Colobus Trust

Category: Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, Research, volunteer | Date: Apr 29 2009 | By: colobus

This week has seen the launch of the new Adopt a Colobus programme here at the Colobus Trust. This is an important programme, aimed to provide vital support for the conservation of the Angolan colobus monkey.

Cheo is looking out from his good-view tree spot

Here at the Trust, we are lucky to have a troop of colobus that frequent the Trust garden, choosing it as their territory. Staff and volunteers alike spend hours observing the movements and habits of this engaging family. The so named Luciana Troop is made up of 7 colobus, each with their own visual characteristics and personal traits. Cheo, a beautifully majestic colobus, is the dominant male and it is his job to look out for and protect his family. There are two adult females, Chunga and Cheka. Chunga is the dominant of the two, therefore also the troop leader. She has two children, Cheza the subordinate male of the group, and Chipua, one of the two juveniles. The other female is Cheka, mother to the sub-adult female Chuma, and the youngest member Chip.

 Chipua rests in a tree after playtime

It is fascinating to watch the family dynamics of this troop as they move through the Colobus Trust compound. True to colobus form, they spend most of their time eating, preferring the brightly coloured flowers of the flamboyant tree, as well as other choice buds and leaves. Much time is also devoted to play, however, and the two juveniles, Chip and Chipua, are full of energy and are forever getting up to mischief. It is not unknown for them to be seen cavorting with the infants of other monkey species in the area, namely the sykes. Watching such scenes unfold in our garden is a regular pass time here at the Trust!

Luciana’s Troop used to number 8 before one of Chunga’s offspring was electrocuted two months ago when it was just a baby. Such examples of human-primate conflict are sadly common in the Diani area. The Adopt a Colobus programme is in place so that people can donate to the Trust, helping us to maintain, and keep improving, the work that we do. By donating, people can enjoy the benefits of an enriched knowledge of these magnificent animals through regular updates from the Trust while at the same time, supporting their plight. For more information, please visit  http://www.colobustrust.org/support_us.html

Tags: adopt a monkey, Colobus monitoring, Research

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Category: volunteer | Date: Apr 20 2009 | By: colobus

It has been a long time since all the volunteers and the staff did something together in the spare time after a long working day at the Trust. Therefore, last Friday our assistant manager Tom arranged a game of beach football. Everyone in the staff was invited. As Friday got closer and closer, some claimed that they had never played or that they were ill (getting nervous about the game), but when it was time to bring the ball to the beach, everybody joined, although some needed a little persuasion and encouragement (no names mentioned).

Curious beach boys and tourists walked by as the game took place, with some stylish bicicletas and dribbles (but mostly just disoriented goalkeepers and team-members forgetting on whose side they were). It was a nice event and afterwards everyone admitted that it had been a great game and they were looking forward to the next set of football. All in all, a good - from now on traditional - start of the weekend!

 Filip and Anna, Colobologists

Tags: Colobus Trust Staff, event, Sports

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Category: Education, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Marketing | Date: Apr 16 2009 | By: colobus

Things are changing fast at the Colobus Trust. A few days ago, we (Anna and Filip – colobologists), returned from almost two months of traveling around Kenya and Tanzania. We were happy to see how many projects had been carried through and finalized since our departure, among other things the updating of the webpage. And we did not arrive alone – the next day, a new volunteer joined us for another month: Ben from the U.S, and the day after, Rachel from Scotland. So now we have a fresh, motivated team in the Colobus house planning for new projects the following weeks!

As we wrote on the blog on feb 24^th, The Colobus Trust is about to launch a new Pest Management Program, dealing with the human-monkey-conflict that occurs daily throughout the hotels of Diani. It has been a while since the program was launched and the problem of monkeys stealing food or being fed by tourists, disturbing guests or wrecking hotel property has increased into unbearable levels. Lately, hotels have even been calling on our hotline begging for help, or, even worse, killing monkeys on their property – which of course is an illegal action!

So yesterday, after having sent out invitations to all the hotel managers of Diani Beach two months ago, we held a seminar about the pest issue and briefed the hotel managements about the current situation and the solutions that can, and will be, provided by The Colobus Trust. The seminar was very successful, people were interested and the presentation was followed by an intense discussion where the audience could speak their minds and ask questions. Some cases were very acute and we were asked to assist the hotels as soon as possible. At the end of the session, documents where handed out to all the listeners, including simple guidelines and a summary on how to start out planning their own pest management policy, and a possibility to order “Do Not Feed The Monkeys”-signs produced by the Trust.

