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
Chizi The Lone Ranger
Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA | Date: May 12 2009 | By: gvikenya
Between nauseous stomachs, blazing sun and turbulent waters, Shafii spots our first and only sighting of the day. With the boat bobbing up and down like a yo-yo and Kate calling out “dolphin, dolphin!” everyone rushed to one side of the boat to catch their look at the sighting. The unique nicks on the dorsal fin gave the game up straight away, it was the infamous Chizi, a familiar bottlenose dolphin for our research team, swimming along on a lazy Monday morning in its world under the sea.
‘Chizi’, a bottlenose dolphin is a very distinctive individual with the pattern of nicks on the trailing edge of its dorsal fin
One other tourist dhow full of extended lenses and safari hats nearly capsized their boat trying to photograph the lonesome Chizi. We spotted Chizi just off the east side of Kisite Island travelling along by itself, which was unusual as this individual he is not normally seen solo! The sighting lasted approx 10 minutes and in that time Chizi was not in a playful mood, no peduncle dives or cheeky tail flips in sight. Chizi means ‘crazy’ in Swahili however the dolphin was not living up to its name on this particular sighting.
After Andy captured some good photos and Chizi had been down for a while we decided to end the sighting and return to the rolling waters and samosa time! This has been GVI’s second sighting of Chizi this expedition.
Tags: bottlenose dolphin, dolphin behaviour, dolphin research, kisite mpunguti marine protected area
Witnessing Unique Dolphin Behaviour
Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles | Date: May 04 2009 | By: gvikenya
Megan is working with GVI over the next few months and describes her experiences on our marine research project so far:
Growing up in the central California desert, I developed a fascination for water. I followed my affinity to Washington State, where low clouds, mist and the Puget Sound shaped my existence for five years. I have come to know water in many ways. After only one week in Kenya, the unique anthropological and environmental culture of water begins to reveal itself. We experience it in late afternoon salt-water runs, thick humidity, dynamic rain storms, and most notably, the Indian Ocean.
Each day brings hard work, but also terrific amounts of beauty. Typically, we spend eight hours on the water in our research boat a traditional wooden dhow. The day is long and hot. Aided by Shafii the captain, we carry out turtle transects and dolphin surveys. We have spotted rays, reef sharks, hawksbill and green turtles, barracuda, and bottlenose and humpback dolphins. Often, the dhow startles schools of small, flying fish, which travel out ahead of the boat. One of our most interesting sightings this week involved a mother bottlenose dolphin and her calf. Using a dead parrot fish, the mother appeared to teach her calf to feed. The mother would approach, take the fish in her mouth, and then release it. The calf then tried. Significant amounts of time on the water allow us to witness many different dolphin behaviours.
Last night, the rains came. After a week in the hot sun and salty showers, we welcomed the fresh water. I look forward to more time in our small corner of the Kenyan coast. With little electricity, a vast range of native species, our proximity to the friendly Mkwiro villagers, and vast amounts of water on our doorstep, working with GVI provides you with a unique opportunity to push yourself physically, mentally and emotionally.
Tags: bottlenose dolphin, dolphin behaviour, dolphin research, indian ocean, mkwiro, turtle research
The Frog Blog Part 2
Category: Amphibians, Coastal Forest, Shimoni Forest | Date: May 03 2009 | By: gvikenya
Matt wrote earlier in the week about an exciting frog find in the forest and as Saturday night came round his rainy season wish came true. At our forest base and office in Shimoni we were decidedly ‘off-duty’, kicking back and watching a film… Just before hitting the sack, I noticed a little visitor perched on the bars of the kitchen window and so our mini research team kicked in to action. Recognising the small amphibian from an individual we had caught a few years before, it didn’t take long to identify. We are fairly confident we have our second Tinker Reed Frog, or Hyperolius tuberilinguis.
This beautiful yellow-green reed frog reveals striking red-orange backs of the thighs when jumping. It has been suggested that this trait may serve to startle predators as it makes its escape, but the colour is the result of a concentrated supply of blood vessels under a thinner layer of skin, enabling an area of rapid water uptake, important for amphibians living in tropical East Africa! The body length of the frog suggested it may be a male, males often being smaller than females in the amphibian world, however the lack of a bright yellow throat indicates the reverse. If it was a female, the she may well have been out looking for a pool of water above which she can lay up to 400 eggs above the surface, attached to vegetation.
With the Hyperolius being a somewhat tricky genus within which to determine species, we’re pleased to have had an easy job with this one and look forward to seeing what else the rains will bring us. Would be nice if they gave us Saturday nights off though…
Corti
Tags: amphibian, coastal forest biodiversity, coastal forest research, reed frog
Sustainable Development Through Dolphin Research - A Dhow For The Dispensary
Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins | Date: May 02 2009 | By: gvikenya
On the remote island community of Mkwiro where GVI are based, it is has rarely been easy to access healthcare. The community themselves raised money to build a dispensary and for a few years enjoyed medical assistance on their doorstep with a government nurse. However by the time GVI arrived the dispensary had been effectively closed for a couple of years, the nurse having been transferred and never replaced.
In April 2006 our friend and member of the Mkwiro dispensary committee, Fadhili, appealed to us for help - without a nurse, the provision of drugs and medical resources was to be cancelled - this would mean that there would no longer be vaccines and basic medications available for a visiting public health officer from the mainland in Shimoni to administer. All healthcare needs, including child vaccinations, would depend on crossing to the mainland. Having already been called upon twice in just a few months to provide emergency night time medical evacuations in our boat for advanced cases of malaria - Juma, a boy from the orphanage and Shafii, our own boat captain - we were acutely aware of the risks of delaying medical assistance because of the expense and inconvenience.
