Recently, there has been quite a bit of media attention surrounding the colobus monkey residents of Diani – I wish it were positive news for a change about this increasingly endangered species but let’s hope that some of this media attention will help these little chaps.

Twende Magazine, which is East Africa’s most popular travel magazine ran a very interesting feature about ‘Primate Friendly Hotels’. As the author, Anna Sandahlasks, “If there are so many eco-friendly hotels benefiting from increasing tourism today, how come there are no primate-friendly hotels in Diani?”

For many in the Diani area, primates have become a problem – a pest. The hotel industry is increasingly losing their patience with our little thieving cousins who have lost their fear of people and will grab anything edible that is within reach. One can understand the hotels but one also has to ask, who was here first? “Due to the escalating number of hotels built in the area, over 75% of the forest has been cut down within the last 25 years to give place to the development of tourism. The habitat of the animals that still manage to survive here, of which most are monkeys, is rapidly disappearing – and there is nowhere for them to go,” states Sandahl in her article.

Vet volunteer examines electrocuted colobus

The Colobus Trust has recently revived its “Pest Management” program that aims to help hotels to have a better relationship with primates and implement and animal friendly solutions. You can read more about this on the Colobus Trust blog. Unfortunately, the problem is much bigger and more serious than tourists having their oranges stolen. The two biggest threats to primates are road kills and electrocutions. As stated, in the recent article in the Daily Nation, this year alone 26 colobus monkeys have been killed so far – all from electrocutions and cars. Open electric lines have contributed to a number of painful deaths. Camp Kenya has been working closely with the Colobus Trustin the past to insulate as much as possible and we have managed one kilometer but there is a lot more to do yet.

Fortunately, there is hope yet as there are still untouched pockets of forest around Diani and whilst it might be too late to save the little remaining patches within Diani itself, we residents all have an obligation to do our bit for the protected forest areas like Kaya Muhaka, Kaya Kinondo and Kaya Diani only to name a few. Ourgappers recently completed their Primate Conservation Course in Kaya Muhaka where together with the Colobus Trust, we revisited the area to look at the numbers of primates and the general state of the ecosystem as far as primates go. Andrew, the assistant manager at the Colobus Trust has written a very interesting report which you can read by clicking HERE.

In summary, Andrew suggests that, “more research is needed to fully understand the importance of this forest. From the impressive number of sighting we obtained in the three survey days we can assume that a large population of Colobus still lives in KM and that this is still an important habitat for this species. A full census should be completed to compare against the previous one done in 2005. It would also be useful to have a look at bird species. The spotted ground thrush is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. If it was found to nest or migrate through KM, as it does in other forest nearby, this would add significant value to KM. The Zanji elephant shrew is not listed due to deficient data. It is unclear if KM is an appropriate habitat for this animal because of its sandy floor. Knowing this would add helpful information to understanding the habitats of this little understood species.”

Kaya Muhaka has so much going for it and our school teams and gappers have been working very had this season to extend the buffer zone. The next big project for us is to esablish a small eco-banda which can be used for camping, and research and the long term plan for us is to help the community to secure this area and generate vital income for the surrounding people who will then also help do their bit to protect one of the last natural habitat’s for Diani’s colobus…

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at 10:46 am and is filed under Gap, Kenya, Project Diary, Team. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.