MAIACETUS: August 2010

Villages of Shimoni and Mkwiro, visiting with bush
Babies at Stilts, Diani Beach and Fort Jesus and Haller Park, Mombasa

From May 2006 to February 2007 I worked for Global Vision International on their Marine Megafauna, Community and Forest project based in Shimoni Village and Wasini Island, Kenya. When I left Mkwiro village to return home and pursue my Masters degree in 2007 I hoped I would return to Mkwiro within a couple years. It turns out it took a little longer than I expected but I was very pleased to return and visit GVI's project and the communities of Mkwiro and Shimoni after my travels in Mozambique and Tanzania. In fact I stayed in the GVI 'house' (new since I was last there!) with the 'new' (to me!) staff and interns who graciously hosted me and upated me on the activities of GVI Kenya. I also visited with Shafii, a captain who I worked with when I was at GVI and he was still working on the project!

Unfortunately, there was a death in the village the day I arrived but, despite this, Shafii met up with me in Shimoni village and ran around to organize a boat to take me across to Mkwiro so I could see GVI's base, visit the school (with many many improvements!!!) and have lunch with his family. It was such a joy to see his children who were now getting so much bigger. They were fun to visit, making faces and goofing around while I took their photos and then showed them what they looked like on my camera. Zainabu, Shafii's wife made a delicious lunch of chapati's, fish, rice and tea and I had a great time catching up with them. The best part was Shafii's daughter, Sara, who was born when I lived in Mkwiro, wasn't afraid of Mzungus (foreigners) anymore...but, along with the other kids, had a laugh dragging one of the other, very young, boys kicking and screaming to see the scary Mzungu!

The jetty in Shimoni where the tourist boats and boats bringing other goods arrive and depart

Tourist boats waiting to take tourists snorkeling, diving and dolphin watching in Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Protected Area

Crossing the channel to Mkwiro Village, Wasini Island

The vessel next to the tourist boat seen in the picture above was conducting seismic surveys within and around the KMMPA; this was a very controversial activity and, although there were apparently MMOs onboard, I was very surprised this activity occurred within the boundaries of the marine protected area. Although I work as an MMO on similar vessels the majority of these surveys are conducted offshore and, although the offshore environment can be rich and diverse in some locations at some times, the KMMPA is an area rich in marine mammals, turtles and fish throughout the year and there is a possibility they could have been impacted by these activities which in turn could impact local fishermen and tourism operators. Here is an article about the potential impacts of seismic surveys especially in sensitive areas.

En route to Mkwiro

Ahhh...fond memories of poling in over the shelf to access the beach at Mkwiro!

Photos of local children including Shafii's kids...so much fun!

Captain Shafii starting the motor to head back to Shimoni after my short but sweet visit

Environmental message on a wall at the beach in Shimoni

From my short visit in Shimoni and Mkwiro I traveled about an hour north to Diani Beach, a popular tourist spot, and the place we usually visited for our weekends away from Wasini Island when I was staff on the GVI project. I decided to stay at our old stomping grounds Stilts Eco-camp (cool treehouses on stilts surrounded by forest full of monkeys and birds!) and went to Forty Thieves which is a lovely beach bar across the road. During my stay at Stilts I was lucky enough to enjoy the nightly visit and feeding of the resident bush babies, or lesser galago (Galago senegalensis), who visit Stilts to feed on bananas the staff put out every evening.

After three weeks of traveling in Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya it was time for my last stop in Mombasa before flying back to Canada. I spent the last couple days in Mombasa where I visited the historical site of Fort Jesus. The fort was built in 1593 to secure the safety of Portuguese living on the coast of East Africa and experienced a long history of hostilities, perhaps more than any other fort in Africa. The following photos show images various areas in the fort and views from the fort out to the Indian Ocean.

Typical Swahili door

Graffiti done by bored Portuguese soldiers at Fort Jesus

A l-o-o-o-n-g way down...to the bottom of this old well

How would you like to use this in-the-wall toilet?

