Colobus Trust

Category: Blogroll | Date: Jun 09 2008 | By: colobus

Today I’m in Diani Beach for a week now and the first week of working at the Trust has passed very quickly. I will give a short impression of the Trust and my first week of volunteering, after introducing myself.
My name is Egbert Jager, 24 years old and I am a student from Nijmegen, a place in the east of Holland. After graduating my BSc of communication science I would liked to do something different, going traveling and experience other countries and cultures. Since my first time in Kenya I really liked to come back once to stay for a longer time. It was terrible to see what happened after the elections in December, I couldn’t believe a crisis like that could arise in a country with such a nice people. Because of the crisis I doubted if it was safe to come over. I’m happy that I decided to go and find here a challenge working as a volunteer at the Trust. They really can use some support, since there haven’t been that many volunteers anymore during the crisis.
I came here last week with little knowledge of the work or experience with animal welfare. After an introduction of the activities of the Trust I found out their mission, not being a relief for monkeys only. They do a lot more which I really appreciated!

The first day of my stay I have helped John with animal welfare. In the beginning it was strange standing in the cages and feeding the vervets, while they are jumping around. But now I’m used to it and I really enjoy doing it. The second day I have seen my first Colobus. In the garden of the Trust lives a group of approximately 8 Colobus. These animals are so beautiful!
Other projects I have been working on is desnaring. Crossing the bushes like a bushman was sometimes very hard and warm. But I have a lot of fun with the casuals who started to practice the German language with me. Besides that you know it’s a good activity after finding a snare! Another good activity I joined is tree trimming. Fortunately I haven’t seen an electrocuted monkey till now. Yesterday I have been monitoring the Colobus Monkeys in the surrounding of Diani. I loved walking in the forest enjoying the nature and the Colobus Monkeys we have been looking after.
In the coming two weeks I will also work on the education projects. I’m looking forward to visit the schools and say hello to the children…

Egbert Jager
Eco-Volunteer