GVI Kenya

Category: Coastal Forest, Colobus, Primate Research, Shimoni Forest | Date: Oct 22 2009 | By: gvikenya

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 lies the uncharted, and mysterious realm of Shimoni west, ever beckoning us to it.  We have been planning to expand our research into Shimoni west for a while now, and have finally begun the adventure. 

The girls ready for the day

The western forest is almost twice the size of its counterpart, and teaming with flora and fauna that are crying out for recognition.  There is definitely a viable population of our beloved colobus monkey, as highlighted by the censuses conducted in 2001 by Julie Anderson and in 2007 by GVI.  That is the only time GVI have officially done research in West, and Anderson’s census is the only other event. 

We have on occasion, ventured into Shimoni west on fact finding missions and with the intention of making preliminary assessments into the possibility of starting research in there, and one thing we have noticed is the high level of disturbance ranging from charcoal pits, pit saws and snares.  This only increased our sense of urgency.

 Katie getting stuck in

So as of last week, we have officially begun our preparations.  By preparations, we mean donning work gloves, sharpening our pangas (machetes) and practicing our angry faces and heading into West to begin the long and tiresome process of cutting transects.  Transects are an essential part of research (specifically for distance sampling – the method of survey we use for the primates), which involves cutting paths in a grid system that allow us to pass relatively easily through the research area.  We do try and minimize the damage we cause, so there is always plenty of crawling and climbing! 

Matt’s panga face

We’ve started cutting our north / south spine, which will run approximately 1 – 1.2 km through the centre of the forest, off which our research transects (that run east-west) can cross.  We have done two days so far, and have gone approximately 600 metres!  That may not sound like much, but trust me on this – it’s not bad!  This endeavor will take many months to complete (as we still have to carry on our surveys in East), but we’ll keep you updated on our progress. 

Once more into the breach dear friends!

Tags: , adventure, angolan black and white colobus, biodiversity research, census, Charcoal Pit, climbing, colobus monkey, crawling, distance sampling, disturbance, fauna, flora, grid system, Julie Anderson, machete, panga, pitsaws, preparations, Primate Research, research area, Shimoni east forest, Shimoni village, Shimoni west forest, snare, snese of urgency, transects, western forest, work gloves

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Category: Coastal Forest, Community Conservation, Eco-tourism, Friends of Shimoni Forest, Kaya, Mangroves, Shimoni Forest | Date: Oct 19 2009 | By: gvikenya

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 to a couple of the sacred Kaya’s or traditional religious sites, and it will take them past some of the amazing mangrove forests that run along the whole eastern coastline. 

An example of some of the mangroves

Mangroves are some of the most amazing trees in the world.  They tend to inhabit coastlines, estuaries or river mouths, and form some of the most critical habitats on the planet.  They act as nurseries and hunting grounds for countless aquatic species, as well as a home to many terrestrial species such as baboons and genets.  They also act as a buffer zone between fresh water bodies and the sea for runoff, silts and pollution.  They are also the only tree species that can exist in salt water!

Mangroves happily exist on beaches

Because of their importance, coupled with the fact they are exceptionally cool, means they are a site not to be missed on the tourist trail.  There is one particular spot where the tourists are going to be taken where at least five different species of mangrove can be seen, and where they extend unbroken for kilometers. 

The original idea was to create a boardwalk through the mangroves, which the tourists would be taken along.  This idea was scrapped, mainly because there are several mangrove boardwalks already in the area, and we wanted ours to be extra special.  So we have come up with the idea of a viewing platform!  We want to build a very tall (and very safe of course…) structure of some sort, on which the tourists can sit, drink a cup of chai and look out over the huge expanse of mangroves to the east, and the towering trees of shimoni forest to the south and west.  We think this will deliver a unique experience to people who have come to see this stunning area. 

One of the magnificent trees of Shimoni forest

Of course there are going to be many issues involved in the creation of this structure.  We are not sure yet what materials will be used in the construction, but bamboo has been suggested already.  The structure will need to be built on coral rag (fossilised coral), which will not be the simplest base for a tall structure…!  Then of course there is the issue of finances, which as ever, will probably be the hardest to overcome.  But overcome it shall be!  It will be the best view in Kenya (excluding Mount Kenya perhaps…)!

