This is an update of The Colobus Trust’s efforts to expand our presence on the world wide web. Beyond our amazing blog with WildlifeDirect that is! We now are represented on facebook with a cause: And a group: We also have a Flikr group: And, of course, our website: It is through these mediums that we intend to raise our profile. They will all be updated frequently and along with our blog we can promote ourselves and keep supporters informed. For those of you that wanted to know the situation with the young Sykes we had in. When I spoke to Kerstin this morning I asked her how everything was. She said that the young guy was doing very well but unfortunately his surrogate mother has fallen ill. We sent Peter & Robert, two of our field assistants, to help her and she’s now on her way to the vet. The youngun though is happily muching away on her bananas! We will keep you updated and I hope to get some pictures for you all next week. Also, our work with KPLC is ongoing. We are still working towards them reducing the fee. Keep up the support, Gwili
Finally our blogging can recommence. After a long spell in Nairobi sorting out my work permit I have returned to Diani! This is the start of our new initiative to tell all about the multitude of tasks that make up our work to protect the endangered Angolan Colobus and it’s habitat. Over the next few weeks we hope you will learn what it really takes to do this. We will start today with one of our first projects, the building and maintenance of our world famous Colobridges. They came about as a direct response to the huge numbers of Colobus (and other arboreal primate species) lost in road traffic accidents (RTAs) in Diani during the its development.
The problem is simple. When their habitat is bisected by a road, as the forest in Diani is, wildlife which is at home in trees will have to descend to the ground to move between the forest patches. This puts the wildlife at risk as arboreal species aren’t so natural at moving across the ground. Because of this many lives are lost under the wheels of the many cars, buses, matatus and recklessly fast staff. This was noticed by the pioneers of The Colobus Trust and they acted, in force, to reduce the problem. Firstly they campaigned to get a 50kph speed limit enforced on Diani Beach Road and secondly they came up with the idea of a Colobridge. The idea is simple. Through the use of a horizontally placed wire ladder from tree to tree you can provide a path across the road, in areas where RTAs are of a hight frequency, for Diani’s arboreal primates. Some of which, especially the Colobus, are not so good at moving at ground level. The initial bridges were very much a success with a large drop in the numbers of RTAs. So this project became
A modern Colobridge is a simple to build, affordable way of saving lives. They are built out of a wire frame covered with plastic tubing and attached to a tree or platform at either end. We spend every Monday working on the bridges 26 bridges in Diani. Which need to be checked and maintained every 3 months. Each new bridge costs 25,000 KSh to build with a further annual cost of 10,000 KSh for its upkeep. Building a walkway over the road has provided a very successful path to reduce fatalities here in Diani and the idea has been used to similar effect elsewhere. We are very happy for the Flying Foxes of Australia as well as one known bridge in Uganda where people have used what we have learnt to help animals afar. As far as the future of this program goes, we have been monitoring the use of these bridges make sure they are used and placed effectively. Unfortunately, Vincent, the volunteer in charge of the project left us nearly a month ago and with no knew volunteers this assessment has had to be put on hold. We will, however, keep maintaining the bridges and await the return of someone to fill his shoes. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our latest donors: Antonio C Thank you all, Gwili
On behalf of everyone at the Trust (and every monkey in Diani) I would like thank everyone who has donated to us through Wildlife Direct. We are now confident that if this kind support continues we will be able to continue our road to recovery. Below we have named our most recent donors. So, a big thank you to: Kathy S With your support we are able to be there for monkeys like the little Sykes we received at the end of last week. Concerned residents brought us this monkey from just outside the Shimba Hills NR. Where they saw it being mistreated by some children.
