Items by Paul
AWF Blog
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Searching for Bonobos
Posted: November 21, 2008, 2:53 pm by Paul
The guides haven’t seen bonobos in about three months. But we went into the Lomako forest anyway and I thought at least we’ll get some good exercise and fresh rain forest air.
Little did I know what I was in for.
At the AWF bonobo research and conservation center in the Congo’s Lomako Reserve, scouts go out each day and walk transects through the Reserve to record sightings and signs of bonobos. They record other species, too - black manageys, red-tailed monkeys, red river hogs, forest duikers, pangolins, golden cats, and others. They look for snares and nets, hunting camps, burning, and poachers.
Scouts looking for signs of bonobos.
For 4 hours we trekked through the forest. The scouts were carefully scanning the ground for signs and listening for calls. I was equally focused… on the mud, mosquitoes, intense humidity, slippery logs, and attacking ants in pants.
The dense tropical forest of Lomako.
The scouts found remnants of Haumania shoots - an herbaceous plant eaten by bonobos. They were from this morning and we got excited that we might be close. We left the trail and went into the thick of the forest, crawling through vines and stinging nettles.
It was amazing to see how the three scouts spread out in search of signs and communicated with each other through whistles and hand gestures.
Fresh signs: discarded Haumania shoots. But where were the bonobos?
At one point we stopped to wait near an Antiaris tree (a flowering tree favored by bonobos). I spread out my rain jacket and sat with Jolie - the Congolese reporter with us to help raise visibility in national media. Within minutes clouds overhead completely darkened the forest and that pre-thunder storm feeling filled the air.
For over an hour we sat huddled on a log under intense rain. People do strange things when soaking wet in the jungle. To entertain ourselves, Jolie and I practiced French and English. I spent most of the time trying to pronounce beurre (butter) and learning how to say “I don’t speak French,” while she quickly picked up finger nail, cheek, armpit and other obscure anatomy.
Another friend of the forest.
It was 4:30, getting dark, and still raining. We decided to head back to camp. No bonobos for me today. I knew the chances of seeing wild bonobos were slim, so I tried not to be disappointed.
But we didn’t go far before we heard the unmistakable alarm chirp of a bonobo! Trying not to fall over each other from excitement, we searched the canopy above us for the source of the call.
Far above us was a single male bonobo, anxiously looking down at us from the fork of a tree. As it got darker he was little more than a silhouette, but I managed to get a shot and record his call.
A wild bonobo!
Click here to listen to a recording of the bonobo’s vocalization.
The bonobo was clearly uneasy. But why? Despite the protection brought by the establishment of the Reserve, are people hunting them? We could only speculate.
To reassure him that we pose no threat, the scouts stooped over and tore leaves and twigs. This mock foraging behavior has been successfully used in the habituation of apes elsewhere.
Much larger than the other monkeys we have seen (bonobos are almost the size of chimps), he still gracefully maneuvered through branches in the canopy. We got an extra bonus when he let us follow him to his nest - a large, leafy platform in the crook of a tree.
He tossed some branches around, then settled in and peeped down at us. We left him in peace and returned to camp.
No amount of biting ants or pouring rain could darken our moods!
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When Negotiation Skills Are Key
Posted: November 17, 2008, 3:01 pm by Paul
Nothing starts your day like an angry mob at 7am.
A group of fifty or so men are gathering outside the yard of the house we’re staying at. Things get heated – men begin shouting and waving their arms in frustration. They’re yelling in Lingala, so I look to Jef for help. He shrugs. “They want money.”
And money is what we’re trying to bring to people here in this part of DR Congo. We’re in Lingunda, a village on an elevated bank of the Lomako River.
Our expedition arrived here two days ago on the way to the AWF bonobo research and conservation center being built in the Lomako-Yokokala Faunal Reserve.
To manage the newly formed reserve, AWF works closely with the Congolese wildlife authority, ICCN, and helped establish an ICCN office here in Lingunda about 18 months ago. One of our key objectives with ICCN is to incorporate local communities into conservation management.
Jef tells me, “For the contract between AWF and ICCN on the management of the [Lomako-Yokokala] reserve, we agreed that the local communities take part not only in the execution of the management plan but also in its development from the beginning. This is a major difference.”
At the same time, we work with partners in this landscape to create projects that provide income and alternatives to unsustainable use of the forest.
If we can help bring tourism to this area, “money will come in,” Jef says. “And that never happens. That was nonexistent here. And it’s an example of how it should be.”
Jef, Innocent, Valentin, the ICCN Conservator, and others talk to the group of men that has surrounded us. The energy is escalating, but Jef remains calm and direct.
Jef (white guy), ICCN Conservator (green hat) and team negotiating their way out of another sticky situation in the DR Congo - about 50 angry men.
After 20 minutes of intense discussion, the tension breaks. Some agreement has been reached. Hands are shaken, smiles exchanged.
“This is the way it is here,” Jef tells me later as we travel upriver. “There was some confusion about payment of salaries for the guys who walk transects in the forest. We worked it out. A bit scary, no?”
Uh, yes.
It is amazing what the Congo team has achieved in the face of such challenges.
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25 Hours by Canoe to the Heart of the Congo
Posted: November 15, 2008, 7:50 pm by Paul
[Reporting from the Congo Heartland]
We had clear skies and a cool temperature as we pushed our two giant wooden canoes (pirogues) off the bank into the Maringa River. The crowd that had gathered to watch us pack now waved and shouted, wishing us bon voyage.
Two pirogues, 14 people, 16 cans of fuel, 12 or so trunks and bags of gear, sacks of rice and food staples, two complete satellite internet dishes, a crate or two of beer, a backpack full of cash to pay park guards, and some fresh wriggling catfish thrown on top for good measure.
For the first couple hours we sat quietly in our small Congolese wood-and-wicker chairs, watching the forest pass us. There was no river bank. The water simply met the wall of trees and flooded inland.
Every now and then we passed a small encampment (homestead? village?) and the people came out of their simple bamboo and thatch homes and watched us go by. A fisherman in a long, shallow and slender pirogue would shout a greeting, holding up fresh fish to sell.
Congo fishermen in a pirogue: The art of not tipping.
The water of the Maringa – which is a major tributary of the famous Congo River – was deep black. Not dark and murky like coffee – more glossy like a hard black candy. The river is wide and shallow; the surface was still and reflected vivid images of trees or other boats.
