Half way through my adventure in Kenya

Well I have now been in Kenya for three months and this marks the halfway point in my adventure with Colobus Conservation. Month one was all about new discoveries & experiences and month two gave me my first experience of African elephants. If I had to give the third month a specific theme it would be the endless power cuts and rainstorms.

Shalom to the half way point

For reasons not fully known to me we seem to be going through a period where the power says “I can’t be bothered with all this rain I am off”. After endless amounts of frustrating days not being able to use my laptop for work, (and in the evening) candle burning (was great for monopoly even if we did nearly set the game on fire), knocking into chairs/tables and heating up food by blowing on it I think we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel; literally. Here is a great way to sum up what Kenya Power, and to a larger extent life in Kenya, is like. We had scheduled to have our power turned off between 9am – 12pm to do some tree trimming work around the power lines the other day. Well the power was cut at 10.30am and didn’t come back on till 5.45pm, typical, but you just have to say Hakuna Matata (No Worries) and move on.

Not sure this Sykes monkey is enjoying the rain either

In other news this month I bought a pair of tailored, hand made shorts in tradition African colours (black & green), and I am very happy with them; they have pockets and everything. I watched the most stunning sunset over Shimba Hills National Reserve with some Lion King re-enactment; while seeing a herd of elephants in the far far far distance. The highlight (or more accurately brown trouser moment) was when being driven back in the dark on dirt roads and the driver would accidentally turn the lights out when switching from low to high beams; he wasn't exactly going slowly either. I also helped to stop a Colobridge collapsing into the road, a Colobridge is built above the main road to allow monkeys to cross safely.

It's the circle of life!

The sun setting on another glorious day in Africa

Yep, I have found the problem guys, it's falling over

I got to know a lot more about the yellow baboons, and that if you meet a large male half way up a ladder you suddenly get the power to scale down quicker than previously thought possible. I also learnt more about the Vervet monkeys and watched some of the re-released ex-pets get their radio collars removed; amazing what you can achieve with peanuts and sunflower seeds. You have also been introduced to one of the colobus troops I am following and now know a bit more about them. No injuries to speak of yet although I was nipped on the ankle by a damn Chiwawa that waited till I turned around before pouncing.

Large male baboon that run up ladder as I was going down

A Vervet now with his radio collar removed

Without doubt the highlight of the month was having the opportunity to walk for elephants beside Jim Nyamu for his campaign “Ivory belongs to elephants”. You can read about my full day out with him and see more pictures, just click here.

Walking no matter what the weather

Drying off with Jim Nyamu

I am now fully settled in my life here and am wondering how I will react when I see the prices of avocados and mango's back in London. Also, I have been enjoying roasted corn on the cob done on the side of the road here for roughly 25p for a whole corn.

Contemplating the beauty before me as the sun sets

Watching the sun raise as I begin to follow a colobus troop

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."

Walking for elephants to save elephants

I recently had the fabulous opportunity to walk alongside Jim Nyamu, executive director of the Elephant Neighbours Center in Nairobi, Kenya to raise awareness of the need to conserve elephants and their habitats.

Jim has been walking for elephants for over 3 years and in that time has racked up a fair few miles in different countries around the world. This includes a 50 day walk of 1000 miles through Kenya and a 510 mile walk from Boston to Washington D.C. in America. His latest walk is from the south coast to the north coast of Kenya, an impressive 375km over 15 days.

The starting point at Shimba Hills National Reserve

The day started in the county capital Kwale where there were local schools singing songs and reciting poems about the need to conserve elephants. Speeches then followed from the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the county commissioner and Jim who at one point said “if we don’t act now future conservationists will only be able to be managers of Mosquitoes.”  With that over we got under way around 10am with the sky’s looking grey, but the people looking full of optimism.

