Seafood, 24/7 Betsy, Tuk tuks and other plans!

Another week, another update!

Last week we left the mainland for the day in search of a little Island called, Wasini. Wasini Island is an extremely small Island which is only 5 square kilometres, situated a few hundred metres from Shimoni which is a is a port in south eastern Kenya near to the border with Tanzania! So, off we sailed to the little Island by a traditional arabian dhow boat! 

We were firstly greeted by the friendly Charlie claw crew, who kept us topped up with tea and the tastiest Kenyan coffee we have come accross so far, as well as lots of fresh fruit! 

Though it looked seemingly calm out at sea, the hour and a half ride to the spot where we would begin our snorkeling adventure was not as smooth as expected- sea legs were required! 

On route to the snorkeling site we were lucky enough to spot some dolphins diving and swimming amongst the waves- amazing! 

Snorkeling max!

Once we arrived at our snorkeling spot, the sea was calmer and looked more inviting. Max took to it straight away, and was one of the first people to leave the boat! I on the other hand was quite hesitant and found it abit strange swimming with the flippers and adapting to breathing through the snorkel tube, so In the end I removed the flippers and the snorkel and just stuck with the goggles...not quite snorkeling but it worked for me! We managed to see lots of different types of tropical fish, particulaly parrot fish, amongst the unspoilt coral reef :-)

After a couple of hours of snorkeling around the reef, the dhow boat took us to Wasini Island for a seafood lunch! The restaurant is the only one on the Island open to tourists, which is owned by the company we went with (http://www.wasini.com/). The food was great and they didn’t hold back on the portions either, so after feasting on endless amounts of crab, fish and Kenyan side dishes we lazed in the lagoon style pool until it was time to head back to mainland. 

Charlie Claw's restaurant seafood feast, yum yum!

A great day out which is definitely worth doing if you’re near the south coast of Kenya and a good company to go with too as Charlie claws practice sustainable eco tourism.

A pretty view of the sea from Wasini island

Chameleon we found relaxing by the lagoon at Wasini Island

On friday, the colobus trust's manager left Kenya for a well earned break back to the UK, leaving me and max responsible for the care, 24 hour care that is, of Betsy the cheekiest but cutest colobus in Diani :-) 

The week leading up to their leave involved lots of running over Betsy's routine. Although we spend the whole working day (8am-5pm) at the trust with Betsy, and the occasional evenings when we have babysat, there was still alot of other day to day information we needed to take into account. Such as what her morning routine is and what not to feed her (pretty much everything other than wild leaves, the occasional itsy bitsy piece of banana and small portion on sweet potatoe) as well as lists of people to contact if, god forbid, she took a bad turn and needed specialist assistance.

So far it has gone rather smoothly, apart from the initial crying (without the tears!) when her mum and dad got the taxi to the airport, Betsy has been somewhat behaved. So far we have taken her into the trust each day, as this are familiar surroundings for her, with familiar people too, which will make everything seem more "normal" for her, and therefore less stressful whilst her "parents" are away. She has been spending more and more time high up in the trees foraging and eating leaves, which is great, as this is exactly what a colobus of her age should be doing, but this also does involve alot of standing around for us...but for the right reasons, as it shows that the rehabilitation process is going to plan! and because a large percentage of her diet (80-90%) is now wild leaves, it also means she has become that little bit lazier and relaxed, as to digest all these leaves she requires alot more rest and sleep- it’s tough life being a colobus monkey you know!

Finger sucking Betsy

Max has also had to get to grips with learning how to drive the tuk tuk, which is pretty much a 3 wheeled scooter with a roof! We use it to get to and from the trust, on the very bumpy and gravelly roads, with me and Betsy squeezed on the back seat...it’s different to the usual car and the crumple zone is your face!!

The colobus trust tuk tuk :-)

A large proportion of the volunteers (3 out of 7!) left the trust this week, and with another volunteer leaving next week, and with no more arriving until the manager has returned in 3 weeks time means the trust is very quiet at the moment! But still there is lots of monkey related work and research to be done!

As well as this travel blog, I have also been participating to the collection of colobus trust's blogs and produced a blog about my volunteer experience at the trust with Betsy, the "Betsy blog". It has been published on the wildlife direct's website, which is an American and Kenyan registered charitable organization that provides support to conservationists throughout Africa! So, if you google Abi Walker, I should come up 6th on the Google list- that makes me nearly famous right!? Take a look... http://colobus.wildlifedirect.org/2012/01/16/my-volunteer-experience-at-the-colobus-trust-with-baby-betsy-abi-walker/

Max and I are hoping to do more voluntary work when we arrive in Australia next month. We are currently in touch with a stud farm who specialise in breeding and training Australian warm blooded horses, in Mt. Helena, Perth. Here we will be undertaking the general day to day care of the horses, as well as assisting in training, exercise and grooming for the shows! We plan to start work here during the first week of March, after we have adapted to our transition from Africa to Australia :-)

We now just a little under 4 weeks left in Kenya, with 3 of those weeks being the sole carers of Betsy, we look forward to spending our last week doing something you can't leave Kenya without doing...A Safari! We finally got round to booking a 3 day Safari, which will be spent in Tsavo east and west national park- Can't wait!

The latest arrival to the local baboon troop!

Already 12 days into 2012...

Happy new year!!

Christmas came by and passed so quickly, as it always does I suppose! Christmas in Diani was very hot, very humid but also very relaxed! Christmas back home can often get quite hectic and stressful, so it made a nice change to take it easy and enjoy the day with the rest of the volunteers , along with the managers at Luciana’s (one of the founding members of the trust) lovely beach house :-)

Preparing the captive monkeys christmas feed!

