Day three of film training and close encounter with hippos at camp
Category: Uncategorized | Date: Nov 20 2008 | By: davidngala
Day three of the training went on smoothly, we continued to work on our five minute film and the film was getting in shape slowly, we kept on learning new skills and what we could do to improve the film and to get our target audience.
After lunch I received a call from a former classmate telling me that my former class will be coming to Naivasha for a briefing on the lake and also on our projects, before I put the phone down the bus drove in to the lake shore and I was summoned to accompany them and I was latter to give a briefing to them on my work and the filming project. it went well and my lecturer was impressed with our project. we later continued editing.
the bus by the shore of Lake Naivasha.
me talking to them about the filming project.
back to editing.
Later on that night, as we burnt the midnight oil as we tried to edit, we had a close encounter with hippos three huge, massive hippos came to camp to graze, we all ran out of the editing room to try to get a close look at them, Elene our trainer had never seen hippos a part from the ones on TV, so it was quite exciting for her, some of us got too carried away that I think they did something to make them aggressive as one of us was charged by the hippos lucky it was a shy one so it just scared them and ran back to the lake, that was a pretty close encounter
Tags: community, Conservation, Film
Day two of Film training
Category: FoASF staff, General | Date: Nov 19 2008 | By: davidngala
Day two of film training
Day two of film training started rather on a frustrating note, we were to edit our previous films geared towards a different audience, the trick was locating our capture scratch, the raw material, most of the files were offline and we could not locate the source of the disk to reconnect them on line. It was a bit frustrating as we did not have enough time to work on our films yet we were taken quite a back, by the time we located our files we had almost lost a half day and we had to burn the midnight light to keep on track.
during the training
Busy at work
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Tags: community, Conservation, Film, Naivasha
FoASF benefits from Darwin Community Based Conservation Film Training
Category: FoASF staff, General | Date: Nov 18 2008 | By: davidngala
This week I will be in Naivasha for a one week training on making community based conservation films with support from Dr. david Harper of the University of Leicester in the UK and the Darwin Intiative.
The course is am enhancement of a pervious course we did in July, I was among a group of trainees from Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia who participated in the first training where we made community films on various components of the environment, basically this week will be a further editing course to use the same material to make a different film targeting different audiences. at the end of the day these films will be used as an educative tool to community members, policy markers, school children… name it, they will be distrubuted to various organizations and institutions to achieve this purpose.
I left Gede on Friday evening for Naivasha, I had a quick stop over in Nairobi then proceeded to Naivasha together with the Darwin - Leicester team. We arrived at our rendezvous at United Kenya club and left from Naivasha just after 3 pm. The trip to Naivasha was great although I have been to Naivasha many times, I never stop loving it, and its scenery, the great rift valley being one of them, it stretches all the way from Ethiopia all the way down to Tanzania, it is said to be an aftermath of the great tectonic movement when the earth was being formed and what was left was a huge trench that has become a great valley with undulating hills and very beautiful scenery, the look out point stood at about 800ft above sea level, overlooking this great cliff was this massive deep trench with beauty scenery no words can explain this.
The hills at the escarpments.
The weather here was cool and then slightly moved to cold, the sun was quickly disappearing beyond the clouds and as we continued on at the rift valley the surrounding vegetation was a vast of green carpet, all around was green, green and more green, wow, now I may sound like a tourist yet am not but at this point am proud to be living in such a beauty country like Kenya. The roads were great, smooth and I left like we should just continue driving forever, the traffic was not as bad although Naivasha highway is well know to be a transit point to western part of Kenya hence huge truck filled the road, from oil transporters to flowers exporters name it all sorts of truck could be seen on the highway.
One of the vehicle we used passing the rift valley.
As we proceeds on among the vast greenness I saw dots of white, at first I did not know what they represented but as we drove close by I actually identified that those dots of white were actually IDP camps (internal displaced people), one of the outcome of the post election violence, it was not a pretty sight as I somehow felt sad that in the midst of all this beauty was these people who have no home and no where to go, that was really sad.
view from the rift valley.
