I’d like to be under the sea, in a coral garden beneath the waves

Whilst Anna and I were managing the centre over Christmas/New Years, we referred many of our guests to Mohammad for all their snorkeling and dolphin needs. He was very grateful for the business and thus offered us a free dolphin and snorkeling trip (though we still had to pay the marine park fees).

Due to the high cost of snorkeling ($15 US per person per day just for the permit), I had been only once and Anna twice (when she scored a free trip with a workshop she organised). We have, however, found a rock that is separate from the coral reef but still full of life. Particularly cool are the puffer fish and lionfish (my favourite fish as young child). En route to the rock, I have seen turtles three times and Anna once. So we have still been able to get our marine life fix without going broke.

Rarrrrrr!

The first part of the trip involved finding the dolphins. Thankfully we had a clever captain who avoided the crowded spots and headed south to find a pod that we could observe by ourselves. Apparently (we found out later) the dolphin watching code of conduct bans jumping into the water when you see them. This is not enforced at all, since the dolphin trips are advertised as swimming with dolphin trips. And swim we did. The dolphins seemed pretty relaxed about our presence, cruising underneath us as we struggled above. I was privileged to watch a mama dolphin help a baby dolphin to the surface for a breath, some 10 meters in front of me. Not only did we get to swim with dolphins, we also got to swim with tiny jellyfish that gave us many sharp stings. Fortunately the itchiness died off after half an hour. After a couple swims we all decided to leave the dolphins to get on with their breakfast.

These dolphins were apparently cruising around looking for a breakfast of soft corals

Notice the jellyfish in left corner. Actual size between 2-5 cm. Squishy to the touch.

Next stop was the coral garden. We were dropped off at one end and slowly drifted 500m to the other. Coral is amazing. Although much of it wasn’t very colourful, the shapes and patterns were beautiful. Hundreds of species of fish swam, ducked, nibbled, cleaned and hid around us, many with vibrant colours. God had fun with fish.

When we reached the boat again they threw bread out to create swarms of fish. Not very good for the fish (Supa loaf is not that good for humans either!). Such feeding practices and the significant coral damage by higher number of tourists at this end has greatly impacted the biodiversity of fish. Zebra fish were by far the dominant fish species.

We returned to dry land after some 3.5 hours in the water. The birding adventures of the night before (which involved getting up at 2am and ringing birds till dawn) were starting to take their toll, so we had some shut-eye for about 2 minutes. Re-energised with lunch, ‘rested’ and armed with flippers, we swam the 500 meters out to the reef for a second look. The tide was much higher and it was difficult to find the buoy marking the beginning of the reef. We happened across different sections of coral along the way and saw Murray the Moray eel and several stingrays. After 1.5 hours we were all swum out and made our way back to shore. Anna finally saw a green turtle on her way in. A very cool day in the sea.

"You may call me Murray"

 

And whilst we on the topic of seas; for my birthday, Anna promised a sailing trip around Turtle Bay. Ernest and Jean had raved about their trips sailing on Funboats hired from Turtle Bay Beach Club. Yesterday, we skived off out of a meeting to sail the high seas. It’s a great deal. They take the boat to the water, rig it, give you a brief lesson in tacking and send you on your way for an hour. As the winds picked up we flew around the bay, dodging sand banks, moored boats, swimmers, whilst all the time trying to stay upright and not let go of the rope. A great birthday present!

We don't know how blessed we are..

Late last year, Anna and I went with all the volunteers to visit Francis at his family’s home in Sokoke. Francis is a graduate from the ASSETS bursary scheme that was set up by A Rocha Kenya (refer to ASSETS post by LJ Baird, 2010) and is the only child in his family to go to secondary school. He had been invited to come to Mwamba as an ASSETS volunteer, to gain skills that might help him in finding jobs or further study. He was joined here by another ASSETS volunteer, Janet, whose visit has already been told (refer to Shamba Shenanigans post by AM Baird, 2010). Some of the things they were taught included catering, housekeeping and computer skills. Anna and I were given charge of teaching them these computer skills. We focused on Microsoft Word skills and Anna prepared an excellent set of 10 lessons that were accompanied with assignments. About once a week we would sit with them for an hour or so and show them the wonders of Word. Each assignment required them to practice what they had learnt and built upon the previously lessons by repeating some old tasks.

Francis with a younger brother standing in front of the trees ASSETS gave him to plant in the family shamba.

This teaching experience highlighted that I came with many assumptions and much subconscious knowledge. Things that are obvious to me or seem intuitive to me are completely foreign to a Kenyan who turned on a computer for the first time a month or so earlier. It was a good learning experience for me.

