GVI Kenya

Category: Coastal Forest, Community Conservation, Eco-tourism, Friends of Shimoni Forest, Kaya, Mangroves, Shimoni Forest | Date: Jul 29 2009 | By: gvikenya

Yesterday in Shimoni Forest was one of very mixed feelings. 
In the morning we had set out with a GPS with the intention of recording the locations of all of the new roads, plots and clearings that have sprung up in the forest.  These areas are the result of developments that are in the pipeline, or for the more extreme cases, are underway already.  We wanted to plot it all on a GPS map so that we could get a feel for what is happening on a larger scale.  The results were quite scary, with the waypoints highlighting a well organized matrix of plots that cover the entire coastline.  This information is going to be included in a disturbance report that will soon be submitted to the Kenya Forest Service. 

Later in the day however, two of us went with the chairman of Friends of Shimoni Forest (the community-based organization we work closely with) to visit a couple of the sacred Kaya’s in the forest. 
In addition to the biological value, Shimoni forest holds cultural value to the Digo tribe that lives along the coast. The traditional inhabitants of these areas still practice ancient rituals and ceremonies at the Kaya’s located deep within the forest. These Kaya’s are ancient burial grounds of their ancestors, and offerings in the form of gifts, prayers and sacrifices are given to the spiritual inhabitants of the Kaya’s. These Kaya’s have been past down through generations and are of utmost important to their users. 

Bottles of rose water and honey water left for the Kaya’s ancestors

We are not allowed to visit the Kaya’s without an Mzee (village elder), so we met up with an Mzee in the village of Anziwani, and walked into the forest to find the Kaya’s.  When we approached the sacred place, we had to remove our shoes, and the Mzee recited prayers to the spirits asking for permission to enter.  The first Kaya was a cave with a well, where the villagers in the past used to collect water and pray.  We sat next to the cave while the Mzee quietly explained (in Kiswahili which was translated for us) the history and legends of the Kaya.  The second one we visited was a very strange fossilised coral land formation, similar to a small ravine or gorge, very close to a beautiful area of mangroves.  This Kaya was marked by old flags, and again we removed our shoes and listened to the myths and rituals associated with this ancient site. 

The Mzee – a highly respected village elder

The reason for this visit, was to help Friends of Shimoni Forest set up guided walks and tours through the forest.  The walks would include visits to these shrines, followed by a guided tour through the forest to see the birds, animals and monkeys that inhabit this incredible forest.  Friends of Shimoni Forest intend these tours to raise money for the community group by harnessing the income generated by tourists, which will then be ploughed back into community projects and to aid in the protection of the Forest.  They also hope that this endeavor will help raise awareness of the importance of the forest locally, nationally and internationally. 

The flags that mark the boundaries of one of the Kaya’s.

Both myself and Aaron, were very moved by the Kaya’s, their history and by the respect the communities show to them.  Very few outsiders have ever been allowed to see the Kaya’s, and we did not take this privilege for granted.  Hopefully together with Friends of Shimoni Forest we can get the guided walks set up, and will be one step closer to saving this critically endangered forest.        

Tags: Community Conservation, forest conservation, forest walks, Friends of Shimoni Forest, guided tours, Kaya, mzee, village elder

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Category: Shimoni Forest, bats | Date: Jul 28 2009 | By: gvikenya

Our base on the mainland is located on the outskirts of Shimoni village, about a 10 to 15 minute walk from Shimoni East Forest.  The “cottage” has been host to a variety of wildlife over the years.  These are generally disorientated creatures that simply wander / fly / slither into the cottage completely by accident.  Of course there is the constant threat of the odd sykes monkey or galago (bushbaby) that is all too aware of their whereabouts, and whose sole intention is feasting on our fruit supplies! 

This week has seen the usual plethora of mother nature’s finest.  Firstly there was an unknown species of tree or possibly vine snake.  While we were trying to find that, we discovered a scorpion hiding behind the fridge, and we had at least two bananas stolen by our friendly neighbourhood bushbabies.  The highlight of the week however, was a bat which found itself slightly off-course in our bedroom!

We found him hanging from our ceiling looking quite confused – and very cute!  After managing to get a couple of photographs we spent the next 40 minutes trying to herd the poor thing out of the bedroom and then out of the front door.  It was actually an incredible experience, watching the bat fly slowly, effortlessly, and with absolute precision through doorways and around a rather small cottage.  You could hear the small clicks of echo-location as he casually avoided obstacles and hugged the contours of bookshelves, computers and sofas. 

Bats are a fascinating order (Chiroptera) that is separated into two suborders; fruit bats (Megachiroptera) and insect bats (Microchiroptera).  In spite of their marked similarities, the two groups exhibit numerous less obvious differences which suggest that insect bats share a very ancient common ancestry with insectivores while the fruit bats may have more recent affinities with primates.  While the scientific community wait for confirmation of separate origins (which would require two separate orders), fruit bats and insect bats remain distinct suborders (Kingdon, 1997).

