Colobus Trust

Category: Progress report, Research, deforestation, volunteer | Date: Oct 01 2009 | By: colobus

In the last few days we have stepped up our data gathering on the potential Vervet/Sykes hybrid.

For the past three days the Sykes troop with which the hybrid associates has been located on the old nature trail at Leopard Beach Resort and Spa, close to the hotel’s southern boundary.

The hybrid can be differentiated from the rest of the troop by several factors. Its fur is much more Vervet-like in colour than that of the Sykes. The most obvious difference is that unlike Sykes monkeys but in common with Vervets it has blue balls. There is also the fact that it just looks a bit strange that makes it stand out. He is also currently carrying a few injuries which make him more readily identifiable. He has a cut on its left shoulder which he can often be seen trying to lick, as well as an older injury on his right front leg. The injury on his leg appears to be painful as he does not put his full weight on it and so limps along a little. A male Sykes in the troop also has a couple of recent injuries to its right shoulder and leg. Whether this is just a coincidence or the result of a fight between the two we don’t know.

The hybrid is almost always found on his own and often on the periphery of the troop. Although other Sykes do move relatively close to him, the closest recent social interaction that has been observed is when the hybrid moved up to and sat next to an adult female Sykes. However she walked away almost immediately when he did this.

Above: The hybrid at Leopard Beach

Due to the density of some of the low-level forest vegetation, maintaining visual contact and following the hybrid at times have proved to be challenging to say the least! Fortunately there appears to be a pattern with their movement over the last few days so it has often been possible to head them off at the pass, as it were. On a number of occasions the resort’s staff have also been very helpful in locating the hybrid when he has been out of sight.

Most of the observations recorded so far suggest that the main activities the hybrid engages in are grooming himself and resting. This may just be a result of the time the observations have been taken rather than due to other factors. Most primates indulge in the majority of their direct social interactions, such as grooming and playing, in the early morning and late afternoon. So far the recent observations have been taken from mid morning till about 1pm, this might explain the lack of social interactions between the hybrid and other members of the troop. Hopefully a couple of early morning starts will show if the hybrid does interact with any other monkeys.

The question is how did this potential hybrid arise? We think that the hybrid may be the result of greater interaction between the Vervets and Sykes caused by the continued reduction in the availability of suitable habitat for each troop. Further study is needed to reveal if this is indeed the case. For example, however, just yesterday the Sykes troop and a Vervet troop met up with each other on a grassy area in front of the resort’s Spa buildings. The two troops freely intermixed but only two cases of direct interaction were observed. A juvenile Vervet and a juvenile Sykes briefly approached each other and touched before walking away again and there was a small fight between a Vervet and Sykes. The Sykes troop is also often in proximity to a couple of different Colobus troops but no direct interaction has yet been seen.

At some stage we are planning to dart the hybrid so that we can take physical measurements and to obtain a DNA sample so that we can have a genetics test run. However because we are currently critically low on our resources required for darting, they are being reserved for welfare cases only at the moment.

Hope to give you more information soon!

Rob

Colobologist

Tags: behaviour study, Colobus Trust, deforestation, Hybrid, Kenya, social interaction, sykes, vervet, volunteer

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Category: Fundraising, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Marketing, Newsletter, deforestation, sustainable, volunteer | Date: Aug 10 2009 | By: colobus

The following article is the press release from Safarilink the new corporate sponsor of Colobus Trust. We at the trust would like to thank Safarilink for all there support and look forward to an amazing relationship. It is always inspiring when a company of this magnitude cares enough about the local environment and organizations dedicated to protecting it.

SafariLink Helps Protect Diani’s Primates

Nairobi, Kenya xx August 2009 - As part of its ongoing corporate social responsibility programme, SafariLink, Kenya’s premier safari airline, has announced that it will donate $2 to the Diani Beach based Colobus Trust for each passenger it flies into or out of the Diani airstrip.  In addition it has sponsored the purchase of a ‘tuk-tuk’ which will be used by the Trust to collect tourists from their hotels and take them to their headquarters where they will be able to learn about the Coast ecosystem and the work of the Trust. The airline, which commenced daily flights to Diani on the 1st July 2009, has taken the decision to assist the Trust which runs the primate conservation and rescue centre on the south coast of Kenya.

The Colobus Trust was founded in Diani in 1997, initially to come up with a way to prevent the high number of monkey ‘road kills’ on Diani Road.  Today, the Trust has expanded to become a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre, focusing on primates, with both Kenyan staff and international volunteers. The Colobus Trust also helps to educate local schoolchildren, gives guided eco-tours and provides a rehabilitation programme for monkeys that have been kept illegally as pets.

