Community Outreach on Kiwayu Island
By Safina Center Fellow Alex Chege
A fisherman sporting apparel for one of Kiwayu’s many restoration initiatives joins our research vessel for a ride back from the southern point of the island where we spent an afternoon following the resident vervet social group. ©Alex Chege
Kiwayu Island has a long history of marine conservation being nestled in the Kiunga Marine Reserve—a protected area popular among tourists for marine exploration and snorkeling, and a renowned site for big game fishing further off shore. Because of its diversity in marine fauna, many locations along Kiwayu’s shores are protected, serving as a haven for green and hawksbill turtle nesting sites, while further afield on Kiwayu’s neighboring island, Pate, holds octopus enclosures and nurseries. An organization called the Northern Rangelands Trust supports marine conservation and community-driven restoration initiatives within Kiwayu’s environs, which are also supported by the regular presence of the Kenya Wildlife Service stationed in the neighboring town of Mkokoni. Many residents of Kiwayu are actively involved in grassroots conservation initiatives, playing a key role in monitoring and protecting the island's marine life, practicing sustainable fishing and forestry harvest, and restoring its native habitats. Thanks to the support of such organizations, many of Kiwayu’s young adults have served as scouts for the Kenya Wildlife Service.
While many of Kiwayu’s residents are deeply knowledgeable and active in marine conservation, forming a close bond with the sea from a young age, the island’s unique marine-foraging vervet population stands out as one of its more unusual inhabitants. As a rare visiting scientist studying primates on the island, I was eager to share my research with the local community, during my most recent trip to the island in June 2024. Over two months I held a series of regular workshops on the island aimed at demystifying what exactly I have been doing trekking up and down the island.
At Kiwayu Island Primary School, I held three active learning workshops teaching children and teenagers aged between 10-15 about ways they can start a career as young scientists in ecology. The natural world is incredibly exciting since many important discoveries in ecology and evolution have been made through novel observations of patterns in animal behavior, such as how, when and where animals choose to live their lives. Sharing pictures and videos of the vervets I study; these lessons shared the importance of studying primate behavior and how it can shed light on many behavioral patterns present within humans as well. The children were eager to gain firsthand experience on the many tools scientists use to study animals as I shared a demonstration of my equipment, including; a pair of binoculars, a handheld GPS device, a camera, and a handy notebook to record any and all observations during time spent studying the behavior of these vervets.
Alex giving a demonstration of the tools (pictured: a pair of binoculars) used to observe and record natural animal behavior in the wild during a workshop at Kiwayu Primary School. ©Alex Chege
For the young adults also eager to learn about my research, I shared some pictures, videos of naturally occurring vervet behavior, and a summary of the research objectives of my doctoral dissertation before sitting down for a lunch held at our research camp. This occasion welcomed enthusiasts to join an afternoon of my research activities. Those who joined my guide, Ali, and I enjoyed some afternoons of trekking and sailing to parts of the island to study vervet groups, where I gave a demonstration of my research methods and behaviors of interest in the vervet groups that we studied.
Athman helps the team serve up plates of Swahili biryani for guests vising the research camp during community outreach thanking Kiwayu residents for their support during my research activities. ©Alex Chege
Our captain for this excursion, Abdullay, volunteers to transport the research team on a trip to the southern portion of Kiwayu Island. ©Alex Chege