Although there is SO much more for them to learn about computers, these initial lessons will hopefully give them the courage to explore and learn through using the computer. They have been profusely grateful for the help we could give them.

Just before they left, we presented them with a certificate in Basic Microsoft Word Skills (from the Bairdo Academy). Certificates are highly prized in Kenya and can be given out for anything. These computer courses are so popular that Anna has now taken on two new students.

A drinks break Kenyan style

Another skill that we could share was swimming. Francis had never been in the ocean before his time at Mwamba and was very eager to learn how to swim. Anna was an ideal teacher, having taught many young children to swim. Francis was a quick learner and braver than most of her previous charges. It was hard to hold him back. And now he can swim, primarily with the doggy paddle, though he has basic freestyle in his repertoire .

Story time: Francis telling us one of his many tales: how he was 'born on the way,' the tortoise that spoilt the forest tree top party and how chickens left the forest to be warm by fires on their shambas.

When back at home he worked the family farm, looked after his siblings and prayed for divine intervention to allow him to keep studying at college. With college fees in the realm of 60,000-100,000 Kenyan shillings (Ksh) a year (about NZ$1,000 - $1,600), such dreams of college are practically impossible when an unskilled labourer can only hope to earn about 200 Ksh per day, if they can find work at all. This weight bears greatly upon him and saddens his usually high spirits.

We were, however, able to give him a ray of hope when we employed him as a casual over the Christmas/New Year period, which was followed up with him finally becoming the ticket officer at the ASSETS Gede Ruins Platform (one of the duties he was to perform during his original stint at Mwamba). By saving this money and with help from a few friends, I am confident he won’t have to wait for 5 years before his dream can come a reality.

Teaching Francis's siblings how to play with a fizbee

Something to crow on about

The Indian House Crow is an invasive pest along coastal Kenya. Introduced to Zanzibar Island, Tanzania to take care of the smelly rubbish, it not only competes with the native Pied Crow, it also eats crops, attacks and kills farm animals and is known to carry eight human diseases.

Up until 2005, a house crow control program was running in Malindi and Watamu to keep their numbers down through very selective poisoning. The crows were killed with bait poisoned with Starlicide, a poison that when consumed by the bird is metabolised to safe by-products prior to death about 12 hours later. The poisoning was strictly supervised resulting in the death of only a couple dogs and a half-dozen Pied Crows alongside the tens of thousands of house crows.

The poison was imported from the USA with permission of the Kenya Wildlife Service. However, after 9/11 the rules tightened and import required extra permission, which the Pest Control Product Board has refused to date.

Since then, their numbers have skyrocketed from double figures in Malindi in 2005 to over 3000 recorded across two sites this past month.

Hundreds of Indian House Crows can swoop past in one go.

A Rocha Kenya is continuing to collect crow data and letters of complaint from the general public as it builds its case to bring before the Pest Control Product Board.


Anna and I have been on many of the monthly full moon crow counts. We have clambered on many roofs to count the crows as they come home to roost whilst enjoying the sunset and majestic moonrise. Sometimes we were treated to huge fruit bats flying out to feed or a bat hawk on the hunt for dinner.

I see a full moon rising

A highlight of these trips was dinner at Zanzibar café. A great feed of chapatti, beans and mchicha (African spinach) with a soda for under two dollars. YUM!!!

Classic Swahili tucker

After filling up we go for a wee walk out at the Sabaki River Mouth, dodging the roaming hippos that are sometimes too close for comfort. Each trip, we enjoyed a revitalising and refreshing mud bath as we slipped and slid our way out to the waters edge. Near the river mouth, ‘we’ (more like Colin and Albert) estimate the number of terns roosting on the flats. We regularly got numbers exceeding 30,000 but never as high as the ~500,000 the estimated in January 2009. Nothing like birding adventures in the moonlight.

Moonlighting

ASSETS poster

After many months in the making, Anna’s brand new ASSETS posters are up. These masterpieces were slowly created with the help of Jordan; pieced together from old resources, discussions with Stanley, researching animal facts, photo hunting, cardboard sourcing, painting, laminating and final assembling.

The old poster at Turtle Bay Beach Club showing signs of its age.

The shiny new poster complete with school bag and golden-rumped elephant shrew

We hope that these posters will help explain the program to guests and visitors at both Mwamba Field Study Centre and Turtle Bay Beach Club (a local hotel very supportive of ASSETS). Anna has even produced business cards with more information about donating to ASSETS.

Business cards customised to where the poster is being displayed.