So I left Nairobi on the 5th October to travel by overnight train to Mombasa. My friend Karl from the safari joined me Despite the train apparently having not change in 40 years (according to Karl's roomy) and the fact that my pack is so huge I got stuck in the corridor to my room on the way in, it was an enjoyable ride and I slept most of the way (which was only about 15 hours, not the expected 17 hours which was a nice surprise since I figured 17 hours more likely meant 24 hours by Kenyan standards). On the train my roomy was a girl called Emma and she was from Essendon in Melbourne.
So we got to Mombasa and I stayed for the day and visited Fort Jesus and the Old Town with Karl. Fort Jesus is an old Portuguese fort and I honestly can't remember the history since we didn't do the tour (because it seemed a bit overpriced for me who is not a history buff). But is was a beautiful old building and we decided to see it from the opposite side of the harbour and walked through the Old Town towards the bridge. The Old Town was pretty amazing to see with all the old Arab style buildings but there were lots of narrow alleys and streets and I felt very foreign and we got totally lost. It was great but we did get lost and hot and eventually after a day of walking before we got to the bridge, we caught a taxi the rest of the way for a pretty unspectacular view of Fort Jesus.
Then I came down to the Colobus Trust where I have remained a month. My two partners in crime are Neda and Tricia. Tricia's first response to my arrival was "well she can't move in here" (talking about the room I now live in). Anyway, quite fearful of Tricia, I moved in with Tori for a couple of weeks but in that time got to know Tricia well and also Neda who lives in the same room and they then invited me there so I am now rooming with them. We have an absolute ball of a time together and most of this is due to Tricia being so unwittingly funny. We are all three of us very different but share a common love of animals (although Neda's love is a bit more vocal) and a desire to make a difference as volunteers.
My time here started off on a bit of shaky ground. When I arrived I was told I couldn't work as a vet. Given they had no vet on the facility seemed ludicrous and luckily the general manager sought advice about the issue from the previous general manager and then allowed me to work in a veterinary capacity. Crazy I know!
So each day I work with the captive monkeys we have here which they wish to be prepared for release (yet they have been here two years and noone has done anything!). It has been upsetting on many levels but also amazingly rewarding since I am closely watching their behaviour while I introduce them all to each other. I have been doing this with my friend Neda and it is amazing how close we have become to these little guys and how much we know each of their little personalities as we stand and observe their interactions. The reason it is rewarding is that they were separated when we started here (5 together and the adult female alone and the adult males off by themselves, virtually alone since one adult male is particularly unsociable) and that is very hard for a monkey to cope with. But noone dared introduce the adults to the small group of juveniles and subadults since they were scared of the adults attacking. Luckily we have had the help of expert advice from Neda's friend Gerry and we have so far go 6 of the 9 as a troop (we have a new infant to introduce making the number up to 9 instead of the original 8). They seem to be are much happier. Due to the amount of observing, I can actually see and appreciate this. Today I got very excited because the adult female monkey (who had been isolated for killing another monkey) was grooming different monkeys for the whole half hour I was concentrating my monitoring on her. It was beautiful. Many of the monkeys are often scared of her but it was beautiful to see her able to socialise with them all in such a peaceful manner. When I first started observing these monkeys and had to figure out which was which I remember thinking to myself that it was going to be impossible to see a difference between some of them and how can I quickly note what any have done if I am to busy figuring out who it is?! But now I am so used to them I can recognise faces, mannerisms, postures which they all seem to have their own way of being. It is only as confirmation that I look at the features that I had noticed originally (usually their tail differences).
So that is the main job I have here, introducing these monkeys to each other so they can form a troop and therefore have more chance when released to the wild. I am very worried about their likelihood to survive in the wild and this does get me down a lot but for that reason I am working on a parallel project with Neda to try to get the Trust to tackle the pet monkey problem at its source. We'll see how we go but we have to try. I have already spoken to two board members and they are very positive about my thoughts and ideas and I plan to work on it further. There is much to be done but it now seems possible. I am now feeling more confident than I have before because we seem to be making progress and the trustees are making us promises. They promised us they won't take in anymore pet monkeys for "rehabilitation" because they realise they are very unlikely to succeed and will not unless they get the expertise to do so. They also understand that the monkey they currently have are not cared for adequately because there is noone on site with the knowledge and capacity to do it. As much as I care for the little guys, if the trust can't find better care for them or at least get in someone with the skills to advise on an adequate release (which they are unlikely to survive regardless), they really should be put to sleep. Heartbreaking but true.
The other thing I have done a bit of here is Colobridge building, but unfortunately haven't had the chance since I usually introduce a monkey on the day of bridge building (just works out that way for better monitoring of the monkeys). Basically these bridges are like ladders that go from tree to tree across a road as a way to encourage the monkeys to not go on the road. And they work and it is great to see the monkeys using the bridges, so it is really satisfying putting them up and knowing that it is helping. Also it is FUN! I get to climb trees like a kid again. And I climb through the branches like a monkey in some trees. It's fab.
Other than that I basically dive every weekend. It's been wonderful to be able to dive every free day. And it is really good diving here. Unfortunately no night diving because they can get some nasty currents but some amazing day dives and it is whale shark season so fingers crossed. So many sea turtles I'm actually surprised when I do a dive where I don't see a turtle. And I seem to be able to spot heaps of stuff nowadays. Hoping I notice the whale shark but I'm guessing as long as I keep looking up it should be fairly obvious. All dives are a bit over an hour. Policy is they are meant to be an hour or less but things move pretty pole pole (slowly) in Kenyan and some dives seem to go over 70 minutes.
The biggest news of the blog is that my niece was born 2 days ago. She and her mother are healthy and so far I don't know of a name but apparently my brother Lachlan wasn't leaving the hospital until they'd decided on one. I hope they have because I heard that at 6pm their time and it is now 6:15am their time. But I am yet to find out what it is.
Anyway, all is generally good. Getting used to different foods too - banana type food that tastes like sweet potatoes and is made cooked in a sauce and oranges over here are not orange, they are green. Unfortunately they have galaxy chocolate and also coke comes in a glass bottle so I am going to be ten tonne tessie before I leave Africa. We'll see.
I leave here on the 10th December and will be spending 10 days in Lamu on the north coast of Kenya with my friend Neda before heading to Pemba and Zanzibar and wherever else I may go before the money runs out!