Wandering the winding streets of Old Town Mombasa

In the Nyali Beach area, north of Mombasa, I decided to visit Haller Park, famous for Owen and Mzee, the young hippo who was washed out to sea and was separated from his hippo group during the Tsunami in 2004 and was adopted by an Aldabra tortoise when he was brought to Haller Park.

Another project we were involved with when I was working for GVI in 2006/07 was collecting flip flops ('Malapas' as they were locally called) during beach cleans with the local communities. It was amazing how many of these wash up on the beaches along the coast of Kenya but it was even more amazing how they are being recycled. One of the largest projects involving the re-use of these recycled flip flops was the creation of Mfalme, the minke whale who now resides at Haller Park. Yep, it's true this life sized whale was made out of recycled flip flops :)

Not sure if this is Mzee...there are many Aldabra tortoises residing and wandering around the grounds at Haller Park

The story of Mfalme the minke whale

Somebody must have considered it!!

Giraffe feeding time...keep back, there's lots of drool!

There he is...a big boy, Owen the hippo

Marine Mammal Observer and Passive Acoustic Monitor job, Mozambique, August 2010

After completing my contract as MMO on the Seajade survey with Natural Resources Canada (see previous post) there was a bit of time until I secured my next contract. I was fine with this though because we were moving into the most beautiful part of summer around Victoria and Vancouver Island. During this time I still managed to keep myself busy: I went out on a couple whale watching trips with Five Star Charters (who I worked with as a naturalist for many seasons) and saw our local resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) and a gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) on July 10th, 21st and 23rd, I went kayaking around Victoria Harbour with my good friend, Jacklyn, on July 16th and I visited my good friend Barb and her mom on Saltspring Island July 17th.

L41 a 33 year old male 'Resident' fish eating killer whale (Orcinus orca), July 10

Paddling under the dock at Ship Point in Victoria Harbour, July 16

Jacklyn and I saw this funky sea star with regeneration of what looks like a new sea star attached at the end of one of the legs!

Jacklyn - happily paddling!

And me, happily paddling :)

The awesome view of the Gulf Islands from Mount Maxwell on Saltspring Island, July 17

And another awesome view of the boats at anchor below, July 17

Following two photos: Myself, Barb and her mom taking in the sun on Mount Maxwell, Saltspring, July 17

Female 'Resident' fish eating killer whale (Orcinus orca) swimming towards us, July 21

Following two photos: A gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) was spending a lot of time off the Victoria waterfront and we had a chance to see this hungry critter feeding in the waters around Victoria, July 21

Oh and one of our lovely juvenile 'sprouting' male 'Resident' fish eating killer whales (Orcinus orca), July 23

...and a couple of females from his family traveling near Speiden Island, WA, July 23

Although I was enjoying the beautiful Vancouver Island summer I was also busy spending time securing my next contract. Initially, I was offered a contract with LGL off the east coast of Canada returning to the Harrier Explorer, which I worked on in the Gulf of Mexico this past winter, but that fell through because the Seajade survey was too soon before it. Instead, LGL decided to try to send me on a different job because they were afraid of possible delays with the first survey.

In the end I was offered a contract in Greenland with LGL and a contract in the Beaufort Sea with Stantec. I decided to take the contract with Stantec because it was supposed to be with my good friend and good MMO, Jacklyn Barrs. Also, when I was offered the position in Greenland I was asked if I would be comfortable 'being exposed to the Arctic elements for hours at a time'; the ship's bridge did not want the MMOs working inside! Of course, I took the option to work in the Beaufort Sea where I'd likely be warmer, with the opportunity to escape the elements occasionally on the bridge, and to work with an MMO I knew would do a good job!

So it was decided I would be headed to the Arctic...or so I thought! After spending a great amount of time preparing for this contract i.e. shopping for wool long underwear and socks and cold weather outerwear, we found out the contract had changed and only one of us was required.