School children about to start singing

The man himself Jim Nyamu giving his opening speech

The walk begins

Sure enough within an hour we had some rain, but nothing too bad and the scenery of walking in the Kenyan countryside was truly amazing. Every village we passed Jim gave a speech to the community and it seemed to grab most people’s attention. It was especially fun to watch the schoolchildren, some as young as 4/5, in their bare feet walking/running with us chanting “meno ni ya tembo” or “Ivory belongs to elephants”; which is the name of Jim’s campaign.

Stopping in a local village to speak with the community

Jim addresses a couple of schools and onlookers

Jim will use anything to get his message across

After walking (and partly driving) for three hours we reached the main road to Ukunda (large local town) where we grew in number and marched on to the center. This time the rain came down hard, but we whipped out the rain gear (if we had it) and soldiered on; nothing was going to bring our spirits down.

Proud to be walking beside  Jim and co

We will not be deterred no matter what you throw at us
Credit to Jim Nyamu and his media team for the photo

After walking for the better part of an hour we reached the main town center with cars and motorbikes hooting and carried on to the WWF Kenya office. There we were welcomed by a short play from a local theatre school about the penalties of poaching elephants, some closing speeches and a round of applause. This concluded the main part of the day so Jim, his team and we took shelter in the office and I got to find out more about the man behind the walks.

Me and the big man Jim

Q. What got you interested in starting this movement to save elephants?

A.“I have worked with elephants for over 17 years, first working as a research scientist with the KWS and then heading up the elephant programmes with the African Conservation Center. I decided to resign in 2011 to dedicate myself to walking and raising awareness of the plight of elephants.”

I only realised after hearing Jim speak that we could loose elephants in Kenya in as little as ten years. One elephant is killed around the world every 15 minutes.

Q. What are your aims for this walk?

A. “I have three main aims I wish to achieve:

1. Raise awareness of the effects of elephant poaching not only on elephants, but the wider environment like the effect to the habitats.

2. Raise awareness of the new wildlife act in Kenya which means if you are found with ivory on your property, regardless as to how it got there, you face life imprisonment or 20 million Ksh.

3. To engage the local communities and schools in the importance of conservation for the future.”

Q. How do you feel today has gone in terms of achieving those aims?

A. “I am very impressed with how today has gone and feel it is the best start to any walk I have ever done. When I started walking in 2011 I only had a handful of people with me, today I believe I have interacted with over 1000 people, 17 schools joined us and hundreds walked. The children’s reactions and enjoyment was obvious and very delightful to see. People already believe in protecting and saving the elephants for our future.”

Q. Dare I ask what is next once this walk is finished?

A. “Another walk of course. Next month I am walking in Kenya from Nanyuki to Nyahururu, a distance of 201km. Then in July I am going back to the USA to do an 800 mile walk across California. I have chosen America as I feel they need to know about the plight of the elephants in Kenya and to correct current misconceptions. For example, did you know a lot of people believe you can harvest elephant tusks like deer antlers, where they simply fall off at the end of a season? People just don’t realise you have to kill the elephant to get the tusks. Also, I am planning to come to London, England later in the year to do my first walk there; I hope to see you.”

With that I left knowing Jim will be out again tomorrow and the next day and the next simply walking and talking about why we must protect elephants, not simply because we enjoy looking at them, but as the most powerful species on this planet we have a responsibility to look after the rest. Without nature we are nothing.

Walking until elephants are saved
Credit to Jim Nyamu and his media team for the photo

Follow Jim’s work:

W: http://www.elephantneighborscenter.org

F:  https://www.facebook.com/ElephantNeighborsCenter

T: @elephantneigbor

E: info@elephantneighborscenter.org

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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."

Births, deaths and elephants!

Well this 2nd month into my Kenyan adventure has just absolutely flown by, and I cannot believe we are about to enter May. It has been a roller coaster ride of a month with births, deaths and Elephants; and I hope you like reading it as much as I enjoyed living it.

