Siân's Diary

4/7 First meal of pancakes was a little strange. Sitting in bed reading on her first night listening to the sounds of the Kenyan tropical forest.
5/7 Woke up early confused... not sure where she was.
Cleaned out and fed the monkeys. Hot and sweaty work. Lunch not great
walked down to the beach.."it's like paradise if it weren't for the persistent beach boys".
6/7 another hot day cleaning out the monkeys. Dinner was hard to eat.
7/7 Tree trimming- fun to be out with the Kenyan guys but very hot work.
Siân's ezcema is bad.... showering in salt water might not help.
8/7 Dreamt she was at home for the weekend. ..bit sad when she woke up.
Painting and tidying the eco trail. Blow darting competition in the afternoon.
Went to the supermarket on the matatu (minibus). The 3 volunteers were accompanied by 10 other passengers, they were then joined by at least 7 Massai Warriors. Quoting Sian, she said it was "surreal and unforgettable".
9/7 Lazy day. Cloudy and windy.

Not long to go

I've been busy collecting all the things I need to take to Kenya and getting excited! Had the last of my jabs today, and there's been A LOT! Only got my anti-malarials left to get and a cholera vaccine ..

I've been done a couple of bootfairs this month to help with the fundraising, and they've been quite successful.

And I'm off back to school next week, to give a talk to the children at my old primary school about the project, as they have kindly let me do some fundraising at the school :) I'll be taking my colobus monkey cuddly toy to introduce to the childen!

I'll be collecting things to donate to the Colobus Trust and their education program next week, things such as:

Pens and pencils

Colour pencils
Felt tip pens
Colour markers
Crayons
Whiteboard markers
Watercolour/paint kits and paintbrushes
Scissors
Children's scissors
Glue sticks
Notebooks
String or elastic to make masks
Dice (for games)
Super glue
Permanent markers
Glitter
Balloons
Colouring books
Small games and toys for chidren

which are hard to find in Diani. They are also in need of second/third hand laptops if anyone has one or knows someone that has one that they're not using anymore, it'd be a great help to the trust, so let me know :)

Change of plans ..

Since my project was unfortunately cancelled a couple of weeks ago I've been looking into other conservation projects, in Africa and Greece, and sending round emails in the hope that I'd get lucky.

I'd just about given up hope as I hadn't got any replies back, when I got an email from the Colobus Trust in Kenya saying I'd got a place! Which is great news as I don't need to change/cancel my flights and will give me hands on experience in caring for these endagered monkeys and helping with their conservation, preservation and protection.

The Colobus trust is near Diani Beach, South of Mombasa.Diani Beach is home to a diverse array of wildlife. There are four species of diurnal primates: the Angolan black-and-white colobus, yellow baboon, vervet monkey, and the sykes monkey as well as two species of nocturnal primate, the thick-tailed bush baby and lesser bush baby.

Development along the south Kenyan coast, especially for the tourist industry, has been a serious problem to the environment and a dangerous threat to biodiversity.

I'm really looking forward to getting involved with their conservation initiatives which are providing solutions to habitat loss, vehicle injuries, un-insulated electricity cables, illegal snaring and the illegal pet trade.

It also gives me the amazing opportunity to hopefully do some scuba diving in the Indian ocean and go on a safari! :D

May Dip T Shirts!

To help raise the money I need I had the genius idea of making May Dip T-shirts and selling for May Dip (a student tradition held annually at dawn on May Day, where students run into the North Sea at dawn) this year.

I'm hoping it's going to be a great success and can't wait to see people at the beach on May Day with the t-shirts on!!

Details of the t-shirts sales are HERE

T-shirt design, front (left) and back (right)

New boots

Went shopping yesterday and got some hiking boots for my trip. After trying on countless pairs I think I made the right choice, and they were surprisingly not the most expensive pair I tried on! Now to wear them in ..

Booking my flights next week, exciting!

Intro and Fundraising!

The Project is run by Frontier, a Non Profit NGO which has been working for the last 20 years on running various conservation projects in Madagascar, Tanzania, Nicaragua, Cambodia and Fiji This programme aims to collect important scientific data on the ecology of different game national parks, and ultimately produce management plans and develop conservation areas for threatened habitats. Frontier conservation programmes are dedicated to the conservation of valuable and threatened wildlife and habitats. Frontier works by initiating and implementing biological, social and economic research programmes in tropical countries. Programmes are developed and operated in partnership with host country institutions and provide important training opportunities for host country students, resource managers and technical of officers. This project will help me develop research skills and life experience in managing and looking after endangered wild animals in Africa. 

In order to do this, I need to fundraise £2000 for Frontier. The money goes towards running the project, researching and developing new projects, building partnerships with developing country NGOs and highlighting threats to endangered wildlife and habitats. I'll keep you posted on my fundraising events! 

My fundraising leaflet can be downloaded here   :)