Run Turtle Run!

Today there is a little more green in the ocean; green turtle that is.

One of our Directors is very involved with the local turtle watch and told me the nest outside Colobus Conservation was almost ready to hatch. 11 days had passed and I was loosing hope that I was going to actually see this amazing natural event; as I leave Kenya in one week. Apparently they were late due to the cold weather and high tides

Well this morning I got the call saying there was disturbance at the nest and that they expected them out any time soon. Usually they hatch at night to increase chances of safely making it to the ocean; but the lateness meant it could happen during the day. On putting the phone down I grabbed my camera and ran for the beach filled with excitement. Thankfully today I was finally going to witness the green turtle hatchlings breaking out of their nest and running for the ocean.

When we got there we saw the marked nest and the path to the ocean had been cleared to give the hatchlings the best possible chance. They have to be careful when marking the nests as local people can dig them out and eat or sell them to tourists. We then waited around for about 45 minutes before we started to see some movement.

The nest ready for action

Everyone was poised for turtles

The first one popped out and then stopped as if to adjust its sight and get its bearings. Then the little guy just ran as fast as a little turtle covered in sand can. All of a sudden another one came out, then another and another and another. By this time the nest was uncovered and tens of green turtle hatchlings were pouring out of this hole. They were all darting for the ocean, but some seemed to take a slightly longer route than others.

The first Green Turtles coming out the sand and making for the ocean

Then a couple more

Then even more

Then the nest just exploded with baby turtles

This guy stopped on reaching the surface, then ran like the wind

There were just so many

Almost at the water little guy

They had a long way to go in baby turtle terms

The first ones started to reach the water (about 20 meters away) within minutes and they were initially pushed back up the beach by the waves. Luckily the wave then swept them out into the big blue ocean, and with just one final bobble on the top they disappeared out of sight forever.

They were moving fast

Caught this guy mid flight

Getting closer, no looking back now

Starting to hit the water

Only to be pushed back by the waves

Guarding them till they hit the water

Shows just how small they are

This little guy waved goodbye to me before disappering

Then they were just shadows

Obviously all this commotion did not go unnoticed and before we knew it passer bys (including Masai) were upon us taking photos. With the increased footfall I started to get worried not only might some of the turtles be trampled on, but they would be scared and not make it to the ocean. Gladly this did not happen, and before we knew it this large beach that just moments earlier had been filled with new life and excitement returned to a quiet, blank surface where you wouldn’t even know this event had occurred.

Everyone wanted to see the turtles start their lives

Important to get a selfie with the turtles

Within a few short minutes tracks was all that was left

OMG did we really just witness that

On returning to the nest Juma (a trained local turtle expert) excavated it to check none of the turtles were trapped. The nest was at least 50cm deep and he had been counting the turtles as they had appeared with the final numbers being 135 survived and 17 died in the nest; some due to crabs others just didn’t hatch. So out of 157 eggs it was a very successful hatching. Apparently only a handful will make it to adulthood as usually a lot will be killed on the way to the ocean (crabs, birds, ants), and through their first year by fish etc. The human factor and lateness of the nest meant all of the emerging hatchlings successfully made it to the water; they are on their own from there.

The successfully hatched shells on the left, dead ones on the right

17 did not make it out the nest

It was without doubt a memorable moment that I will treasure for the rest of my life.

All that was left to do was wonder what they are getting up to under the big blue ocean

Read more about Green Turtles here – http://bit.ly/YnlYQX

See all my photos from Kenya and never miss an update by liking my Facebook page – www.facebook.com/diaryofaprimatologist

Disclaimer:

"The views and opinions expressed in the Diary of a Primatologist blog (except guest posts) are purely my own and are not in any way linked to any organisations I may represent or work with unless otherwise stated. All photos are my own unless otherwise stated and a source will be provided where other photos are used. If they are your photos and you would like them removed please just ask. The author retains full copyright for all content and photos and written permission is required before their use. The owner of the site is not liable for any content accessed through links posted."