I slowly drifted away reading the newspaper as the rest of the team was first asleep I guess from the exhaustion of traveling from far one of them was from Tanzania and the other from Ethiopia and our trainer is from UK, the newspaper somehow seemed interesting , well that is you are crazy about Obama as I am or do I say all Kenyans are or is it all Africans, the world.. whatever call it what you may but am sure glad Obama won, for me it represents a beacon of hope that I can make it in life if am determined to and focus on it, it was great reading about him and I guess for the next few months the pare will be just Obama this and Obama that and Michelle this and first family and first dog… ok sometimes it gets crazy so drifting from the Obama maniac from the papers my eyes focus on yet something interesting to me just as we were approaching Naivasha, mount Longonot which is one of Kenya crater mountain could be seen from a distance, again the view was great, as the sun set in the horizon the beautiful shadow it cast made the mountain look more beautiful than I have even seen it. A few meters from that was this small wood lot of eucalyptus trees that ere farmed form timber, I think this is a great idea and reduces pressure on indigenous trees for timber, just farther on the magnificent view of the lake could be seen, Lake Naivasha a fresh water lake in Kenya is well know for its biodiversity from the fish eagle, the hippos and others found in the lake, and before long as I was enjoying the view of the lake, we had arrived to the flower town, Naivasha can be referred to as the flower farm of Kenya as it has the highest number of flower farms, we headed down at south lake where we were to set camp at Kijabe farm in tented camps. We will be here for the next one week and already am liking it, it’s a good feeling begin away from the ocean and forest and enjoying the different weather, as I got to bed I cover myself with two blankest and have two jumpers a very contrast of what I have in the coast, we star the training tomorrow as I decide to hit the sack early to be fresh tomorrow morning.
Zooomr : Darwin intiative, David Harpe, FOASF, Friends of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, University of Leicester, community, conservation, films
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Tags: community, Conservation, Darwin intiative, David Harpe, films, FoASF, Friends of Arabuko Sokoke Forest, University of Leicester
Tracing the tracks of the dead man (poacher).
Category: Forest surveys, Forest wildlife, Poaching wildlife | Date: Nov 17 2008 | By: davidngala
Tracing the tracks of the dead man (poacher).
In an earlier blog I had mentioned the story of the poacher who died in the forest after he accidentally stepped on an elephant snare that was set by another poacher who was targeting to kill an elephant. I later on when to do a follow up of that story and retraced the path taken by that poacher. I started by visiting the dead man’s family, I was taken to his family by some community members. I however did not refer to the dead man as a poacher this was to show some respect to the family. The family gave me their view of what they thought happened. I was also informed that on that fateful day the dead man was accompanied to the forest by his elder brother, his elder brother retraced the last moment and he even agreed to take me to the forest and show me the path where it all happened.
The household of the man.
The grave.
We followed the path that the dead man took, as we continued following the path I came across 31 snares they seemed to be snares for small animals such as Sunis, however most of them were dismantled. The path we took lead us to the road from Kararacha to Nyari view point. At this particular spot the elder brother showed me the path that he had marked, it was sort of an agreement between him and his brother on which route not to take. Unfortunately it seemed the dead took a wrong path and ended up stepping on the snare. After stepping on the snare he tried to walk for a while however he could not go far as the poison on the snare was quickly running through his body, he decide to sit down and he asked his brother to go get help, when his brother returned with help unfortunately he was already dead. He quickly went back home to inform the rest what had happened and they found a way to carry his body from the forest.
Me being shown the path.
The sign.
When I asked his brother what they were looking for in the forest he simply said mushrooms, I was not full convinced that they were looking for mushrooms, as why would they go deep in the forest to look for that and secondly why would they take the paths that are restricted, and why take the elephant tracks? I kept on wondering this but I did not want to raise it up with his brother as it would be pointless to argue with him on that.
The brother of the dead man holding mushrooms.
The mushrooms.
Personally I am very sorry that his brother died, am mostly sorry for his family. However I still feel that they had ill intentions especially where the elephants were concerned. The elephant trap has not been found till now and this poses a big risk not only to the elephants but to those who use the forest daily such as researchers, tourists and even me!
It was helpful to be shown the path and to follow it, we now have a clue where the traps could be located for we also took the GPS coordinates, it just a matter of time before we actually locate the them, in as much as we have a clue where to start from, no one is willing to take the risk of going to look for the traps without the proper equipment for fear of being the next victims. We tend to think that they are many snares in the forest.
