Monkey business in Diani!

Jambo! We have now been in Kenya for 2 weeks, it feels so long ago since we arrived in Mombasa. We have moved further south of Mombasa and are now situated in Diani until February. Diani is said to be a popular tourists spot, especially around this time of the year, but at the moment its very quiet on the tourist front! 

Diani beach

So in Diani we are both volunteering at the colobus trust, which is a specialised primate centre whose role it is to rescue, rehabilitate and release any sick or injured monkeys, and other native wildlife, as well as carry out scientific research and educate the local community. It's in a really nice setting too, in untouched coastal forest right by the beach! Our primary role whilst we are here is to be "rehabilitation and release coordinators", for one of the first hand raised angolan black and white colobus monkeys. The monkey is called Betsy, and she is coming up to 10 months old, and it is our duty to prepare her for her release into the wild! I'm sure its going to be an interesting challenge for the both of us, especially as this has never occurred with this species of colobus before :-)

Introducing Betsy to one of the local colobus troops

 

 

 

Betsy during one of her climbing sessions in the forest

On arriving at the trust we were greeted by even hotter and more humid weather than in Mombasa!! But after a week at the Trust we have (nearly) got used to being sweaty all day and not really caring... constantly dripping in sweat here is just the norm!

As well as working with betsy in the day and on occasion babysitting her at night, we have taken part in a wide range work activities! We have been de-snaring a local woodland, animal care of the rescued animals here and carrying out bridge surveys (counting how many monkeys use the bridge which pass over the main roads). 

We are now starting to settle in and in the coming week we will be starting a behavioural studies on two of the local Colobus troops.  

Handy Joe the resident vervet monkey!

On a more random note I [Max] have found that male to male handshakes are quite different here in Kenya compared to Sweden and the UK! It’s a mix of all sorts of low high and knuckle to knuckle. Interestingly when Abi shakes hand with someone there is nothing special going on just a straightforward handshake. This will have to be further investigated in the coming weeks...  

Diani beach sunrise :-)