GVI Kenya

The activity of dolphin (whale)-watching is described as “the commercial observation of cetaceans in their habitat from a platform on land, sea or air” (Hoyt 2001).
The dolphin-watching industry constitutes an emergent business in many coastal areas around the world and has seen spectacular growth over the last fifteen years. The industry began in the 1950’s [...]

Devon Tighe is a two-week volunteer, assisting with GVI’s marine conservation research. She hails from New York City where she does strategic research at the New York Times.
 
Back home in New York City I practice yoga. Now, let’s be honest: When most people think of yoga they think of a flaky, tree-hugging, hippy-types sitting around [...]

When I first came out here to GVI Kenya in July 2008, I never thought I would become an avid fan of butterflies.  To be honest, I would have laughed at the thought (as would many of my friends back home in England!), but I now proud to say otherwise.
As part of our biodiversity research [...]

Well my arms are aching and my hands are blistered, yet I feel the need to let everyone know about why…
We have been doing primate and biodiversity research on Shimoni east forest for almost 4 years now, and are getting some robust data.  Yet just across the road on the other side of Shimoni village [...]

Around 2000 years ago, trade in sea turtle products was observed in the Red Sea and East Africa region and although trade in ambergris and ivory occurred, tortoise and turtle shell was the most commonly mentioned product.  (Jack Frazier, Proceedings of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Turtle Conservation Workshop, Mombasa, 2005). All five species of Indian [...]

Yesterday saw an interesting discovery for us GVI folk here in Shimoni forest.  We were at the end of the negative sections of transect 5, innocently conducting a butterfly sweep net survey, when we were stuck with a very intense smell of decay.  We spent a good few minutes trying to establish the source, but [...]

If you cast your eyes back over a few of our blogs recently you’ll read about the tourist trail that Friends of Shimoni Forest are creating.  This trail is going to run through Shimoni forest to show tourists some of the amazing flora and fauna to be seen, it will take them on a visit [...]

Have you ever asked yourself what you would do with your day if you were a colobus monkey?  Perhaps not, but down here in Shimoni east forest, we are rather curious…
GVI has been conducting primate behaviour surveys on the colobus monkeys for about two and a half years now.  It has been a constant effort, [...]

East African coastal forests are some of the most critical habitats for wildlife conservation in the world. Once upon a time they were a continuous belt that stretched from Somalia down to Mozambique, and were home to some of Africa’s most diverse and unique wildlife. Unfortunately today, what remains are small, isolated and fragmented patches, [...]

Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area (KMMPA) lies south of Wasini Island (south-coast of Kenya) and covers an area of 39 square kilometres. The KMMPA includes the National Park surrounding Kisite Island and the Marine Reserve surrounding the Mpunguti islands. The KMMPA and the marine wildlife it contains are an important tourist attraction and, as a result, [...]