As we lack the necessary equipment such as metal detectors to enable us to locate the traps quickly, the snare continue to pose a big risk. We are kindly requesting for your help in purchasing a metal detector and good walking boots, to be used for patrols in the forest, these equipment will assist us to remove the metal snare that are normally targeted for elephants and make the forest much safer for them and for people as well.
Yous David Ngala
Friends of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest
Conservation Officer.
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Thank you for your help in the forest (more photos)
Category: Forest surveys, Gratitude | Date: Nov 16 2008 | By: davidngala
This is to say thank you very much to all who made the work in the forest possible. We especially want to thank Nature Kenya and all the Nature Kenya members who participated, Friends of Arabuko-Sokoke members, Kenya wildlife service for their support, Watamu turtle watch, A Rocha Kenya and the Arabuko-Sokoke forest guide association. With all your combined effort we were able to achieve a great task of clearing up to 3 Km of nature trail at the Elephant track, it could not have been possible without you. Thank you so much for the time and effort you all put in this.
Long live Arabuko-Sokoke Forest!
Here are some photos to sum it all up!
During bird watching.
At the forest.
Having fun
At mida creek
At the tree platform
More fun!
saying goodbye…..
Caroline
FoASF Manager
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Tags: Arabuko-Sokoke forest. Nature Kenya, FoASF, Friends of Arabuko Sokoke Forest, Kenya Wildlife Service.
Final day at the forest!
Category: Forest surveys | Date: Nov 15 2008 | By: davidngala
Final day at the forest!
After the long day and the near encounter with an elephant, the crew may have just need this trip to mida creek. Mida creek is a small creek (ok not small but big creek in my opinion), it is a great place where birds feed, migrant birds can also be found here and they come here to feed as well, the place is spectacular, if you are a keen birder and love to see all types of birds, then I suggest a trip to mida would do just fine.
at mida creek.
peter confirming the bird he saw.
Peter takes a closer look - at the mud flat
So they headed to mida creek and we drove to the entrance towards the board walk and bird hide. This board walk is really something, built by A Rocha Kenya for their ASSETs programme ( for more information on this vist the A Rocha blog or ASSETS blog or www.arocha.org) the place is built on suspended board that are held together by long strong ropes, the broad walk suspended above the mangrove roots. Its really cool, at first walking on the board may seem like you are walking on air, however there are two ropes that you can hold on to give to a balance, if you are afraid of heights, well try it , your fear will be gone in a second! ( although its not so high), the board walk is about 260 meters walk so breeze yourself before you start walking, as you walk there are stop point along the walk that have more information on mida creek and the mangrove, when you get to the end of the board walk the view of the ocean is great, you can see the mouth of the creek and about three islands if you use a good pair of binoculars, at the mud flat you can be able to see birds feeding, its great!
board walk at mida.
Noreen tries to get across at the board walk.
After the great afternoon at mida creek we got back to the camp site at the forest to prepare for dinner and the long day ahead. The following day we embarked on mission - clean up watamu beach, we headed to watamu, we quickly took a pit stop at watamu turtle watch, Rob the Project officer was kind enough o takes us round and explain to us all about watamu turtle watch and local ocean trust (for more information visit Watamu Turtle Watch blog or email wtwkenya@swiftmalindi.com),
Rob talking to us about the turtle.
after a briefing on Watamu Turtle Watch we headed to A Rocha Kenya for a short briefing before embarking on the beach for the clean up, we started the clean up at the beach outside A Rocha towards Turtle bay, this seemed like a long day as the scotching sun made it seem much harder but finally we managed to reach our target. Our mission was accomplished!
Baech clean up.
rubbish collected.
We headed back to camp to have lunch and visit the famous Nyari view point, this is the point where you can see the canopy of the forest, the view is great, what a way to climax the trip, we were done, we cleared the nature trail I think more that 3 km of forest road was cleared, we had fun, we saw the beach and now it was time for the team to head back home, back home in Nairobi. As the team was packing up, a certain feeling of sadness engulfed me, I sat and thought, here there are we thought they wouldn’t make it but they have, that really touched me, well done the team!!! I thought to myself, and off they went, leaving Arabuko-Sokoke forest trail better than before, well done team, that was great work!
hard at work.
part of the clearde trail.
