne Gaymer, an expedition member with GVI in Kenya.  She is 27, from England, and has written about today’s highlights! 

 Today our team was in Shimoni east forest, attempting to finish the canopy surveys on transect 3.  Firstly we checked the small mammal traps and found not to our surprise, Mrs Scarface (resident giant pouched rat), again!  Seeing as we already have her measurements, we simply took some photos and let her go on her way.

Mrs. Scarface  

We then managed to carry out over 30 minutes of primate behaviour on a troop of colobus, and finished all of the canopy cover surveys on transect 3 - a good feeling! After a nice lunch break looking out over the eastern peninsular, it was day over. The most exciting part of the day however, came on our way home when we were trudging back down the North-South spine, and our forest officer got the fright of his life as a very large forest cobra (over 1.5 metres) shot out of the bush right by his foot!  It headed into the shrubs to our left, before crossing the path about 4 metres in front of us, allowing for an excellent view.  It was SO long, really fat and lightning fast.  Unfortunately we didn’t get enough time to wip our cameras out, so no photos.  But to be honest, none of us really wanted to get that close for any length of time anyway!  Still, an awesome and extremely exciting sighting!

GVI conducting primate behaviour surveys 

More coming soon!

Regards

Matt

Tags: , forest cobra, Giant pouched rat, primate behaviour

3 responses so far

Category: Small mammals | Date: Mar 06 2009 | By: gvikenya

Hello!

Before I begin let me introduce myself…

My name is Matt, I’m GVI’s forest officer here in Shimoni.  I’m from Devon in England, although spent most of my life growing up in South Africa, Malawi and Bangladesh.  You’re usual blogger, Corti, is off to Costa Rica and Hawaii (on business I promise…) for a month and a half, so I shall be keeping you all informed and up to date with all the exciting news from the beautiful south coast of Kenya, and the work we’re doing here.  I don’t pretend to be as eloquent as Corti, and I’m only half as funny, but I shall certainly do my best!

Matt (in green) checking butterfly traps

Secondly, I must apologise for the distinct lack of blogs this week.  Unfortunately, we are in a part of the world where a fully functioning internet connection is never guaranteed.  We’ve been having some technical issues, but fingers crossed, all will be well!

At the end of last week, our forest team headed out nice and early to get a couple of bird surveys in.  Despite having to get out of bed when it is still dark, and fumble around for the equipment in the dark, it is without a doubt my favorite time to be out in the forest; just as dawn is breaking and all the animals are waking up with you.  We went to transect 1, our nearest transect, and sat down to begin the survey.  As usual, our ears were assaulted with hundreds of bird calls, and we all spent the half an hour trying to identify as many as we could.  It was only after the survey was finished when Olga, one member of our team came up to me, with a puzzled yet excited look on her face.  She, and one other person, had got a brief look at what she could only describe as a “mystery mammal”.  I was intrigued, so the moment we got back to base, out came the mammal book.  We all had a good look, and as of yet, have not made a positive ID.  

This is the description Olga gave:

Approximately 30cm high from the ground to its shoulder, and its head-body length was approximately 40cm.  It had a very bushy tail that stood erect when it ran.  It was a long tail, at least the same length as its body.  Its body colour was dark grey to black, with patches of white.  Its back was sloping and it ran with its head close to the ground.  It didn’t appear to have a long snout or muzzle, and was very quick along the ground.

Unfortunately, it was only a fleeting glimpse, so that is the best description we have, and there certainly wasn’t the chance for a photo!  After looking through the book, the two lucky spotters claim that the picture that looks most like what they saw is that of a zorilla (ictonyx striatus), but according to the book, they aren’t found here!  Apart from that, my guess would be it was some sort of mongoose (although the colouration doesn’t match the common ones found here).

It was exciting nonetheless, and we shall continue in our search to successfully ID it (feel free to offer any suggestions!).  I will be back very soon with more news, I hope you’ve enjoyed the first edition of ‘Matt’s blog’!

Bye for now

Tags: mammal, mongoose, Shimoni Forest, zorilla

5 responses so far

Category: Charcoal Burning, Coastal Forest, Colobus, Community Conservation, Environmental Education, Friends of Shimoni Forest, Kenya Wildlife Service, Logging | Date: Mar 02 2009 | By: gvikenya

Jambo!

Drew here back again and there’s more great news happening with Friends of Shimoni Forest. One thing that we as a group have strived for is support from both governmental and NGO in the area. We have been very successful in making friends with many local community based organizations who have been willing to support our causes, including Anzwani Women Group and Shimoni Mkwiro Dhow Tours. We are very proud to announce our support now from Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS). We have always worked with KWS and they have been willing to help us from day one, coming to meetings and supporting our projects, but now they have made the next step in helping us protect our coastal forest. Until recently KWS concern was for the welfare of the animals and not protecting the forest itself. This was largely due to the fact they had little authority in matters of conversation of our costal forest. They always helped us any way possible but, fortunately, there is little to no poaching happening in Shimoni forest so there was not much for them to do.

We have no forestry department in Shimoni and the local police station has limited man power making them unable to accomplish what needs to be done in order stop illegal charcoal burning and logging. KWS has always been very busy managing the Kisiti Mpunguti National marine park, located about one kilometer from Shimoni, and has had limited resources to do much else. This has really left no one able to apply pressure on the people committing these crimes and one of the reasons our group was established in 2007. Fortunately, with the growing support from not just our village, Shimoni, but others now as well including Anzwani things are starting to change. We are very proud of the local communities who have been increasing their support for protecting their forest. We have talked about the local area assistant chief who has started his own patrol group brining in charcoal burners. Community members have been putting pressure on police to prosecute criminals to the full extent of the law. And village elders and chairmen have been encouraging the community to no longer allow these people access through their villages in order to reach the forest to begin with. KWS has seen the support for conservation and are now stepping up their game. They are really not responsible for controlling destruction, however they do realize that the wildlife they protect depend on the forest. Yesterday, for the first time, KWS could here power saws coming from the forest and decided it was their turn. Two rangers headed off into the forest in search of the source. They came upon two men logging without permits and immediately made arrests. The men knew they were in trouble, being arrested by KWS; they would not get a slap on the wrist for this one, they will be in court today. We are very happy to have KWS making a stance with us today. The community sees that their voices are being herd and that large government offices are listing to their concerns. Illegal charcoal burners and loggers will think twice about their next move, knowing that KWS is on the case as well. We will be keeping you informed on all upcoming events and as always thanks for your time. See you soon. Friends of Shimoni Forest

Tags: , Charcoal burnung, Coastal Forest, Friends of Shimoni Forest, Kenya Wildlife Service, Logging

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