Looking out over the forest as the sun rises

Will kick off with the fact I helped write and host a monthly quiz held in a local beach bar the 40 Thieves. The quiz is mainly attended by ex-pats living in the area (who seem to be living very well by the size of some of their guts), but we also got some backpackers and two middle aged men with their lovely, much younger local girlfriends; its like they only just met, but I am sure that is not the case. The best bit about the evening was that I got to have free food and drinks, so I had their vegan falafel burger (very nice); also as a hardcore drinker I was knocking back a fair few mango juices I kid you not. A jolly good evening all in all, but the best was yet to come. On the way back we passed some workman repairing the road and all we had to notify us of this was a man dressed in no bright clothing waving a branch at us; that my friend is the Kenyan slow down sign. As we approached our site the driver had to slam on the brakes to avoid going straight over a new speed bump that had just been installed; that’s right, no signs, painted areas, nothing; the driver then said turned round and said “welcome to Kenya”.

Just enjoying hosting a quiz

I organised a trip to the nearby reef with the aide of a local fisherman and we went snorkelling. Nothing could prepare me for the calmness of the sea, the clarity of the water and the amount of fish that seemed so tame. It was like being in a beautiful, exotic fish tank where the fish were happy to approach and investigate. There were orange fish, black fish, silver fish, blue fish, big fish, small fish, I could go on. The highlight was seeing a clown fish (finding Nemo) going in and out of an anemone; just like the film. I am going to get a cheap underwater camera so next time I can try and capture some of these wonders. Also, the rainy season is now well and truly in as this video clip I took shows.

I took part in the Shimba Hills National Reserve clean up and got my first sighting of African elephants; definitely the highlight of my trip so far. Another big highlight, I was given the honour of naming the new male that joined one of the colobus groups I am following; what name did I choose? In the same group Chip, a 4 year old male, has returned after the group went through a bit of an episode. One was hit by a car and died, some members left (including Chip) and others joined like this new male I have recently named. Chip probably went off to look at getting his own group, but failed so has returned for now.

On entering Shimba Hills National Reserve

My first encounter with an African elephant

The new male I had the honour in naming

Chip has returned to colobus group 1

 A very tasty, gluten free vegan chocolate cake was made by me, that all the volunteers loved and ate very quickly. Safe to say the next one I made was double the size and had peanut butter in it, this went just as quickly. We also went to the local Indian restaurant here in Diani, which was cheap and super tasty, but you better like your food spicy because WOW; that’s coming from someone who likes his spice. Although ordering two drinks for myself seemed to confuse the waiter who thought I was switching between wanting a bottle of water and a Tusker beer; don’t worry folks I did get both.

I am very happy with my chocolate cake

I was present at the re-releasing of a Sykes monkey that we had taken in to patch up after a car accident. Luckily he survived and just needed minor stitches, safe to say he was mighty happy about going home. I watched the sunrise again, but this time at the top of a water tower, and so got some amazing views. I also went out to witness the meteor shower thinking we would have a great view over the sea. Well not only did I not see anything but within an hour clouds came in and rain started pouring down; got some pretty cool shots though.

Sykes monkey darting out back to freedom

Sunrise over the forest

The night sky over Diani, no meteors

Finally, I am now able to identify all the individuals of the three colobus groups that I am following (27 individuals), which makes me the first person ever to have done this; feeling pretty good right now. Now for some sad news - group 2 did have a new baby, but it must have been born dead which is a shame; the mother was carrying it around caring for it the whole day. Even worse, our beloved orphaned baby colobus Avi who was being hand reared passed away just the other day. He had been ill for a while and previous colobus babies lead us to believe this to be a likely outcome. He was a pleasure to have around and will be missed.

The baby was born dead, but the mother still cares for it.

Poor little Avi, he was a pleasure to have around and will be missed

 Now let’s finish with some good news, today I was tracking group 3 and when I found them I was greeted by a bright white, healthy colobus baby not one week old. It felt amazing to see and with the passing of Avi it was like we lose one, and gain one.

Bright white new colobus baby, healthy and well

What an end to a crazy month that I will never forget, bring on the next.

What did I get up to in my first month?

Check out all my posts from Kenya so far.

As always the pictures are owned by the author and under their copyright. They are uploaded at a lower quality as my internet in Kenya is slow.

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."