Tags: aquatic species, baboons, bamboo, boardwalk, buffer zone, chai, coastline, coral rag, critical habitat, estuaries, fauna, finance, flora, fossilised coral, fresh water bodies, Friends of Shimoni Forest, genets, hunting grounds, issues, Kenya, mangrove forest, materials, Mount Kenya, nurseries, planet, pollution, river mouth, runoff, sacred Kaya, Shimoni Forest, silts, structure, terrestrial species, tourist trail, traditional religious sites, unique experience, viewing platform

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Category: Coastal Forest, Colobus, Primate Research, Shimoni Forest | Date: Oct 16 2009 | By: gvikenya

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, but unfortunately we have never dedicated as much time and energy into it as we would have liked.  This is due to the fact that our forest research programme has many parts to it, with an array of different surveys that all require our attention. 

We have been privileged recently though, by the presence of a masters student from Manchester Metropolitan University who has come out to do his thesis on colobus behaviour in Shimoni forest!

Gareth has been with us for over ten weeks now, and still has approximately five weeks to go.  He has been stomping through the forest during every waking hour in search of our beloved colobus, with the hope of quietly observing and recording their behaviours. 

The main outputs one wants from behavioural surveys are time budgets.  These are simple breakdowns of what the colobus actually spend their time doing (normally as a percentage of total time).  So for example you could observe that during the early hours of the morning, an adult male may spend 60% of his time feeding, whereas during mid day, this may be replaced by resting (say for perhaps 85% of the time).  Whilst one is recording states (which are longer durations e.g. feeding and resting), one is also recording events, which are of a shorter duration, or “instant” events such as urination, or scratching.

You may be asking yourself why we would be interested in these details of a monkeys life.  Well, apart from being amazing to watch (they are scarily human-like!), these observations can tell us much about the wellbeing of the population, the impact of environmental pressures, the effects of human presence / absence, and the impact that human disturbance is having on different populations. 

For example if you were to observe a troop that reside deep in the forest well away from human presence, and then compare those results to a troop that is near recent destruction, you may observe some serious differences.  The troop deep in the forest may spend more time feeding in the morning and evening, and resting during the middle of the day – what they should be doing.  The troop closer to human disturbance may spend more time alert, or travelling.  This reduces the time they can spend on activities such as feeding, or socially important behaviours like grooming.  You do not need to be a genius to guess that this will be likely to have implications for the health of the individuals and the troop as a whole.

 Observing colobus in their natural habitat

So we are very happy to have Gareth here with us, and are extremely excited to see his results.  They may well reveal some distressing facts, which I have no doubt we will be able to link to the increasing destruction of the forest.  But the first step is collecting this data, and analysing the results.  Once we have firm conclusions, the next question will be “why?” and the next step – how do we stop it.   

Tags: , adult male, alert, angolan black and white colobus, behavioural survey, distressing facts, energy, events, feeding, firm conclusions, human disturbance, human presence, instant event, Manchester Metropolitan University, observations, percentage total time, population, primate behaviour, resting, results, scratching, Shimoni east forest, social activity, states, surveys, time, time budgets, urination

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Category: Charcoal Burning, Coastal Forest, Community Conservation, Friends of Shimoni Forest, Kenya Wildlife Service, Logging, Primate Research, Shimoni Forest | Date: Oct 15 2009 | By: gvikenya

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, in which the wildlife is becoming more and more vulnerable.

 One of the many new roads scarring the forest

GVI has been conducting disturbance surveys in Shimoni forest for over three years now, and have a solid and robust set of data, which highlight the plight of this beautiful area. The main aim for our research in the forest, is to be able to hand it over to Friends of Shimoni Forest (a community-based organisation), which will empower them to lobby, apply or petition for things like land allocation or protective status for the forest.

The work of illegal loggers

We have been very encouraged recently however, as government organisations and the local administration have actively approached us for our data and results, as they too are very concerned with the level of destruction. Off the back of this, we have spent a lot of time putting together a disturbance report, which summarises our results over the years. This report has been written on behalf of Friends of Shimoni Forest, and has been submitted to Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest Service, the Chairman of the County Council, the District Commissioner, the East African Wildlife Society and the IUCN.

A charcoal pit in action

It is massively encouraging to know that our results are being looked at by so many people, and that the number and range of people concerned with this destruction is ever increasing. We cannot wait to work with everyone in the future, so that together we can put a stop to it.

Tags: , administration, Chairman of the County Council, Charcoal Pit, critical habitat, data, destruction, District Commissioner, disturbance, diverse, East African coastal forest, East African Wildlife Society, fragmanted patches, Friends of Shimoni Forest, government organisations, illegal loggers, isolated, IUCN, Kenya Forest Service, Mozambique, results, robust, Somalia, surveys, unique wildlife, vulnerable, wildlife conservation

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Category: Birds, Coastal Forest, Shimoni Forest, Spotted Ground Thrush | Date: Oct 13 2009 | By: gvikenya

So on Friday we told you about our southern-banded snake eagle sighting, and on Saturday you heard about our humpback whale.  Well I’m afraid we’re going to keep boasting about our sightings, because they don’t end there!