I can’t resist the cliché of quoting from Heart of Darkness, as Marlow slogs up the Congo in search of the mad Mr. Kurtz:
“Going up that river was like travelling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings.”
I’ll leave out the bits about despair, losing your mind, and utter gloom.
Part of the team on one of the pirogues heading up river. Jef on the left, me, and Joseph on the right.
A few hours later we pushed aside the chairs as best we could, rolled out a tarp and voila! – we were set for sleep. We lay there like slugs wrapped in our rain jackets.
I managed to sleep but woke up a few hours later with my entire right arm asleep and my legs soaking in a puddle. I rang the flight attendant for a pillow and warm blanket, but she never came so I rolled to my other side and shivered until dawn.
Just past 6am we stopped at one of the encampments to have a toilet break and brew some coffee. The people living here greeted us warmly, not even surprised that two boatloads of strangers showed up to use their fire and pee behind their house. “This is the way it is here,” Jef said. “It’s no problem.”
We continued upriver for another several hours and then the river split. Valentin Omasombo W`Otoko, our Protected Area Manager / conservation scientist, who’s research camp is our destination, excitedly told us that we were now on the Lomako river which bordered the Lomako reserve.
I’m not making this up: soon after we entered the reserve, we started seeing wildlife that was not present downstream. A group of white egrets perched on a snag didn’t take flight. A black mangabey fed on fruits in the canopy. Five Black-casqued Wattled Hornbills glided over us. A black and white colobus jumped through trees, the long white hair on his back could be seen.
“A couple years ago, you would not see that,” Jef said. “They would have heard us coming and escaped into the forest.”
The sun was out in full force now and sat there baking. Tsetse flies found us. We scrambled to swat them but one found its way up my trousers and got me good. “Don’t let it bite you,” I was told after a couple juicy welts were already swelling.
There is no river bank - just a wall of forest meeting the waters of Lomako.
Several hours later, hungry, tired and dehydrated we arrived in the village of Lingunda, where we will spend two nights.
This is the way of life for our staff in the Congo Heartland. Traveling to a project site takes 25 hours in a canoe complete with cold rain, hot sun, biting tsetse flies. Yet no one complains.
And as I learned the following day, this is not even the most challenging part of their work environment.
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Expedition to the Congo
Posted: November 10, 2008, 7:15 pm by Paul
A while back I wrote about the progress being made on the bonobo research and conservation center in our Congo Heartland. I’m joining a 15 person expedition organized by Jef Dupain, director of the Heartland, to visit the site, check on construction as it nears completion, install a VSAT internet connection, and prepare some media buzz for its opening.
Arrival in Kinshasa.
I spent two days in Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo, and had the chance to visit Lola ya Bonobo, a sanctuary for orphaned bonobos - and one of AWF’s partners here. Founded by Claudine Andre in 1994, Lola is home to almost 60 bonobos who live in 75 acres of primary forest.
Beyond rehabilitating orphanted bonobos (usually confiscated from the black market pet trade), Lola has a strong outreach and education program for schools. “Education is the first step to conservation,” Claudine told me at the sanctuary. “Congolese kids are proud of their country’s biodiversity. We are helping to spread that pride.” Each year 19,000 school kids come and get to see bonobos up close.
A young bonobo at the Lola sanctuary.
AWF has been lending technical support (mapping, vegetation analysis, etc.) to the program, which aims to reintroduce bonobos back into the wild in 2009.
“Jef is amazing in working with communities [in the Congo Heartland] to know and appreciate bonobos,” Claudine said. “I went to the forest with him and it was easy to see signs of conservation.”
Tomorrow we take two pirogues (giant wooden canoes made from single tree trunks) 300 kilometers up the Maringa and Lopori rivers to get to the site of the bonobo center. I can’t wait to see Claudine’s praise in action, and hopefully to catch a glimpse of these incredible apes in the wild.
I'll be in one of these canoes for 25 hours as we go 300km upriver. Don't rock the boat!
P.S. - It might not sound like the best time to visit the DR Congo. But I’m about 850km from the fighting in the east. I’m safe, I think.
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Gorillas Remain Safe Amidst Congo Fighting
Posted: November 8, 2008, 8:00 pm by Paul
We’ve been following the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where rebels took command of Virunga National Park’s headquarters. What about the rangers and the mountain gorillas? Jamie from IGCP sent me this news:
“There are still 52 park staff in the Mikeno Sector [the sector of the park where the mountain gorillas live], and 22 rangers monitoring the gorillas. The rangers have continued to go out on a daily basis. Information, however, has had difficulty flowing from the area due to the recent troubles.
Our DRC staff was able to contact the rangers briefly on the 5th and the good news is they reported all the gorillas are fine. As of now, there is no evidence they have been affected by the recent fighting. Of course, Nkunda’s rebel army claims to be monitoring (and not harassing) the gorillas as well.
ICCN [the Congolese wildlife authorities] has emergency funds, but is not able to use them at the moment. The two items the rangers probably need most at the moment are patrol rations and medicine. However, there is no way to get these things to them. With Goma currently calm, our DRC staff are heading back there today to check and see if it calm enough to move back and begin program activities again.
If that happens, one of our staff will travel to the Park soon and personally check on the status of the gorillas. But, that depends, of course, on the continuing peace and the safety conditions for traveling to the Park.”
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Staff Evacuated from DRC
Posted: November 4, 2008, 2:35 pm by Paul
Staff of the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP) have been evacuated from DR Congo, as things remain tense between the Congolese army and rebel militia.
Staff were moved from the office in Goma across the border to the town of Gisenyi in Rwanda.
From IGCP’s Jamie in Rwanda:
“Eugene [Rutagarama - the IGCP Director] organized an emergency trip on friday to see our staff, who we evacuated over the border to Gisenyi.
Everyone got out safely, and now our staff and their families are all living in a rented house in Gisenyi. They are doing fine, and should be there temporarily until Goma is safe again.
Things are calm in Goma at the moment while the international community intercedes and tries
to decide what to do.”Not sure what the fighting is all about? Here’s a good Q & A on the DR Congo conflict: [news.bbc.co.uk]
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Rebels Take Over Park Headquarters in Gorilla Territory
Posted: October 28, 2008, 12:50 pm by Paul
Fighting has broken out again in eastern DR Congo between rebels under General Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese Army. The rebels, who have been hiding out in Virunga National Park, have just taken the park headquarters. The park is home to about 200 of the 720 mountain gorillas.
