Colobus Trust

Category: volunteer | Date: May 28 2009 | By: colobus

From Anna:

So, today we are packing… the last hours at the Trust.

I tried yesterday to summarize my time here in my diary, but it was hard, and every time I finished a sentence I remembered something I’d forgotten to add. There are so many different things we have done here. Also, it’s been very interesting to follow the Trust through these months of transformation when so much has changed. Even though I’ve only been here a few months I’ve had the pleasure to see the also the staff change and grow. Some personal things to say to each and every one of you guys: Hamisi – it’s the best thing to see you teach and play with the children; you’re a whole new person when standing in front of them, talking about the importance of conservation. John – your sense of humour is the weirdest ever but when at work one can tell that you possess so much knowledge and you’re so passionate about the animals. Peter – the discussions we’ve had with you about cultural difference have given me a deeper understanding of Kenya and you’ve always had answers to all of our questions. Catherine – you’re a lovely physical (always hugging) woman singing in the office, you always dress so nice and put your hair in beautiful creations. Your advice helped us through our economical issues. Mwuitu – your cheerful personality always cheers up the whole Trust no matter if you’re dusting the floor, climbing trees or looking for snares. We always talk about you as the one with the black sarcastic humour. Mary – you taught me how to make chapattis (under cautious supervision) and Ester, I like chatting with you about everything and to hear you sing behind the shop desk. Elodie – I just said to Filip yesterday that you’re the one to always say only positive things. Loved your yoga-classes and your pep-talking with everyone during rainy days. Dipesh – even though you talk very loud and always just show up like one minute at a time(!), you’re such a funny person and I thank you for all the opportunities you gave me to write. Can’t believe how many projects you manage to run at the same time. Andrew – love you’re constant mumbling ‘yo wazzup man hows it going there mate’ and how you always eat four to five portions at lunch. You’re going to manage this place without a problem. Luciana – thank you for all your assistance, very nice to sit on your veranda and chitchat about everything. You always stick to your promises. Jared, thank you for your lovely curries, and Issa, I don’t know how you did it but you got all our white clothes white again after weeks of backpacking those dusty mud-roads.

I’ve made a lot of volunteer friends here too. I can only say that tomorrow, we are meeting up with Tom, Rona and Rachael in Nairobi to have a last night out before we all fly back to our home countries, scattered across the world. I’ll always remember my time at the Trust. GOODBYE!

From Filip:

I’m sitting in the office, the power just went and came back, it’s hot and humid, and Andrew, Peter, John and Mwitu are away on de-snaring and tree-planting somewhere. I can hear Jared making chapattis in the kitchen and the rehabilitation Vervets fighting over something. Life is exactly as it should be at the Trust, with the slight difference that Anna and I are leaving today, after working as volunteers here from February to May, with a break for travelling in the middle.

While packing yesterday, I emptied my whole wardrobe and encountered some items that left me in a kind of nostalgic mood while standing with everything in my lap, thinking about my months here and what I’ve experienced.

In the pockets of my bathing shorts lay a couple of broken shells, beautifully colored. It’ll be hard to appreciate the Scandinavian ‘beaches’, with water temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius if you’re lucky, after spending so many lunch breaks and weekends on the white sand next to the turquoise Indian Ocean with the vivid reef just outside.

Lifting my eyes, something caught my attention: my Colobus Trust-badge, attached to my cleanest shirt. I’ve been using it during the Pest Management program. It felt pretty cool to walk around in the fancy beach resorts, guided by the manager, with my badge on one side of the chest and a VIP-pass from the hotel on the other. We were monitoring misbehaving monkeys, trying to help the hotels deal with them in a sustainable way. It included meetings with general managers, hours of observation and interviews, arranging workshops and sometimes getting a free buffet…

Besides my clean shirt were my working clothes. They were brown from mud, sweaty from the hot climate and I could also spot tiny holes almost everywhere. All of these details are a reminder of so many hours of de-snaring. It was. The snares are thin and often rusty, which gives them a great camouflage in the coral rag forest. To discover them, you need to literally crawl into the bush, struggling against the thorns of the Crocodile Tree, the spiders, mosquitoes and tics of the ground, not to mention the heat from the sun, especially tough in dry season when no shade was to be found and the air was extra hot. But it feels truly rewarding to return to the Trust with a whole pile of snares in the car, knowing that you might have saved an animal from a horrible suffering and death.