The Rare Sable of Shimba

I recently went to a talk hosted by the Shimba Support Group (SSG) on the Sable Antelope (Sable) of Shimba Hills National Reserve (SHNR). There are only 60 Sables left (increasing from 56 in 2012) and they all reside in the Shimba area; therefore at high risk of exctintion.

On arriving this out of place sofa was very comfortable

The talk was held at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) office in Diani in what appeared to be an outside storage area. I met up with Shazaad (chair of SSG) and examined the interesting drawings on the wall; including a house, Barrack Obama, what appeared to be Wayne Rooney and fittingly a Sable. We then took our seats (some chairs were better than others) and waited for the talk to being.

KWS support the SSG and it was held at their office in Diani

Meeting up with the SSG Chair, Shazaad

Nope I did not choose this chair

Sable drawing on the wall

Shazad opened the talk and was talking about how there is “to little emphasis on the Sable and that more is put on the big animals like the Elephant, Lion and Rhino. If we are not careful the Sable could be lost forever and that would be a big blow for Kenya in the fight for wildlife conservation”.

The main talk was then underway and was delivered by two SSG committee members Ayesha and Esme as well as Nathan from KWS, who as an active ranger within SHNR. It began with basic facts about the Sable like:

• There are five subspecies of the Sable and Kenya has the Roosevelt Sable  (Hippotragus niger roosevelti).
• Classed as endangered in Kenya, but the IUCN has it as least concern because it lumps it together with the other sub species, except the critically endangerd Giant Sable.
• Males are black in colour with the females & young a chestnut brown.
• Male & female both have horns reaching 81-165cm & 61-102cm respectively
• Typical in herds of 20-25 with a dominant bull, cows, sub adult females and young bulls usually below 24 months.
• The young bulls group together in bachelor herds until they reach 4 or 5 to look for their own group.
• One dominant female will lead the herd and will usually be the oldest, healthiest & darkest in colour.

Then they moved on to the threats facing the Sable in Shimba, the main ones being:

• Inbreeding, Poor Habitat, Malnutrition (apparently the soil is lacking in calcium & phosphate), poaching, farming including livestock grazing.

And the main challenges:

• Security, monitoring, diversifying the population of the Sable.

Some good news is that the new wildlife act that was introduced this year to Kenya now classes the Sable as an endangered species. This means the penalties for poaching them is similar to elephants with a fine of 1 million KES; we will wait to see how effective this is in being implemented.

This talk was followed by one from Dadley Tsiganyiu Deputy/Community Warden of SHNR. He repeated some information, but concentrated more on how we must include the local community in any action to protect the Sable going forward. They are the ones who will truly decide if this species survives or is lost from Kenya forever. Problems like logging, charcoal burning, firewood collection and farming can all be made more sustainable. If more education is put into these communities and their local skills, like wood carving, are used effectively they can become a resource; not a problem. The big challenges are poverty, illiteracy, misinformation and that they see benefits as short term materialistic items, rather than long term conservation.

There were a lot of questions asked towards the Warden and some underlining anger as to why they are not aggressively marketing SHNR, as well as the dwindling wildlife numbers like the Giraffe and Elephants. Shazaad made a point that in previous years when it was marketed a lot more the visitor rate (therefore income generation) went up greatly. This provides local jobs and vital income to support the staff and communities within the park.

The Warden did say that unfortunately the “conservation in Kenya is more political and that is the main problem”; I don’t know a country that doesn’t have that problem.

From left to right, Dadley, Nathan, Esme, Ayesha, Shazaad.

One thing that is clear is that there is a long way to go and we must all work together and include everyone is the Sable is to be saved.

The new KWS Sable strategy can be viewed HERE. 

Read more about SHNR HERE. 

The Shimba Support Group is unique in that it works in direct partnership with the KWS and so can have a huge impact on the work at SHNR. If you are interested in finding out more about them or want to help out more information is available HERE.

