Humpback Whale Group Sighted at Nyuli Reef

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

4 Responses to “Humpback Whale Group Sighted at Nyuli Reef”

paula, on 22 Jul 2009

I’m so jealous - they look so peaceful and elegant, beautiful.

Patricia, on 22 Jul 2009

This must have been quite a morning for you all. Very cool indeed….can I then assume that spotting whales off our coast is rare?

Dana-Phoenix Arizona, on 22 Jul 2009

I can imagine the ‘high’ you felt seeing these majestic creatures up so close!

gvikenya, on 24 Jul 2009

Hi, seeing humpback whales is certainly a highlight for our team… the excitment had been building up all the way through June until our first sighting early this month. now everyday our boat goes out we are straining to see the tell tale misty sprays rising on the horizon that give away these ocean giants which are actually very hard to find in open water!
Patricia - it is not rare for the humpback whales to be off Kenya’s coast; each year they undertake huge migrations from feeding grounds of Antartica up the East African coastline where they give birth and mate in the calm safe waters. but little is known about where exactly they come from, just how far they travel up the coast and if indeed there is a distinct breeding population in Kenyan waters. Our research may being to to show if the same individuals are back year after year and researchers with Stockholm University have been looking closely the humpback whales that visit Unguja (Zanzibar) island. However the whales may only be around for 3 months of the year and do not necessarily hug the coastline so for the vast majority of people in Kenya it is indeed rare to actually them. Humpback whales globally were decimated by the whaling industry so certinly they are a rarer sight now than a few hundred years ago.

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