The individual in question was an extremely sweet young male Sykes Monkey. Luckily when he was brought to us, apart from being a bit skinny and very tired, the only problem he had was a bad case of the hiccups! This soon cleared up after a nice meal of milk and glucose and the little guy was soon fast asleep hanging on to his surrogate mother, a towel. In the wild infants of his age are still carried everywhere by their mother. Unfortunately due to the situation of his origins we knew that, if still alive, his mother would be impossible to find. This put a release into his troop out of the question. So this, and the fact that he would not be accepted into another wild troop due to his gender, left us in a pickle. Thankfully Kerstin, a local Tiwi Beach resident, was on hand to save the day. She has raised many monkeys, with similar troubles, and introduced them to her resident troop of Vervet & Sykes Monkeys at her home. These are a welcoming collection of monkeys who’ve taken in many homeless monkeys such as ours. For this we also owe a massive thank you to Kerstin and look forward to updating you on the progress of this lucky monkey. Keep up the support! Gwili
We have worked with The Kenya Power & Lighting Company to reduce the number of primates lost by electrocutions for many years now. Initially our work involved coordinating with them to trim back the trees around all the major power lines in Diani. This has reduced the numbers, but many are still lost. In the last three years we have lost 12% of the Diani Forest Colobus population.
A dead Colobus found in Diani. Though we do what we can through our ongoing Tree Trimming Program, responding to an electrocution call is an all to frequent event for the Trust. The smell of burnt hair is pungent and the suffering these monkeys go through is terrible. The impact of 22,000 Volts is devastating. The animal’s flesh at the point of contact instantly cooks. This usually means any survivors we find lose the use of at least one of their forelimbs. Colobus can live with only one arm, and there are several in Diani we have treated and released, but they can never be the monkey they were before. An adult male Colobus amputee has never been seen as the leader of a troop, something every male aspires to be.
A dead Colobus showing steriotypical burns on the forearms and face.
Unfortunately many lose more than one limb and these cannot survive in the wild. This is even more depressing though as the majority of cases are dead on arrival. It is horrible witnessing these needless deaths, and long have we known that a longer-term solution had to be found.
A young male Colobus who’s forearm was amputated due to excessive burning. Thankfully, during this tough time, it would appear that we have found a breakthrough! In January KLPC sent a team to us, with the intent purpose of trying to solve the problem in Diani. We took them to our 17 already identified Electrocution Hotspots in Diani & explained the situation. When we received a letter from them this week. It was greeted with great anticipation. Inside was a proposal for the isolation of all the power lines at our hotspots that were publicly owned. This would be a great start towards the total annihilation of the problem. KPLC have offered to supply the manpower as long as we can raise the funds to pay for the materials. This is a whopping KSh 950,000 (US$ 13,500), a figure way out of our budget, even before the economic crisis, we are currently in, arose. Don’t let this stop us. Through your support we can get the Trust out of these difficult times and work towards raising this amount and achieve this massive leap in the right direction. Yours willingly, The Colobus Team
Before we start with our update we would like to take a moment to thank, on behalf of the Trust, our supporters. Since we appealed to you last week we have received donations from several generous people. Thank you so much to those of you who donated. It looks now as if we are in safe waters for at least the next month! The last week has been a very busy one, for all at the trust. We started the week with a crisis meeting. This was attended by all members of staff, our two remaining volunteers and two of our directors (see picture below). We discussed everyones thoughts and suggestions for the future of the trust. As well as evaluating our current programmes and how we can cut costs.