“The rapid growth in tourism infrastructure and growing human population in the area has had a significant negative impact on the remnants of a once large and rich coastal forest ecosystem and hence a decline in the primate population,’ said John Buckley, Managing Director, SafariLink Aviation.  “For more than ten years the Colobus Trust has been dedicated to the conservation and welfare of primates living in the Diani area.  SafariLink, as a socially responsible company, is therefore happy to help the Trust in order to help safeguard the environment for the remaining primates and hopefully thereby stop the decline in their numbers.”

In support of the donation, Raymond Matiba, Chairman of The Colobus Trust said, “75% of the Trusts core revenue comes from tourism.  But sadly the Kenya Coast has suffered a  decline in tourists in recent years and hence our income from visitors to the Trust has decreased.  We are therefore particularly delighted that SafariLink have made this very generous donation to the Trust and their pledge of long term financial support will help us plan for the future.”

“In addition, the introduction of the SafariLink daily flights to Diani is in itself a very positive move which we believe will result in an increase in tourists as well as being beneficial to the residents in the area,” added Matiba.

SafariLink is involved in other socially responsible initiatives that include an indigenous tree planting exercise on the foothills of Mount Kenya National Reserve in conjunction with the Bill Woodley Mount Kenya Trust.  This project aims to compensate for the carbon-dioxide emissions from their aircraft and hence minimize the company’s operational impact on the environment.  Additionally the company has an agreement with the Lewa Conservancy, www.lewa.org, whereby approximately 5% of the cost of each ticket to Lewa is donated to help their conservation research.  In addition, SafariLink assist the Safi Lamu group who are tidying up Lamu and provide flights for the charity Medical & Educational Aid to Kenya, www.meak.org, to help them reach disadvantaged persons in remote areas who need medical attention for heart and eye conditions.

-ENDS-

About SafariLink

SafariLink is a Kenyan company established in 2004.  Based in the ALS Building, Wilson Airport, SafariLink offers a network of scheduled services that cover the main ‘safari’ tourist destinations of Amboseli, Tsavo, Chyulus, Naivasha, Nanyuki, Lewa Downs, Samburu, Loisaba, Shaba, Masai Mara, Kiwayu and Lamu in Kenya and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.  In addition, SafariLink can provide you with charter flight within Kenya and throughout East Africa.  SafariLink currently operates a fleet of Cessna Caravans, a Let 410 and Dash 8.

About The Colobus Trust

The Colobus Trust is a conservation organization designed to promote the conservation, preservation and protection of primates like the rare Angolan Colobus monkey (Colobus angolensis palliatus) and its coastal forest habitat in southern Kenya. The Trust was established in 1997 in response to an outcry from local residents about the high number of deaths of the Colobus in the Diani area. Now the Trust has numerous projects concerning the wildlife and the citizens of Kenya, including animal welfare, biological/ecological research, community development and education, forest protection and enrichment and eco-tourism awareness programs.

Tags: deforestation, Fundraising, habitat restoration, Marketing, Safarilink, sustainable, volunteer

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Category: Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Research, deforestation | Date: Jul 28 2009 | By: colobus

Diani is the most magnificent place ever, I come from western Kenya where people there are so passionate about farming of crops. I am very sure that everyone understand what I mean when I talk about crop farming, not many trees are found here, no forests, no wild animals live here anymore. My main point here today is about Diani, the place I currently live, I have been here for thirteen years now. I have worked with monkeys in trying to fight for rights and help them live a better life but for the last few years I have had sightings that are interesting to see. Lately I have seen a new species of monkey that looks like half vervet and half syke monkeys, I mean from the head they look vervet but from the rear end they look Sykes.This is one thing that many people may not want to believe because Diani has always had only four known species of monkeys, namely, colobus , baboons , vervets and Sykes.

(Photograph taken by Yvonne A. de Jong & Thomas M. Butynski)

I have never heard of cross breed amongst monkeys before,but now it seems to me that the real problem of deforestation in Diani is phasing out other species of monkey who have found it hard to survive on a very limited patch of coral rag forest remaining in Diani. I am now officially inviting people to see this new species so that we confirm a fifth species of monkeys in Diani. It will be interesting to see the effects of deforestation in Diani because many more funny looking species of animals will come up due to serious destruction we are witnessing here.

