Turtles!!

Jambo,

We have now been at Mwamba for 18 days now and so much has happened.

There are really amazing conservation programs that are running with A Rocha and in the local area and we hope to highlight them throughout our stay here.

One local program called Watamu Turtle Watch (WTW) works with local fisherman to release sea turtles that have become entangled in their nets. Through a financial incentive, fishermen are persuaded to give these turtles to WTW instead of killing them. In 2009 alone, they released 857 turtles! The WTW also monitors turtle nests on the beach and has a rehabilitation centre for injured or sick turtles.

A volunteer of WTW was staying at Mwamba so we had the cool opportunity of helping release a few turtles back into the ocean...

One of WTW's vehicles they use to transport rescue turtles

Here we carry the turtles to the edge of the surf. Quite surprisingly, turtles have very powerful flippers. Often they struggle by flapping their limbs and the pressure exerted by the flippers on our hands was quite strong. In fact, we almost dropped this particular individual as it struggled but thankfully Mary caught it before it hit the ground.


The species of turtle in these photos are all Green Sea Turtles. Interestingly the name does not refer to their coloration but to the green fat found beneath their carapace (the top part of a turtles shell).

Green sea turtles are herbivorous, feeding mainly on sea grass and can live up to 80 years in the wild. While they don't come close to the size of some species of sea turtle such as the leatherback (which can reach 700 kg) they can still weigh an average of 200 kg.

These amazing creatures are almost completely aquatic, except when females lay eggs and will migrate more than 2,600 km to each their spawning grounds.

Off to the races!!

...almost there.

So another turtle gets a second chance at living in the deep blue.

Jambo! (Hello) to all of our blog followers

Karibou! (Welcome), to our first official blog entry. We have somehow managed to survive our first week in Kenya (if you call living on the beach by the Indian Ocean, surrounded by flowering trees and cool critters "surviving"). The week has been wonderful and has just flown by. The trip here took roughly 40 hrs (including layovers). We are very thankful we made it to the Calgary airport safely through a snow storm and were also not delayed by the volcanic activity in Iceland. To quickly summarize we've made it safe and sound, everyone at A Rocha Kenya (ARK) is very welcoming and friendly, and there is lots we can help out with. So, there you have it, lala salama (sleep well).

The beach, a 3 mins. walk from our home at A Rocha Kenya

OK, maybe some of you are more interested than that, so here are a few dirty details...

Just to let you know where in the world we are...

A Rocha Kenya and the unique Crab Plover (found only in this area)

Our room

The view from our room

ARK is located roughly 100km north of Mombasa, on the east coast of Kenya. The nearest town is Watamu. The area supports a large tourist industry because of the white-sandy beaches and warm ocean temperatures. We took a dip the other day for some relief from the heat and the water was luke-warm! There are many resorts here that cater to European tourists, especially Italians (who apparently have a poor reputation among the locals but secures a healthy supply of delicious pizza, gelato and cappuccinos). We are located about a 40 minute walk down the beach from all the high class resorts. What we have found striking is the stark contrast between the 5 star hotels and the poverty (mud huts and outdoor fires) just on opposite sides of the road. Many local people live on less than $2 a day and do not receive much benefit from the tourism industry since those working at the hotels are often people from inland.

Also in our neighbourhood is the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest and the mangrove forest of Mida Creek which are situated to the north of Mwamba Research Centre and Bird Observatory (this is the official name of our home for the next 3 months). These areas are noteworthy because of the high biological diversity of plant and animal species found there. We’ll go in more detail about these areas in later blogs.

Our first week mainly involved acclimatizing to the coastal environment and getting over our jet-lag. Currently, it is winter or the rainy season for Kenya and while it rains almost every day the temperature still hovers between 25 - 30oC. The dry season was very long this year and people were becoming quite concerned about crop failure but thankfully the Lord has answered this concern and now there is plenty of rain and the temperature is much more comfortable.
Ted has been working closely with Albert Baya who is one of the resident Kenyan bird experts at ARK (he can identify over 1084 different bird species by sight and song!). Albert is his new hero. Together they have been entering important birding data and hope to catch birds for banding in Mida Creek this week with Colin Jackson (Director of ARK). On May 8 we both went to Mida Creek to do a wader (shore birds) count. Ted was able to count species he easily recognized (flamingos and crab plovers) and learned to identify some new species as well. I skilfully wrote all the bird counts down in a journal (while I enjoy the outdoors I’m reluctant to embrace becoming a birder). We both also helped out with some gardening and general sprucing up of Mwamba. Since it is low tourism season, its a great time for renovations of the guest house. Besides helping out with some field work I will be doing some gardening, organizing and decorating at the guest house and common areas.

Ted entering bird data with Albert Baya

Ted taking a break with baby Amy. Amy's mom Belinda is in the background and is in charge of guest services and is a really lovely lady.

Ted counting birds at Mida Creek. 1...2...3 Pink Flamingos ha, ha, ha, ha!

We have really enjoyed getting to know the staff here at Mwamba. Everyone working here at ARK are passionate Christians serving God in many different roles but are united to conserve God’s beautiful creation. We feel blessed to have an opportunity to help out in whatever capacity we can with this unique Christian organization. We look forward to the next three months.

There is still much more to be said, so stay tuned for interesting wildlife adventures with Ted and my battle with the world of insects...and the occasional monkey scare.

Mary & Ted

So it turns out I've been taking pictures of Ted while he's been doing things but he has been taking pictures of plants and animals (or pictures of me that I don't deem worthy enough for the blog). This is a pic of me during our 9 hour layover in Amsterdam.