To the floor. There I see the big, compact, elliptic fruit shell of the Baobab Tree, the absolutely biggest tree species in Africa. I will never forget getting stuck in a Baobab. It was on my first Colobrigding, and I was all fresh from the flight, not really knowing what the expectations on me were. Some of the staff, Anna, and I went to the highest colobridge, which needed some maintenance. The ladder was extended to its maximum length, and I climbed it together with a staff-member. Then we continued a couple of meters further up until we were about 10 m from the ground. I stayed there and the staff-member tied a rope around him and continued to the top, where he could work on the bridge while I sent him the tools. When we were done, I couldn’t find anything to grip for climbing down, so I was stuck in the big giant tree until people on the ground had stopped laughing and moved the ladder where I could climb down….        

In the darkest corner of the wardrobe was an empty box of plastic gloves, an eccentric good-bye present from Anna’s father before departing to Africa. They were meant to protect us from all bacteria, parasites, viruses etc while travelling. But on one of our first nights in the Trust an injured Sykes monkey came in. We were quickly introduced to the basic vet clinic and instructed to prepare a couple of injections, like Vitamin K, tetanus, and steroids. The only gloves around were the very thick, green gloves used for catching monkeys, not really flexible enough for our task. So we opened our box of plastic gloves and started helping out.  

Thank you everyone for an eventful and a wonderful time at the Colobus Trust,

Filip

And by the way – we climbed Kilimanjaro

Tags: experience, Goodbye, volunteer

4 responses so far

Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, deforestation, volunteer | Date: May 26 2009 | By: colobus

We had a busy weekend at the Trust; our hotline was as hot as the sun that finally came out through the clouds. On Friday around dusk, we received a call about a Colobus that was hurt, crawling on the ground with its troop nervously encircling it in the nearby trees. After quickly loading the rescue-truck with a cage, net, first veterinary aid, gloves and other equipment usually necessary on an animal rescue, like volunteers, we hit the road.

But upon arrival we were given some bad news, actually the worst news one can get on an animal rescue:

-         I’m sorry, you’re too late, the monkey is already dead, said a man without shirt while guiding us to the spot.

And there it was, the beautiful juvenile black –and-white Colobus lying sideways on the ground, like it had just given up while running. The surrounding air smelled like burnt meat, once again we were dealing with an electrocution. Our vet Rona examined the carcass just in case there would be any pulse, but in short we covered it with a white sheet and headed back home, after deciding with the owner to insulate the power lines close-by.

Next day, Saturday, the sun was still out so we all went down to the beach to get a nice tan. Or so we thought… The hotline rang again, this time our own manager had spotted a limping Sykes monkey, probably hit by a car. We threw the necessities in the truck and rushed to the site. There was no apparent sign of the Sykes, but after looking around in the nearby bushes, we heard a loud ‘thump’ and saw a much disoriented juvenile female Sykes try to flee on the other side of a fenced-in private property. To catch it, we’d have to get in to the property, so we called and called for someone to open the gates, but nobody answered. What to do? In the rush, Rona and I decided to ignore the possibility of a guarding dog and simply climbed over the gate, equipped with net and gloves. It didn’t take long for Rona to catch the poor thing, but as she looked up to head back for the gate, a rottweiler, and a pretty upset one according to the amount of barking, met her eyes. Dilemma: Were we going to just stand there with the dog, adrenaline kicking and an injured monkey in our hands, or try to reach the gate? As the rest of the team tried to distract the dog and persuade a person who suddenly turned up to hold it, Rona and I slowly sneaked closer and closer to the gate, until we could climb it again. The focus switched over to the Sykes. We put her in the cage and hurried back to the vet clinic, where Rona did what was in her power to diagnose and treat her. It seems like she has fallen badly from a tree, hitting her head. She is blind (temporarily we hope) and doesn’t want to use her left front leg, but she has no fractures and has recovered well from the big shock she was in when we found her.

All in all a weekend with way too much time spent in the vet clinic, an experience we are trying to reduce every day, every week, all year round. The human-wildlife conflict is growing, with less land for more people and more monkeys. This time a juvenile Colobus had to pay for it, and I wonder who is paying next time.

