GVI Kenya

Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles, bottlenose dolphins | Date: May 26 2009 | By: gvikenya

As I mentioned before, the Kusi winds and rain make life difficult for dolphin research on the open seas. Yesterday our efforts on the water went unrewarded again… although I stick with my little mantra that “no data is still valuable data”!

Today however the team aboard ‘Lampard’ started with a promising early sighting, a group of four bottlenose dolphins sighted around the eastern end of Wasini Island. But the rough seas made for tough conditions under which to follow the small travelling group, let alone try to take the photos from which we would be able to try and identify the individuals.

So the search continued, rounding the end of Wasini Island in to Mpunguti marine reserve, cruising between the two Mpunguti islands and on in to Kisite marine park. The destination was Kisite Island where we hoping that the sheltered side would allow us at least to look for turtles in the water along one of our snorkel transects.  However before we ready to jump overboard, another group of four bottlenose dolphins approached the boat as the wind and waves subsided… leaving us with good conditions and a perfect opportunity to get back to what we had been trying earlier, photo-identification.

Besty with her distinctive dorsal fin notches 

Both Andy and Jamie were armed with cameras in a photo-ID duel. It was the two adult dolphins that were our key target, as they would hopefully be individuals catalogued over the past 3 and a half years that we could recognise. And in fact they both were, Nene (or individual 083) and Besty (individual 017 - the 17th individual we formally identified, from 2006). Besty was accompanied by her calf and the fourth individual was a sub-adult. With the local dolphins having been elusive for much of the last few months, it was pleasing to enjoy these four showing off in the calm waters around Kisite Island. The calf in particular seemed to be in playful mood, posing for the camera with ’spyhops’ - holding the head vertically out of the water.

 Nene with Besty’s calf spyhopping

No turtles on the transect, but the day was far from disappointing and seeing Besty again is like meeting up with an old friend.

Tags: bottlenose dolphins, Cetacean research, kisite island, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, marine mammals, turtle research, wasini island

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles | Date: May 04 2009 | By: gvikenya

Megan is working with GVI over the next few months and describes her experiences on our marine research project so far: 

Growing up in the central California desert, I developed a fascination for water. I followed my affinity to Washington State, where low clouds, mist and the Puget Sound shaped my existence for five years. I have come to know water in many ways. After only one week in Kenya, the unique anthropological and environmental culture of water begins to reveal itself. We experience it in late afternoon salt-water runs, thick humidity, dynamic rain storms, and most notably, the Indian Ocean.

Each day brings hard work, but also terrific amounts of beauty. Typically, we spend eight hours on the water in our research boat a traditional wooden dhow. The day is long and hot. Aided by Shafii the captain, we carry out turtle transects and dolphin surveys. We have spotted rays, reef sharks, hawksbill and green turtles, barracuda, and bottlenose and humpback dolphins. Often, the dhow startles schools of small, flying fish, which travel out ahead of the boat. One of our most interesting sightings this week involved a mother bottlenose dolphin and her calf. Using a dead parrot fish, the mother appeared to teach her calf to feed. The mother would approach, take the fish in her mouth, and then release it. The calf then tried. Significant amounts of time on the water allow us to witness many different dolphin behaviours.

Last night, the rains came. After a week in the hot sun and salty showers, we welcomed the fresh water. I look forward to more time in our small corner of the Kenyan coast. With little electricity, a vast range of native species, our proximity to the friendly Mkwiro villagers, and vast amounts of water on our doorstep, working with GVI provides you with a unique opportunity to push yourself physically, mentally and emotionally.

Tags: bottlenose dolphin, dolphin behaviour, dolphin research, indian ocean, mkwiro, turtle research

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Category: Cetacean research, Dolphins, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, Turtles | Date: May 01 2009 | By: gvikenya

Keziah gives us the news from yesterday’s marine research:

I woke up 6am in Shimoni, waiting to find out when the boat would come to pick me up at the jetty. With the rainy season, start times of marine surveys become a wee bit unpredictable - with one eye on the rain clouds you just have to wait for the opportunity! However, the sun was shining, there was no sign of rain and a phone call later I was jogging through Shimoni village to the boat.

We headed out towards Funzi Bay, across Nyuli Reef and to Upper Mpunguti Island when we had our first sighting of dolphins, something that has also become less predictable with the season. At first we thought there were eleven Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, but soon realised this was an underestimation. Ten on the port side, ten on the starboard side, we didn’t know quite where to look, excitedly swapping sides with a chorus of gasps and squeals from our team, and splashes and blows from the dolphins.

Several individuals were identified immediately, including one of my favourite pairs; Besty and her calf. I had the pleasure to be on the boat when we spotted Besty and her newborn calf for the first time, adorably small with the foetal folds still showing! Others including Twende and the yet to be named individual ‘063’ were also identified.

The group were at first travelling fast in a southerly direction, then their pace slowed, with a couple of individuals approaching the boat to bow ride. This enabled us to get good shots of the dorsal fins, which will be used for photo-identification in our mark-recapture study. Unfortunately we also noticed an adult and juvenile that appeared skinny compared to the rest, with their ribs visible. We hope this wasn’t a sign of illness in the population or lack of food in the area… After taking enough photos we left them to continue south to the open sea.

The dolphins had done us a service, leading us to the start of the snorkel transect our survey leader had selected for the day, by Kisite Island… and it turned out to be the perfect day to pick this transect! As we climbed out of the water to board the boat post-survey, everyone’s face was an absolute picture: 3 hawksbill turtles, 5 green turtles and 1 moray eel! Ruth and I even had the pleasure of watching one of the green turtles swim slowly to the surface, stop for a few seconds and then continue to raise its head out the water, beak open for a gasp of air. This was closely followed by us both surfacing and giggling hysterically with joy having witnessed a behaviour in full that we had only seen before from above the surface as a turtle’s head appear and disappear in a second!

With the weather being on our side, we decided to return towards Funzi Bay again, but the sea was just a little too rough, so we diverted in to Wasini channel. Within 5 minutes of turning the boat around there was a shout from Katalin at the front, “DOLPHIN”, followed quickly by “HUMPBACK DOLPHIN!”. We had to wait 10 minutes for the individual to reappear, a very large Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin that seemed curiously darker than usual. We put this down to the glare of the sun, and waited for what we thought was a lone individual to resurface.  Then two individuals surfaced riding a wave, both smaller than the first. Several more minutes of waiting and we were shocked to see not only the three individuals from before, but another two adults and calf!

We continued to watch them for 20 minutes as they were feeding, coming up for several breaths before peduncle dives took them under for several minutes.  After surfacing for the third time, in unison, they formed a compact group, changed direction and headed south, crossing the channel towards Wasini Island. We were able to compare the colouration of the first individual and yes, he was distinctly darker, not something we had seen before. The mother of the calf had a deep scar around her neck, possibly from a fishing line. Only 2 weeks ago an individual was spotted with a huge chunk out the back of his dorsal fin, the shape suggestive of a boat propeller injury. Both these wounds emphasize the humpback dolphin’s vulnerability to fishing activities, boat traffic and marine debris around coast lines. But fortunately also an ability to recover from significant injury.

All in all it was quite an epic day for our research team and for me one of complete brilliance!

Tags: bottlenose dolphin, Cetacean research, dolphin research, funzi bay, green turtle, hawksbill turtle, humpback dolphin, Kisite Mpunguti MPA, turtle research, wasini channel

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