Thumbs up from Fadhili for support for Mkwiro dispensary
With the agreement of Mkwiro orphanage we allocated some of their funds from GVI’s Charitable Trust to pay a nurse’s salary, get the dispensary re-opened and ensure medical care was available once more for the orphans and wider community. Generous donations, including from one of our volunteers, Mirka Meyer, ensured the nurse’s salary for two years, but we were aware all along that this was not a sustainable solution and sooner or later the donations would dry up… which is what happened last year.
Jane volunteering in the classroom
Fortunately another former team member, Jane Hainsworth-Birt was on the case with her employer, Timberland. Raising over £4000 for Mkwiro, they managed to fund new furniture for Mkwiro primary school, send students on to secondary school with scholarships and allocate the biggest slice for a sustainable business initiative that would allow Mkwiro dispensary to earn the money to pay for their own nurse and improve facilities. It has taken a long time to find the right initiative but in an exceptionally generous gesture to help his community, Pandu, the owner of the dhow boat ‘Bardan’ that we hire as a research vessel agreed to sell it to the dispensary at less than market value.
Pandu whose sale of the boat to assist his community was as generous a gesture as anyone else
And so last month, the money we paid to hire our marine research vessel went directly to the dispensary committee to employ a public health officer. And when GVI don’t need the boat, Kisite Marine Park will continue to draw tourists in search of dolphins aboard a traditional dhow. With enormous thanks to Jane, Timberland and Pandu, it looks as though we have found the perfect, sustainable solution for Mkwiro and look forward to a happier, healthier future for the community!
Dolphin research… it’s good for your health!
Corti
Tags: community healthcare, dolphin research, mkwiro, sustainable development
An Epic Day Of Dolphins (And Turtles)
Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles | Date: May 01 2009 | By: gvikenya
Keziah gives us the news from yesterday’s marine research:
I woke up 6am in Shimoni, waiting to find out when the boat would come to pick me up at the jetty. With the rainy season, start times of marine surveys become a wee bit unpredictable - with one eye on the rain clouds you just have to wait for the opportunity! However, the sun was shining, there was no sign of rain and a phone call later I was jogging through Shimoni village to the boat.
We headed out towards Funzi Bay, across Nyuli Reef and to Upper Mpunguti Island when we had our first sighting of dolphins, something that has also become less predictable with the season. At first we thought there were eleven Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, but soon realised this was an underestimation. Ten on the port side, ten on the starboard side, we didn’t know quite where to look, excitedly swapping sides with a chorus of gasps and squeals from our team, and splashes and blows from the dolphins.
Several individuals were identified immediately, including one of my favourite pairs; Besty and her calf. I had the pleasure to be on the boat when we spotted Besty and her newborn calf for the first time, adorably small with the foetal folds still showing! Others including Twende and the yet to be named individual ‘063’ were also identified.
The group were at first travelling fast in a southerly direction, then their pace slowed, with a couple of individuals approaching the boat to bow ride. This enabled us to get good shots of the dorsal fins, which will be used for photo-identification in our mark-recapture study. Unfortunately we also noticed an adult and juvenile that appeared skinny compared to the rest, with their ribs visible. We hope this wasn’t a sign of illness in the population or lack of food in the area… After taking enough photos we left them to continue south to the open sea.
The dolphins had done us a service, leading us to the start of the snorkel transect our survey leader had selected for the day, by Kisite Island… and it turned out to be the perfect day to pick this transect! As we climbed out of the water to board the boat post-survey, everyone’s face was an absolute picture: 3 hawksbill turtles, 5 green turtles and 1 moray eel! Ruth and I even had the pleasure of watching one of the green turtles swim slowly to the surface, stop for a few seconds and then continue to raise its head out the water, beak open for a gasp of air. This was closely followed by us both surfacing and giggling hysterically with joy having witnessed a behaviour in full that we had only seen before from above the surface as a turtle’s head appear and disappear in a second!
With the weather being on our side, we decided to return towards Funzi Bay again, but the sea was just a little too rough, so we diverted in to Wasini channel. Within 5 minutes of turning the boat around there was a shout from Katalin at the front, “DOLPHIN”, followed quickly by “HUMPBACK DOLPHIN!”. We had to wait 10 minutes for the individual to reappear, a very large Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin that seemed curiously darker than usual. We put this down to the glare of the sun, and waited for what we thought was a lone individual to resurface. Then two individuals surfaced riding a wave, both smaller than the first. Several more minutes of waiting and we were shocked to see not only the three individuals from before, but another two adults and calf!
We continued to watch them for 20 minutes as they were feeding, coming up for several breaths before peduncle dives took them under for several minutes. After surfacing for the third time, in unison, they formed a compact group, changed direction and headed south, crossing the channel towards Wasini Island. We were able to compare the colouration of the first individual and yes, he was distinctly darker, not something we had seen before. The mother of the calf had a deep scar around her neck, possibly from a fishing line. Only 2 weeks ago an individual was spotted with a huge chunk out the back of his dorsal fin, the shape suggestive of a boat propeller injury. Both these wounds emphasize the humpback dolphin’s vulnerability to fishing activities, boat traffic and marine debris around coast lines. But fortunately also an ability to recover from significant injury.
All in all it was quite an epic day for our research team and for me one of complete brilliance!
Tags: bottlenose dolphin, Cetacean research, dolphin research, funzi bay, green turtle, hawksbill turtle, humpback dolphin, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, turtle research, wasini channel
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