“Over 50 rangers were forced to flee into the forests and abandon the park station, in fear of their lives,” a park statement said.
Here’s the latest from our people on the ground with the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP):
“As most of you already know, Nkunda’s rebels have retaken the Rumangabo area in an offensive over the weekend. This area includes Virunga National Park HQ.
Rebel troops took Rugari and Mwaro corridor and now they are fighting to take Kibumba (which is at about 25 km from Goma). The road (Goma-Rutshuru) is broken, and some rangers who left Rumangabo since yesterday still somewhere in the forest.
So it looks like some of the park rangers are still making their way through the forest and the main road is now closed. Kibumba has a patrol post and a large refugee camp, and is very near Goma. In addition, from the AP I got a report that the rebels are now firing rockets at the UN Peacekeepers in the Kalengara area, which I believe is near the Rumangabo base and VNP headquarters.”
I’ll keep you posted as we hear more from the source.
Read the latest from CNN: [edition.cnn.com]
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IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona
Posted: October 8, 2008, 6:05 pm by Paul
This week I’m at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona with a delegation from AWF. The WCC is like a Star Trek convention for conservation geeks.
8,000 people from all around the world - policy-makers, NGOs, governments, academics - come together for 10 days of workshops and discussions that guide global conservation issues. Issues like biodiversity, illegal wildlife trade, livelihoods, and global climate change.
AWF’s booth at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona.AWF has been a member of IUCN since 1966. We have a booth at this year’s Congress - #30 for those of you in the area. Come visit!
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Building the Bonobo Center in the Congo
Posted: September 23, 2008, 2:23 pm by Paul
In our Congo Heartland, construction on a bonobo research and conservation center is making great progress dispute all odds. The site is at Ndele in the middle of the 3,600 km² Lomako-Yokokala Faunal Reserve, and is not so easy to get to.
A boat carrying 60 tons of construction materials took 30 days to travel up the Lomako River to the site of the research center. Not one single item was lost along the way.
Jef Dupain (director of the Heartland) told me “some of our people went swimming upriver Lomako, crossing forest and swamps, to go and get 35 liters of fuel to continue the transport! (I have seen the crocodiles, and I have seen the current, and I know about snakes in swampy area). This is simply heroic work done by our team.”
People were so happy to see the boat — it’s the first one up the Lomako River in 20-30 years — that they had a dance party. Check out the short video clip on YouTube:
The research and conservation center will consist of a building with a laboratory, a living area and dining room, and office; and housing for scientists and visitors. The center will also be a place to help train and educate Congolese conservationists, strengthening local conservation measures.
Construction is scheduled to be completed in two months. I’m going to join Jef and the team to do some communications/marketing activities when it’s complete. That is, if I can survive the journey up the river to get there.
A typical scene along the Lomako River. Photo by Craig R. Sholley -
Wedding Warrior
Posted: September 15, 2008, 11:57 am by Paul
Sorry for the hiatus - I’m back, and want to share a story best told in photos. A few weekends ago, I had the honor of being the Assistant Best Man in a traditional Samburu wedding near Wamba, Kenya. The groom, Jeremiah, is a wildlife scout I met while visiting Shivani’s lion research and conservation project.
Decked out in beads and ochre. Ya, I totally blended in.The guys got me fully decked out in beads and ochre, a red pigment that is mixed with goat fat to make a paint. This is the traditional look of Samburu warriors, or morans.
Jeremiah the groom getting ready.The groom, Jeremiah on the left, gets his ochre applied with the help of his brother. We definitely spent a good portion of the weekend applying and touching up our make-up. It was definitely a weekend of firsts for me.
Jeremiah and Raphael, the Best Man.Raphael, on the right, was the perfect Best Man. His duties were extensive - from making sure the groom had all the necessary ceremonial accessories, to butchering the cow, to translating for the mzungu (that would be me). My duties were less demanding. Basically my role was to stand around and look awkward.
Taking a goat to present to the mother of the bride.The wedding lasted from Friday to Sunday. On Saturday morning at dawn, we collected a goat to then present to the mother of the bride, as a symbol of the dowry the groom has paid for his bride.
Slaughtering the cow.A cow was slaughtered. It seems that this is the moment the groom passes from warrior (morani) to man (mzee). The cow is carefully butchered, with each cut of meat designated to different people in the village.
Shivani and Miriam, the bride.My friend Shivani with the blushing bride (literally), Miriam.
Wazee blessing the site of the couple’s new house.Saturday afternoon, the men of the village (wazee) cleared a spot that would be the site of the couple’s new home. They lined the site with special plants and dribbled milk over it to lay their blessings.
The mamas constructing the new house - in about an hour!Then the village women (mamas) sprang into action and built the entire house in only an hour. It was incredible to watch their coordinated effort - these ladies were pros. They had spent the previous weeks gathering the materials (saplings for the structure, hides and metal sheeting for the walls, and woven grass mats for the roof). And all of this just for one night.
The couple spends their first night together in their new house, which was built in the bride’s family’s manyatta (compound). But the couple will live in the groom’s family’s manyatta, so the following morning the house was taken down and packed up into Shivani’s car to be relocated to West Gate.
On the last day we just threw everything in the car: our luggage, the father of the groom, the bride, and their house. Jeremiah and Miriam, the happy couple.Trust me, they smile a lot more than this photo shows!
Classic manyatta scene.End shot: a classic scene of the manyatta (compound where several Samburu families live together, and keep their livestock). Being part of their wedding was an experience of a lifetime and I thank everyone for welcoming me into their homes.
Special thanks to Shivani Bhalla for her incredible photos.
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Follow Me On Twitter
Posted: August 19, 2008, 2:07 pm by Paul
Do any of you use Twitter? I’m exploring connecting with AWF supporters and conservation partners through Twitter, which is a network where people keep each other posted on what they’re doing at the moment.
Thanks to my smart phone (a blessing and a curse), I can send quick updates on my adventures and AWF news directly from the field.
If you’d like to check it out, follow me on Twitter. My name is paulix. I’d like to make some new friends!