Filip Celander, Colobologist

Tags: animal rescue, colobus, Electrocution, sykes

2 responses so far

Category: Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation | Date: May 25 2009 | By: colobus

They came to Colobus Trust as visitors a sunny day in February. She – a vet, he – a photographer. Just that day, we had an injured monkey coming in, and we could not reach the regular veterinary for help. The woman of the two, Rona, offered her help, and ended up treating the little animal very professional in our veterinary clinic. A couple of days later, Rona and Tom came back to the Trust just to say hi again. As they are a very charming and social couple, they made friends with the whole place, and while it was just about time for our previous assistant manager Gwili to leave, they were invited at the goodbye party and offered to take over as assistant manager and veterinary. And so it was. Now, over three months later, they are packing their bags again, since t is time for them to go back to Israel. Yes folks, it is a sad fact - our Israeli couple are leaving us!

I must truly say that the time that we have had Rona and Tom with us we have seen so many things change. Having experienced some of the hardest times in the history of our organisation, we are now facing a very promising future where we will be able to save more animals than we could have hoped for. SO much has improved, and much is without doubt thanks to Rona and Tom’s hard work. The first thing they did was to update the Colobus Trust website (at www.colobustrust.org), and Tom used his photographic skills and added a slideshow of photos. He even offered to give photographic lessons in Diani, and has been the one to help illustrate many of our blogposts. The whole office has been put in new order, new equipment has been brought from Mombasa, the entire veterinary clinic has been given a real renovation with new drugs, equipment, newly painted walls and informative booklets and instructions. Rona has ambitiously put together an educative presentation so that veterinary First Aid can be taught to more staff and more volunteers. Even the volunteer programme is given a new design and is updated to the better, incredibly much has been done to improve our education programme for school children and tomorrow we are putting up a huge Colobus Trust-sign painted by volunteers and an artist out by the street. The Colobus Trust is back in the game.

So this is to thank Rona and Tom for everything they have done for the Trust, and we are very sad that they have to leave us. But we hope – and are sure of – that whatever they will move on to, they will put the same efforts and same energy into it and people will enjoy working with them wherever they might be in the world. There is so much creativity and motivation coming from these two. We had Luciana at dinner yesterday, trying to persuade them in various ways to stay in Diani. As for me, I am considering saving some money and go visit them in Israel. But however sad this might seem, there is no reason for crying – we have our new assistant manager taking over this week, his name is Andrew (from U.S) and he is great, already part of our Colobus Trust family. So even though I’m sure there will be many sad faces at this evening’s goodbye party, which is also partly for me and Filip as we are leaving in 3 days, we are still alive and kicking and the story of The Colobus Trust continues.

Thank you!

Anna Sandahl, Colobologist

Tags: assistant manager, Photographer, Veterinary

6 responses so far

Category: Habitat Restoration/Conservation, deforestation, volunteer | Date: May 22 2009 | By: colobus

The sacred forests on the Kenyan coast, so called Kayas, are under a big pressure from development. A lot of them have vanished or been largely reduced – like the rest of the forests around here - but some of them are still full of life, an oasis not only for our beloved black and white Colobus, but also for species like the bush-pig and the elephant shrew.

Kayas are on the UNESCO World Heritage list, not to mention that they host sacred places for ancient traditions amongst the people living in the forest. The Kayas are still managed in the traditional way by small groups of wise elders, making all decisions about the forest and its inhabitants, both human and non-human, what to hunt, where to cut trees and so on.  

But times are changing. New threats of development, like poaching, deforestation and privatization are tiring the elders, who are getting very old. Some of the remaining Kayas are being sold out due to lack of funds, and people from outside are beginning to look at the forests like a lucrative snaring-zone. National Museums of Kenya and WWF are already taking action, and a couple of days ago, a Youth-scout group calling themselves Mwakamba approached the Colobus Trust. They knew about our de-snaring and tree-planting programs and asked for assistance with their forest, the Kaya Diani. We arranged a day in the Kaya together with them, in an unusual attempt to work all together for the forest.

After loading our truck with tree-seedlings, tools, staff and volunteers, we took off from the main road and on to a bumpy dusty road headed towards the small village neighboring Kaya Diani. About 20 people, both men and women, awaited us in an open, sunny field enclosed by lush forest. After our staff member Peter held a short introduction, everybody started digging, whether they had a tool or not. Seedling after seedling was planted into the earth of the field, until the whole area was covered and all plants watered. Faces turned towards Peter again, who then explained what snares look like and how to discover them. He then instructed us to spread out and walk in a line, as we bent down and took our first steps into the green (and thorny) mass of Kaya Diani.     