If you visit Kenya then please do pop down to the South coast and check out this beautiful little gem that has a lot more to offer than you may think. If you don't believe me check out my own safari pictures:

Warthog

Buffalo

The beautiful waterfall at the end of a lovely walk

Young Giraffe

Adult Giraffe

One of the terrific wardens

The most fantastic view of the sun going down over Shimba Hills Nature Reserve

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You can see all my photos of my time in Kenya on my Flickr page here -http://bit.ly/1dpb3gd

Or on my facebook page here - www.facebook.com/diaryofaprimatologist

Disclaimer:

"The views and opinions expressed in the Diary of a Primatologist blog (except guest posts) are purely my own and are not in any way linked to any organisations I may represent or work with unless otherwise stated. All photos are my own unless otherwise stated and a source will be provided where other photos are used. If they are your photos and you would like them removed please just ask. The author retains full copyright for all content and photos and written permission is required before their use. The owner of the site is not liable for any content accessed through links posted."

My visit to Ukunda, a local Kenyan town.

Even though Ukunda (the local town) is only a ten minute drive away I have not actually walked around it very much; and today was the day. I grabbed a Matatu (local bus) and after a bumpy, squashed ride I arrived in dusty Ukunda on a nice sunny day.

Ukunda was born out of the rise of tourism to Diani Beach and has grown significantly over the last 20 years. It is where most of the staff from the hotels live and a local community has risen up around it. Now it is a bustling town of substantial size with daily markets, major bus routes (Dar-Es-Salaam, Mombasa), an airport and lively bars.

After disembarking through a tight squeeze off the Matatu I headed to Diani restaurant to meet up with Simon (staff) and Samuel (volunteer) for some nice local food. The only problem was that when we got to the restaurant it was closed, most likely because it was still Ramadan and Muslim owned. Therefore Simon took us to another place called Paradise restaurant (the names are great), which was an interesting experience. The food was great, I had Ugali (maize meal) with Sukuma Wiki (Kale) and Kachumbari (salad of tomatoes, onion, coriander and chillies), but we should have had a table for five due to the amount of flies; as a friend said T.I.A. (This Is Africa). The T.V. was also on and it was a man preaching with the sound loud and fuzzy, for some reason he kept say “Samaki” meaning fish; Simon and Samuel found it very funny.

After lunch Simon took us on a guided tour around Ukunda to show us what it was really like. What you see along the main road is only the beginning, once you start to go down the narrow side streets the real Ukunda appears. Small wooden shack next to small wooden shack built out of and held together with whatever materials can be found. Barbers, shoes, clothes, food, pots and pans, you name it Ukunda has it.

It was Sunday afternoon so most people were not working and were free to shop, meet friends, grab some lunch so Ukunda was bustling. As I walked around I noticed a pirate DVD stand where they had a Mr Bean compilation, two friends sharing a conversation under a Mango tree and guys selling nuts under colourful umbrellas. We finally reached the fruit market, which was the section I was most looking forward to. There were all sorts of fruit on sale, some I knew like coconuts, avocados and passion fruit and some I didn’t like “tomako”. It looks like a small artichoke that is soft and sweet with large black seeds inside; but at first sight it does not look that appetising. I came away with more fruit then I had planned, but I was looking forward to eating it all.

The colour of your skin really does dictate how you are treated in some areas, for instance a lot of people were staring at me and my camera while I was walking around. They would all say “Karibu Welcome” as I walked past their shop to get me to buy something as it is assumed I am wealthy. Also, people come up to me as I am walking around wanting to be my friend with an ulterior motive; i.e. sell me something or ask me for money. I am made to feel bad if I don’t give them something and they are good at doing it. One guy tried to convince me that I needed to buy his padlock and another wanted donation for his studies (at least that is what he said). Interestingly they stopped when they saw another “Muzungo” (white person) then they began the cycle again.

I then made my way back to where the Matatu’s align for my journey home to feast on my bounty, but not before one last attempt to extract money from me. A guy showed us a picture of a dead relative while we were sitting in a Matatu waiting to go saying he was colleting money for the funeral. Samuel told us it did not have the official stamp from the police chief; and so was most likely a scam.

All in all it was a good experience of what life in a coastal town of Kenya is really like.

You can see all my photos of my time in Kenya on:

Flickr here -http://bit.ly/1dpb3gd

Or Facebook here - www.facebook.com/diaryofaprimatologist