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The Delicate and Mighty
Posted: August 13, 2008, 8:29 pm by Paul
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The Elephants of West Kilimanjaro
Posted: August 11, 2008, 9:29 am by Paul
It’s too bad elephants aren’t smaller. If they were, perhaps they wouldn’t travel such great distances, and we humans wouldn’t have to drive for so long to map their movements. I spent the entire day bumping through West Kili’s inescapable dust, GPS mapping a snaking network of roads. It’s amazing how tiring all this sitting can be.
I am in northern Tanzania at an AWF research and conservation camp called the West Kilimanjaro Elephant Research Project, or WKERP (we conservationists never shy from a mouthy acronym!). But many call it Kikoti’s Camp, after the Tanzanian who conducts his work from here.
Alfred Kikoti has been running the AWF project in the area since 2000, studying the ecology of elephants, mapping their movements, and setting up a network of anti-poaching community game scouts.
The West Kilimanjaro area supports more than 600 elephants, and is an important ecological link for elephants traveling between Amboseli National Park in Kenya, down to Arusha and Kilimanjaro National Parks in Tanzania, and out to Lake Natron further west.
West Kilimanjaro supports a population of 600 elephants and is threatened by land fragmentation.
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Lion Cubs Found in Samburu
Posted: July 29, 2008, 11:20 am by Paul
Samburu National Reserve has not had lion cubs since May 2006. This was a major concern considering the lion population here has been declining, according to lion researcher and AWF Charlotte Fellow, Shivani Bhalla.
But in a place full of surprises, we received the good news that three new lion cubs had been found in the reserve.
I joined Shivani to locate the cubs, identify the mother, and check their health status. Shivani can read dirt like nobody’s business. Where I see sand, she sees tracks and can tell how many different individuals there are, which sex, and roughly when they passed. So after several hours driving along the roads of the reserve, she had a good sense that the lioness and cubs were in a thicket of Salvadora bushes about a hundred meters from the river in a place called Hippo Circuit.
We killed the engine, stood out of the roof hatch, and listened. We heard rustling noises and soon three tiny cubs popped out from behind a bush. They chased each other, wrestling and biting. Pure kitten cuteness. Then the mother emerged and Shivani immediately recognized her as Nabo.
Three new lion cubs were found in Samburu National Reserve. The reserve has not had cubs in over two years.
It’s a great relief to see three healthy lion cubs in the reserve. Reserve officials were concerned that the dry spell of cubs could indicate a reproductive problem with the resident males; so this should dispel fears. And with lion numbers dropping in the area, new cubs brings hope.
The cubs are about 8-9 weeks old, which means they’ve only just been brought out by their mother. Lion cubs are born in well-hidden spots like these Salvadora bushes. Their eyes open at 3-11 days; they can walk at 10-15 days. The mother will keep the cubs hidden and leave them while she hunts. The cubs are often left alone for over 24 hours. But at around 4-8 weeks, the lioness will begin leading the cubs from their hiding spot to feed on kills. The cubs will be weaned at 7-9 months.
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What Killed the Cheetah?
Posted: July 17, 2008, 7:20 pm by Paul
One thing is certain: when you’re in the bush, you never know what’s going to happen next.
Shivani and I were sitting in her car by the Ewaso Nyiro river, catching up on our field notes. (And she was betting me that I couldn’t sit still for 20 minutes without talking. I won’t tell you who lost.) Then she got a call from a ranger in neighboring Buffalo Springs National Reserve saying they had discovered a dead cheetah. In addition to studying the lions in this region, Shivani is monitoring the cheetah population, so she’s notified about any incidents like this.
We raced through the reserve to meet the ranger at his post, and he took us out to the cheetah. We found the carcass lying in the hard dirt, under the sun, out in the open. It was such an empty sight.
Not the African plains you’d imagine: a dead cheetah discovered in Buffalo Springs National Reserve, Kenya.
“If this boy had a brother,” Shiv said, “he’s probably still around, staying close to the body. Cheetah brothers are like life partners.”
We inspected the cheetah, which was intact. Perhaps dead two days, it didn’t have any visible wounds from a fight, nor the dramatic bleeding from orifices that is seen in anthrax victims. There was some clotted blood coming from its nose and ears. A few patches of fur had sloughed off on its flank, a normal sign of decomposition.
What had happened? It almost looked as the though the cheetah was crossing the plains and simply lay down to die.
Because anthrax broke out in the region in 2005 and remains a serious threat to wildlife in this area, we wanted to be sure. Shivani called Dr. Steven Chege, a vet with the Kenya Wildlife Service, who worked with AWF and others during the anthrax outbreak. He advised us not to touch or move it, and that we should guard it until he could arrive the following morning to perform a necropsy and take tissue samples.
I never thought I’d say “yes, let’s camp by the dead cheetah.” But anything goes out here. Luckily we had some rice and carrots rolling around in the back of the car for dinner, and I had a sleeping bag with me. That night we took turns with a couple of rangers to keep scavenging lions and hyenas away from the cheetah.
Dr. Chege arrived around 8 a.m. and quickly prepared for the necropsy. He started with the head, peeling back the skin and immediately noting a thin crack snaking down the cranium. He cracked through the bone, and blood spilled out. “Cause of death: brain hemorrhage.”
Shivani and Dr. Chege perform a necropsy to determine how this cheetah died.
Seems as though our fallen friend received a swift kick right to the head. We looked carefully around the cheetah and found zebra tracks. It’s likely that the cheetah was in mid-hunt, pursuing a plains or Grevy’s zebra, and the zebra delivered a powerful kick at just the right time, giving a winning point for Team Zebra.
Dr. Chege finished his necropsy, examining the cheetah’s organs and other parts. It was really quite gross, but I was thoroughly fascinated by such a unique opportunity to see the inner workings of a big cat up close.
Dr. Chege packed up and we left the cheetah carcass for the maggots, hyenas, jackals and other scavengers. And off we went, wondering what we’ll discover next.
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Counting Lions in Samburu
Posted: July 13, 2008, 12:15 pm by Paul
I crawled out of my tent at quarter to six. The sky was a dull grey-blue, with a few stars left scattered around the crescent moon. Shivani had already started Gypsy’s engine, warming up the little white Suzuki. Joseph, the camp chef and general manager, trotted over with a thermos of hot chai and some bananas for breakfast. Lekuraiyo emerged from his tent wrapped in his red shuka and greeted us. We climbed into Gypsy and pulled out of camp to go find some lions.