The briefing, though, was only the beginning of a much bigger project. The plan from now on is to start by visiting all the hotels in Diani doing interviews, analysis, speak with staff and tourists and discussing the problems each and every hotel is facing and at what level. Our aim is to provide suitable assistance accordingly, so that in the long run people and monkeys can co-exist.

Filip & Anna, Colobologists

3 responses so far

Category: Fundraising | Date: Apr 11 2009 | By: colobus

Yesterday, on Good Friday, the Colobus Trust together with the South Coast Residents Association, Muthaiga Mini Market, and Camp Kenya set off to Godo, a vilage near the Tanzanian border which was suffering from famine, to distribute food. 

We were accompanied by the District Officer and the Chief of Lunga Lunga, and 4 Administration Policemen. The area was extremely arid, leaving the village people with very little food resources which often forces them to turn to bushmeat. By distributing food through projects like this one, we hope to create an awareness for the difficulties these people have to face and also offer an alternative to bushmeat.

We would also like to thank the East African Women’s League, Leisure Lodge Hotel and many many generous members of S.C.R.A. who provided funding for the food. Also a big thanks to all the volunteers who participated in the project yesterday and most of all to Lucianna Parazzi, Colobus Trust Board Member who organized the event which fed about 3,000 people!

The Colobus Team

PS. Don’t forget there will be a concert tomorrow at Forty Thieves and part of the proceeds will be going to famine relief! And if you can’t make and would like to donate to the Diani Residents famine relief initiatives, we are accepting donations via this blog. Please ensure that you leave a comment on this post to indicate that you would like your donation to go towards the famine relief and we will ensure that every cent is spent on necessary food items.

Tags: Drought, Famine Relief, Food Distribution, Hunger, Kenya, Kwale District, South Coast

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Category: Fundraising | Date: Apr 09 2009 | By: colobus

It’s no secret that we have been seriously struggling financially. Quite the opposite: we have been crying for help far and wide. We didn’t have much choice. Last year was so bad that we came very very close to shutting down and the only reason for that was the post-election crises in Kenya - something I loathe to write about anymore because like most Kenyans, it broke our hearts to watch our country fall apart and there was absolutely nothing we could do about it.

Hold on…this is supposed to be a happy post! And it is!!! But everything needs a context. So now that’s out of the way, we have some amazing news to share…

The truth is that the Trust managed to hold together because it has a group of very dedicated Directors who have financially and emotionally been there for the staff (and monkeys of course) at all times. We all want to extend our thanks to Luciana Parazzi, Raymond Matiba, Lulu Archer Clark, Elias Kimaru and Jophie Clark for being there through one of the worst periods in history for the Colobus Trust.

Needless to say that we have been applying for emergency funding from various organisations to help us get back on our feet. It never ceases to amaze me how the good news envelopes always arrive at the same time and what a blessing it is! We have just received confirmation from the Eden Wildlife Trust and from the International Primate Protection League (both have been long term supporters of the Colobus Trust) that our grant applications have been approved!

I think it is safe to say that those who do know us, know what we do and why an organisation like ours is so important and therefore very little was asked of us and the Colobus Trust has received the equivalent of US $5,000 from Eden Wildlife Trust and the same amount from the International Primate Protection League (IPPL)! 

A lot of our core activities such as our Animal Rescue Unit, the Education Programmes, maintenance of colobridges and medical supplies have been seriously compromised and often staff have gone sometimes one month if not more without pay. That tells you a lot about the people who work here. We don’t have the same sort of social welfare and security systems in place that most countries in the west do and a salary in Kenya feeds more than just you and your family - one person earning is often a blessing to the entire community that person is from.

The grants received will now give us the breathing space that we desperately needed and ensure some of our core activities particularly the animal rescue unit and maintenance of colobridges will be secure and thus allow us to start focusing again on our outreach education programmes and so many other areas that have been neglected or compromised. It also gives us a chance to now focus on putting some long term conservation strategies and proposals together. You have no idea how grateful we are!

One of things I love most about working with small organisations is that every little detail counts and every dollar that is donated means just as much as the larger donations. I want to take the opportunity to thank the people who donated in the month of March: Constanze, Roxanne, Hans, J.J, Collin, Nicholas, Mina, Colleen, Sima, Anthony, Louise, Michelle, Pirjo and Susan. Thank you all! 