It was at the end of the week, and a forest team was wearily trudging back to base from a long, hot day of forest research.  We were no more than 30 metres away from the gates, when we heard a rustling in the leaf litter to our left.  We all peered in, and to the utter shock of us all we were staring straight at a spotted ground thrush!  This was one of the most exciting sightings we’ve had in months and months.  And to our utter disbelief and joy – we saw it again today!  We think it was the same one as it was in almost exactly the same spot.

This may not sound that exciting, until we tell you that it is a critically endangered species with very restricted distributions.  It is under serious threat from habitat loss, and Shimoni forest is one of the few places left in the world that it can still be seen.

It is a medium sized (about 8 inches) terrestrial forest thrush that is difficult to observe.  This is mainly due to it being well camouflaged, silent and shy.  It tends to freeze motionless when disturbed or surprised.  It lives mainly in deeply shaded areas with deep leaf litter, where it feeds on seeds, fruits and invertebrates. 

(zimmerman et al, 1999)

This is only the third and fourth sighting we’ve had of this species in almost a year, which when you imagine we are in the forest almost every single day, highlights the rarity of this sighting.  There is action being taken however, consisting mainly of a partnership between Birdlife International and Nature Kenya, plus other organisations in several countries, who are working together to gather data and information about this species.  They are then using this information to produce conservation management strategies to safeguard the future of this wonderful bird.    

Tags: Birdlife International, camouflaged, conservation management plan, countries, critically endangered, data, Forest, freeze, fruits, future, habitat loss, humpback whale, information, invertebrates, leaf litter, motionless, Nature Kenya, observe, organisations, partnership, rare, research, restricted distributions, safeguard, seeds, serious threat, shy, sighting, silent, Southern Banded Snake Eagle, species, Spotted Ground Thrush, strategies, terrestrial

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Category: Cetacean research, Coastal Forest, Colobus, Humpback whales, Primate Research, Shimoni Forest, Southern Banded Snake Eagle | Date: Oct 09 2009 | By: gvikenya

Well hello everyone!

First of all, apologies for the lack of blog action over the last few weeks or so.  We have had a month long break in research, and all of us here at GVI have had a well deserved holiday!  We’re back now, for another 3 month research period that will bring us up to December. 

We’ve kicked off with an amazing first week for both the marine and terrestrial research programs, with plenty of exciting sightings.  I’ll begin today with a bit about the terrestrial action, and then will fill you all in tomorrow about our humpback whale sighting on marine!

Wednesday saw the first exciting sighting for one of the groups in the forest.  We were on transect 6 (our northern most transect) doing a primate community survey.  We had stopped to observe two troops of colobus monkeys that were having a verbal disagreement.  The two dominant males were producing a barrage of croaking roars, aimed at each other.  Male colobus monkeys have an enlarged larynx which allows them to produce this sound – a territorial vocalisation.  It is an awesome sound to hear, and we were standing in the middle of these two going all out!

As we were watching the colobus, a huge shadow passed over us as gazing upwards we were presented with a spectacular view of a southern-banded snake eagle! It had obviously been disturbed by the noise, and flew so low over our head we got a perfect look at it, allowing for a 100% identification.  We are all trained on the identification of the rare, threatened or endangered bird species in Shimoni forest, specifically for opportunities such as this.

(Stevenson, Fanshawe 2004)

The southern banded-snake eagle is a threatened species, and we have only sighted it a few times over the last year.  It is a stunning eagle, and we were all gibbering with excitement for hours afterwards! 

(Stevenson, Fanshawe 2004)

We have a bunch more exciting sightings from the rest of the week, but these shall have to wait until we’ve told you about the whale tomorrow!  We are very glad to be back, and look forward to getting into our blog again, to keep you all up to date with the progress, sightings and happenings on the beautiful south coast of Kenya.

Until tomorrow!

(Stevenson, Fanshawe 2004)

Tags: angolan black and white colobus, coast, dominant male, endangered, Forest, humpback whale, Kenya, larynx, marine research, primate community, rare, research period, Southern Banded Snake Eagle, terrestrial research, terretorial, threatened, transect, troop, verbal disagreement, vocalisation

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Category: Charcoal Burning, Coastal Forest, Shimoni Forest | Date: Sep 01 2009 | By: gvikenya

Hello all,

This blog today is mainly to say a huge thank you to the responses we’ve had regarding the issue of charcoal.  Last week we wrote three blogs focusing on charcoal burning here in Shimoni forest; how it is done, why people do it, and finally a brief introduction into the alternatives available.

