GVI Kenya

Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Mkwiro Village, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Oct 27 2009 | By: gvikenya

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 crossed-legged, chanting long, sonorous “om”s. Allow me to attest that this is not the case. For many of us, yoga is, very simply, about breathing.

Regardless of whether you come from New York, London, Nairobi or Mkwiro Village, I imagine you have heard the expression “just breathe”. In the literal sense, breathing is the natural, instinctual mechanism that keeps oxygen flowing throughout our bodies and keeps us alive. In the more prosaic sense, we associate breathing with the calming of our nerves, the steadying of our focus. Or, as we often say in the yoga studio, with the “letting go”.

When I participated in my first dolphin survey, we were fortunate to come upon an extraordinarily large pod of forty dolphins. While the mere sight of them was stunning, what I found myself most mesmerized by was the sound the animals were making.  When dolphins surface for a peduncle dive – which is the arc-shaped swimming movement most of us are familiar with – the animals exhale out of a blowhole that lies several centimetres in front of the dorsal fin. While we were out among the large pod, I was surrounded by the gracious, full-bodied sound of exhaling as the dolphins heaved gusts of air out of their graceful, dancing bodies.

“They are letting go” I kept thinking to myself. As we do in yoga, they are linking movement with the breathe. They are steadying themselves to stay on course. With that wonderful sound of spewing breathe, they are pushing out the dynamic force that connects us all – humans, dolphins, all the precious life in our world.

When I return to the hustle and bustle of New York City when I am finished with my time here on Wasini Island, I have no doubt that one of my favourite memories will be the sound of the dolphins. Exhaling.
Devon Tighe

Tags: blowhole, breathing, dolphin survey, dorsal fin, London, marine conservation, marine research, mechanism, Mkwiro Village, Nairobi, nerves, New York City, New York Times, oxygen, peduncle dive, pod, strategic research, wasini island, yoga

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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: African Fish Eagle, Birds, Cetacean research, Community Conservation, Dolphins, Mangroves, bottlenose dolphins | Date: Aug 03 2009 | By: gvikenya

As part of GVI’s marine research programme here in Mkwiro, we conduct interviews with the local fishermen on the island.  The people here have been fishing for generations, and spend more time out on the water than anyone.  They can provide invaluable information about sightings (of dolphins, whales, turtles, dugongs etc), catches, pollution and illegal activities. A GVI volunteer Hooi Ling, tells us about her day conducting interviews.

The villagers on the island are Muslim so we made sure we had our head, shoulders and knees covered before we set off for our excursion. As usual, the children greeted us with loud, enthusiastic “Jambo! What is your name?” as we walked through Mkwiro village. Some of the faces were familiar because we were working with the community last week teaching them English and Creative Arts, and playing sports and singing songs with the children. A few of the children had learnt Mandarin phrases and it warmed my heart to hear them greet me with “Ni hao” (how are you) and “Huan yin” ( welcome).

 A sacred ibis, seen from the mangroves

After about 15 minutes, we reached the mangroves. Felicity explained the importance of mangroves for preventing soil erosion and creating a breeding and feeding ground for fishes and birds. We learnt how mangrove trees survive in salt water by growing roots, which protrude above ground for oxygen and shed leaves to discard excess salt. The trees also grow long, green seed pods which float around at high tide before setting itself in the ground at low tide. She pointed out tiny gastropods (snails and sea slugs).

Fiddler crabs fascinated me!!! The male crabs have one very enlarged chela which they use to wave in a circle to establish territory and to attract females. When lots of fiddler crabs waved together, they looked like they were doing a Mexican wave; quite comical to watch.  And the number of amazing birds you see from the mangroves is just incredible!  We saw herons, african fish eagles, a sacred ibis and a knigfisher! 

When we arrived in Wasini village, we looked for the local fishermen and found a few young men who could speak English and were willing to translate Kiswahili for us. I interviewed a 55 year old fisherman who had been fishing for over 20 years. GVI had a comprehensive interview to find out from local fishermen such things as the types of fish they had caught, fishing equipment, whether their catch had increased/decreased over the years and which fishing grounds they used. We also asked them about the dolphin and turtle population and the level of damage caused to their nets. After the interview, fishermen informed us that the local villagers had set up a committee since 2003 to protect the Wasini reef from fishing and coastal pollution.

Another beautiful sight - a western reef heron 

Annica and I ate some local food (chapatis with a nice cup of hot ginger tea) while the others (Flick, Kirsty and Mila) visited the coral gardens. The coral gardens consisted of dead corals surrounded by mangrove trees and the local women’s group has built boardwalks around the corals. My highlight of the day was when I saw four bottlenose dolphins jumping and travelling with the tourist dhows.

Although I was not out on a boat today, it has been an enjoyable day learning about the mangroves and seeing the dolphins. Asante sana Flick!

Tags: bottlenose dolphin, Dugong, fisherman, humpback whale, interviews, Mangroves, marine research, sacred ibis, turtle, western reef heron

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles | Date: Mar 16 2009 | By: gvikenya

Jon “JR” Olson is a U.S Naval Attache based in Helsinki.  He has joined GVIs marine research proramme on the south coast of kenya for 2 weeks.  He has kindly writtten this blog about his first day out on the water.

I woke up feeling exhilarated as this was to be my first official day working as a member of the dolphin research project in the Kisite/Mpunguti Marine Protected Area.

By 0600 I was showered, had organized by personal snorkel gear, camera, sunscreen, some additional clothes, etc, and was in the kitchen eating a quick breakfast.  By 0630 our group of nine people was hauling the gear down to the water and loading up SQUIRREL, our shuttle boat.  A few minutes later we were motoring our way across the Wasini Channel bound for Shimoni Village and our moored research boat known as BARDAN.  After transferring our gear to BARDAN, we got underway on our search for dolphins and other marine life.