Shivani Bhalla is conducting lion research in Samburu district of Kenya, and is an AWF Charlotte Fellow. Her project, Ewaso Lions, is censusing lions in Samburu National Reserve and the surrounding community areas. She set up a small camp in West Gate Conservancy, an area with an unknown lion population and ongoing conflict between these lions and people.
Shivani Bhalla, an AWF Conservation Fellow, on her favorite perch: the roof of Gypsy, her Suzuki Maruti. Shivani and her team are researching the lion population in Samburu, Kenya.
This morning we headed to the Conservation Area in West Gate - a place set aside by the community as a no-livestock zone for wildlife. With Lekuraiyo’s keen eyes looking out of the car’s hatch, it wasn’t long before we found three sets of lion tracks. “It looks like a male and two females,” Shivani said excitedly.
She’s been in the area for a bit over a month and hasn’t yet seen a lion. “The lions in these parts are completely different than the lions in the reserve. The reserve lions are so used to people and vehicles that they’re almost tame. The ones in these parts are truly wild.” Even the managers of the nearby Sasaab lodge have been here a year and have never seen a lion. I’m only here for a few days - what are my chances?
Shivani will radio-collar a lion (like this collared male I photographed in Samburu National Reserve).
We came to an area with thick salvadora bushes - perfect lion hideouts. We decided to wait. We turned off the engine and listened for tell-tale signs of lions: baboon alarm calls, dik dik whistles, or nervous guinnea fowl squawking. For about half an hour we sat in silence, tensely.
There was a sudden movement in the bush and Lekuraiyo whispered “Simba!” and we turned to follow his gaze. A large lioness had emerged from behind a bush, frozen mid-step, and was staring directly at us. No one moved. The lioness’ head was low, eyes focused, legs set for flight. She looked big and healthy, her muscles visible under her tan coat.
Just as quickly as she had appeared, she disappeared off into the bushes. We collectively sighed and sank back into our seats as if the 8 seconds were utterly exhausting.
“That’s a real lion,” Shivani said. It was her (and my) first sighting of a wild lion outside a protected area. It was an important moment. With luck, Shivani will continue to locate lions in the area, and radio-collar one in August to track the population. By counting lions in the area it will paint a better picture about these declining predators.
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Naming Gorillas
Posted: June 22, 2008, 6:51 pm by Paul
Thousands of people gathered on a grassy area at the base of Mt Sabyinyo for the fourth Rwandan Gorilla Naming Ceremony, Kwita Izina. Twenty bug-eyed, curly-haired, ridiculously cute gorilla infants were given names in this year’s festival by “VIPs” of various sorts, including our very own CEO, Patrick Bergin.
AWF CEO Patrick Bergin named one of the infant gorillas Sacola, after
the community trust that owns Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge.It was great to see so many people coming from all corners of Rwanda for the event, and the crowd was buzzing like a rock concert. I wish I could say the speeches were as riveting as a concert, but at least the dance troupes – both a local group and the Rwandan National Ballet – had great music, costumes, and dancing to punctuate the long speeches.
Dancers entertained the crowd.
A warrior ceremony added drama and excitement to the ceremony.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame did not turn up, but sent Prime Minister Bernard Makuza in his place. The governor also spoke, as well as ORTPN’s Director General, Rosette Rugamba, who is the hard-lined driving force between the event and is pushing Rwanda’s tourism into first class.
The special guests were called to get ready for the giving of the gorilla names, and I chased after them with a gang of paparazzi. Patrick and the other 19 namers ducked into a traditional Rwandese grass home (built for the occasion) and emerged transformed, wearing flowing white robes and carrying spears.
Up on stage they revealed the name they had selected for the baby gorillas. Patrick chose the name “Sacola,” a perfect choice for this tiny new member of the population. SACOLA is the name of the association that represents the community that owns the new Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge, which had its inaugural opening yesterday as well. The lodge is special in that it converts gorilla tourism dollars into benefits for local people. A percentage of the lodge’s revenue gets kicked back to the community for projects such as fixing roads and building houses for the community’s poorest families.
Now little Sacola will be crawling around in the forest, a reminder of the good that comes when local people are involved in gorilla conservation.
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Tracking Gorillas
Posted: June 16, 2008, 8:09 pm by Paul
In my next life I’m going to be a gorilla tracker.
Yesterday, I joined a group of trackers as they entered Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda to locate and monitor a group of mountain gorillas. The trip began at sunrise. I picked up Damascene Hakizimana, a monitoring assistant with ORTPN, and drove from park headquarters through farmland to the edge of the forest. And when I say edge, I mean edge. The forest comes to an abrupt halt at a stone wall meant to keep buffalo in the park and out of peoples’ crops.
The line between the park’s forest and farmland is striking, marked by the buffalo wall. Beyond, Sabyinyo disappears into the mist.
At 7:10 am we crossed the wall and met three more trackers, the team leader Gabriel Safari, and four armed guards (for unruly buffaloes I was told). Short introductions were made and then we headed up a steep, slippery slope through bamboo, thistles, wild celery, and nettles.
By 7:30 Gabriel stopped and whispered “they are here.” We had reached the gorillas. So much for the anticipated two-hour, grueling climb.
Dian Fossey was right; we heard and smelled the gorillas before we saw them. A musty odor was strong in the air, and bamboo cracked loudly as the gorillas climbed down from their nests, feeding along the way.
I’ve always had a hard time wrapping my head around the notion of gorillas sitting in nests up in bamboo (an adult female can weigh 215 lbs). But they climb through the bamboo with ease. Bamboo grows so tightly that it forms platforms that can easily support an adult gorilla - or three humans. We climbed up to inspect one of the nests. The shallow bowl of bamboo and leaves had tiny turds in it, and Damascene was excited to tell me that these meant the nest hosted a mother and an infant.
An adult female, Akago, feeds in the early morning sun.
After feeding for fifteen minutes, the silverback, Agashya, got up and wandered off into the vegetation, his group members falling in line behind him. We took off after them, winding through tunnels in the growth, sometimes crawling under fallen logs on hands and knees.
We caught up with them in a space where the forest floor was clear and the bamboo formed a canopy overhead. Soon we were surrounded by gorillas. Gorillas above us in the bamboo, little ones rolling around on the ground, others happily watching us watch them.