It was surprising and very encouraging to see the dedication of this youth scout group. The forest cannot depend on foreign volunteers to survive as the elders slowly but safely pass their heritage to the next generation. It needs to be managed by the local community, which makes initiatives like Mwakamba invaluable. But neither the elders nor the Mwakamba scouts have the experience or the knowledge on development threats, such as poaching or privatization, like the Colobus Trust, NMK or WWF does, which makes us all a piece of the Kaya-puzzle. A productive day for everyone and a beginning of a future for Kaya Diani.

Filip Celander, Colobologist

Tags: de-snaring, Kayas, local community, tree-planting

No responses yet

Category: Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, volunteer | Date: May 18 2009 | By: colobus

As today is Monday, we went for the typical Monday-event, which is “colobridging” and means more or less to do maintenance work on the colobridges. The colobridges are put up over the Diani Road in “monkey hot-spots” – areas with the most frequent number of monkeys being overrun by cars. As monkeys have permanent passages, bridges that they can use for crossing the road are an efficient way of reducing road kills. The road traffic accidents are the most common accidents reported to our animal welfare hotline, and means a horrible suffering since it often causes fatal internal bleedings instead of instant death.

The maintenance work is very important as there are many bridges, and the smaller features rust or fall off if the bridge is not looked after. The colobridging is not rocket-science, but does certainly require some skills in tree-climbing and is certainly not for those with fear of heights. A team of staff and volunteers arrive to a bridge that needs maintenance, equipped with ladders, pliers, ropes and extra gear, such as new chains or tubes. Then we start the exciting expedition into the high canopies of Diani, and yes – we REALLY climb high up! Usually the team-spirit is good and we encourage each other to reach higher and pull harder. The bridge is tightened, and rusty screws are exchanged to make this the red carpet for our endangered friends, more natural and less lethal than the busy main road downstairs.

We have seen great statistics since the colobridge-programme was initiated. The number of road traffic accidents killing monkeys has decreased with 50% since it was first launched in 1996! However, it costs to keep these bridges up and running. Even today, we had to take one of them down because its supporting pieces were too old and could fall down to the road and cause accidents. Also, we still need more bridges since they only cover a fraction of the road, leaving several “monkey hotspots” exposed to the busy traffic. People can sponsor a new bridge either by donating online or by visiting our website, http://www.colobustrust.org/support_us.html, which includes having a bridge named according to your choice. This also makes a good gift!

Anna Sandahl & Filip Celander, Colobologists

Tags: colobridges, fear of heights, maintenance, volunteers

3 responses so far

Category: Fundraising | Date: May 12 2009 | By: colobus

The following people ran for monkeys on Sunday the 10th of May and completed with good times: Ross Smith, Jonathan Style, Janna Kay, Nicolas Gidaracos, Charles Gallo & Edward Dudgeon.

From all of us - a big thank you for all the donations and the funds will go a long way towards the Colobus Trust being able to do something very important - the protection of the Colobus on the south coast of Kenya.

Charley and Ed had quite a race of it and gave a number of runners quite a fright when a monkey ran past on one side and a banana on the other!

A great day and well done to the runners!

Running times: http://www.ranelagh-harriers.com/ran_hm_09.html
Thanks very much from all of us

And a really big thank you from the Colobus Trust to all the people who donated for these monkeys (the ones in Diani and the ones in the UK too!:))

Tags: Edward Dudgeon, Fundraising, Marathon

6 responses so far

Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, Research, volunteer | Date: May 11 2009 | By: colobus

Cheza, Luciana’s Troop

To keep up-to-date with the actual number of Colobus monkey population in Diani – which also tells a lot about the conservation situation – The Colobus Trust is now launching the Colobus Monitoring again. This means that at least once a week, a team of volunteers and staff members go out in Diani and systematically track the Colobus Troops of Diani. The Colobus check includes collecting data about the number of monkeys, the sex and age of every individual, where and when they were spotted and where they were heading. Each Colobus troop has its own favourite spot of the forest and more or less they stay within this area. This is why we can name the troops and be almost sure of where they can be found.

During the last weeks, our team has been out in the field counting these black-and-white monkeys, and so far – ¼ of the Diani area checked – we have found 100 monkeys, belonging to 13 different troops, which looks very promising. Also, the large number of Colobus infants is surprising, and means that the future for these monkeys looks much brighter than before.

 Chip, Luciana’s Troop

Nevertheless, we have to remember that this is mainly due to conservation work, such as building the colobridges, tree-trim around the electric wires, de-snaring programmes and wildlife & environmental education of locals which is only possible to carry out with the support from all of you. An increased number of Colobus monkeys in Diani means our work really contributes to ensuring its survival and breeding, which of course is very encouraging! So keep up the good work, we still have a long way to go.

