Author Archives: soysambu-guest-blogger

Flash back: Guereza Colobus Monkey introduction to Soysambu

Posted on by

Paula Kahumbu helped with the relocation of Colobus monkeys to Soysambu back in 1999. Today she recounts the event

The guereza colobus at Soysambu came from the Malewa river – with the original troop size somewhere between 9 and 15. There was one adult male, several females and Juveniles. The monkeys were being killed by farmers as they were raiding the maize – the farmers had chopped every tree except eucalyptus so the colobus were living in the eucalyptus and feeding on maize.

This is not their natural habitat and the conservancy unfortunately only have a rough estimate of the number of monkeys originally introduced to the area. The current total is belived to be around 12. The monkeys are primarily leaf eaters with ruminant like stomachs. This allows them to digest the mature foliage, however, they also consume fruits, flowers and seeds. The colobinae species is generally found in Asia, but the colobus monkey is only found in Africa, and is therefore a rarity. Due to this fact, there is a large problem with poaching of the monkey’s for their skins and fur, which is traditionally used as tribal headgear or alternatively sold abroad or to tourists. It is therefore paramount that projects such as this one take place to help maintain this endangered animal.

Colobus in the Soysambu riverine forrest

We moved them in 1999 with WSPA and they escaped from the holding cage the same night. We feared they’d scatter but they didn’t. Dr Nick D’souza helped with the translocation – we didn’t need to do any darting or anything – just caught them in cages after about 3 months of habituation, then moved the cages to the news site and released the monkeys into a big cage.

When we came back the next morning they were in the acacia watching us as we searched like idiots amongst the bushes for them. It was the first ever translocation of colobus guereza in Kenya and went perfectly!

A volunteer’s experience

Posted on by

Volunteer Shalynn Pack tells of her 4 weeks at Soysambu

Habari!

Hello all, my name is Shalynn Pack and I just returned home to the USA after volunteering in Soysambu. I’ve got one year of university left, studying Zoology and Wildlife Conservation. I came to Kenya this summer to do a 2 month internship with Kenya Wildlife Services at Lake Nakuru National Park. Long story short, that didn’t work out but luckily, I found Soysambu! I moved out here with 4 weeks to spare before my flight home, and I couldn’t have been happier.

The main project I worked on is the monitoring and identification of the Rothschilds giraffe. It’s estimated that there are around 50 giraffe on the Conservancy, but no one knows for sure. To find the total number of giraffe residing on Soysambu, we have to start with identifying individuals and compiling a manual. Honestly, I couldn’t have thought of a better job: watching giraffe all day, getting to know them individually, and thinking up fun names for them. We were able to identify several new giraffe, including 5 adorable new juveniles. With the help of Dr. Julian Fennessy of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, this research will provide the baseline data for the first long-term study of Rothschilds Giraffe, a species with only 750 individuals remaining worldwide.

Giraffe and baby

We also developed a giraffe habitat assessment for Soysambu Conservancy. Since the drought began, the giraffe have been stripping the bark of the yellow fever acacia trees, a habit that has severely damaged the health of the acacia forests. This project is designed to measure and monitor the extent of the damage over time. The assessment entailed creating GPS plots around the lakeshore and collecting data on the height, circumference, browse height, and level of bark stripping within these plots. In conjunction with the giraffe monitoring data, the assessment could ultimately provide insight on the need to reduce the giraffe population via translocation.

Beyond the field research projects, Soysambu gave me so many unique and exciting experiences. I have so many good memories at the Conservancy! We patrolled for snares on camelback, saw the sun rise over Lake Elmenteita in a hot air balloon, watched a leopard kill and drag off an impala, came too close to a fat African Rock Python, and dodged stinging nettles as we watched colobus monkeys leap from tree to tree. Soysambu is truly a unique place, and I feel so lucky to have been a part of it.

Volunteers on camel patrol

Memoirs of a volunteer

Posted on by

Holly Fagan tells of her experience volunteering at Mbogo Primary, one of the two primary schools on Soysambu Conservancy

Before I arrived in Kenya I spent the last few months raising money for this little school deep in the heart of Africa’s Great Rift Valley. I knew they were in need but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. The dirt floors are rocky and hazardous, the desks are rotten and splintering, there are almost no chairs – even for the teachers – the doors and shutters are falling off their hinges – if there are any at all – and learning resources are virtually non-existent.

Yet, the children there are some of the most cheerful, delightful and enchanting children I have ever met. When I first arrived they were quite shy around me because they’re not used to visitors, but their curiosity overtook their unease and I soon had the whole school crowded around me with outstretched hands. I’m sure I shook some of those hands three or four times!

Students with cups of hot porridge from the lunch program

I started off helping out in the Nursery class which was great fun – the children have so little they get quite excited about really basic things such as glue! I’ve also been teaching English and Maths and Science to the older students. There is a huge range of abilities and potential in the classes. Some of the students are very bright and eager to learn whereas others barely speak. It must be difficult to teach such a varied class. When I went to the school one of the teachers, Florence, was trying to teach Classes One, Two and Three. That’s pupils aged five to nine. I took Class Three for her and taught them in the morning. The pupils were so enthusiastic and polite and I really enjoyed it.