From our photographs, we can see the very small eyes and large ears, which suggests our friend is an insect bat.  After a brief look through a book, we think he is of the Family Nycteridae, and the Genus Nycteris, which has the common name of the slit-faced bats.  There are 10 species found across the whole continent, excluding only the Sahara dessert.  We are hoping another one will lose its way and find itself in the cottage, so we can get better photos for a closer look! 

Tags: , bats, chiroptera, echo-location, insect bat, megachiroptera, microchiroptera

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Category: Cetacean research, Humpback whales, Kisite Mpunguti MPA | Date: Jul 21 2009 | By: gvikenya

Our marine research team had an amazing day yesterday! Setting off at 7am in our research boat, we surveyed out to Funzi bay and then back across to the Kisite Mpunguti marine protected area, when, after 3 hours, passing over Nyuli reef, out captain Shafii and Ines called out the phrase that has been on everybody’s lips since our first sighting two weeks ago… “whale”.

The huge blow on the horizon seen erupting from the waters was an unmistakable marker of our second humpback whale group of the season. Our boat motored out to where it had been seen, as the whale slapped its tail on the water’s surface, rolled and dived down. Three whales were seen and the research boat attempted to track a pair, possibly mother accompanied by her older offspring, but certainly not one of this season’s new arrivals. The boat follwed them as they travelled and then they dived once more. We cut the engine and waited… everyoe breathless and alert, scanning the horizon. the dive lasted two minutes and then one of the anmals broke the surface once more, in an incredible breach, the whale’s huge body shooting vertically out of the water more than halfway before crashing down on its side.

Seeing these ocean giants so close is exhilirating, their size and grace never failing to take your breath away. And we got some fantastic photos for you to enjoy!

Tags: Cetacean research, Humpback whales, kisite mpunguti marine protected area, nyuli reef

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Category: Community Conservation, Eco-tourism, Tsavo West Sustainable Development Programme | Date: Jul 15 2009 | By: gvikenya

Sketches have been drawn, questions asked, lesson plans made and practical lessons trialled – and our team is ready to go!  Well almost, they just need a few more discussions about what to pack for the adventure that is our Tsavo West Sustainable Development Programme. In just a few days time they are off to Kidong and I’m very excited!

Our Tsavo West Sustainable Development programme aims to provide assistance to groups of ex-poachers by building their capacity to engage in sustainable alternative livelihoods.  The programmes that GVI operates differ from village to village, and have been developed in conjunction with key members of each community to suit the specific characteristics of the village in question.  I have been lucky enough to have been involved with each of the three communities from the very beginning and can not wait to hear back from Kidong to see how they are progressing with the livelihood options we have been assisting them with over the past year.

Our objectives in Kidong next week will be to teach the community how to make and package a selection of soaps which they can then sell to tourists (we have one order already!), and to continue to assist them with the development of the Cultural Centre they are building.  The Cultural Centre is a community based information centre which will tell the story of the people of Kidong, Kasaani and Mahandakini, and their journey from ‘poachers to protectors’ of wildlife.  The information for the Cultural Centre has been gathered, advertising material is being developed on this trip to Kidong, some of the buildings have been constructed, and, with help of GVI I am very hopeful that the Centre will be completed by the end of the year. Our aim is be able to post pictures of tourists passing through the Cultural Centre during the Christmas break this year… so keep watching this space for updates!

Tags: alternative livelihoods, Eco-tourism, poachers, sustainable development, tsavo west national park

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Category: Birds, Coastal Forest, Shimoni Forest, Southern Banded Snake Eagle | Date: Jul 13 2009 | By: gvikenya

Today in Shimoni East Forest was a particularly special one for us here on the south coast of Kenya. There were the usual vegetation and habitat surveys being conducted, as well as the primate community surveys which provided some wonderful sightings of the Angolan black and white colobus monkey. Today however, the limelight was stolen from these charismatic monkeys by a much rarer sight. Our research team was walking down the negative sections of transect 5, which is largely low, dense canopy, when Matt glanced up through one of the few breaks in the canopy and was provided the most spectacular view of a Southern banded snake eagle!  It was gliding slowly, and surprisingly low over the canopy directly above givign him at least five seconds of perfect, uninterrupted visibility.  

The southern banded snake eagle is listed on the IUCN red list as near-threatened, so all of us here are trained on its identification specifically so that we can be certain if we do happen to spot one. Matt clearly identified the thinly barred body and wing linings, the plain brown head and upper chest, and the tail with the four brown bands.

 Southern banded snake eagles (Circaetus fasciolatus) have very restricted distributions, found only in Kenya in coastal areas, inland along the lower Tana river, and once near Voi amongst the Tsavo National Parks. They are locally common in Tanzania’s East Usambara Mountains. The preferred habitats are coastal areas and near-coastal forests. 

This is a very exciting sighting not only because of the conservation status of the eagle, but because it reiterates that the Shimoni area is a confirmed habitat for the species.  This will add weight to the research GVI is doing in Shimoni, in conjunction with the community-based organization Friends of Shimoni Forest with the eventual aim of protective status and community led management.  The more we can highlight Shimoni Forest as a biodiversity hotspot and key habitat for threatened species, the sooner we will achieve this goal.

