Month: May 2018 (Page 2 of 2)

Blog post by Lilly, Zoe and Nestor

This morning, after a hearty breakfast featuring delicious, hand-crafted omelettes, we began the group debates on conservation issues. Beginning with Hannah, Danya and Chloe discussing the topic of ex situ conservation strategies, we delved into the pros and cons of zoos, seed banks and botanical gardens. Danya argued in favour of these methods, positing that these forms of species management are paramount for preserving organisms that have experienced habitat degradation, and for educating the general public. Chloe took the opposing viewpoint, asserting that past captive breeding programs have had very limited success and can be very costly. Hannah moderated the discourse and summarized the arguments presented, citing the need for preservation of functional diversity, and mitigation of anthropogenic effects affecting natural populations to ensure the survival of both species and ultimately the environments within which they exist.

The subsequent debate focused on whether trophy hunting was a useful tool for generating funds for local conservation efforts. Quinn proposed that the benefits of this practice, such as generating in millions of dollars for conservation efforts and thus providing direct incentives and remuneration for protecting endangered species. In addition, regulations that help determine quotas for allowable hunts of charismatic, big game species, based on models that include many variables (i.e. age, sex, maximum hunting quota and recovery time period) have created more sustainable hunting practices. Julia countered that such stipulated quotas based on models can be complicated and inaccurate, potentially leading to detrimental effects on entire species. She also contended that hunting ‘attractive’ animals, which, in Africa, typically refer to dominant, mature males of the ‘Big 5’ species (elephant, lion, leopard, rhinoceros (both black and white), and Cape buffalo), can have negative effects caused by genetic erosion, hybridization, translocation, and inbreeding.

After the debates, we headed to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) Conservancy. This organization rescues orphaned elephants and rhinos, so needless to say the group was excited!

Elephants receive a lot of maternal care in their early years, and cannot survive in the wild until they are over the age of three. The DSWF rescues orphans, and provides them shelter and safety from predators and food. There is an opportunity to see the baby elephants once a day, between 11 and noon, and we felt very fortunate to be able to do this!

What is really special about the DSWF is that they work towards reintegrating the elephants back into wild communities in Tsavo National Park, where they have a station. The babies are able to interact with the wild elephants, but stay at the station until they are fully integrated into a local herd. Elephants are highly social animals so this may take several years. In total, the process can take 8-10 years.

We watched the babies play in the mud (using it to cool down and just be silly), drink milk from bottles provided by the keepers, and roll around together. It was amazing to see how they each had their own personalities! Some of our group got sprayed with mud as the young elephants cast mud about onto their own backs and on each other, but it was worth it.

There were 29 young elephants at the compound today, and they came out in two groups – the younger ones (aged between 2-3 years) first, followed by an older cohort.

The Master of Ceremonies knew every baby by name, and shared some of their stories for each. Many babies were orphaned due to human causes (mother poached, falling down wells). One example was Ambo from Amboseli, who was found fallen trapped in a well.

The compound is right next to Nairobi National Park, but the elephants cannot be released here as there are no wild elephants in the park. However, this means that the lions in the park have not developed a taste for elephant, and so do not pose a threat to the babies.

The DSWF also takes in orphaned rhinos, and reintegrates them into Nairobi National Park.

At around 1:30 we climbed into our trusty Bunduz travel truck, and said farewell to the lovely Kolping Guest House where we had stayed while in Nairobi. Between naps, where our heads lolled to the side, we were fascinated with driving through each town; their bustling weekend markets, the lush rolling hills, the contrast between the suburbs and the slums, seen from inside our truck.

We made a brief pit stop near Karatina, where some of us tried our hand at the art of haggling at the African Curio Store. The store is a cooperative where local artisans send their crafts to be sold with proceeds returning to them but also in part upporting a local aids orphanage. Some students were more successful at haggling than others. Joaquin haggled his souvenirs down from 13000 KSH to 3000 KSH, but it was an exciting experience for all nevertheless!

Rolling through the highlands, we were fortunate to watch the sunset on the horizon over the distant hills. The dark night sky was littered with stars and our ride was occupied with finding constellations. Finally, the truck turned down a narrow path and we were met with barbed wire on barrels and a soldier with a rifle. A very quick 3-point turn away from the military compound and we were on the road again. A few minutes down another dimly lit road and we make a tight turn into an even narrower dirt road. The bushes and the trees that lined the road were no challenge for our massive 6-wheeler truck and our skilled driver. Driving into the African bush further and our nerves became a bit unsettled. Another tight turn at the end of the road inevitably lead to an unsuccessful 78-point turn attempt, and we climbed out of the truck and started to walk to the campsite. Our short walk down the dim dirt road lead us to an oasis. Astounded, we were ushered to our deluxe tents with beds in bed frames, bedside tables, carpeted tents, and most importantly, a strong WiFi connection! This is the epitome of glamping! As if we weren’t impressed enough with the facilities, Chenzen and John whipped up another delicious meal in an hour and a half for all 17 of us. We are all deeply grateful to Chenzen, John, Charles and our talented drivers Moses & Joseph for everything that they do, and to Mukhtar the owner of Bunduz.

