Colobus Trust

Category: Fundraising, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Marketing, community | Date: Sep 26 2009 | By: colobus

A successful and entertaining evening was held on Saturday 19^th September at Ngiri’s Bar and Restaurant in Diani Beach. The fundraiser was thrown for the South Coast Resident’s Association’s tree planting drive in collaboration with the Colobus Trust. The brilliant band played a top range of music and the atmosphere could not have been better! The “Pig in the Wig” theme lead to a huge array of inventive outfits, with some wigs being made from everyday items such as mops, bin liners, foliage, cotton wool and even toilet paper!

The evening’s entrance fees were donated to the SCRA cause, raising total of 18200Ksh. Additional money was raised by Ngiri’s donating 10% of the money spent on food, as well as one gentleman who managed to raise some funds by selling clothes pegs!

A big thank you to all who came along to show their support for such a deserving cause. We hope to see such a marvelous turnout for the next event!

Tags: Colobus Trust, conservation party, fancy dress, Fundraising, South coast resident's association, tree-planting

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Category: Fundraising | Date: Sep 13 2009 | By: colobus

The Colobus Trust was very grateful to receive a donation this week from the Leisure Golf Club. The Senior Golfers Society had a shoot-out competition where competitors aimed to get a golf ball closest to a flag. All the balls used in the shoot-out were purchased by the golfers on the day and all proceeds were then split between the Colobus Trust and the Diani Children’s Home.

We would like to thank the Leisure Golf Club and the Senior Golfers Society for this wonderful initiative.

Tags: community support, Fundraising, golf

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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: 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: 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: Fundraising, Marketing | Date: Mar 18 2009 | By: colobus

 So some want to run half a marathon across chilly London to help us protect Diani’s wildlife, others will walk the catwalk and others will make music for monkeys! All these amazing people across the world are finding fun and creative ways to raise a little bit of critical cash for the Colobus Trust. I must say, personally this is one of the most rewarding things about working in conversation: just knowing that there are a handful of people out there that really do care and will always be there to help in anyway they can.

Elin was a volunteer at the Trust a while ago and has returned to her home country Sweden where she is working in conservation. When she realised how dire things were after last year’s void caused by the post-election crises, she wrote and asked what we thought about her putting together a concert and all the proceeds going to conservation activities run by the Trust. I didn’t have to think twice about that! So here it is!

Good luck and what more can we say except a big thank you to Elin and friends for putting this together!  The funds are beginning to trickle in and things are looking so much brighter for us this year. We are now slowly getting back on our feet and putting rolling out our core activities. The good news is that with the support of such fundraising activities, and the regular contributions from friends, we are able to also focus our time on putting together proposals for bigger and long term sustainable conservation projects. Watch this space!

Tags: Concert, Fundraising, Sweden

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Category: Education, Newsletter | Date: Mar 14 2009 | By: colobus

 Indeed it is and it’s available online too! Simply click on the image below to take you to the site where you can read it online or download it. We will be sending it out to everyone on our database and thanks to Superior Printers we have 500 printed copies for distribution across the South Coast of Kenya!

In this issue: update from CT Manager, Onesmus Macharia; advice from Lulu Clark on how you can care for wildlife in your backyard; fun learning for students by CT Education officer, Hamisi Pakiah and volunteer Julie Belmont explains why it is so critical to monitor population sizes of primates plus more…

So get clicking below and enjoy your read!

CT Newsletter Issue 1 2009

If you would like to receive a pdf file of the newsletter, please email: dipesh (at) colobustrust (dot) org

Tags: Fundraising, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Habitat-Protection, Newsletter, volunteer

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Category: Fundraising, Marketing | Date: Mar 05 2009 | By: colobus

The following ten people will be ‘Running for Monkeys‘ by competing in The Ranelagh Half Marathon 2009 on the 10th of May - Ross Smith, Brian Erasmus, Steven Ko, Jonathan Style, Janna Kay, Leontine De Sutter, Nicolas Gidaracos, Charles Gallo, Tim Dudgeon and Edward Dudgeon.

None of us are Roger Bannisters by any stretch of the imagination. However, we will all be putting in some gruelling hours to complete this marathon in good time so as to raise money for The Colobus Trust.

The Colobus Trust is a non-profit organisation based on the Southern coast of Kenya who with little resources conserve and protect the rare Angolan Black and White Colobus Monkeys in the region. Have a look at their website: www.colobustrust.org

Each of us who are running are asking you to please help The Colobus Trust to protect something worth protecting by donating to this run for monkeys.

To donate - there is a specific donation bar on the right hand side of this blog that states, “Run For Monkeys”

Thanks very much from all of us
Edward and Tim Dudgeon and friends

~
Where it started

My brother Tim and I were born in Kenya and having spent time in Diani and with our parents who still live there, we wanted to do something to help the area. The Colobus Trust which is a non-profit organisation came quickly to mind due to how much they do for conservation in the region.

When we were younger and first lived in Diani, colobus monkeys used to be everywhere and every time we go back there they seem to be more and more scarce.

With this very much in mind, we decided to ask a group of friends to run an extra mile so as to raise some money for a conservation organisation who do so much for something which is so very important - the protection and preservation of the Colobus.

Edward and Tim Dudgeon

Tags: Edward Dudgeon, Fundraising, Marathon

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Category: Fundraising | Date: Feb 23 2009 | By: colobus

Last night when I checked our blog, I had to look twice and then rub my eyes just in case I was not seeing right. Alas, I was and the US 1,000$ donation that appears on this blog is indeed only part of a donation from Apenheul Primate Park in the Netherlands.

We were approached a while ago by Constanze Melicharek from Apenheul who will be visiting us in March and when he said that Apenhaul would like to donate a total of $2,200 to the Colobus Trust, you can imagine how excited we were. Last year as you know was extremely difficult and although we are still barely scraping by, there have so many new and exciting partnerships and we are only in February. Let’s cross fingers Kenya can hold it together and all of us can get on with all the necessary work we need to do…

Apenhaul Primate Park has been in operation since 1971 and I think the quote by Baba Dioum on their website sums up so much what we all believe:

“In the end we will conserve only what we love.
We will love only what we understand.
We will understand only what we are taught.”

I would like to also say a big thank you to all the people who have been dedicated supports to the Colobus Trust for so long. Every dollar counts and it means so much to have individuals donating because we know that it comes out of your own hardwork and savings. A big thank you to Pirjo, Anthony, Susan, Wanda, Sheryl and Colleen who have been here for us throughout. And anyone else whom I have not mentioned. I also want to thank residents of Diani like Chip Mitton and many others whom the Trustees have turned to in times of crises. We will be publishing our first newsletter of the year in the next couple of weeks so watch this space…

Tags: Apenhaul Primate Park, Donations, Fundraising, Supporters

One response so far

Category: Blogroll, Fundraising | Date: Dec 11 2008 | By: colobus

Tags: Appeal, Conservation Crises, Fundraising, Kenya, Mombasa, Post-election crises, South Coast, tourism

6 responses so far