My apologies... and some surprises

First of all, I would like to apologize to all of you for having been almost three weeks without giving you no update about my adventures. And I am also sorry to update everything now, suddenly. I hope it won't be too much to read.
But, in order to compensate. I have a surprise for you. Many of you must remember my promise of getting my hair braided when I would arrive in Africa. Some of you didn't believe it, and maybe you had even forgotten about it. But I really meant it! I did eat several weeks ago, but the hectic weeks and the excess of work didn't allow me to update the blog or to show my new hairstyle. Well... just take a look!

Back on the island

Wow, so many emotions during the last few weeks. And it couldn't be otherwise. And in the case of this week... stress. With most of my fellow senior officers in a scientific symposium in Mombasa, the base, and everybody on it, has fallen in charge of my and Val (the only remaining senior staff). MUAJAJAJAJAJAJA (evil laugh).
Will we be remembered as Sergio and Val, the mercifuls, or the evils? Don't know. But I can assure you that this week is being hard work and tension. The base doesn't run by itself, and there is a miriad of things to do at all times. Definitely, we will catch up in other entries.
My regards to all of you from the Kenyan coast!

Sketches from a safari: Tsavo East and West NPs

What can I say? Just amazing! But judge it by yourselves.

Dead croc (don't think I would get that close with a live one!)

Giraffes.

And more impalas.

An eland.

Mzima Springs. Other of those things that will make tremble with envy any other biologist.

A volcano that exploded four years ago.

Vervet monkey, curious about our car.

Tsavo's famous red elephants.

Big kitten.

Tsavo sunset.

Dik-diks (I want one of those as a pet!)

Big daddy before charging (against us).

Last night in Tsavo...

Well. Such an amazing week. It is tough to be in such a remote area, but I have found myself in more basic conditions before (most of you know something about my adventures in Madagascar). In any case, it was worth: the place, the people, the experience, the nature, the project... it was hard work, but that doesn't matter. I will miss this place.
But OK, new adventures come ahead. Tomorrow I am going on safari to Tsavo West and Tsavo West National Parks, land of wildlife, volcanos, Savannah, elephants and man-eating lions. Sounds promising!
But meanwhile, here you can find some more pictures of this week in the Taveta district, in the border with Tanzania.

The Impalas.

Sunset in our camp.

A traditional Maasai warrior, with its traditional spear, traditional clothes, traditional jewelry and traditional cellphone.

Maasai elder. No traditional cellphone in this case.

The Savannah.

Lake Challa, in the borderline with Tanzania. A lake used by smugglers and anglers... and with a lot of black legends around it.

Monitor Lizzard. Maybe not very exciting, but for crazy Biologists like me.

Baby Croc. And yes, Big Mamma was not far away...

My regards from the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro!

This week I am working in our Satellite Camp project. This project takes place in the surroundings of Tsavo West National Park, and was started in partnership  with the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). Here, we work with communities composed of ex-poachers, who voluntarily decided to abandon poaching in profit af a more sustainable way of live. We help them in the process, giving the support for capacity building and the development of their new livelihoods.
The project encompasses several communities, but this week we are working with one called Kasaini Lepolesy (which means more or less "Those close to Kasaini, one of the elders). Is a very scattered group composed mainly by Maasai people, but, surprisingly enough, there are also some representatives of other tribal groups. The projects that we are carrying on with them range from the construction of a store facility to the development of a business system for trading with cattle skins using that very same storage, passing by training courses in new cultures and jewelry workshops to try to generate an alternative income adapting traditional Maasai bead jewelry to the Westerners that are intended to buy it.
And the place is simply amazing. In the middle of the Savannah, we can see Kilimanjaro from our tents, and zebras, wildebeests, dik-diks and impalas (among other animals that are not so easy to see) roam freely around the camp. And the community members are extremely nice and charming.
But I am not going to bore you more with useless descriptions. Here you have some photos:

Kilimanjaro, down there, rising above the clouds.

Sunrise in the Savannah. Yes, we wake up before sunrise!

A wildebeest.

My friends the zebras.