Asante sana - Thank you very much.
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Day three of forest trail clearing
Category: Forest surveys | Date: Nov 14 2008 | By: davidngala
Day three of forest trail clearing.
That evening as a reward I took the group to visit one of the community based projects of Arabuko-Sokoke forest, the Kipepeo butterfly project. This project is located at Gede Ruins Museum, the project has become a success and has become a replica in other parts of the country. It started as a simple idea to help the community living adjacent to the forest value the forest and earn an income, the founders of the project saw fit for the community to start farming butterflies and exporting there pupa and in return the community gets income. The project now works with 27 other community groups and exports butterfly pupa to countries such as Japan, UK and USA for displays in museum and also for replica in fashion designs.
getting a lesson on butterflies inside the butterfly house.
The group was excited to learn about this project and for some it was a dream come true to finally visit Kipepeo after hearing and learning about it from media sources. We proceeded on to Gede ruins to learn more about the ancient Swahili town and why the occupants of this town left in such a rush!
the team being shown around at the Gede ruins
It was great to learn how these people lived, according to me they were real conservationist, our guide Samuel explain to us how they used to reuse their water and how they would filter it, they had very interesting ways of living which were eco-friendly. That afternoon after the tour at Gede we headed to blue bay beach in Watamu for more exploring of the water.
the excited team at Gede.
Day three saw the group arise early to carry out the morning birding, they were joined by Rob Markham of Watamu Turtle Watch a keen birder and Jessica Rawley a Peace Corp volunteer with Nature Kenya. The morning birding was great and they were able to identify some new species to them.
Keen birders in the group.
After breakfast, the crew headed straight to work. This particular day seem a lot more easy than the previous days, could it be because they were getting used to the hot temperatures or because they were getting used to holding the pangas and slashers ( a type of machete) ? Work went on quite smooth and it seemed we were to wind up quite fast.
one, two three, pull…….
and the ladies clear.
As we carried on with our work, part of the team was destructed to some rather wired noise, it wasn’t the noise of a axe cutting a tree, or a slasher on the weeds or a panga ( a type of machete) on the shrubs, neither was it the noise of one teammate telling the rest to watch out as a cut tree fell, no that was not the destructing noise, rather it was the noise on an elephant in the bush, would you believe it? An Elephant!!!!, good thing I didn’t see it because I think I would have fainted due to fear, and good thing it was a lone as it quickly went away, what remained was the dung and the mountain of sand it had dug up. That was a close call.
a close up of the dung.
Dug up sand, done by the elephant.
On our way out of the forest we visited one of the tree platforms in the forest built by A Rocha Kenya, the view from the platform was magnificant, no word can describe it, what a way to close the day!
part of the team at the tree platform.
background view of a swamp from the tree platform
We headed back to camp to prepare for lunch and visit the nearby mida creek later on in the afternoon.
Caroline
FoASF Manager
To be continued
Del.icio.us : A Rocha, Arabuko-Sokoke forest, Butterfly, FoASF, Friends of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Gede ruins, Kipepeo, Kipepeo project, Mida creek., Nature Kenya, Turtle watch, Watamu
Zooomr : A Rocha, Arabuko-Sokoke forest, Butterfly, FoASF, Friends of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Gede ruins, Kipepeo, Kipepeo project, Mida creek., Nature Kenya, Turtle watch, Watamu
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Tags: A Rocha, Arabuko-Sokoke forest, Butterfly, FoASF, Friends of Arabuko Sokoke Forest, Gede Ruins, Kipepeo, Kipepeo project, Mida creek., Nature Kenya, Turtle watch, Watamu
Day two of nature trail clearing
Category: Forest surveys | Date: Nov 13 2008 | By: davidngala
Day two of nature trail clearing in the forest.
Day one of the trail clearing ended well, with most volunteers exhausted and drained by the hot sun, it was all the same a very successful day as a good portion of the trail was cleared and our KWS transport vehicle could now pass with ease.
The team was so exhausted after about five hours of serious work in the forest the previous day.
Part of the cleared trail.
The guys decided to visit the beach, as some of them have never been to the coast and had never seen the ocean, you know living quite close to the ocean you tend to think that everyone has seen the ocean only to find out you are wrong, I was a bit shocked when some of the volunteers admitted that they have never seen the ocean, this made me open my mind more to reality.