An adult female dropped in like a paratrooper from somewhere above, causing a torrential rain of leaves and debris. Although there was plenty of room where we were, she brushed right by me, making it clear that I was in her way. “This is Rugendo,” Damascene tells me. “When Agashya [the silverback] is away from the group, she’s in charge. She’s a tough one,” he grins. She then posed proudly in the middle of the space in front of us.
Rugendo, the “tough one,” posed for us.
The munching sound made when eating bamboo stalks is both loud and surprisingly pleasing to hear. It’s like a kid eating celery but on a, well, gorilla scale. My chef brother would say “I bet that bamboo has good mouth-feel.” A gorilla snaps a stalk of bamboo off, shucks the outer husk to reveal the bright green, wet inner stalk. Snap, shuck, munch. Repeat.
There are seven groups of mountain gorillas that have been habituated for tourism in Rwanda. We were with Group 13, named after the number of gorillas in the group when it was first habituated. Currently there are 23 gorillas in the group: 11 females, 9 infants, 1 juvenile, 1 subadult, and 1 silverback. I loved how the trackers referred to him as “the chief”.
Two infants from this group will be named at Kwita Izina, the Gorilla Naming Ceremony next week. Damascene told me that the trackers have picked three possible names for each infant (he wouldn’t reveal the names). At the ceremony, one of the special guests will pick one of the names, and Group 13 will have two newly named infants added to its family tree.
I’ll discuss some of the monitoring techniques the trackers use to collect data in another post. After Gabriel and Damascene accounted for all 23 gorillas, we left them to their antics, hiked back down the slope, over the wall, and out of the woods.
I couldn’t believe how lucky I am to have this opportunity. We sat on some rocks for a rest - each of us unable to stop smiling after such an encounter. It was evident that these men who see gorillas every day are still affected by them.
Even the guy with the gun said, “I love my job.”
Pascal, Alfonse, Damascene, me, Jean-Pierre.
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Celebrating Gorillas
Posted: June 12, 2008, 10:57 pm by Paul
About a third of the world’s entire mountain gorilla population lives in Rwanda. When it’s time to celebrate the country’s treasured gorillas, Rwanda’s wildlife and parks authority, ORTPN, goes all out.June 21st is the annual Gorilla Naming Ceremony, called Kwita Izina after the old Rwandan tradition of naming newborns. This year, 20 infant mountain gorillas will be given names by “key personalities in wildlife conservation and business.” Exactly who these people are has not been revealed, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Natalie Portman will show up again this year.
Rwanda has turned the Naming Ceremony into a week-long event, beginning yesterday with the launch of several community projects made possible with funds raised from past gorilla naming events.
I tagged along with a delegation of ORTPN staff, conservation groups, reporters, and politicians to visit a couple of the community projects. We arrived at the Nyabigoma primary school in Kinigi to a spectacular site: the 600+ students grouped in the schoolyard singing and dancing. To one side, 10 men in traditional attire beat giant drums. To the other side, the parents of the school children and other community folks joined in the singing and clapping.
The school is one of 11 primary schools built with funds from conservation. ORTPN Director General Rosette Rugamba said, “By celebrating Kwita Izina, we are celebrating incredible success in the conservation of the mountain gorilla and the continued partnership with the community that plays host to the gorillas.”
Over the past three years, ORTPN has given community projects over 410 million Rwandan francs ($762,000) raised through a successful revenue sharing scheme. ORTPN allocates at least 5% of its total gross revenue each year to be distributed to projects in communities surrounding the parks. The International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP) helped design the revenue sharing policy.
In 2007 gorilla tourism generated $7 million in Rwanda. So it’s no surprise to see so many happy faces in the communities surrounding Volcanoes National Park.
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A First Encounter
Posted: June 12, 2008, 7:16 am by Paul
I just arrived in Rwanda and am thrilled to be back in mountain gorilla territory - montane forests thick and misty as clouds. Everyone here is gearing up for Kwita Izina, an annual gorilla-naming ceremony modeled after the age-old Rwandan tradition of naming children. More on that later; I’m excited to trek into the forests and see these beautiful primates. I am reminded of Dian Fossey’s passage from Gorillas in the Mist:
I shall never forget my first encounter with gorillas. Sound preceded sight. Odor preceded sound in the form of an overwhelming musky-barnyard, humanlike scent. The air was suddenly rent by a high-pitched series of screams followed by the rhythmic rondo of sharp pok-pok chestbeats from a great silverback male obscured behind what seemed an impenetrable wall of vegetation…. Immediately I was struck by the physical magnificence of the huge jet-black bodies blended against the green palette wash of the thick forest foliage.
— Dian Fossey, 1983 -
Money, Honey
Posted: June 5, 2008, 5:49 pm by Paul
The plan was for me to meet some bee-keepers in northern Kenya. Report on the AWF project, take some photos. I never would have guessed I’d end up in the bee suit.
First, some background. I’m in Maralal, a small town in northern Samburu district that hugs a large intact forest block called Kirisia Forest. In the past, people have put a lot of pressure on the forest, felling trees to get at natural bee hives.
To reduce pressure on the forest, AWF has given 300 modern Langstroth bee hives to bee-keepers from four communities around Kirisia as a way to trigger forest-friendly enterprise. The premise is simple: bees make honey, honey makes money, and bees need healthy trees to make that honey. So, if given the chance, people will conserve the forest and can sell honey for good cash to boot.
Steve examining a traditional log hive. These hives produce less honey of lower quality.
One of the modern Langstroth hives. AWF gave Samburu bee-keepers 300 of these hives.
I visited the homestead of John Leadra, who invited me to see the hives he received from AWF. I was with Steve Lelegwe, the manager of the local honey refinery, and David Kinanta, a young, energetic community conservation assistant. They thought it would be a great idea to put me in a bee suit and see what happens.
John suited up, handing me rubber gloves and the mesh hat without a word. “Don’t I need some special training or something?” I asked.
“It’s ok, it’s night-time. The bees are calm,” they told me with suspiciously big grins.
John had a small hand-held aluminum smoker which he applied to one of the hives to calm the bees. We removed the lid, pulled out the wooden frames which hold the honeycombs, and shook the bees free.
The sound of bees is both soothing and terrifying. Having bees swarming inches from my face, clinging to the mesh of my bee hat was disturbing, and I fought to stay calm. Are they on the outside or inside? How am I going to react if they get in?