We had some great responses, with Kathy informing us that the BBC did a programme related to this subject recently, and that they were offering advice to anyone who would like to know more.  And then Sherri pointed out the ‘ending charcoal’ site on our very own Wildlife Direct!  The internet here has been playing up recently so I’ve only managed to have a brief look, but at first glance it appears both inspirational and genius!

It never fails to amaze me how lucky we are to be a part of this online network of like-minded people, groups and organisations that are all doing such fantastic work.  It makes such sense as well – everyone can ask questions, share ideas, help out and support one another.  I’m going to give the ‘ending charcoal’ blogs a good, solid read, and see what ideas I can plagiarise!  Once we’ve got a prototype kiln and press up and running we can hopefully do our part by sharing ideas, mistakes and thoughts.      

So again, thank you guys for your interest and support, and of course your super ideas.  And here’s to us all working together for a brighter future!

Matt

Tags: BBC, charcoal, ideas, kiln, mistakes, network, press, prototype, Shimoni Forest, thoughts

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Category: Charcoal Burning, Coastal Forest, Shimoni Forest | Date: Aug 27 2009 | By: gvikenya

Ok people, so in the last two blogs we’ve discussed how charcoal is made here in Shimoni forest, and how it is done mainly by desperate people with no other choice who, given the opportunity, would gladly do something else.  So I’ve spent the last day fighting a battle with our temperamental internet connection to see what kind of alternatives I can find.  I shall continue my search relentlessly, until we find an option that will work here.

Kenya’s coastal forests 

All of the techniques I’ve manage to find so far all seem to revolve around a similar principle.  One puts the organic material of choice into a large steel drum, burns it under low-oxygen conditions (to allow for carbonisation), mixes it with some sort of binding agent, and then presses it into charcoal briquettes.  Depending on the organic material used, the methods differ slightly, but not by much.  Here are some of the options…

Corn cobs
Get a 200 litre steel drum and fill it 1/3 full with dried corn cobs.  Ignite the contents, and burn until the smoke disappears.  Refill the drum approximately 2/3 full and reignite.  Allow to burn until the smoke disappears.  Allow the contents to cool, empty the drum and sprinkle the contents with water.  Allow to dry in the sun, and then separate the “charcoal” from the ashes.
These were all the instructions given – they appear a bit basic and I’m skeptical about the quality of the resultant charcoal.  Quick and easy though, so worth an experiment!

An earth-mound kiln

Coconut shells
Again, get a 200 litre steel drum.  Cut a hole in the top (30cm diameter), and attach poles to the cut section so it can be used as a lid.  Drill a series of small holes in the bottom of the drum and place the drum on stones to allow air to enter.  Fill the drum 1/3 full with coconut shells, add a little bit of kerosene and ignite.  Allow to burn for 5 minutes before putting the lid on.  The colour of the smoke should change from black to white.  Take the lid off, add more shells (up to 10kg’s apparently) and wait until more black smoke is produced (this means the new shells are burning).  Repeat this process until the drum is full of charcoal.  After 8 hours, remove the drum from the stones and seal the lid with mud so no oxygen at all can enter the drum.  Leave in this state for 12 hours.  Remove and sieve contents. 

Sugarcane waste (bagasse)
This method is very similar to the above method.  The instructions I found however are written by a student of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and are very detailed.  She gives much more instruction with regards to the different stages and required airflow through the drum.  This method differs in that once the initial carbonisation stage is over, the resultant charcoal “fines” need to be mixed with a binding agent.  In this case she uses a porridge made from cassava – a hardy root vegetable.

Various organic material
I found another set of instructions that again, is a similar process to the ones above.  It follows suit with the sugarcane method, and requires a binder.  They suggest using soil with a high clay content.  This method claims that almost any organic material can be used (coconut shells/husks, corn cobs, sugarcane bagasse, roots of vetiver grass, dry leaves etc.). 

So there we have it.  Finding all of that took a matter of a few hours.  I think with a bit more digging, plenty more is out there.  It is time for me to ask a small favour from all of you wonderful readers who would also like to see the end to the destruction of our beautiful forest.  If anyone has any bright ideas about what we can use as a binding agent (we don’t have soil with high clay content, and I don’t think cassava is abundant here – I will check though), please throw them our way.  Remember it has to be cheap (preferably free…!).  And of course, if anyone has any information / ideas / websites / friends / contacts / suggestions about alternative charcoal – you know where we are!