What an exciting day! Now it’s time for a good nights rest in these comfy tents!

Click on the photos to see larger versions.

Blog post by Peiwen and Karen

Under gentle showers and with a soft breeze, we started our 3rd morning in Nairobi. After a quick, fulsome breakfast and packing our lunches, we drove to the UN headquarters in Kenya in Nairobi. Instead of taking the same driving route though congested streets, we chose another highway with less traffic, passing through a poorer neighbourhood in Nairobi. About 60% of the population of Nairobi live in slums that make up only 6% of the land. This was an eye-opening scene for us to see all those small houses with blue, tin roofs squeezed together, and was certainly emblematic of the gap between the rich and the poor in Nairobi and elsewhere. The landscape quickly transitioned to gated well-attended brick houses and eventually transformed into highly guarded modern mansions.

The bus pulled up onto the driveway of one of the United Nations Headquarters (one of four in the world) in Nairobi . The UN headquarter in Kenya is home to the UN Environmental and Human Settlement Programmes. Today was the “Open Day” where visitors were invited to see the operation of the organization and layout of the facilities. Beyond the gates, the walkway was lined with the flags of the 193 UN member nations, lined up in alphabetical order. Booths lined the front atrium showcasing different donations from UN members dedicated to the goal of sustainable development.

A Masters student in social sciences named Lisa guided us through different sections of the headquarters. First we learned about the UNMAS (UN Mine Action Service) that was formed to clear and disarm landmines and munitions that remain after wars, and threaten the civilians, especially children who comprise 90% of casualties. This exhibit displayed deactivated explosives as well as uniforms worn by bomb specialists. From there, we trickled into the largest conference room in this facility that can seat representatives of the 193 member nations, their assistants, and observers. As we settled into the seats normally occupied by UN members, Lisa delivered a brief presentation on the roles of the 6 bodies of the UN. At the end of the presentation, we had a brief Q&A. It was really unique to be able to speak into the individual microphones while the video immediately focused on the speaker (who was projected onto giant screens), just as if we were participating in a formal assembly. After the interactive discussion, we strolled through the arboretum with trees planted by the 16 security council members representing hope of a greener future. The arboretum lead to the ‘green complex’, which is the most recent infrastructure addition, serving as the offices for UNEP. Features including rainwater harvesting and low-energy fluorescent lighting contributing to the carbon neutral design. We ended the tour by visiting the memorial garden gifted by Kenya in 1998 in memory of those who died in the embassy explosions. It was composed of a peace pole conveying world peace in the 6 official UN languages surrounded by coffee and tea plants, the main exports of Kenya.

Filing back onto the bus, we ate our packed sandwiches and headed to the National Museum. We explored the natural, cultural and political exhibits that provided a time capsule of Kenya’s history. The Human Origin Hall left a memorable impression on us as biology students. Museums serve to preserve the cultural and natural heritage of the country, and provide important and unique resources for scientific research as technology advances. Further, they provide opportunities for locals and tourists to learn about the natural and cultural history of Kenya.

Before leaving the park, we had a short visit to the Snake Park home to over 30 native species of reptiles. A tour guide kindly let us handle a non-venomous female Kenyan sand boa. Sand boas have a short bullet-shaped head, creamy white underbelly and rusty orange backs with dark brown splotches. She had just finished a delicious mouse and we could feel her muscles as she slithered across our hands. This was the end to a beautiful day and we can’t wait to see what is in store for tomorrow!

Click on images to get larger versions

Jambo!

Today was our second day in Kenya. After a delicious breakfast at Kolping Guest House we travelled to the University of Nairobi campus in the magic safari bus. On our way there we managed to see two giraffes on the side of the road. This mix of urbanization and wildlife is one of the things that makes Nairobi unique. In fact the Nairobi National Park is the only National Park in the world which is surrounded by a city. When we arrived at the University we were greeted by Shem a third-year student at UoN majoring in geography and tourism. With Shem we toured the geography and environmental studies building and had the opportunity to see a typical lecture hall (see cute photo below). We were then introduced to Dr. Francis Mwaura a geography professor and Dr. Boniface Wambua the chairman for the department of geography and environmental science. We were given a lecture by Francis on the biological history of Kenya. We learned many interesting facts about the country that we were not aware of before. Kenya has 5 distinct ecosystems (coastal, rift valley, lake, highland and lowland dryland). This Eastern African country is one of the world’s mega-biodiverse regions which contains 5 biodiversity hotspots. Kenya is home to 30,000 known species, dominated by plants and insects, and has a species density of 60-80 species/km^2. Francis also informed us of Kenya’s many endemic species one of which included the Sokoke Scops Owl. This species is a great example of the many conservation challenges in Kenya, as owls are seen as a bad omen among many tribes. Owls are thought to bring death to a community and some villagers may go as far as cutting down the trees they were perched upon in order to scare them away. This makes any effort to protect this species more difficult.