Day two saw the volunteers rise before the morning sun to do birding, David Ngala our conservation officer and a guide at Arabuko-Sokoke forest was delighted to direct the group in the birding activity.
Early morning birding.
Later on that morning, we embarked on the hard work, slashers, axes, and pangas ( a type of machete) were among the tools were took with us. Working as a team we mobilized ourselves and we were able to clear a large portion.
come on lets clear this.
Yuda busy chopping a tree that had blocked the road.
Mercy is helped clear the shrub by the KWS ranger.
We took a break at mid day to look back at our progress then embark back on the work.
Break time. - the team having snacks.
It was song and laughter as we continued working, we figured making a bit of fun easiness the job, and true to that before long, we were done for the day, only to begin again the next day.
lets have a laugh - Onesums seeem to be telling the rest.
End of a tiresome day - the team waiting to be transported back to camp.
A day well spent, as we waited to be ferried back to camp, we couldnt wait to relax at Gede ruins and the beach!
To be continued…..
Caroline
FoASF - Manager
Zooomr : Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, FoASF, Friends of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, Nature Kenya, Nature trail, Volunteers
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Day one of the forest trail clearing.
Category: Forest surveys, Forest wildlife | Date: Nov 12 2008 | By: davidngala
Day one of the forest trail clearing.
So this group of young guys from Nature kenya - Nairobi decided to come all the way to the coast in Arabuko-Sokoke forest, and to do what? To help clear the nature trails in Arabuko-Sokoke forest.
The camp site at sokoke pipit at the forest.
They set up camp at the forest camp site, they would be there for four days so they better have things set up right, from putting up the tents, to the kitchen and assigning duties of cooking and washing, everything had to be in order.
setting up the tents.
who knows how to cook best? Onesmus or Susan?
watch me cook! Tony seems to be telling the crew.
I must admit the first thing that came into my mind when I saw them was - will they really do it?, can they really manage?, how about the heat will it drain them before they begin?, and the women can they make it?, so to give them the benefit of the doubt we set out to the elephant track a trail in the forest that is used to tourist who especially want to see the elephant. The elephant roam around the area freely and many times we find elephant dung on the roads, fallen trees and huge mountains of dug up sand, this was one of the trails that really needed a lot of work and this is an intriguing trail as well, as elephant can surprise you any time.
Fresh elephnat dung on the trail.
So off we went, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) provides a truck to ferry the 18 volunteers to the site, the long journey to the site was really tiresome and I kept on praying that we don’t say “hallo to mr ndovu” - the elephants. A trained ranger accompanied us to the site, but still my heart was in my mouth. Since I was somehow leading the team I had to show some sign of bravery, and not my fear be revealed.
Preparing to be ferried to the site.
The trail were in such a state that needed help like yesterday, trees overgrown blocking the roads, all types of trees, thorny trees, shrubs and even dead logs.
And the work began, it didn’t take me long before I thought I think they will make it…….will they?
And the work began!
To be continued…….
Zooomr : Nature kenya, elephants, forest, friends of arbuko-sokoke forest
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Nature trail clearing at Arabuko-Sokoke forest
Category: Forest surveys, Forest wildlife, General | Date: Nov 11 2008 | By: davidngala
Nature trail clearing at Arabuko-Sokoke Forest.
This past week has been a hectic and busy week for us here at FoASF. The nature trails in Arabuko-Sokoke forest have been overgrown with trees. Elephants have not made it easy either, by trampling on trees and blocking the roads. The trails have hence not been used for a while especially the elephant track which has long needed some work to be done on it.
one of the overgrown trails at the forest.
From 6th November 2008 to 10th November we had a visit from the Nature Kenya Youth committee from Nairobi, who came with an aim to help out clear the nature trails and create awareness on the importance of the forest.
Arrival day - all clean and smart!
This group was a fun some group which energized youth ready to help out in the forest. So could these urbanists (most of them were from the big city- Nairobi) really slash and cut trees, considering they are not used to this, how were they to cope with high temperatures of 30˚C and above at the coast, would they really make it? The next four days were days well spend in the forest and can only be described visually.
We are here to work - (part of the team)
To be continued……
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