Tags: Eden Wildlife Trust, Grants, International Primate Protection League

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Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution | Date: Apr 08 2009 | By: colobus

Let us begin by thanking everyone for their continued concern for Civet’s state. We received many phone calls and comments on the blog interested in how she was doing. So it is with a heavy heart we tell you that sadly the Civet died the next night after her accident. She died due to severe internal bleeding and a pneumothorax caused by the blow of the car that hit her, which broke five of her ribs and punctured her lungs. After exhausting all medical efforts, we could only hope she would recover but it was getting very difficult for her to breath, and she wouldn’t eat… she died during the night, but at least we managed to take away the pain she was feeling from her injuries.

We thought it important to remind all of us, how careful we should drive when we have animals crossing the road. Civets are nocturnal creatures and during this season (the beginning of the wet season) they are more active as they usually have their young during this time. They are quite rare to spot, but lately we have had alot of civet sightings due to the decreasing forest habitat and the decrease of food. The poor animals are starving, and they are looking for a way to survive, causing them to cross dangerous roads, which like in this case may result in their death.

Let us all think on how to make their lives better and safer: driving slower, the importance of speed bumps, putting out water for all the thirsty animals, and most of all protecting our forests and natural habitats so that these beautiful animals do not loose their homes.

Sorry Civet….

The Colobus Team

Tags: cars, civet cat, human-wildlife conflict, road kills

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Category: Marketing | Date: Apr 07 2009 | By: colobus

We could not ask for more than a pair like Tom and Rona as volunteers. You will remember from an earlier post that they recently redid the entire Colobus website and it just gets better and better all the time.

Tom is a professional photographer and has just installed a photographic tour of the Colobus Trust! I love it! Click on the image below to take the tour…

Tags: Photography

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Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, Uncategorized | Date: Apr 03 2009 | By: colobus

Never a dull moment at Colobus Trust as someone put it; yesterday evening as some of us sat down to eat our dinner we received an urgent call from a Diani resident about a hit and run accident, someone had run over a civet cat and it was left by the side of the road.

Our team rushed to the site while more and more worried residents informed us about the incident. We managed to dart it successfully and get it to the clinic. Dr. Allan was also there for the rescue, and after a thorough examination and initial treatment we decided further diagnosis using an x-ray machine was required.

With the help of Diani Palm Beach Hospital, we later determined she was suffering from internal injuries and a hairline fracture in her hind leg. After the x-ray, the civet was brought back to the Colobus Trust for further treatment, cage rest and recovery. Thank you Diani residents for your concern and support, let us all wish her a speedy recovery!

The Colobus Team

Tags: animal rescue, civet cat, Colobus Trust, Kenya, volunteer

4 responses so far

Category: Fundraising, Marketing, Uncategorized | Date: Apr 01 2009 | By: colobus

As many of you will be aware, Kenya is facing one of it’s worst famines in a long time. We posted about this a few days ago HERE. With virtually no emergency response systems in place through the government and local authorities, Kenyans across the country are banding together to do whatever they can.

The Coast Province has been one of the worst hit areas with statistics from the Kenya Red Cross Society showing that, “more than 200, 000 residents of Kinango, Msambweni and Kwale districts are severely hit by famine;” You can read the full story in today’s Daily Nation HERE.

The South Coast Residents Association are pulling together and making an appeal to all residents and visitors in Diani:

S.C.R.A in association with Muthaiga Mini Market in Diani have started to collect food to help the starving people of Kinango & Lunga Lunga.  We ask members, when shopping, please buy an extra bag of maize meal, sugar, rice, milk or water and then place in the appropriate box at Muthaiga Mini Market.

 S.C.R.A. has already pledged Shs. 50,000/- (approved at the A.G.M.) to buy foodstuff. We aim at filling a truck load of food so please be generous and think of all these hundreds of people, within our own District,  DYING of starvation and thirst.

The food will be delivered by members of this Association directly to the people so as to ensure that it reaches them and nobody else.

In addition, a bunch of amazing musicians from Nairobi will be performing in Diani on April 12th and have pledged 10% of the proceeds from the Fifth edition of Blankets& Wine© at Forty Thieves Beach Bar.

If you would like to make an online donation specifically for the famine relie, please use the one time donation button on the side bar and please leave a comment on this post stating that the amount you have donated is for this cause.

As if we did not have enough problems in Kenya to deal with…

Thanks.

Tags: Appeal, Blankets and Wine, Drought, Famine, Forty Thieves, Muthoni Music, Relief, SCRA

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