In the end we were asked to decide which of us would go, a very difficult decision indeed! Fortunately, the day prior to hearing this I was asked about my availability to work a contract in Mozambique and, although I'd replied by email that I was unavailable that night, I immediately contacted the company in the UK and informed them that I would be interested in that position. Luckily my email had not been read yet and I was now to be headed to Mozambique! One minute I was purchasing clothing for work in the Arctic, the next minute I was purchasing suncream, hats and clothing to work off the southeast coast of Africa! Although I had been excited at the prospect of working in a new region in the Arctic I was also happy to be returning to Africa because I hadn't been back since I'd left Kenya in 2007.

Soon I was on the l-o-o-ong journey to Mozambique and five flights later, YYJ (Victoria) to YVR (Vancouver) to LHR (London-Heathrow) to JNB (Johannesburg) to MPM (Maputo) to POL (Pemba)!, I was on the Osprey Explorer in the port of Pemba, Mozambique. After meeting with the first pair of MMO/PAM operators for a handover and spending a couple of nights in port we were on our way out to the Petronas-Carigali survey site in the offshore waters of Mozambique. I was quite excited about this job but also a bit anxious because this was my first job in which I would deploying and bringing in the hydrophone gear. The PAM operators who were on before us had some difficulty with our hydrophone cable entangling with the ship's gear, due to the strong current in the Mozambique Channel, so we were anticipating this could be an issue for us as well.

In the end we were lucky and had no problems with entanglements during our relatively short, three week, rotation. In total there were 42 sightings and no acoustic detections over the course of the 2.5 month survey; the majority of the sightings during my rotation were humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) but other species included false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens), sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) and spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris). One of the most striking results of this survey was the amount of data collected on the number of humpback whales utilising the waters off Mozambique consisting of 90% of our sightings. It was very common to observe many blows on the horizon during our visual watches!

Following two photos: at the Yotel in London-Heathrow terminal 4 - a great place to refresh and catch up on sleep between flights en route to Mozambique

En route to Mozambique from Johannesburg, South Africa

The little airport at Pemba in Northern Mozambique

Traveling to the ship, the Osprey Explorer, which was anchored in the harbour off Pemba, Mozambique - can just spot it through the trees

Team MMO: Heather and Christy, the talented MMOs who started the job, and Ryan and I coming to finish the job

At the port where we stayed before departing to the survey site offshore of Mozambique

Night time view from my cabin in port, was trying to fall asleep but the jet lag (with a 10 hour time difference from Victoria!) kept me up so I snapped some photos

Alongside awaiting departure to the survey site with our chase boat

Local sailing dhow cruising past us

View of the Pemba shore from the ship

My cozy cabin on the Osprey; being the only woman on board I got my own cabin, lucky me!

Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) sighting during our survey

Following four photos: And sometimes the humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) swim a little closer to us...fortunately we weren't under production, i.e. no airguns were turned on, at this time

View on the deck by the bridge...the chair by the rail was my starboard side 'office' :)

The bridge of the Osprey Explorer

Fortunately the captain on the ship liked to have many plants on the bridge...actually not a very common thing to see!

View forward from the helideck of the Osprey Explorer

On our way back to shore - Ryan and I waiting for the FRC to launch and take us back to shore

After completing the survey I decided to stay on and see a bit of what Pemba has to offer. A view of some of the local homes.

I spent a few nights at the Pemba Dive and Bush Camp which was a lovely place with a very 'interesting' person running it, quite a character!

Following 7 photos: views around the Dive and Bush Camp

My accomodation...rustic but comfortable!

The view of the Osprey Explorer, post-survey and preparing to go to it's next site, from the Dive and Bush camp

Mangrove beaches at the dive and bush camp

Places to chill at the dive and bush camp - this was a great spot to hang out at night and watch the stars...especially since I'd come off night shift so was wide awake at 2 am!