Finland Geography students visit Arabuko-Sokoke and its environs.
Category: General | Date: Jan 28 2009 | By: davidngala
Finland Geography students visit Arabuko-Sokoke and its environs.
Arabuko-Sokoke recently received students from the University of Helsinki in Finland who were on a tour to learn on the conservation efforts in Arabuko-Sokoke and what can be replicated in Dakacha woodland.
The students in the Forest.
The students are carrying out a study in Taita on impact of community participation on natural resource management. Arabuko-Sokoke area has been taken as a baseline study to evaluate the impacts and outcome of community participation.
Illegal charcoal burning in Dakacha woodlands.
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Bush meat survey in Arabuko-Sokoke forest
Category: Forest surveys, Forest wildlife, Poaching wildlife | Date: Jan 28 2009 | By: davidngala
Bush meat hunting in Arabuko-Sokoke forest is a major problem. Past conservation actions did not fully address the problem hence its recurrence. The most targeted species include Aders duiker, Golden Rumped Sengi, and Sokoke bush tailed mongoose.
Illegal bush meat.
Two past surveys done in October and November, 2006 revealed an alarming situation on the game meat hunting. In just three weeks, 1087 snares were located and destroyed in the nature reserve. To estimate the number of traps in the entire forest may be difficult but there are all indications that there could be thousands of snares and other traps in which hundreds of animals are caught annually.
Local community has low awareness of the impact of their actions, the risk of catching insurable diseases and the legal implications of engaging in Bushmeat practices. Alternative sources of proteins do exist but they either are not aware of them or lack the resources and skills to adopt them.
Just three weeks ago David Ngala and Lucy Kapombe carried out a bush meat survey at the nature reserve in Arabuko-Sokoke forest and they were able to retrieve 113 snares.
David Ngala - facilitating a bushmeat awareness meeting.
With support from KNH-NABU (Birdlife Germany), Nature Kenya together
with the bush meat awareness committee are carrying out a bush meat awareness programme in Arabuko-Sokoke forest and the surrounding communities.
This programme is aimed to create awareness on the negative effects of bushmeat hunting to the community and alternatives the community can use. Bushmeat hunting has led to various health implications such as the Ebola virus, rift valley fever, rabies, yellow fever among others, these infection have jumped from primates to people on at least seven separate occasions in recent history.
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illegal hunting of game meat in Dakatcha - Marafa.
Category: Forest surveys, Forest wildlife, Poaching wildlife | Date: Dec 02 2008 | By: davidngala
David Ngala accompanied Albert Baya of A Rocha Kenya to survey the Clarke weaver nests in Marafa. Marafa is located north of Arabuko- Sokoke forest in the Brachystegia woodland. This is where the weavers prefer to nest and feed. Dakatcha woodland is the main breeding site for the weaver. It is approximately 29 Kilometres from Sokoke forest.
The main problem in Dakatcha woodland is charcoal burning and hunting of game meat. David was able to find some young duikers that were hunted and sold illegally.
Duiker meat, hanged to be sold illegally.
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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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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
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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
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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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Butterfly farming - a sucessful resource from Arabuko-Sokoke Forest
Category: Eco-friendly products, Forest products, Sustainable income generating activities | Date: Oct 29 2008 | By: davidngala
Ever heard of butterfly farming? Well at Kipepeo butterfly project its all about butterflies. Kipepeo is the Swahili word for butterfly. These beautiful creatures are all colours, all sizes all species. At the Kipepeo butterfly project all types of butterflies are breed.
one of the butterfly species at the forest
The Kipepeo project based in Gede aims at linking conservation of Arabuko-Sokoke forest and livelihoods development of surrounding rural communities. Arabuko-Sokoke forest has a unique biodiversity which presents a good habitat for butterfly farming. Farmers living adjacent to the forest are allowed in the forest to collect butterfly species of which they can breed in their butterfly farm houses and the pupae is packed and sold abroad in Japan, Europe and USA in exhibitions.
The Kipepeo project is an initiative that sort to support the conservation of the forest through the sustainable utilization of butterfly biodiversity to benefit the local communities. It also seeks to diversify coastal tourism through exhibit of live butterflies. This project has been a key step in conserving Arabuko-Sokoke forest by providing an alternative income source to local communities while at the same time, the locals seeing the value of the forest and conserving it.
The project benefits over 100,000 people in 50 villages around Arabuko-Sokoke. They have now organized themselves into 27 community groups. Kipepeo runs an attractive butterfly house at its centre in Gede Ruins. For more information on this project please visit www.kipepeo.org or contact kipepeo@africaonline.co.ke
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59 bird species identified …..seen any of these birds?
Category: Bird Surveys, Forest surveys | Date: Oct 28 2008 | By: davidngala
59 bird species identified …..seen any of these birds?
While I was at mrima wa ndege, I did some birding and identified 59 bird species. Mrima wa ndege is the name of a place in Swahili while means ‘the hill of birds” no wonder I got so many bird species. Here is a list of the bird species I identified in their common names:-
a view from mrima wa ndege.
1. African Barred owl
2. African scops owl
3. Fiery necked night jar
4. Zanzibar Sombre greenbul
5. Black headed Oriole
6. Northern brownbal
7. Collared sunbird
8. Grey headed bushshrike
9. ring necked dove
10. Laughing dove
11. Black crowned tchagra
12. Striped kingfisher
13. Tropical bulbul
14. Common bulbul
15. Red tailed tinkerbird
16. Long-tailed fiscal
17. Crested francolin
18. Red eyed dove
19. Pale flycatcher
20. Emarol spotted wood dove
21. Namaqua dove
22. Blue eyed starling
23. Purple banaded sunbird
24. Northern white crowned shrike
25. White-browed coucal
26. Red-billed buffalo weaver
27. Fork-tailed drongo
28. Golden pipit
29. Northern crownec
30. Grey wren-wabler
31. Black headed batis
32. White winged chat
33. Blue naped mousebird
34. Brown headed parrot
35. Rufous chatterer
36. Speckled mousebird
37. Grey hornbill
38. Mouse coloured sunbird
39. African bare-eyed thrush
40. Common scimitarbill
41. Grey-backed camaroptera
42. Sulphur breasted bush shrike
43. Spotted morning thrush
44. White bellied go-away-bird
45. Chestnut weaver
46. Black collared barbet
47. European golden oriole
48. Lilac breasted roller
49. Little bee eater
50. Greater honey guide
51. Amethyst sunbird
52. Green wood hoopoe
53. Palm swift
54. Pied wagtail
55. Burn swallow
56. Von der Decken’s hornbill
57. African harrier-hawk
58. Black backed puffback
59. Redchicked donblue
David Ngala
FoASF - Conservation Officer
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