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COLOBUS TRUST NEWS ARCHIVE
News Archive 2005-2006

COLOBUS COTTAGE

FOR SALE

Not being able to communicate via our website has been very frustrating for us over the last few months, particularly because of wanting to spread the news about the imminent sale of the Colobus Cottage plot.  We hope that most of our supporters will have heard the news from the appeal emails that we sent out in August.  A description of what has happened and the latest news about the sale is as follows:

The Colobus Trust has been based at our current location, Colobus Cottage, for the past 9 years.  We have invested a great deal into development of our facilities here, and now have an office, volunteer accommodation, visitors centre, shop, tree nursery, native tree plantation, vet clinic, quarantine & rehabilitation cages, not to mention our nature trail that runs through the fantastic coastal forest that accounts for approx. 80% of the 3.9 hectare plot.  Lastly, and most importantly, this plot is home to a troop of colobus monkeys, troops of Sykes monkeys, vervet monkeys & yellow baboons, and myriad species that share the forest with them.

Earlier this year the plot was put up for sale by the landowners, at an asking price of KSh 36,400,000 (GBP 280,000).  Since the announcement of the sale we have been running an appeal to raise the money to buy the plot, but have not managed to raise the amount needed.  Recently a private buyer put in a bid for the plot which has been accepted by the sellers.  Currently we are waiting for confirmation of the sale from the solicitors.  If the sale is confirmed, we will have to move out.  However, ........ 

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Can you give a donation, large or small, to help us 
raise the money to try to buy the plot?

If you have the means, can you purchase the plot for us, 
or lend us the money to buy it?

In the event that we are forced to move, can you give us a donation to help us move?

Please contact Jophie Clark if you can help in any way.  Thank you.

Email: jophie@colobustrust.org

 

H20 Extreme Kite Surfing and Wind Surfing Competition and Hawaiian Beach Party
Friday 29th December 2006
Diani Beach

 

We would like to say a huge thank you to everybody who helped with the kite surfing competition. It was a hugely successful day for The Colobus Trust even if the wind let the kite surfers down! With the raffle during the day which had so many fantastic prizes on offer thanks to all the generous local businesses who donated them, and the great beach party held by 40 Thieves in the evening we managed to raise a massive 92000KSH!! This is a fantastic boost to the Trust and will be used to continue the Colobus Trusts work to save the beautiful endangered Angolan Black and White Colobus monkey. 

Beach Clean up a huge success!

Plastic bags, flip-flops, bottles, cigarettes, Styrofoam, syringes, lighters, old fishing nets…these are just a few of the items removed from Diani Beaches in July in a massive clean up organised by the Colobus Trust and Camp Kenya. Over 200 international volunteers from Camp Kenya and the Colobus Trust along with children from Logitec, Manuel Alexander, Mwakigwena and Magutu primary schools and local residents from Southern Palms Resort participated in the two-day event to remove litter from the entire Diani coast resulting in the removal of 200 bags of litter, which was kindly disposed of by Alliance Hotels. 

Volunteers separated out flip-flops to donate to the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).  These will be combined with flip-flops from other beach clean ups organised throughout East Coast Africa to construct a giant whale sculpture. The sculpture is being constructed by local artists in Nairobi before being shipped to Britain where it will be used to raise awareness of marine issues. Proceeds collected from donations and the eventual auctioning of the sculpture will go towards supporting coastal community projects in East Africa.

Ingestion and entanglement with marine litter is a major cause of death in whales, dolphins, sea birds, sea turtles, fish and other marine life.  Items such as floating plastic bags are mistaken as jellyfish and ingested by sea turtles, causing suffocation and starvation. Seabirds often eat plastic bottle caps found in the water, causing them to feel full and starve to death.  In addition to killing sea life, marine litter causes beaches to become an eyesore having a detrimental effect on tourism.

The days were hugely enjoyed by the volunteers and children alike and ended in football matches between the Trust staff and volunteers and the school children it is a shame to report the school children showed the Trust team up in major style beating them 4-1!
Thank you to everyone who participated in the clean-up!

Animal Welfare News Archive 2004
20 Sep BTCV Conservation Holidays - www.btcv.org.uk - Project Complete
6 Team members completed a detailed 3 week survey of the Colobridges, and also had a great time doing it!
20 Sep

Re-habilitation cages upgraded and overhauled
Through the continued support of our partners we have been able to improve the hygiene and security of our main re-habilitation cage.
10 Sep

Colobus Update August 2004: Special Edition on Monkey Pest Management
The latest edition of the bi-annual newsletter focuses on managing problems of Monkeys as pests. Get back copies of the update here.
15 Apr De-Snaring Results
Some photos from the recent de-snaring day where 11 members of Youth for Conservation worked with Trust coordinators to clear four forests of illegal animal snares.
10 Apr