A wet week

I am sorry that this update arrives with a little delay. But understand me, this week has been hectic. Let me brief you rapidly. I started the week on the island, as usual. The weather thoughout the week has been, simply, wet. Extremely wet. Rainy all the time. In big quantities. Believe me. We have only gone out on the field once in all the week.
On Tuesday, after a hurried crossing to get our weekly fruits and vegs delivery, we got stuck in Shimoni with no possibility to come back to the island in our small power boat due to the storm. This meant that, normally, for a crossing we only bring with us the more necessary, which is the boat equipment, because you usually get wet because the captain (in this case me) has to swim to get the boat. So, we arrived on Shimoni, no cellphone, no money, no dry clothes, no bed to sleep in (there was a squatter in mine), and a fucking storm with waves in the channel, so we couldn't cross back. Furthermore, a volunteer got sick, and my an one of my colleagues had to drive her up to Diani. Once again: no dry clothes, no cellphone, no cash. But it was fun.
Finally, on Wednesday we made our way back to the island, where they had run out of fruit during our absence. But the storm and the rain persisted. This arrived to the point in which, on Thursday night, the bridge that communicates the small peninsula where Shimoni is located with the main road was close to be submerged underwater. And what did we do? Easy: full evacuation of both bases. Everybody to Diani. Once again, a lot of fun. But at least we got time enough to pack and bring our things with us.
And now? Basically, I made my way up to Mombasa, and I have spent the day preparing a field mission to our project in Tsavo West with a group of volunteers that are going to be working there the following week, and we leave tomorrow... but I will let you know more then.

Our boat: the Bardan

The terror of the Wasini Channel.

Shimoni Environmental Association (SEA)

Today I am going to introduce you to another of the CBOs I am working with, and with I am hoping to achieve great things. They are called Shimoni Environmental Association (SEA), and it’s an initiative mainly of the teachers of the Shimoni Primary School and some other members of the community. They are also pretty concerned about the conservation of their environment and, more particularly, about the sustainable use of resources.

Basically, their main objective is the eradication, to the maximum feasible degree, of charcoal production from logging in the forest. For that, they have researched and developed an alternative form of charcoal, made with coconut shells, grass, ashes, saw-dust and other recycled ingredients, which they mix, press and (try to) shell in the form of small blocks. The process to develop the recipe for this product was not easy, but the result was fairly successful: an environment-friendly fuel that, even if not carbon-neutral (these communities cannot afford that luxury) releases less smoke than traditional charcoal, hence being less damaging to people’s health. As the members of the association work on it voluntarily, and the ingredients are free to obtain, the final product is fairly competitive as regards traditional charcoal.

However, the process to collect, mix and, particularly, press the materials is hard and time-consuming, and the teachers that form the bulk of the association lack of the necessary time. Our next steps are clear: trying to simplify the process or develop a more efficient press that makes the process easier and faster. Also, more demonstrations, outreach and awareness-raising occupy an important place on our agenda.

In the long term, the ideal scenario would be involve the charcoalers and try to make this activity efficient enough to them to abandon the traditional charcoal in favor of this new alternative. There’s already a charcoaler n the lines of SEA, but as this is an illegal activity, most times the charcoalers are difficult to approach, as they won’t recognize their activities, making our outreach a little more difficult.

In any case, I will keep you updated of our news and achievements!

Back into the marine project

I have spoken to you in several occasions about the adventures we have enjoyed of on board of our dhow, the Bardan. And I think it’s time to tell you a little about the marine conservation project we are carrying out in the Kisite-Mpunguti MPA and surrounding waters. Basically, we conduct marine research on behalf of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which, despite being extremely efficient in the protection and management of terrestrial habitats, lacks of the necessary knowledge, trained manpower and experience within the marine environment.

Basically, the individual projects we carry out from our enduring little boat are mainly the following ones:

-          Dolphin ecology: distribution, abundance, behavior, interaction with tourist boats.

-          Megafauna surveys: distribution, abundance, ID and other ecological features of whales, rays, sharks, sea turtles, whale sharks, manta rays and, even if infrequent (only two sights) dugongs.

-          Fisheries: distribution and abundance of fish traps, fishing effort, fishing sites, fishing gears and methods (as the unfortunate spear-gun fishing)…

-          Reef fishes: distribution, abundance, population dynamics of reef fishes.

-          Socio-economic surveys: impact of the tourism in the local economy, surveys among the tourists, studies of the interaction with wildlife.

-          Mangroves: utilization, socioeconomic importance, outreach, vegetal coverage surveys.

Looks interesting? Personally, I find it amazing!

Kisite Island

FSF: next steps

At last I can say that, during the last few weeks, I have held several meetings with FSF in which we have been discussing their next steps. I think this meetings have been very successful, and he have discussed several options and projects for the following quarter. I can’t wait to start developing them!

One of the initiatives they had already was getting the property of the kayas (sanctuaries in the forest), a keystone from which to keep on fighting. For that, they need to get them registered in the Kenyan museums as national heritage, and then ask for their protection. They are planning a trip of the wazee (the old people of the village, and the ones they still use this sacred sites) to the district forestry office, to ask for protection for these areas.

On the agenda, we can also find computer and accounting lessons (for FSF and community members), an Earth Club for the kids of Shimoni, the construction of an information banda, more outreach and awareness-raising, among others. I will keep you updated!