The Swahili Coast

Hello from the Coast province! We have been here at the Mwamba Bird Observatory & Field Station/A Rocha Kenya for about ten days now – everyone is working hard on their independent research projects while also learning about the myriad environmental and social issues pertaining to sustainability here on the coast. After passing through Mombasa for a quick overnight visit, we headed north a few hours to our current location. Our days have been filled with group and individual activities – including two days spent catching birds and insects in the nearby Arabuko-Sokoke Forest reserve (the largest last remnant of a much larger coastal forest stretching from Ethiopia to Mozambique, and home to more than half a dozen endangered bird species), visits to the Gede Ruins monument (once a thriving Swahili community in the 1500s) and the local Bio-Ken Snake farm, and engaging in various activities with Watamu Turtle Watch, a conservation group sponsored by the Local Ocean Trust that focuses on rehabilitation of injured/sick sea turtles as well as releasing turtles caught in fishing nets back to the sea. We’ve also been taking advantage of our proximity to the Indian Ocean – swimming, snorkeling, and walking on the beach at night under the starry East African sky have become part of the routine. We have a few more days here before heading east again as we begin our long journey back to Nairobi and onward to the U.S…