The descisions made in, and since, this meeting have been set in to action over the last week and we are all getting used to working on an even tighter budget. However, despite these changes, we have continued our hard work. We have continued our normal work such as the maintainance of our colobridges. As well as addressing the new situations that constantly arise in our line of work. Some of you may remember a story about two dead Colobus we recieved in December. The two were reported to us as being found dead. This was rather strange as both Colobus looked in the best health. We suspected it as poisoning and took the available measures to find out what really happened. This week we finally received the results for the stomach toxin analysis undertaken by the Governement Chemist in Mombasa. As we suspected there was a positive result found. A component of numerous insecticides, called a Carbamate Group, was found in abundance in the stomach contents we sent them. We are now looking into how this substance came to be included in the deit of an arboreal forager. As well as this, work was ongoing with KPLC (the Kenya Power & Lighting Corportation) to reduce the numbers of Colobus lost through electrocutions. This relationship looks promising. KPLC are currently forming a plan of approach and we look forward to a progressive future with them. Remember, without your help we cannot survive for more than a month with the money we have. Please, help us by keeping up the support, both financially and morally, and together we can secure a future for this special forest & its inhabitatants. Thank you, Gwili Gibbon
TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS AND WELL WISHERS,In May last year the Colobus Trust reached out to you for a helping hand to enable us to overcome one of its worst crises since conception in 1996. You gave generously and helped us through this difficult time. We are in the midst of a new crisis. And we have to reach out to you, our dear supporters, again, for help. The current political crisis in Kenya has hit us hard. The Colobus Trust is apolitical and caught in the cross fire witnessing, firsthand, the collapse of tourism in Kenya. The trust depends on overseas volunteers as the backbone funding of our work. With visiting tourists who come to us for eco-tours as our secondary. The month of February was to be our busiest time. As well as expecting the busiest time for eco-tour we had 14 volunteers due over the month. Unfortunately, within the last month every one of these have had, or chosen to, cancelled their trip. Along with numerous cancellations and early departures during the last month, this has left us stranded. Even money we had already received in the form of deposits has had to be returned. This is usually our most financially productive time of year. Now the Colobus Trust is faced with the reality that unless we receive funding soon, we will not survive. As well as volunteers the trust relies on our 12 local staff for their expertise, dedication and hard work. It is due to them giving us their all, in this time of need, that we can survive. We need help desperately. The trusts future is in jeopardy, along with that of its staff. Money will allow us to continue our work and pay our staff, who have stuck with us throughout. During an average year at The Colobus Trust we: v Provide veterinary treatment care for 115 primate casualties of human / wildlife conflict. v Prepare 1095 meals for the ex-pet monkeys in rehabilitation at the Trust. v Trim back overhanging vegetation from 18,595 metres of un-insulated power lines, to prevent monkeys from being electrocuted and work hand in hand with The Kenya Power and Lighting Corporation with the aim of insulating these lines. v Spend 52 days building and maintaining monkey bridges to allow monkeys to cross busy Diani Beach road in safety. v Collect 300 illegally set mammal-snares from areas of forest and bush. v Educate 1058 school children during activity-filled, all-day environmental workshops. v Work on a daily basis with local community groups on a range of issues including; habitat protection; support for local environmental initiatives; support for wood carvers working with sustainably produced timber; primate pest management, and much more. v Conduct 2250 eco-tours of the Colobus Trust plot for Kenyan and international visitors, to educate them about the importance and value of Diani’s wildlife. Another source These activities have formed the basis of our efforts to ensure the survival of Diani’s amazing primates and beautiful forest. Please help us be there for Colobus such as Toto (below), the youngest member of our resident troop, and the myriad of other creatures that call Diani Forest home.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP? · Donate directly through Wildlife Direct. · Encourage volunteer organisations working in your country to send us volunteers if the situation permits. · Encourage your friends visiting Kenya to come and visit us. · Visit our website and see how else you can support us (www.colobustrust.org) We are currently relying on money raised at our recent fundraiser, thanks to everyone again! But, this money is running out fast so please, please dig deep and make a difference. Gratefully yours, The Colobus Management Team
During the last three days we have treated 5 monkeys, and observed a sixth, that have had wounds inflicted upon them by other members of their own species. Unfortunately, only two of these remain alive. Whilst back at the Trust we have struggled to understand why in just over 48 hours this has occurred? The only explanation we have is that the stress put upon these monkeys by the hottest time of the year, which has lead water and food shortages within the forest, has gotten too much for them. This has led confrontations to exacerbate rapidly. We hope that this is not a long-term issue, as we need to focus on problems caused by man, not by monkey. Therefore we would like to issue a passionate plea to all monkeys. Please stop fighting among yourselves, you are not the enemy. Hmm, kind of echoes our thoughts on another disagreement within another species of primate.
It has been three weeks since our fundraiser was held and we are now ready to announce the final figures. The two day kitesurfing event was one of the highlights of the festive period and, despite falling in the middle of the election troubles, saw a large number of visitors. With over 300 people turning up for the Hawiian Night.