John Abuor- Colobus Trust, Animal Welfare Unit

www.colobustrust.org

Tags: deforestation, habitat restoration, human-wildlife conflict, Research

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Category: Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Marketing, Research, deforestation, sustainable, volunteer | Date: Jul 23 2009 | By: colobus

Camp Kenya along with Colobus trust completed a preliminary study of Kaya Muhaka (KM) from July 14-16. The following is a brief summary of what was found and recommendation for further research. The three days used with Camp Kenya volunteers and Colobus Trust staff were used as a preliminary study to decide whether or not further research would be necessary and which methods would best suit research in KM.

Two methods were tried during the three days, transects and casual watch. Transect method involves picking a starting point on one end of the forest and walking along a baring, in this case 90 degrees or East. Transects are then repeated every 100m. In the end you have a parallel transects running along the entire length of the forest. In the future distance sampling will be used with the data collected to give an estimated population size of a particular species, in this case the Angolan black and white colobus. Casual watch is done by gridding the entire forest and remaining stationary for an extended period of time. Groups set out into the forest to predetermined position. The groups then separate within the limits of the section, generally 50m sq. and sit quietly recording all observations.

During the three days of field work we completed six transects. Because there was no existing map we arbitrarily picked a point in the forest near the tree nursery. Without a GPS it was difficult to determine the exact distance walked but with pacing we estimate the length of transects to be around 1.8k. During these transects we spotted twelve individual Colobus in three troops. The majority of sightings were located on the East side of the forest where the percentage of canopy cover and height is much greater. Other species noted: One bell hinged tortoise, one squirrel species, one viper species and one troop of yellow baboons.

Two periods of casual watch were completed with two groups resulting in 4 hours and 30 minutes of total survey time. During this period nine individuals of Colobus in two troops had been spotted. A number of unidentified bird species had been observed as well as two bush pigs. Droppings from what was believed to be a suni antelope were also found.

On the final day two teams set out in different directions to gain an estimated size of the entire forest. Walking in two directions and counting paces we gauge the perimeter to be about 6-7k around and likely 2k at its widest depth from East to West.  It appears to be slightly rectangle in shape but without a GPS or more time it was not possible to be certain.  On this walk three more individuals Colobus had been spotted alone from a distance. It was not possible to confirm whether they were lone males or if their troops were nearby. In total 24 individuals and 5 troops had been spotted in 3 days.

Kaya Muhaka is a protected forest reserve located near Camp Kenya’s base in Muhaka, Kenya. Camp Kenya is in the process of planting a buffer zone around the Kaya in order to reduce the reliance on the natural resources from the forest and to increase protection.  In order to help gain support in conservation efforts it is necessary to know the importance if this forest to the wildlife and surrounding communities. KM is a very unique forest in that the forest bed is almost entirely sand measuring 0.5m or more in many places. This creates a number of interesting micro-habitats which could be of conservation value.

It is the Colobus Trusts opinion that more research is needed to fully understand the importance of this forest. From the impressive number of sighting we obtained in the three survey days we can assume that a large population of Colobus still lives in KM and that this is still an important habitat for this species. A full census should be completed to compare against the previous one done in 2005. It would also be useful to have a look at bird species. The spotted ground thrush is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. If it was found to nest or migrate through KM, as it does in other forest nearby, this would add significant value to KM. The Zanji elephant shrew is not listed due to deficient data. It is unclear if KM is an appropriate habitat for this animal because of its sandy floor. Knowing this would add helpful information to understanding the habitats of this little understood species.

In order to complete a full survey of this forest we recommend using the transect method. It is much less time consuming and generally more accurate. Full maps will first need to be built to have a clear view of the area to be covered and to decide number of transects needed. While on transects all species sightings should be recorded. Time should also be allocated for bird surveys.

These are basic recommendations for the next steps in KM. Further research will be of both conservation and socio-economical value. It is up to Camp Kenya to decide where they would like to go from here. Colobus Trust was hired as research consultants and would be happy to continue this relationship. For any further quires please contact the Colobus Trust.

www.ColobusTrust.org

Tags: deforestation, Habbitat restoration, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Research, sustainable, volunteer

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Category: Fundraising, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, deforestation, volunteer | Date: Jun 29 2009 | By: colobus

I’m Margi and I’m a new volunteer at the Colobus Trust. I live in the UK where I do freelance work for countryside organizations who want to improve their provision for visitors and local communities, and to help people understand the natural and historical environment better.

