A Room With A View
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
Wasini Locally Managed Marine Area Receive Further Training
Category: Community Conservation, Eco-tourism, Environmental Education, Wasini Locally Managed Marine Area | Date: Aug 18 2009 | By: gvikenya
Thursday was a slightly different day for the marine team, as we headed to the other side of Wasini Island to give a series of lectures to the Wasini Locally Managed Marine Area (WLMMA) group. We headed out from Mkwiro in two groups; one on foot along the path of the mangroves on the north side of Wasini Island and the other in Squirrel, our boat, travelling west along the channel to reach our destination, Wasini Village.
On our arrival we were ushered to the local football club building by Feisal, one of the committee members of the WLMMA, the group we would be giving lectures to for the day. We waited patiently for the rest of the villagers and members to arrive. The day began with a prayer by one of the village elders, a man of eminent presence, dressed from head to toe in flowing white with a kofia, but also with a touch of the modern day with a hearing aid and flashy sunglasses. Before the presentations kicked off everyone introduced themselves, and we learnt that amongst the members present there were several fishermen and elders of the village.
Sergi giving a presentation
The Wasini LMMA committee began in 2003, when PACT Kenya visited several villages around the Shimoni peninsula area of the south coast. Their aim was to educate the people of these areas on the value of the environment around them and ways to conserve it, as well as highlighting particular marine areas near the villages that were susceptible to the negative impacts of tourism and over-fishing. The locally managed marine area of Wasini runs from the west tip of the island around the coast finishing mid-way along the north side of the island, encompassing several areas of mangroves and also the reef in front of the village. The group have already introduced and enforced the use of mooring buoys due to the devastating impact of the anchors of the many dolphin dhows that stop to have lunch in Wasini village. They also have daily boat patrols to apprehend anyone using illegal fishing techniques that damage the reef, including spear-gun and dynamite fishing.
Emma mid-presentation
The group’s main project at present is to take tourists out to a section of the reef for snorkelling trips. So our job was to give lectures and educate the group on several aspects of the marine environment. The lectures included conservation, mangroves, marine mammal biology, whale and dolphin species, sea turtles, reef fish, marketing and company etiquette. The presentations went brilliantly with the students being extremely involved, asking many questions whilst also teaching our volunteers; Kiswahili names and some local traditions.
However we did not spend the whole day in lectures and there was time to have a chai and cake break, lunch in a new eco-friendly restaurant with a delicacy of sea grass on the menu, and a game of football with some of the local children. We were also taken out to the snorkelling area which was an amazing experience. The guys had warned us that we would not see fish any where near the size of the fish found in Kisite-Mpunguti MPA, but this did not damper the experience at all, it just meant everything was miniature! Amongst the many fish species observed we saw anemonefish, an Indian lionfish (Pterois muricata) lurking beneath an over hanging rock, Black-saddled tobies Canthigaster valentine, juvenile Black snappers (Macolor niger) and an Emperor angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator) elegantly gliding around the reef. All in all a very rewarding day for everyone involved!
Tags: anemonefish, black snapper, cake, chai, Community Conservation, emporer angelfish, indian lionfish, lectures, local traditions, marine environment, marine mammal, Wasini Locally Managed Marine Area, workshop
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