More information can be found at http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sites/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=3387&m=0

Pictures of the beautiful bird are available at http://www.tanzaniabirds.net/African_birds/Eagle_Southern_Banded_snake/sbse.htm   

Tags: coastal forest research, Shimoni Forest, south banded snake eagle

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jul 08 2009 | By: gvikenya

When I visited Kasaani two days ago to announce that the construction of a water pipeline directly into the village was going ahead, the faces of the community members beamed with joy.  The people of this community are currently travelling over 3km daily to collect water from the nearest supply in Cess; the return journey is uphill making the trip tiring and time consuming.  The absence of a water supply in Kasaani has been an ongoing issue in this community for over 10 years and as such this announcement was of huge significance to the people of this village.  When the announcement was made yesterday, the response of the community of Kasaani reflected their overwhelming gratitude and excitement about receiving a water supply.

Although the availability of clean water is something that the developed world takes for granted, for many communities in Africa, issues of obtaining water constitutes one of the greatest challenges for daily subsistence.  This project may not solve the issue of water availability throughout Africa, it will however, make a significant difference to over 3,000 people living in and around Kasaani village.  I feel privileged to have been involved in the planning and development of this project, and I’m eagerly anticipating the construction of this pipeline in August of this year.

Tags: community development, kasaani village, water access

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Category: Coastal Forest, Colobus, Primate Research, Shimoni Forest | Date: Jul 06 2009 | By: gvikenya

This week our research teams were back in Shimoni forest after a few weeks break. We were aware of the intensely thick canopy and vegetation that has literally sprung into life since the onset of the rainy season, and were concerned about how this was going to affect our primate community surveys. The density of the vegetation makes spotting primates significantly more challenging than in the dry season, and the very strong winds that are present at the moment reduce the chances of hearing the primates; a vital tool in the search! The rains and winds also regularly bring down trees in the shallow soils of the coral rag forest which can make it near impossible to find let alone follow our transects!

We headed out optimistic nonetheless, and made our way to the furthest transect away; transect 6. The last time we had been back to re-survey transect 6 we had been confronted by swathes of destruction from fire and on-going logging and charcoal burning.

Our fears of not seeing the primates melted away steadily throughout the day however, after we got sighting after sighting of the Angolan black and white colobus monkey, and several good sightings of sykes monkeys.

The day ended up with seven colobus sightings and two sykes sightings. The average group size of the colobus seen on that day was just over 4, with the largest group including seven individuals. What was particularly exciting to see was the number of young colobus in the groups; two very young infants who still had all white pelts and very cute pink faces, two juveniles that had developed grey pelts, and 3 sub-adults. Sub-adults are often hard to distinguish accurately as they have developed their adult colouration, but by watching their behaviour and interaction with adult females in the group it is possible to observe their on-going attachment to their mothers.

The rainy season is the peak birth time for colobus, so it should be expected to see young ones, but it was a huge sense of relief that the disturbance we were confronted with the last time we working in this part of the forest has not displaced the troops of colobus or interupted their breeding cycles.

Tags: angolan black and white colobus, Primate Research, Shimoni Forest, sykes monkey

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Category: Cetacean research, Humpback whales | Date: Jul 05 2009 | By: gvikenya

Hello there! After a rough week of stormy seas and torrential (and somewhat mysterious!) ‘black rain’ brought by the Kusi monsoon winds, Friday left us with something to celebrate… well, a pair of somethings actually.

Monday was a training day for us, teaching our new researchers how to identify different turtle species, dolphin species and their larger cousins the humpback whales. Tuesday was… a total wash out! Torrential rain kept our research boat and research team firmly moored at Mkwiro. Wednesday and Thursday saw us out on the choppy water but the winds kept us confined to the Wasini channel. A brief sighting of a green turtle and bottlenose dolphin were all we got for our efforts and in rough seas following the dolphin sighting and undertaking photo identification surveys proved too difficult.

Friday was looking to be a similar story as the planned survey route to Funzi bay was abandoned and we turned back in to the Wasini channel, however it turned out that we didn’t need to venture as far as Funzi bay… we barely needed to venture off our base in Mkwiro village as it happened. On re-entering the eastern end of Wasini channel the research team were confronted by two seasonal visitors in front of Mkwiro… a pair of humpback whales! We’re not sure that this particular pair was a mother and calf, although one was smaller, it certainly wasn’t a new born and as this marks the beginning of Kenya’s 2009 humpback whale season, we’re expecting mothers to be on their migration north up the East African coastline before they calve.

However it is very exciting for us to see the humpback whales (the fourth largest animal in the world as I learned recently!) return and for those of us here last year, the significance of last Friday, 3rd July, wasn’t lost on us. Last year, the first sighting of humpback whales in the area relayed to us, was on 3rd July! We can’t wait to find out what else we can learn from them over the coming months and if we’re lucky we may have a chance of finding out if any of the individuals we photographed last year have returned for 2009.

 Stay tuned, we’ll be blogging our way through the 2009 humpback whale season for you!

Corti

Tags: Cetacean research, Humpback whales, mkwiro, wasini island

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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

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