So in some ways the Colobus Trust feels really familiar, as its aims are not so different. But of course, the pressures and challenges here in Diani are so much greater, as Kenya’s coastal forest steadily disappears and with it the last refuge of the Angolan Colobus monkey, not to mention all the rest of the animals and plants in this precious ecosystem.

We’ve had a stark reminder of this recently, being greeted in the mornings by the sound of chain-saws from a neighboring property, where the owner is clearing land. At first, we thought our resident Colobus troop had been scared off by the noise, but last week they were back, calmly munching the young leaves of the neem trees that surround the Colobus Trust house, and bouncing on and off our roof before returning to the topmost branches.

This was my first sight of Colobus monkeys in the wild. They are truly stunning animals with their beautiful black coats and flowing white manes. It would be tragic if they disappeared for ever. But they have well-developed survival skills, and it’s good to know our ‘home’ troop is still around.

Today I saw one of the areas where they’re doing well, a three-acre patch of untouched coastal forest, where there are at least five Colobus troops. I was there to help Colobus Trust staffers John and Mwitu to trim the high branches of trees growing close to power lines, to stop Colobus and other monkeys using the high-voltage wires as a convenient walkway.

Electrocution is one of the main causes of death or serious injury for Diani’s primates, and although the Trust rushes to the rescue whenever they hear of a casualty, the victims don’t always survive. In any case, prevention is better than cure! So trimming trees and insulating power lines are important parts of the work. At the moment the Trust is running a big campaign to insulate as many lines as possible. It costs just $1 a meter to make the wires monkey-proof, but there are thousands of meters to do, so the Trust urgently needs donations for this work!

John and Mwitu are fearless climbers, shinning up a wobbly extended ladder to gain a precarious foothold in the trees, before lopping off high branches with a razor-sharp machete. I didn’t trust myself on the ladder, and I don’t think the others trusted me with a machete! So I stayed on the ground and cleared up the fallen branches, dragging them into the forest where they’ll sustain all sorts of mini-beasts and eventually rot down into the soil.

One of the local Colobus troops came by to check us out before we started work, and later in the morning we were inspected by three Suni (Africa’s smallest antelope) and a Waterbuck. Patches of forest like this one support an amazing array of wildlife, and it can survive alongside people - not just in parks and reserves - as long as we give it enough space and take care that our actions don’t needlessly destroy it. I can see for myself that the Trust does a great job getting this message across and backing it up with practical action.

Tags: coastal forest, Colobus monkeys, deforestation, Electrocution, people and wildlife, Primate conservation, primate deaths

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Category: Education, Fundraising, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Marketing, climate change, deforestation, good wood | Date: Jun 25 2009 | By: colobus

  The entire compound is full of tents and very busy people. Their tents are blue, green, and red, but their overland truck is yellow and always clean. They’re called Great Primate Handshake (GPH) and they’re here to help with our projects and share some knowledge - about the internet, digital media, film-making and teaching techniques. Monday morning one of the Colobus Trust directors, Luciana, was here as usual to greet her Colobus Trust ‘family’, but this morning she had more news than the daily greetings. There was a new member in our troop for adopters. On Sunday, a white infant Colobus was born! We named the new baby GPH in honour of the visiting volunteer group. I would like to inform those interested in adopting a cute new infant, to take this opportunity. Thanks to GPH group for choosing the Colobus Trust and we would like to welcome the young GPH into the family.  It’s my hope that other groups will be interested in the Colobus Trust, particularly our camping site and am looking forward for new adopters for the new member. Remember you can adopt through our website as well. So let’s say ‘long life’ to little GPH!

This week our education day was a little different with the involvement of GPH. Another Tuesday and most of the people around are busy preparing for the school workshop. But today we have more participants than usual. There are cameras at every corner of the Colobus Trust premises. The kids moved in through the cameras and immediately loved it. One of the Great Primate Handshake members showed an entertaining cartoon they had made on problems affecting Colobus and other monkeys in the area. The kids then divided in two groups, one were ‘animals’ and one were ‘humans’ and had a hot debate about how they use trees. Then it was off to the beach, where we managed to collect more than ten kilograms of sandals in less than half an hour - all this was waiting to kill our marine life at some point. This was on our waste management topic. Thanks to Magutu Primary for the dedicated beach clean up. The sandals will be used be local artists to make things - like the whale shark (shujaa) made from flip-flops which stands in Haller Park in Mombasa  Most of the kids loved the beach football, and they were all covered in sand by the end of it.  My request to you is, please wherever you are, avoid littering the beach and if possible pick up any rubbish while you are there, walking or jogging. Once again thanks for supporting our education programme through our blog.