Anna Sandahl, Colobologist

Tags: animal monitoring, Colobus check, Colobus Troops, Habitat Restoration/Conservation

No responses yet

Category: Fundraising, Habitat Restoration/Conservation | Date: May 09 2009 | By: colobus

With a few days to go before the runners compete in The Ranelagh Half Marathon 2009 on the 10th of May - all are trained and ready to run an extra mile to raise money for the Colobus Trust. Thank you to all those who have kindly donated so far and as the day closes in with the monkeys in mind we ask you all to reach deep and donate to something worth protecting - the Colobus monkey

Will it be a monkey chasing a banana or a banana chasing a monkey?!!

To help us reach our usd1000 target - Charles Gallo and Edward Dudgeon are going to run in a monkey and banana suit!!

Please donate to something which will definitely be a sight to see - especially after 20+ kms!!

Thanks to all

Edward Dudgeon

Tags: Edward Dudgeon, Fundraising, Marathon

One response so far

Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, volunteer | Date: May 04 2009 | By: colobus

Around 3 months ago, a small box arrived to the door at The Colobus Trust. The box had come all the way from Tsavo National Park and made strange screeches and noises. We opened it, and inside we found a tiny, golden beige baby Vervet, around one month old, looking back at us. This was the stubborn infant that was soon going to wake us up during the nights, screaming for attention, mango and milk, in need of feeding every three hours. It had been found abandoned by its mother, playing with some children in Tsavo, so the journey all the way to the Trust had been long. After ensuring that he was not suffering from any illness, we prepared for him a cage with branches, fruits and a surrogate mother (a hot water bottle). During the days he played hide-and-seek with us, sometimes he could sit clinging to my stomach for hours while I was walking around the Trust working with other tasks. He was given all the love and attention he required, if not more – still, we were all watching him with a slight doubt in our eyes, knowing that he could not stay forever at the Trust. Where would he go, who would take care of him? We made a lot of effort trying to reach out to several Vervet Rehabilitation Centers, but no one seemed to have room for the Vervet infant.

Only a week later, another baby Vervet came in. This infant was even smaller than the first one – around two weeks old. He was found left alone just outside in the bush, also somehow abandoned by his mother, but this one seemed to be suffering a worse trauma. He was shocked and depressed, not interacting nor reacting to anything, but when left alone he would freak out and cry himself tired until anyone came back to hold him. Then we introduced him to our first baby Vervet, and it turned out to be a great solution. The two moved into the same cage and became friends, grooming, cuddling and sleeping in each other’s arms. Whenever there was a threat, the bigger one would take the smaller one in protection. It was so lovely to see, and it also meant that they could help each other through the hard times and give each other care and safety. They both grew more and more independent and explored their surroundings with a great sense of curiosity. However, we were still concerned about their future.

Just a few weeks later, a THIRD baby Vervet came in. This infant was between the age of the older and the younger, and very angel-like – it had been kept as a pet, and was finally handed over to the Trust a rainy February night. So now there were three small baby monkeys.

Luckily, we had a family just down the Diani Road who gave us the news that they were actually ready to adopt the baby monkeys during rehabilitation, before they were old enough and ready to be released back into the wild. We had found them a home! One day, they all moved into the house of Hillary, Isabella and Alex. The first time was not easy – the monkeys were a bit confused, jumping around hysterically, urinating on the furniture and eating every piece of food left outside. Hillary, Isabella and Alex had a hard time, especially with the smallest Vervet, who was still traumatized and a bit depressed. When I visited their new home only a week later, the monkeys were completely different. They were not aggressive at all, the smallest one was much happier and showed interest in its surroundings, exploring the environment and climbing the walls. They were eating with great appetite and showed a very healthy behaviour. Instead of moving them into a big rehabilitation enclose in the backyard of the house, as was the plan, they seemed to have made the house veranda their playground. They would sometimes leave the house to go exploring, but always returned again.

As for now, the monkeys are doing great on their favourite veranda. There are still many challenges that they need to face every day, some of them more difficult than others, but they are doing fine and growing more and more independent. One of the baby Vervets, though, just had a horrible experience while playing in the garden, and is currently treated for this little adventure. To be continued…

Anna Sandahl, Colobologist

Tags: primate rescue, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, Vervet monkey, volunteer

4 responses so far