Luckily for me, they didn’t get in. The bees flew around, rather cranky that two funny looking giants showed up to rip open their house and take their honey. We finished collecting the honey combs and replaced the frames and lid and let them be.
John Leadra shook my hand vigorously, thanking me for what AWF has brought him. Steve translated. “The hives AWF bought me has enabled me to make enough money to send my two children to school. And I’ve been able to buy four cows,” he beamed. “See that irrigation machine? The honey bought me that too. Anything AWF brings cannot go away.”
Those words stuck with me. It was amazing to see how a small investment like a few hives has enabled this man to send his kids to school.
John Leadra was able to send his children to school with money made from the honey.
Kinanta was a bit more disappointed. “I can’t believe you didn’t get stung! I was hoping you would get at least one good sting, so you can have a good story.” I think I got a good story anyway.
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Surrounded by Coffee, Not a Sip in Sight
Posted: June 2, 2008, 1:09 pm by Paul
I’ve been in Nyeri for a few days now, and I haven’t had a single cup of coffee! I came here expecting to be permanently buzzing from a steady regime of coffee drinking. But nope, not one cup.
It gets stranger: most of the farmers have never even tried their own coffee. But before I could feel too sorry for them they reassured me that - like most Kenyans - they are tea drinkers, and they’re happy to sip their chai while their coffee beans are enjoyed elsewhere around the globe.
But they are curious. So Robert Thuo, AWF’s Agronomist who oversees the AWF-Starbucks “Coffee for Conservation” project, has a plan. In conjunction with Starbucks, Kenyatta University, and other partners, AWF is going to open a coffee lab which will enable the farmers to sample the coffee they grow.
Robert Thuo (left), AWF’s Agronomist, sorts coffee cherries with one of the farmers.
The lab will serve as a “cupping” station, where coffee will be tested for quality and be graded. Kenyatta University, which is providing the space, can offer hands-on courses in coffee agronomy.
And the farmers will finally get to taste their product and see what all the buzz is about.
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Where Your Coffee is Born
Posted: May 28, 2008, 12:32 pm by Paul
I’m in Nyeri, Kenya, where they grow the world’s best coffee. This is the site of the AWF-Starbucks coffee project. You can see some of the green coffee farms on the steep slopes of Nyeri behind us.
This is John Kibocha, a coffee farmer trained by AWF to use Starbucks practices that are better for his crop and better for the environment. The training has helped John increase his yield from 148 kilos (two years ago) to 715 kilos (last season).
These guys help John harvest his coffee cherries.
Once picked, the coffee cherries are taken to the factory. The cherries are sorted by grade and are weighed.
This is a pulping machine which extracts the coffee beans from the cherries. At the Kihuyo factory, AWF installed a new electric motor to replace the more polluting diesel motor.
After passing through several stages of soaking, the beans are laid in the sun to be dried.
John told me, “Last year I received a record payment of 32.5 shillings per kilo for my coffee. Now my family is happy and we have the incentive to to perform even better next year.”
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The Kuku Project
Posted: May 24, 2008, 11:09 am by Paul
The Sanctuary at Ol Lentille is a lodge so incredible that it can easily overshadow everything else. But after my visit to the lodge, I passed by a small project that really grabbed my attention: The Kuku Project by the women of Nkiloriti.
When AWF approached the Maasai women of the Nkiloriti Group Ranch about setting up a women’s group, they opted not for beads or cultural manyattas. “We want to do eggs,” they said. With the new lodge just over the hill, the 30 or so women decided they could make a good business selling fresh kuku (chicken) eggs.
AWF, not exactly experts in the chicken business, went to the logical place for help: Kenchic, the ubiquitous chain of fast food chicken joints in Kenya. With the guidance of a consultant, we built the women a chicken coop (“the Kuku House”), bought a heating oven for warmth and a tank for water, and purchased 80 tiny, fluffy, cheeping chicks.
The women hired a caretaker. But after one chick fell into the heating oven (oops), the caretaker was swiftly relieved of his kuku duties and the women hired another. Today, all 79 chickens are healthy and busy laying big brown eggs. The caretaker watches over the chickens while the women watch their sales climb.
The eggs are a hit at the lodge and throughout the area. The Nkiloriti women hope to scale up their micro-enterprise, purchase more chicks, expand facilities, and receive additional training in accounting and basic marketing.
I asked Anna Le Sirima, the chair of The Kuku Project, how the money will benefit her. “The kuku money has helped me buy some clothes for my children and some medicines for my goats. I want to save some money to build a house.”
If chicken eggs can turn into medicine and clothing, that sounds good to me.
Fiesta (Samburu Heartland director) and the Kuku Women
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Counting Zebras, Dodging Elephants
Posted: May 19, 2008, 10:16 pm by Paul
Juma was telling me about the movements of Grevy’s during different seasons when we heard the loud crack of wood somewhere in the thick bush ahead. He stopped and was silent. We heard another branch snap and he turned around and mouthed the word “elephant!” We spun on our heels, retreated back a bit, and chose a new path around the unseen elephant. The last thing we wanted was to stumble upon an unsuspecting elephant in the thick thorn bushes.
I was with Juma, a game scout from West Gate Conservancy, and Jessica, a volunteer from South Africa, walking a 4 km transect to get a sample count of Grevy’s zebras. Six other small transect teams were scattered throughout the Conservancy as part of Dr. Paul Muroria’s research to monitor the population of this endangered zebra in Kenya, its last stronghold.
Avoiding the elephant provided some excitement and turned out to be opportune: once we were back on our transect, we spotted a large group of Grevy’s, heads held high watching us alertly. We took the coordinates, the bearing, and counted the group: 38 in total, with several foals.
With an unknown total population (Dr. Muoria estimates there are between only 2,000-2,500 left), each Grevy’s foal seems like a bit of hope. Some believe the population remains low because the foals have a high mortality rate. Could the population be declining because foals are dying off? Dr. Muoria is testing whether the presence of livestock and people affect feeding/nursing rates of the foals.
Next month, if all goes according to plan, Dr. Muoria will participate in a national Grevy’s zebra census – a large-scale effort by several Grevy’s stakeholders to figure out how many zebras remain in Kenya. Also next month, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) will launch the Nation Conservation Strategy for the Grevy’s Zebra.