Hamisi - Education, Marketing and Communication.

www.colobustrust.org

Tags: animal adoption, coastal forest, colobus, deforestation, environmental education, marine pollution., people and wildlife, primate birth, Primate conservation, volunteers

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Category: Blogroll, Education, Fundraising, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Marketing, climate change, deforestation, good wood, sustainable, volunteer | Date: Jun 17 2009 | By: colobus

My last blog at the Colobus Trust!

This is Heidi, eco volunteer and I have spent the most amazing last three weeks at the Colobus Trust.  I have helped to plant indigenous tree seedlings, cared for the tree nursery, helped with a re-release of a Sykes monkey, observed and photographed the Colobus, Sykes, Vervets and Yellow Baboons, help teach some of the local kids in the Education program and most importantly revamped the lovely Gift Shop!

We now have some ethically sourced and fair trade items for sale in our gift shop as well as having developed some positive relationships with local carvers and artists to promote conservation in particular working with “good woods.”  I am very sad to be leaving Diani Beach but hope to come back next year for a much longer stint to work at the Colobus Trust (fingers crossed!)  The Colobus Trust is a very worthy conservation project that is actively doing so many things in the community of Diani and beyond.  I hope I made an impact with the carvers as I showed some of them around and spoke to them in depth about conservation, deforestation and using sustainable materials for future generations.  Even if I only made some headway with a handful of local artists, I am very happy to have had the experience in meeting and working with some locals in the community (and practice some of my Swahili!).

Pics from top: Daniel, Daniel and me, Stephen

Late this afternoon I had to pick up the remaining Colobus key rings I ordered from one of our new “good wood” carvers, Peter James.  I met Peter about two weeks ago when I went around viewing all the different sorts of carvings and curios available in Diani.  Peter carves many animals out of all kinds of woods and he is very good at carving key rings with people’s names in them.  I noticed he used ebony (a hard indigenous wood) so I asked him if he ever considered making key rings in mango or neem instead.  He said he would try making some in mango wood as the material was readily available but no one had ever asked him for key rings from mango tree.  Now the second time I checked on Peter about a week ago I happened to meet his wife and two new little babies (twins named Esther and Mangi).  I could see his babies didn’t look well and they were crying their little heads off.  Peter was in a hurry and told me he couldn’t finish the order of key rings as he had to take his babies to hospital but could I please give him a large deposit for the key rings even though the work wasn’t finished.  I normally didn’t give the carvers any hefty deposits before the work was finished but on this occasion my heart sank as I looked at how ill his babies were and I gave him half of the money towards the 10 key rings.  I knew he would spend it all at the hospital or on medication for his babies.

The next day I saw Peter and asked about his babies and checked on the outstanding order for the key rings.  He said he was still working on them as his babies were in hospital and he hadn’t had time to work on them but could I give him another order for key rings and another deposit!  I was a bit reluctant but he pestered me to give him a chance to make a new style key ring with the sample Colobus Trust logo I had given him.  He promised he would make some good key rings and deliver key rings on time next week.  I kept checking up every day this week and some days Peter wasn’t there at his shop but his fellow shop keepers told me he was at the hospital with his sick babies.

It really is Pole Pole sometimes in Kenya (slowly slowly!) but today I picked up the last of the key rings for the shop.  I was very happy to have seen one of the twins, in Peter’s shop lying on the ground all bundled up in her blankets.  She still didn’t look that well but she was out of hospital.  I ended up babysitting Esther while Peter was still working manning his shop and finishing the remaining 9 key rings.  I really didn’t mind waiting and keeping Esther entertained by picking up Maasai carvings and talking to her in my best Swahili (I don’t think she was that impressed with my Swahili though).  I must have entertained her for about 30-40 minutes or until I ran out of all the different types of animal carvings and Maasai people that I had talking to her.

Unfortunately Peter’s little boy, Mangi is still in hospital but now able to get some much needed medication because the Colobus Trust ordered quite a few key rings for the new Gift Shop this past week. The Colobus “Good Wood” key rings which are made out of mango tree are all hand carved and painted by Peter.   They are very simple but I am hoping that some volunteers and other visitors to the Colobus Trust will pick up one or two as a souvenir and not only support the Colobus Trust but help support Peter and his family.  All the new items we have sourced are fair trade and ethically sourced (no middle men making a commission).  I really wanted to make a difference in some small way and I believe by helping the local people in Diani we will continue to build relationships towards positive thinking for our future.  It is up to Peter’s children Esther and Mangi to carry the hope of conservation so I am happy that we were able to support them this week.

