Welcome to GVI, KWS and the Dolphins, Turtles and Primates of Kenya's Shimoni Archipelago

A big hello and a big welcome to everyone...

... our former and future Expedition Members (EMs) and staff and of course all those around the world with an interest in conservation efforts in Kenya, and the remarkable wildlife and communities in and around the Shimoni peninsula in the south-eastern corner of Kenya.

Every few days I will be updating you on our work with the dolphins and turtles, the primates, including Shimoni's very own Angolan Black and White Colobus, not to mention the wonderful people of Mkwiro and Shimoni villages, and our ex-poacher friends at Kidong, Kasaani and Mahandakini on the edge of Tsavo West National Park.


So much news and so little time, eh? Well, to begin with, GVI's Charitable Trust is currently sponsoring and assisting 10 of Mkwiro's brightest young students through secondary school, thanks to the fundraising efforts and generosity of our former EMs, staff, their visiting families and even their friends who are yet to meet these wonderful kids.

For those that remember Sebe (and who could forget him!), our excitable and irrepressible boat askari, he is scheduled to marry in early June, on Funzi Island. Nasra, Nigel and Ekens, 3 of last year's National Scholarship Programme students have all passed their diplomas at Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute, their lecturers commenting on just how impressed they were with how much they had learnt in their time with GVI.

The ex-poachers of Kidong are expecting their first harvest of honey by August, a successful start to an alternative livelihood that means they will no longer need to poach wildlife or cut down trees for charcoal in order to feed their families. Having got the community-based organisation, Friends of Shimoni Forest up, running and registered we are now exploring possibilities for similar alternative livelihoods to be established, encouraging sustainable use of the forest resources in the face of rapidly increasing forest destruction.

And finally for now, I am looking forward to July when we welcome back some of our old staff and some new faces, and of course our EMs, to get back out in Stingray in search of dolphins, look for our Colobus in the forest and get back in to the classroom and orphanage at Mkwiro!

Welcome to GVI, KWS and the Dolphins, Turtles and Primates of Kenya's Shimoni Archipelago