I’ll keep you all updated on our experimentation progress…  

Tags: bagasse, binding agent, briquettes, carbonisation, carbonised, cassava, charcoal, coconut husk, coconut shell, corn cobs, experimentation, kerosene, methods, MIT, organic material, oxygen, porridge, root vegetable, Shimoni Forest, smoke, steel drum, sugarcane

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Category: Charcoal Burning, Coastal Forest, Community Conservation, Friends of Shimoni Forest, Shimoni Forest | Date: Aug 26 2009 | By: gvikenya

So everyone knows about the problems related to unregulated, inefficient and illegal charcoal burning.  It’s very easy for one to sit back and point the finger at the people conducting these activities, labeling them criminals.  The real issue however, is slightly more complex than that.

We have been conducting research in Shimoni forest for over three years, and have been working with the community group Friends of Shimoni Forest for two and a half years.  Through all of this we have had a lot of experience with the issue of charcoal burning, and have countless meetings (both organized and impromptu) with the charcoal burners themselves.  What we’ve found in the majority of cases, is that these people do not want to be charcoal burning any more than we do.  The difference being, we have the luxury of choice.

The result of a charcoal pit 

The vast majority of people in this area are living below the poverty line, and are desperately poor.  They have families to feed and school fees to pay for, and they don’t have any choice.  They know charcoal burning is illegal, and they know it does huge damage to the forest.  Most of them would muc rather be doing something else, but if it comes down to feeding their families – it’s not even a choice.  We have been asked by so may of them to find them alternatives, to offer them a choice.  And if a choice was offered, they would happily give it up.

An earth-mound kiln ready to light 

So that’s our mission.  The solution to the problem is clear: find an alternative to charcoal burning.  One thing we need to remember is that everyone in the entire area (and most of the country) use charcoal to cook.  So not only do we need to find an alternative income for the burners themselves, but we need to find a charcoal replacement otherwise we will have only solved half of the problem.
The obvious way around this is combine the alternative livelihoods with the production of alternative, forest friendly charcoal!

To the internet!  I will be back in the next day or two with what I’ve found…  

Tags: , alternative livlihoods, charcoal, Charcoal Burning, criminals, Friends of Shimoni Forest, inefficient, poor, poverty line, Shimoni Forest, unregulated

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Category: Charcoal Burning, Coastal Forest, Shimoni Forest | Date: Aug 25 2009 | By: gvikenya

If you cast your eyes back through some of the many blogs we’ve posted, you’ll see that plenty of them are about, or refer to, charcoal burning.  We assume that most people have established what we are talking about – the means by which charcoal is produced.  We thought however, it may be of interest to some people to know a bit more detail about this destructive and highly inefficient form of resource use.

 About 47% of Kenyan households use charcoal, and total charcoal production is about 2.4 million tones (or 67 million bags weighing 36kg each).  The widespread preference for charcoal is explained primarily by its affordability; it is the cheapest form of household cooking fuel (Kwale Management Team, 2009).

In Shimoni forest and the surrounding area, the majority of charcoal burning is done for subsistence purposes, and therefore on a relatively small scale when compared to commercial operations.  The methods these subsistence charcoal producers use however, are basic and highly inefficient.  The standard method is that of the earth-mound kiln. 

A typical earth-mound kiln 

The earth-mound kiln will begin with the digging of a shallow pit, which will be as big in surface area as the producer would like it to be.  Just from personal experience, I have seen smaller kilns no more than 2 metres by 3 metres, and larger ones of up to 5 metres by 5 metres.  These are quite small when compared to commercial kilns, but still do huge amounts of damage. 

Trees are then cut down, cut into small pieces and piled up in the bottom of the pit.  A wall, or structure is then built around the pit using lumps of rock and coral, tightly packed with earth.  An earth roof is then constructed, sealing the structure.  The idea is to starve the combustion process of oxygen, so only a couple of very small holes are left to allow smoke to escape.  Some sort of fuel is poured over the wood before it is lit, to aid in the lighting process.  I’m not exactly sure what it is, but my guess would be something like diesel, judging by the smell that is emitted.  Long pieces of dry grass are fed in through the sides and roof so that once everything is sealed, the grass is simply lit, igniting the contents inside. 

One of the smaller charcoal pits 

Generally speaking, old, mature hardwood trees are cut down.  Only a relatively small portion of the felled tree will actually go into the kiln.  Only 10% of the wood that goes into the kiln will end up as usable charcoal.  And of that percentage that does become charcoal, 80% of the energy in the wood has already been lost.  The rest of the wood, and energy goes to waste.   

The end result

Tags: affordability, burning, charcoal, combustion, commercial operations, cooking fuel, coral, destructive, diesel, earth-mound kiln, energy, hardwood trees, inefficient, kwale management teaem, mature trees, old trees, oxygen, resource use, rocks, Shimoni Forest, subsistence

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