Peter and his little girl Esther

You can help support Peter and his family by donating online now to the Colobus Trust and purchasing “Good Wood” items from our Gift Shop.  We will soon have an online shop where we hope that many people will support Diani local “good wood” carvers and artists through fair trade.

Thanks to everyone at the Colobus Trust for making my three weeks so memorable and special.

I will miss you all and look forward to coming back next year as a long term volunteer!

Kwaherini

Heidi, Eco-Volunteer

www.colobustrust.org

Tags: blog roll, climate change, deforestation, Education, findraising, good wood, habitat restoration, Marketing, sustainable, volunteer

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Category: Education, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, climate change, deforestation, volunteer | Date: Jun 02 2009 | By: colobus

I am a new volunteer at the Colobus Trust and my name is Arieh and I am Israeli. I came 5 days ago just few days before the other Israeli couple left. When I got the information about the trust I learned that one of the trust activities is “removing snares from the forest; practical conservation work with local communities in the Kaya a sacred forests” I didn’t understand what it’s all about.

Today I had a great opportunity to join to such activity. We went this morning to one of the villages near Diani. On the edge of thick forest there were around 40 men and women waiting for us (few women came with their little babies tied to their backs).

The first assignment was to plant trees in an open field were the forest had once been before it was burned. All the people took part in the activity. Some were digging the holes other were planting the small trees and some were watering. The atmosphere was like a big community party.

After this assignment was done we went to the second one, searching for snares at the Kaya sacred forest. I joined to two man and we pierced through the thick forest trying to follow the animal’s path. Along the way I learned a lot from these two guys about how much this Kaya forest is important in their culture and every day life. We got to a large Baobab tree and they showed me how they come to this trees scatter some food around its trunk for the ancestors spirits that come at nights and telling their troubles or their wishes. The spirits are communicating through the wise old man at the village.

We didn’t find any snares nor did the rest of the people. It’s a good sign that this illegal activity is cut down.

For me it was an excellent opportunity to take part in this kind of community activity that was organized by the trust

Tags: climate change, deforestation, Education, habitat restoration, Habitat Restoration/Conservation

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Category: Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, deforestation | Date: Mar 05 2009 | By: colobus

Tags: Advice, Coastal rag forest, deforestation, diani, eco-friendly, Environment, Impact Assessment, indigenous forest

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Category: Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, deforestation | Date: Dec 21 2008 | By: colobus

Poverty is complex. One can never truly fault a person who is driven by the sole motive of putting a decent meal in front of their family should they be forced into illegal actions in order to do so. But when actions are taken purely for greed and self gain, for a sickening desire to accumulate more and more wealth at the cost of the environment and its inhabitants, it is a lot easier to confront but so much more difficult to do anything about. Conservation in Africa is a mixture of the two and there is not a place on the continent that has not been affected by the misery of poverty and the avarice of the wealthy.

And as if it is not hard enough in Kenya to deal with our own corruption and greed, we are often landed with foreign riffraff who think that this is Africa so they can do what they want. The Kenyan coastline has always been prime choice for spoils.

Chale Island, a beautiful little paradise south of Diani is under attack once again.

The other day, the Colobus Trust was informed that a foreigner had bought a plot at Chale Island, and had cut down with electric chain saw some very old (200+ years) beautiful indigenous trees and very old mangroves.

We have left contact numbers with the island security who have been instructed to call us as soon as the culprits return. On receiving a report from them our collective intention is to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators including the land owner. A clear message has been sent.

The Forestry Department is particularly keen to follow up. The ignorance of the clearing operation with a view to ‘development’ is frankly blinding and completely unnecessary. Some of the felled trees and mangroves are estimated to be around 200 years old and irreplaceable. You will see from the photos that any further cutting will encroach both further into the forest and the water line.

If you are aware of any similar grotesque actions, please use the NEW HOT LINE to report incidences of FOREST DESTRUCTION, CUTTING OF INDIGENOUS TREES, CHARCOAL MAKING, ETC.
The number is : 0800 2212323 and the people concerned are:
PERMANENT SECRETARY : MR WAMACHAI
DEPUTY PERMANENT SECRETARY : MR PETER KAMWERE
PUBLIC RELATIONS : MNRS MARY NGARUMA

Tags: Chale Island, deforestation, Development, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Illegal logging, Indian Ocean, Indigenous Trees, Mangroves

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