Within minutes of starting out, we spotted our first pod of bottlenose dolphins, right in the middle of the Wasini Channel.  We spent 45 minutes following a pod of seven dolphins as they transited west down the channel.  We took dozens of photographs, logged the entire event, and ended the sighting around 0745.  BARDAN then turned east and we headed out into deeper water destined for Kisite Island by way of Funzi Bay.  We motored slowly under cloudy skies, which, on this particular morning, considering my still pasty white flesh, was OK with me. 

Bottlenose dolphin feeding on a turtle

The conditions were absolutely perfect for searching the seas for pods of dolphin and other marine species.  And, as luck would have it, while transiting south from Funzi Bay, we spooked a large surfacing turtle which promptly inhaled deeply and rapidly dove back into the deep.

Some two hours after we departed Shimoni, we arrived in the channel area of the Kisite Mpunguti islands.   It was not long before we spotted a small group of tourist dive boats and we set course for those boats as it was likely they would be accompanied by some type of marine life.  Once again, we were lucky and as we arrived in the vicinity of the tourist boats, we spotted a number of pairs of bottlenose dolphins, all of them engaged in socializing behaviors, and possibly some feeding.  We tracked these pairs of dolphins using cameras, the event and sighting logs, and maintained contact for approximately 30 minutes.  The dolphins then disappeared and we began making our way toward our snorkeling destination near Kisite Island where we would snorkel a defined path, known as a transect, in search of more turtles.

A bottlenose dolphin with severe scarring.  Thought to be the result of a shark attack

Once in the water, which, to me, feels like bath water because it is so warm, we started our transect and were not disappointed after sighting three turtles, two of which we were able to specifically classify as Green Turtles.  Once back in the boat at the end of our snorkel phase, we logged the information on the turtles in the Mega Fauna log and then proceeded back to the northeast, heading back to base for lunch and afternoon of data entry into the computers and some time spent correlating dolphin photos with individual dolphins. 

 It was amazing to me to see the truly distinctive dorsal fin marks on each of the local, or resident, bottlenose dolphins listed in the photographic data base.  After expert tutelage by GVI intern Karen, I was able to quickly identify a number of dolphins in the data base with photos taken by other research teams, providing much needed data for GVI to inform the Kenya Wildlife Service about key aspects of dolphin behavior.  This information will allow KWS to develop better policies for protecting the Marine Protected Area, which will, in turn, protect the bottlenose dolphins habitat.

As I finish this blog, I realize it is almost 10PM and I have to get up again shortly after 0500 tomorrow morning.  I get to do it all over again!  I can’t wait!

Tags: , bottlenose dolphin, green turtle, marine research, shark

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Category: Dugongs, Kisite Mpunguti MPA | Date: Jan 30 2009 | By: gvikenya

This week has undoubtedly belonged to our marine research crew aboard ‘Lampard’… and they saved the best to last. A few blogs back I wrote about our highlight of 2008, possibly of our entire research programme that begun in January 2006, our first observation of the endangered dugong, and the first confirmed sighting on Kenya’s south coast in, we believe, a decade.The excitement at the time was incredible, an exceptionally rare experience that we didn’t think we’d ever have - well I’m only too happy to report that the excitement is no less the second time around. This morning as the research boat travelled from Kisite Island to Lower Mpunguti Island, within the marine protected area, a large mammal surfaced just metres in front of the boat. Just like the first time, everyone on board remained cautious and scanned the ocean for confirmation. It came as a tourist dhow approached, again causing the large brown mammal to surface quickly in front of its bow, but clear enough for a confirmed sighting of a dugong, this time inside the marine protected area. The chart below indicates the two sightings:

There wasn’t time to get photos and we have no way of knowing whether it was the same individual that we sighted in November last year, but this does not diminish the significance of today’s events. What is almost certainly Kenya’s rarest mammal may well be returning to the south coast; clearly one individual is a long way from indicating a recovery, but it’s reason enough for now not to give up hope.

Tags: Dugong, kisite mpunguti marine protected area, marine research

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Dugongs, Humpback whales | Date: Jan 18 2009 | By: gvikenya

Before we move completely in to a new and exciting of year of GVI and Kenya, some of our research and community development team have put together their highlights and memories of the end of last year to share. So, from the research boat, Bardan…

Not forgetting the beautiful humpback whales, including their calves, that we saw and blogged during our first couple of weeks on the marine research programme back in October, the rest was equally exciting. On many occasions we could count ourselves lucky enough to spend time in the wake of large groups of Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins… the coolest part though? Thanks to a lot of office time and more photographs of fins than we care to dwell on, we could recognise many of the dolphins and know them by name!  Mothers, juveniles, calves all leaped from the water demonstrating elegance and playfulness in equal measure.

Indo-pacific humpback dolphins also put in an appearance but remarkably… and for the first time ever… the cetaceans (our whales and dolphins) were upstaged by another marine mammal. And one that we never truly, honestly expected to see, however much we had hoped. On 4th November 2008, our dedicated observers on board Bardan, whilst tracking bottlenose dolphins in to Funzi bay, recorded the first confirmed sighting of a dugong on Kenya’s south coast in the three years we have been here, and to our knowledge, in over a decade; none were recorded south of Mombasa in a 1998 aerial survey, whilst Kenya’s entire population, concentrated around the Lamu archipelago, could be down to single figures by now.

Tags: cetaceans, Dolphins, Dugong, Humpback whales, Kenya, marine research

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