We also learned a lot about the dynamics of UoN. We were surprised that the school has three times more students than Queen’s, and an equal gender enrolment ratio. These facts were interesting to us as we had preconceived ideas of education being inaccessible in African countries especially to women. As we continue to see more of the country, and meet more Kenyan people, it becomes clear that many of the pernicious stereotypes the western world has about Eastern Africa are not always true.

After our informative meeting and some group pictures, we walked to the UofN Biology campus with Shem, Charles, Jerimiah, Andy, Moses and a few other local students. We got to go inside the department of Biology building where we met Odongo, who is in charge of all of the biology labs. We were able to visit two labs, including the animal physiology lab and an immunology lab. It was really neat to compare these to our labs back in Canada and realize how fortunate we are with our new technologies. We were also fortunate to meet with Robert Chira, the head of the Biology department, who explained to us his area of interest and his research on elephants. This was a really great experience to network and strengthen the bond between Kenya and Canada.

Next we embarked on a walking tour of downtown Nairobi, where we were able to browse the local shops, and take in the Kenyan culture. We noticed that there was a lot of city traffic on this mid-afternoon walk, but it didn’t detract from the beautiful views of the greenspaces, like City Park, which surround many of the major roads. Our tour then culminated with a visit to the statue of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, who coined the term “Harambee,” meaning “walk together,” which is very fitting of the friendly atmosphere we’ve experienced so far in Nairobi.

Our day ended with a bus ride, a beautiful rainbow, and as we are unable to entertain ourselves with wifi, some team bonding through wholesome conversation (ie. Is death by heat or cold worse? Why do all boys love Fast and Furious? Will there be showers at the campsite? Are we still going to the elephant orphanage??). Overall Day 2 was great and we can’t wait for tomorrow!

-The Room Geckos (Danya, Chloe and Hannah)

Click on photos to see larger images

Our first day on the Biodiversity in East Africa field course began at 5:30am. After a hearty and tasty breakfast supplied by Bunduz staff we left for Nairobi National Park, the oldest national park in Kenya (established 1946). Our activity for the day was a safari game drive, where we had our first encounter with wildlife in Africa. Although the day was gloomy and overcast, we were overwhelmed with excitement for the animals we were about to encounter. When we first entered the park we were surrounded by lush forest, which gradually became a savannah grassland ecosystem, teeming with buffalo and antelopes. Students were busy taking pictures and looking through their binoculars at the vast array of avian life, including ostriches, starlings, oxpeckers, widowbirds, grey herons, blue-headed coucals, hammercops, sacred ibis, African spoon-bill, and secretary birds.

Little did we know that the second part of our journey took a dark turn. Kenya is experiencing an extended wet season currently, creating rough and muddy terrain on the park roads. The bumpy ride was at first exciting and fun, but soon lead to frustration as all of our vehicles became successively stuck in the mud.  All hands on deck were needed at this point to get us out of this muddy situation – lots of pushing and digging. Two hours later, with mud spewing everywhere, we all grouped together to eventually help push out all 3 vehicles. Freedom at last.

The silver lining of being stuck for hours in the national park is that we were able to explore Kenya’s biodiversity outside the confines of the truck – albeit staying right beside. We discovered insects of all shapes and colours, including stick bugs, katydids, albino ladybugs, beautifully-hued butterflies, and brightly-decorated caterpillars. The flora was so different from anything that we’d seen in Canada, fueling our curiosity for learning more about biodiversity in Kenya. It’s only been the first day and we have already had an unintentional bonding experience, in which we learned to work together and communicate as a team. Though some small risks are involved and unexpected situations arise that are out of our control, field courses offer the advantage of learning different skill sets that we might not gain using traditional platforms of education. Plus, after we freed ourselves from the mud we got the chance to see giraffes and baboons on our way out of the park!

After the game drive, Carol Muriuki, who works for the National Environment Management Association and is assisting us with this field course, took us to talk with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). KWS gave us a presentation to educate us on how they aim to conserve wildlife in Kenya, which was followed by a presentation by personnel associated with the Nairobi Animal Orphanage. We learned that the animal adoption orphanage takes in sick, injured, abandoned, and orphaned animals that would otherwise not stand survive in the wild. We had the opportunity to visit the orphanage, which was filled with warthogs, cheetahs, leopards, lions, hyenas, guinea fowl, African crowned crane, and a lesser spotted-nose monkey. It is truly impressive the sheer number of animals that we’ve seen and it’s only day one!

Overall, today was a great start to our journey!

Click on the photos to see larger images.

We all assembled at Pearson International Airport at around 7:00 pm local time, endured the vagaries of the automated check-in machines, and made our way through security. After reaching our gate, folks dispersed to get snacks and coffee. We had an uneventful 7 hour flight to Amsterdam, arriving 50 minutes early! Interestingly they brought our Toronto plane into the gate that was immediately best to the flight to depart for Nairobi – the an easy connection, and then another 7 hour flight to Nairobi. We arrived at about 10:00 pm, and after we made our way through customs were met by Mukhtar of Bunduz Outfitters – a relatively short truck ride later and we settled into Kolping Guest House and its pleasant grounds.