Six Vervets Start Relocation Programme -
Six vervets provided by Diani resident Sharon Forbes and the KSPCA were transferred to The Trust on Saturday for a programme of rehabilitation and eventual release into the wild.
07 Apr Fighting Sykes
Although not the Trust policy to intervene in natural primate fighting injuries, we recently responded to an emergency call on a seriously injured Sykes monkey on her property.
07 Apr Tazama! Crew Films Trust
Aleks and the Tazama! documentary crew from Nairobi visited the Trust on Wednesday to film the Sykes release and work on the new colobridge.
06 Apr Michaela's Wild Challenge
The 22nd Colobridge is up thanks to help from UK television personality Michaela Strachan.  Check back as we monitor how long it takes before the troops use it.
03 Apr Colobus Electrocution
A three-day process of medical treatment and care for a sub-adult male Colobus ends in another unfortunate electrocution death.
03 Apr Sea Turtle Makes it Home!
An adult sea turtle laying eggs during the night on the beach in front of the Trust was struggling to return to sea early Saturday morning after facing a severe low tide.
01 Apr Baboon-Proof Garbage
The Colobus Trust actively works with local hotels on pest management and best practices for garbage management.  See our latest development - the Baboon-Proof Garbage Cage!
29 Mar Colobridge Pole Goes Up!
The Trust erects the newest colobridge pole on Diani Beach Road near Intra Safaris and Warrandale Cottages.  This is our 22nd colobridge and will alleviate a major Colobus road crossing hazard.
22 Mar A Rapid Appraisal of the Baboon Vasectomy Project 1999-2000
A brief summary and overview of The Trust's 1999-2000 baboon vasectomy programme, including photos, charts, graphs and results.
19 Mar Colobus Emergency Action
After bringing in a female adult Colobus with major torso distension, she was closely monitored and after two days of regular diet and antibiotics, she was released to her home troop.
01 Mar New Colobus Update Online
Learn about Diani's bushbabies, The Trust's latest animal welfare statistics, the new Diani baboon census and the upcoming International Coastal Clean-Up campaign.
28 Feb Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation of Colobine Monkeys
One of the major symposia at the International Primatology Society IPS2004 Conference in Torino, Italy, 22-28 August 2004.
05 Feb Strange Fungal Growth on Colobus
The feet, hands and bottom of an adult male  Colobus were covered in a strange growth.  Colobus Trust had only three days to help it.
02 Feb Abandoned Bushbaby Struggles Against Dehydration
Abandoned baby bushbaby comes in severely dehydrated.  South African vets try to save him.
02 Feb Colobus Trust Showcases its Leading Primate Eco-tour to Kenyan's Top Travel Agents
Fifteen Kenyan travel agents are introduced to the only Primate Eco-tour in Kenya!
07 Jan Double Electrocution of Colobus - One Survives
A troop of Colobus were hard hit when an adult and juvenile male were electrocuted together.  Luckily, the juvenile survived.
Animal Welfare News Archive 2003
03 Dec Sykes Adult Female Found Paralyzed
Amazing recovery of the legs after six weeks of rehabilitation.
18 Nov Presentation of Forest Survey Results
Survey results are in for three forests documenting human disturbance.  Volunteer Olivia Preston presented her maps to the Coastal Forest Conservation Unit.
17 Nov Trust lets Nature Take Its Course
An adult female baboon went missing leaving behind a four month infant.  Even though several calls came in reporting the incident, The Trust left the infant to be cared for by an older sibling.
05 Nov Male juvenile Vervet Released Successfully
A young vervet was confiscated by KWS and flown to Diani by the Parazzi family in their plane.  The juvenile was released into a wild troop and integrated well.
25 Oct Undiagnosed Tremors in Female Colobus
With tremors and skin sloughing off the hands and feet, a female Colobus was kept in quarantine for four days.  Although no explanation for the symptoms was found, the antibiotics, steroids, vitamin B and rest improved her condition.
24 Oct Infant Baboon Killed by Adult Males During Reintroduction
The last chapter of the rehabilitation story of the infant baboon from Lamu.
17 Oct Painted Vervet Shaved and Released
Painted red to the skin, the hair on most of its body was shaved.  The release back into her home troop was done as soon as it recovered from the anesthetic.
26 Sep Injured Vervet is Released
 The male vervet whose leg we pinned after a severe leg fracture is released .
22 Sep Finding Vervets
 A follow up of our 5-member vervet troop in Shimba Hills including profiles of the vervets.
15 Sep Lamu Baboon Gets Ear Tag
The baby baboon rescued from Lamu is ready for release and to enable proper tracking she has a yellow ear tag in her right ear - a new method developed by The Trust.
Aug Shimba Hills Vervet Release
With partner Kerstin Handelman, five young vervets were released on the 27th into Shimba Hills National Park after a three week re-habitation programme.