These mark substantial steps for Grevy’s conservation in Kenya. Dr. Muoria’s research is providing valuable data but more can be done, he thinks. He says he needs additional equipment for his community scouts who are the eyes and ears on the ground. They lack range finders, binoculars, and more GPS units. If you’d like to help, and support Grevy’s conservation in Kenya, click here.
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Arrival at the Grevy’s Zebra Research Camp
Posted: May 14, 2008, 11:47 pm by Paul
I’m in a town called Wamba at the foot of the Mathews Range. This is the site of Dr. Paul Muoria’s research on endangered Grevy’s zebras, and I’ll be visiting him for the next few days.
Camp is basic but comfortable. Muroia shares it with Earth Watch, which brings volunteers out to the field to aid scientists with their research for short periods. There’s a mess hall and kitchen, simple dormitories, and a work room / “lab.”
The generator came on at 5:30a.m. and surprisingly, I was already awake. By 6:30, a group of volunteers and I climbed into the Land Rover with Mjomba, our driver, and Geoff, a young, sharp Samburu who is an intern for Dr. Muoria’s Grevy’s research and conservation project.We made our way to West Gate Conservancy on the Ngitok Ongiron Group Ranch, where we spent the morning collecting behavioral data on mare-foal pairs of Grevy’s.
Grevy’s aren’t just zebras. They are spectacular creatures, strikingly different than plains or Burchell’s zebras. Their stripes are finer, softer, and don’t fully wrap around the belly, leaving a nice white underside. The ears are larger, less sharp, more disc-like. Perhaps what I like most is their stature. They seem more sturdy, grander. Today was the first time I’ve seen a Burchell’s grazing with a group of Grevy’s so it was interesting to make a side-by-side comparison. The Burchell’s zebra, with its big ol’ rump, looks like it needs to hit the gym when standing next to the Grevy’s. Sorry, Burchell’s.
What do you think? Is it just me or is the Grevy’s the most beautiful of the equines?
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A Plan for Shaba
Posted: May 9, 2008, 7:21 pm by Paul
Yesterday we arrived in Shaba National Reserve just past nightfall. I always enjoy arriving at a place at night. You hear sounds around you – maybe a river running, palm fronds in the wind. The next morning you get to step out of your room to find what was behind the darkness the night before. My first sight this morning was the Ewaso Nyiro river only a few steps from my room.
The Ewaso is full from the recent rains, the water is the color of chocolate, and the banks are green with new vegetation. Vervet monkeys are up to their usual antics nearby, chasing each other up and down tree trunks, shrieking.
I’m staying at the Sarova Shaba lodge for a two day workshop to develop the General Management Plan for Shaba National Reserve. AWF is hosting the workshop, which has brought together about 60 stakeholders from local communities, tour operators, members of both Isiolo and Samburu County Councils, wildlife researchers, and reps from the Kenya Wildlife Service. 13 women are attending and have been active.
Shaba hasn’t had a General Management Plan (GMP) since 1985. The new Plan will help guide the park’s conservation, tourism, management and infrastructure development.
Shaba is located along the Ewaso Nyiro river, a few km from Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves. In 2003, AWF facilitated the creation of Samburu Reserve’s General Management Plan. Under that plan, new ranger houses were built, signs and other basic infrastructure was improved, and visitors have increased. Now, the County Council of Isiolo has solicited AWF’s help in facilitating a GMP for Shaba.
By the end of the first day, an important consensus was reached. Because Shaba lies within the same ecosystem as its close neighbors Samburu and Buffalo Springs reserves – and often shares the same roaming wildlife and management issues - there was agreement among the stakeholders that one General Management Plan should be created to encompass all three reserves.
If the Samburu and Isiolo County Councils approve this move, it could unite both districts under the common goal of sustainable management of their parks. Fiesta and the Heartland team foresees tricky negotiations and planning ahead, but hope to deliver a firm Plan by September.
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North to Samburu
Posted: May 8, 2008, 7:05 pm by Paul
Today I leave Nairobi and head to Samburu Heartland. I was seized by a shock of anxiety when I looked at my gear: laptop, camcorder and mic, SLR camera with an assortment of lenses, tripod, my clothes and boots, binoculars, field guides, GPS unit, and of course the small arsenal of cables, batteries and blank tapes. I hate not traveling lightly, but this small roving media center is critical to the success of my story-telling mission.
I’ll be joining Fiesta and the Heartland team at Shaba National Reserve, a place in the arid Isiolo district north of Mt Kenya. I’m traveling with a large group in a van that will make the journey north in about 5 hours. Goodbye Nairobi, hello bush!
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World Tour of Nairobi
Posted: May 1, 2008, 2:08 pm by Paul
I’ve been in Nairobi for a few days, settling in and preparing for my travels ahead. I was in Nairobi for most of 2004, and it’s great to reconnect with the staff in our headquarters here. I’ve been welcomed so warmly that in some ways I feel like I’ve come home from a long trip.
It was a nice surprise to find Jef Dupain, our Congo Heartland director, is in the office visiting. It’s been a great opportunity to hear about some of the cool stuff he’s working on and has lined up over the next few months. With the success of establishing Lomako Reserve, now his team is setting their sites on expanding some other protected areas to secure the habitat of bonobos and other critical forest species.
I asked him what is the most important species in the Congo. Without hesitation he said, “humans of course.”
Jef and I went out for sushi, joined by a friend of his from Uganda. The Belgian, the Kiwi-American, and the Ugandan eating Japanese food together. It was great. We poured each other sake and talked about life in Kinshasa. Jef has a deep bag of stories that scare me and at the same time make me want to come visit such a wild place. He’s urging me to visit the Congo in August, and I’m thinking that’s an offer I can’t pass up.
Today is Labour Day here in Kenya, and is the first public holiday to be marked under the grand coalition government. I think it’s time I signed off and went out to have a couple cold Tuskers with some friends!
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Here we go
Posted: April 23, 2008, 11:09 am by Paul
It’s come down to this: an empty apartment and a duffel bag ready to go.
The plan: leave Washington, DC and head to Africa. The goal: tell AWF’s story by visiting the 8 African Heartlands. Spend six months on the road, bouncing from one area to the next with my laptop, camera, and some notebooks.
Piece of cake right?
Blah blah blah
Fish cakes
Alas a fish cake.
Yet more fish cakes
Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.
The end of the fish cakes