Everyone at Forty Thieves Beach Bar welcomed us with a great enthusiasm and helped in the redecoration of their bar. With Colobridges hanging from the celing and posters on every available post, it looked great. We set up shop selling our t-shirts, postcards and ethical tradecrafts and were joined by Lalesso an ethical clothing company who make European style clothing out of traditional Kenyan Kangas. This enterprise set up by a Diani resident proved insanely popular and we became clothing merchants for two days! The kitesurfing was amazing, with international level competitors wowing the crowds, and us, with their speed and gravity defying jumps. All we could do is sit back and watch.
The two days of competing were followed by a Hawiaan Party, the proceeds of which went to The Colobus Trust. This party was huge with many locals and vistors from both up country and abroad enjoying themselves in typical coast fashion.
By the end we were very tired and very happy. The total raised is nearly KSh 200,000 (USD 3000) which is a phenomenal amount. Obviously, this would have never been possible without the help of numerous people. Money raised came from our many areas so there are so many people to thank that we are afraid we can only mention a few. Firstly, to Boris and his team at H20 Xtreme who put the whole event together. Secondly, to everyone at Forty Thieves & Ali Barbours who were of constant help before, throughout and after the event. Thirdly, to the girls at Lalesso, who donated all the profits raised by their sales at the event. And, lastly, we would like to say a big thank you to Lindsey Kennaway. Without her help we would never have achieved what we did. There are also so many others whose names we have not mentioned. Especially those businesses who donated prizes to our raffle. We are sorry we cannot mention you all personally. Some of the money raised has been spent on maintaining our property here. Unfortunstely we are unable to buy many of the items on our wishlist as the money needs to be saved to secure the trusts future in these difficult time. This is due to the numerous cancellations we have had from our volunteer program, which is where most of our money comes from. So, please if you can support us during this tough period, please, please do. Thank you all, Gwili
Yesterday we sent a team up into the hills above Diani to help an important project, The Chitanze Medicinal Woodland Community Group. Who’d called for our help.
Kaya Chitanze, is a breathtakingly beautiful forest situated on an escarpment overlooking Malaganji Elephant Sanctuary. It is home not only to Colobus, Elephants, Leopards & Baboons but also to some of Kenya’s most beautiful birds. We were even lucky enough to see a pair of African Crowned Eagles and their fledgeling chick in their nest. This was a privilage as there are only a handful of breeding pairs in the whole of the coast.
(The Female African Crowned Eagle) (The team taking a well deserved rest) One of the main programs the CMWCG undertake is to grow indigenous tree seedlings, which are then given out, for free, to local schools, businesses and residents to grow. As we are in the midst of a very hot dry few months. It has been very hard for them to water these plants and when their river dried up we were called in to help. We turned up with our team of seven volunteers and staff and started work straight away. The work was long and hot but eventually we had built an area where water could collect and once the pump was working we had time to sit back and enjoy the beauty all around us whilst the thirsty plants drunk themselves silly! All in all a happy day for everyone! Gwili
Today we’ve continued on with our regular activities here at the Trust: In the morning we conducted a Colobus Check with the new volunteers, and this afternoon we have once again sent a group to do de-snaring in the forest. We have also sent out renewal notifications to everyone who has sponsored a Colobridge or adopted a Colobus monkey from our troop in the past in the hopes that we will get more funding for projects. There is a second troop in the area which we are now trying to name and photograph, so soon we will have new monkeys that you can adopt. For more information please see our Adopt a Colobus page. Many thanks to all of you who have joined the Colobus Trust cause on Facebook using the causes application. The cause has now over 40 members and it is great to see that more and more people will know about Diani’s Colobus Monkeys and what the Colobus Trust does. And please join if you haven’t done so yet. Isabelle
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The Colobus Trust was established in Diani Beach, Kenya, in 1997 to save the endangered Angolan colobus monkey which was a frequent victim of roadkills. The Trust's trademark is Colobridges - bridges over the roads for save overpass. Gwili, a Welsh volunteer at the Trust reports on the day to day activities in an busy local primate conservation charity 