Aug Infant Female Baboon Rescue on Lamu Island
On Sunday and Monday of last week, Trust volunteer Dan Armstrong travelled to Lamu on the 24th and 25th to the north coast of Kenya to retrieve an infant yellow baboon.
Aug Terrapin and Tortoise Release
Last week, three days apart, we had to release two creatures not very related to monkeys – a terrapin and a tortoise.
Aug Diani Road Traffic Accident Kills Two Colobus
Early Saturday morning, The Trust was called to Diani Beach Road to pick up a 6 month old juvenile Colobus killed by a Matatu (local taxi-bus) driver and investigate a second incident involving an adult female hit by the same vehicle.  The mother died en route to the Trust's vet clinic.
28 Jul Tragedy
On Monday at about 10:30am we had to pick up a dead Colobus.  It had climbed up the pylons onto the transformer where it got electrocuted.
Jul Lucky Male Vervet Gets X-ray at Diani Beach Hospital + Pin Surgery
A vervet male was trapped in north Diani by a local resident and was taken to the hospital for X-rays to determine the exact extent of the fracture in the left leg.
Jul The Trust Responds to Beached Dolphin Emergency
After a call late Tuesday evening of a beached dolphin north of the Colobus Cottage, we responded with 2 teams to aid in getting the dolphin back into the water.  A group of local folks had successfully helped the dolphin a number of times to head back beyond the reef after being seemingly stung by jellyfish and stunned.
Jun Young Male Baboon and Female Vervet Rescue
Working with the KSPCA, we took in a vervet and a baboon that were kept illegally in captivity for sale or trade.
Mar-Jun Snare Mania
From a total of 6 snare victims, we captured 5 and removed their snares, returning them to their respective home ranges.  One sadly disappeared after the first sighting.  Of these snare victims, 3 were sykes and 3 were vervets.
24-27 Jun Hardy Bushbaby
For 4 days we nursed a bushbaby that had been found injured on the side of the road. It was unwell and its hind limbs were paralysed.  Sadly, it finally succumbed.
19 Apr De-snaring by Youth for Conservation
The Youth for Conservation group from Nairobi specialising in desnaring came to The Trust to sweep the Diani forests, removedand de-activate a number of snares.
Mar-Apr Green Turtles
In March and April, three dead Green turtles were washed up onto the beach.
27 Jan Leadership Woes
The Trust trapped and treated a male sykes from one of the local troops. One eye was very swollen and the other was half shut, threatening the defence of his position as a dominant male.  The sykes was treated at our vet clinic and 2 days later recovered and was reintroduced into his troop.  He is still the alpha male of his troop to date.
14 Jan Motherly Instincts
After a female vervet with a baby was attacked and killed by dogs, we introduced her infant to our resident vervet troop, and an adult female who already had her own infant adopted it immediately.  Both babies are doing well.
Animal Welfare News Archive 2002
31 Dec Baby Colobus
A baby Colobus fell from a tree at a Diani hotel in the night and was picked up by the hotel staff.  We located it and presented the infant to the local troop; it was picked up by one troop member, perhaps the mother.
21 Dec Illegal Vervet Sale
KSPCA called the Trust to report that some street boys had been seen surrounding a lone vervet monkey and asked us to intervene. By the time we got there, the group and monkeys were gone. Investigation revealed that the monkey was owned by a street family, who intend to sell it to any interested party. The owners refused to release it unless they were paid for it. The case had to be referred to the KWS for follow-up as they are the only ones who have the authority to confiscate such animals. Unfortunately, knowing that we would be back, this family quickly moved out of their house and were never found.
16 Dec Sykes Release
A sykes monkey that had been knocked by a hit-and-run driver near the Colobus Cottage entrance is released back to its troop after a  two week recovery period at the Trust.
09 Nov Sykes Release
A sykes monkey was hit by a car while attempting to cross the road. Its eyes were injured and it could not see. After 13 days, it was well enough to return to its troop.
29 Nov Colobus Electrocution
A colobus was electrocuted when it jumped onto a 240V wire.  Luckily, it only sustained burns on the hands, but this made it quite difficult for it to climb and feed.  However, we did not take it for treatment as colobus monkeys are very delicate and can die of stress and trauma when captured, taken away from their troop and held.  We observed it for several days, and it recovered.
Jul-Aug Vervet Release
In line with this, The Trust released 2 rehabilitated male vervet monkeys. One, a former pet, was released into the Longo-Magandi Forest and the other, which had been injured, was released into Makadara Forest, both within Shimba Hills.
09-12 May Back to Their Roots
We released to the Shimba Hills National Reserve a rehabilitated former pet vervet.
25 Feb Vervet Pet in Mombasa