I find it difficult to explain how it felt but it was a very good feeling; being able to help the children and communicate with them. I felt “lifted” by the experience, like I had done something really important and worthwhile. It was the most gratifying thing I have ever done and I feel very privileged to have had this experience.

The children need exercise books, textbooks, pencils, rubbers, sharpeners, basic school equipment that they just don’t have! They even need clothes and shoes. The money I’ve raised is going towards next term’s feeding programme. For many of the children it is the only hot meal they get a day and it is only a cup of uji, or thin porridge, but I realise now how much more they need, so I will try to continue with my fundraising.

Mbogo Primary classroom

Leopard Spotted!

Posted on by

Guest blogger Alan Turner, volunteer on Soysambu, recounts a brilliant night game drive earlier this week.

We weren’t expecting to see very much when we left for our night game drive yesterday. We’d heard that a leopard had been spotted the previous night by the Lake, but we still weren’t getting our hopes up too high. But as seems to happen a lot in Kenya, the coolest things happen when you’re not expecting them. About 15 minutes into the drive, we stopped suddenly and Duncan, our guide for the night, shone his light onto a figure in the distance and whispered excitedly “Do you see that?”. In the spotlight was a huge male leopard staring straight at us and hanging from his mouth was a full-grown male impala, still kicking. The leopard was very wary of us, as well as a spotted hyena which was hanging around in the distance. After several minutes, the leopard began dragging the impala towards the thicket. It took about 30 minutes for him to reach the bush, as he stopped, panting, every 10 meters to rest and look for any danger. Finally he made it to the thicket and we watched as he struggled to drag the impala up a rocky hill, and finally disappeared into the bush. Hopefully he enjoyed his meal.

A leopard on Soysambu Conservancy

Three Cultures, One Dance

Posted on by

This guest post is written by Josephine Walker a Princeton University undergraduate who spent five days studying community conservation at
Soysambu with Paula Kahumbu and Dino Martins.

Enjoy and feel free to leave a comment.

Over the course of our stay at Soysambu, we had the opportunity to meet and talk to people from many different neighboring villages, including groups of Maasai and Turkana women.  We had arranged to meet with both groups at the same place and time, but when we got there the Turkana women had not yet arrived.  When they showed up, they stood apart from the Maasai, and the two groups eyed each other warily.  Both groups were decked out in traditional ceremonial garb.  The Maasai women were adorned with wide beaded necklaces and draped in red patterned cloths.  The Turkana were dressed in more Western looking skirts and button down shirts, but covered them up with stacks of necklaces and beads strung across their chests.  They wore headdresses of yarn and beads, although one woman’s was made of zippers.
agnes.JPG
A Maasai woman, Agnes with her daughter Sarah

turkana-headdresses.JPG
Turkana Women
After we finished asking the Maasai about how they felt about the Conservancy, they moved away and the Turkana women stood in their place to answer the same questions.  Despite differences in the languages they speak and the clothes they wear, both groups are facing the same problems: lack of access to water, employment, and education for their children.  The two groups live near to each other just outside the border of Soysambu.  The Turkana and Maasai women walk between 10 and 20 km to the same water source to fetch water, and carry it home in 20 liter jugs on their backs, a trip that takes the whole day.  Their children go to the same school, a one-room schoolhouse which serves 70 children.  As a result of overcrowding, the children must take turns studying, in two hour shifts.  Since the start of the community outreach program at Soysambu just a few months ago, the women have been allowed into the Conservancy to cut firewood, which they may use themselves or sell.  Some of the men have been hired as casual workers for construction or haymaking.  This is an excellent change from the past, when community members trespassed in order to graze their cattle or poach, and were often arrested for it.  Soysambu is in the process of building a better relationship with their neighbors, but there is still much to be done to help these communities help themselves improve their quality of life.

Despite the hardships they face, the women were energetic and wanted to dance for us after we finished our discussions.  The Maasai women went first, the whole group moving their bodies in synch and singing in a call and response style.  The Turkana songs were rhythmic because the women stomped their feet as they danced.  At first, the two groups went back and forth in a sort of dance-off, but the music was infectious and the women were soon dancing along to each other’s songs in a big crowd.  The women grabbed our hands and pulled us in, and we could no longer stand as observers of the merriment.  Dancing together, I felt a connection to these women that was much more personal than that between interviewer and interviewees.  The women welcomed us to their celebration and the two groups welcomed each other.  The heat of the early afternoon beat down on us, but we all celebrated our different lives in one dance, together.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-124390804211559658" width="400" height="326" wmode="transparent" /]

The Maasai women on the left are joining in with the Turkana’s dance and I am dancing too, which made filming difficult…

ejosephine-and-turkana.jpg

Josephine with Turkana Women