GVI Kenya

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, Dolphins, Humpback whales, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Oct 10 2009 | By: gvikenya

The start of GVI’s marine research this October was certainly an incredible one. As part of the daily dolphin survey we were heading through Funzi Bay towards the Wasini Channel when Nick (our conservation intern/staff) excitedly drew our attention to a potential sighting. To our amazement it was a humpback whale and her calf.

There had been anticipation in the air that such a sighting may occur since the whales were migrating South from the warmer waters of the East African coast where humpback whales breed (during July and August), but no one could have expected it so early; we had been on board for a mere hour and a half.

While the sighting was spectacular, the events that followed demonstrated the challenges of marine conservation in popular tourist areas and the importance of GVI’s work. With minutes two tourist boats had also spotted the whales and, as one would expect, they wanted to get the best view possible. This attention clearly agitated the mother and her calf and they diverted their course away from Wasini Channel. Although it was incredible to have seen such an animal, it was sobering to have seen at first hand the direct impact of tourist traffic on marine mammals. Our humpback whale sighting was not the only sighting of the day to illustrate this…

Not long after having left the mother and calf, we encountered a group of bottlenose dolphins travelling through Kiste Mpunguti Marine Park. Again, we were exposed to the impact tourism is having in the area and the difficulty of balancing much-needed tourism with equally important conservation. We witnessed tourists jumping from their tour boat directing in amongst the group of dolphins. Of course, the possibility of swimming with dolphins is an excellent means of generating custom for the tour operators, but it is detrimental to the dolphins and indeed, it is prohibited by the KMMPA Code of Conduct.

These two sightings were an amazing start to the season’s marine research, but the experience was a stark reminder of the tensions that exist between the need for income gained through tourism and ecological conservation; both of which are vital to the local area and economy. In turn, these tensions demonstrate the necessity of GVI’s work and the value of the data it provides which is used by local organisations to develop solutions to such problems.

Tags: , calf, data, dolphin survey, East African Coast, ecological conservation, economy, funzi bay, humpback whale, marine conservation, marine mammals, mother, tour boat, tourist, wasini channel

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