One of the captive vervet enjoying christmas lunch!

 

Betsy didn’t join us for the Christmas meal, which was a mixture of Italian treats, fresh fish, and lots of tasty veg, as she may of attempted to feast on all the festive food before we had the chance to...and it’s probably wise that a colobus monkey doesn’t eat panatone cake or cauliflower cheese! Though we was joined by Luciana’s suini antelope, which are the smallest species of antelope, and her two dogs Lycka and Tatum!

Suni the suini antelope trying to steal some christmas dinner!

Following Christmas, during the week running up to new years eve, Betsy, the colobus monkey in our care took a bad turn and was rushed to the local hospital for x-rays. She caused a great amount of worry amongst everyone at the trust, especially as x-rays were not able to confirm what was causing her discomfort.

Her stomach was severely bloated, and she was extremely lethargic and disorientated...which is not really normal behavior for any colobus monkey, especially the usually mischievous little Betsy! After the hospital were not able to assist with Betsy’s condition, it was decided that Betsy would be driven the 35 km journey from Diani to Mombasa to see a reputable vet whom was luckily in Kenya at the time of need as he is known to be one of the top wildlife vets in East Africa.

Meanwhile back at the trust ourselves and the other volunteers continued to worry, thinking that she would have to be put under aneasthetic and operated on, which is a great risk to colobus monkeys as they are so sensitive! Bloat is quite a common digestive disorder which occurs in ruminants. Unlike other primate species the colobus have a digestive system very similar to that of a ruminant species such as a cow or sheep. As the risk of operating on Betsy was so high, the vet recommended that we tried Betsy on coal tablets, to help aid her digestion and get rid of any nasty toxins in her gut. So after drinking a sloppy drink of coal mixed with water, over the course of a few days her bloat reduced and she started to turn back to her normal, cheeky and energetic self! We knew all was well when in the morning she greeted me and max with a big hug and then a slap on the head, as she then proceeded to pull down the remaining Christmas decorations!

 

New years eve was partly spent at a local Kenyan restaurant witnessing Max and two of the colobus crew, Osher and Tony feasting on the all you can eat meat barbeque like modern day cavemen, whilst I gorged on salad...the best salad in Kenya, possibly even in East Africa!? We then spent the rest of the evening monkey sitting. Luckily by new years eve Betsy was finally getting back to full health, so she was able to enter 2012 a healthy little colobus! Meanwhile I seemed to be taking an opposite turn! Which meant a very sober new years eve, but equaled no hangover on new year’s day :-)

New years day was spent relaxing on the beach, having drinks with the other staff and volunteers, and having a spontaneous camel ride on the beach courtesy of the colobus trust’s vet Gabriel! Being used to riding horses we didn’t think a camel ride would be too different! You have to climb on the camel whilst it is sat on the floor, and as the camel stands up you jolt forward nearly tipping over its neck and then backwards nearly toppling down its back! It was a random, but amusing experience...

New years day camel ride on the beach...

After not feeling much better later in the week, Max suggested I should take a trip to the hospital (the same hospital Betsy had earlier had her x-rays!). 3 hours later after being prodded and poked lots by the doctor, having what seemed like a large amount of blood taken from my arm, and declining the doctors order that I should be hooked up to an IV drip (eeek!) and an overnight stay for observations, I left the hospital with a much lighter purse and a week’s supply of antibiotics and probiotic! Finally after a week of being on the meds I am finally starting to feel healthy again- hurray for Abi and Betsy!

And what a better way to celebrate the new year, then with a much deserved shopping spree! When it comes to shopping in Mombasa you can have a near to hassle free time and pay +100% of the actual price, OR, you can be brave, put your haggling hat on and barter and negotiate a price that suits you more, and still allows the shop keeper to make some sort of profit (though perhaps not the 100% they get away with adding with most tourists!). We also found out if you want a real bargain, then you also have to be adventurous, leave your comfort zone and venture away from the main high street and touristy markets and brave the back alleys of this chaotic yet charming city and head to where the locals shop! After trawling the high street stalls and getting slightly lost we came across a small yet busy market, down some random little alleys. Single file we traipsed through the market and discovered endless fabric stalls, handicrafts and traditional dressmakers- it was like another world... After an hour of discovering this hidden market we were laden with lots of fabric- Kikois, khangas, kitenge and katenga!. These are traditional kenyan fabrics which are most often used to make dresses, shirts, shorts, suits, cushion covers, bed spreads, bags- anything really, you ask the local tailor to make it and they will...at a small charge of course! By the end of the day we had more than what we came for and more- a very successful shopping trip indeed!

Taking a well deserved break from shopping in a local cafe!

It is still hard to believe that we have been in Kenya almost 2 months now, time really has flown, it only seems a moment ago we was frantically packing and unpacking then repacking our backpacks! 

The manager returns to England this week for almost a month, which means that Max and I will be the sole carers of Betsy- a 24/7 job, 7 days a week, for 3.5 weeks! So fingers crossed it all goes well...as during this time we don’t expect to get much freedom. In fact to “celebrate” our last day of freedom before we take on this role we are visiting a nearby Island just off the coast called, Wasini. Here we will spend the day taking it easy, visiting a marine park for snorkeling and dolphin spotting, exploring the area, trying lots of seafood and experiencing the local communities that live on this remote Island. But we are still looking forward to the following weeks with Betsy, it will definitely be an experience, and we get to stay in a Kenyan style Makuti house!  We have promised to keep the manager updated daily via skype or phone about Betsy (and Badabing, the jack russel will also be in our care too whilst we are staying at their house!).

A now healthy Betsy, enjoying a stolen apple core!

Until next time! Asante sana!