A vervet monkey was abandoned on a veranda in Mombasa.  It was taken to KSPCA who then brought it to us.  It is well habituated and had most likely been a pet.
31 Jan Colobus Infanticide
The new male Colobus that was trying to join the Colobus Cottage troop after its alpha male died has been observed chasing a juvenile from the troop. The juvenile, while trying to run away misjudged the distance to a branch and fell to the ground. The male attacked and killed it. This was the second case of infanticide, as the new male had already killed another infant nine days earlier.  Infanticide, a widespread but rare behaviour, is adaptive as the female is brought into heat early through the killing of her dependent young.
23 Jan African Harrier Hawk Electrocution
An African Harrier Hawk was electrocuted by overhead electric cables damaging one wing. It was found by some tourists from the neighbouring hotel who brought it to The Trust.
Animal Welfare News Archive 2001
Jul-Sep Angolan Colobus Census
The Angolan Colobus census was successfully accomplished.  68 forest patches were surveyed and 309 troops and 41 solitary individuals counted including the monkeys in Diani forest. The survey teams consisted of both ecologists and primate enumerators.
Apr Colobus Release
The Trust was called in a tourist-related animal welfare case by a local Diani hotel plagued by an  ''over-active" Colobus and creating uncomfortable tourist interactions.  Although it took over a month to capture, it was successfully released in Shimba Hills National Park, where there are several successful Colobus troops.
Feb Haller Park Vervet Relocation
Sony and Tony (the habituated vervets that were being rehabilitated at The Trust) were released in Haller Park on 1st Feb 2001. One member of staff and a volunteer, monitored them after release for 10 days. This was conducted in collaboration with Sabine Baer, the Ecologist at Haller Park.
  deBrazza Monkey Follow-Up
After Sammy’s release In May, two field assistants went to Kitale to follow up on “Sammy” the DeBrazza monkey.  Sammy’s release is considered a success, and the resident warden confirmed seeing the monkey occasionally with the troop.
Jan Kikambala Baboon
A solitary male yellow baboon was reported in Kikambala (Kilifi District) posing danger to itself and residents.  The baboon was stalking in the village and leaving behind massive depredations (domestic fowl, crop raiding, kitchen raids and self imposition on private property).  The Trust conducted a field-follow of the baboon and advised the residents to avoid throwing stones at the baboon as they had done before with potentially disastrous results.  The field surveillance report recommended KWS action as the baboon was in danger of public rage, poisoning, persecution and dog attack.  Kikambala work was a milestone in the Trust's  ex situ work in human-wildlife conflict resolution.
Animal Welfare News Archive 2000
  Shimba Hills Vervet Monkey Release
5 male vervet monkeys confiscated from pet keepers were released at Makadara Forest in the Shimba Hills National Reserve. All 5 monkeys were held in the rehabilitation cage at The Trust for varying lengths of time before the release. Further monitoring shows that they have adopted well.
Aug Malewa Valley Colobus Survey (Naivasha)
In order to verify alarming reports that the colobus monkeys here were being poached and to verify the status of the colobus in the Malewa valley, as well as to assess the threats to the troops as a result of crop raiding and to interview farmers about their perceptions of the colobus guereza, a fact-finding team did sweep surveys and interviews.  Pestilence, habitat degradation, rampant poaching, use of snares and dog hunting were reported.  Compared to results of a survey conducted in 1999, it was revealed that local groups of colobus had been completely wiped out due to hunting pressure; in some cases the numbers reported in 1999 had reduced by half.
Jul deBrazza Monkey Release in Kitale
The Trust reintroduced a juvenile deBrazza’s monkey into the national park in Kitale, western Kenya after being rescued by the KWS when she was then six months old.
Feb Colobus Trust and WSPA Bring Colobridges to Zanzibar
The Trust's second trip to Zanzibar to help save the Zanzibar Red Colobus.
Animal Welfare News Archive 1999
Dec Colobus Trust and WSPA Bring Colobridges to Zanzibar
Funded by the WSPA and aided by the Kenyan Forestry Department, Trust Field Assistant Bakari Garise went to help replicate the success of the Diani colobridges to help save the Zanzibar Red Colobus.
  Malewa Valley Colobus Survey (Naivasha)
Initial colobus survey was done n the Malewa Valley as a part of the follow-up programme for the translocation of Colobus from Malewa to Soysambu in 1999.  The aim of the survey was to map the home ranges of the colobus and report the group sizes and compositions; it also aimed to record births and the dietary preferences.
 

WAKULUZU: FRIENDS OF THE COLOBUS TRUST
P.O. Box 5380, 80401 Diani Beach, Kenya
Tel/Fax: + 254 (0) 40 320 3519
Email: info@colobustrust.org