I have been so busy the past few weeks here in Diani being an eco-volunteer for the Colobus Trust. www.coloboustrust.org I really can’t believe how fast time is flying and that I will soon be departing Diani later this week. I have been invited to stay longer or come back as a long term volunteer for six months or a year if I would like. It has been immensely rewarding to be of service and help out in a small way towards conservation. It is very tempting!
Although I am here during the rainy season it still is so beautiful. I have been lucky with the weather during most of my stay here but we did have quite a bit of rain this past week. We have also had many power cuts (courtesy of Kenyan Power Supply) intermittently so it’s one of the reasons to why I haven’t been able to update my own personal blog.
I have blogged for the Colobus Trust and you can read my blogs on their site which is sponsored by Wildlife Direct: www.colobus.wildlifedirect.org
I had also assisted one of the staff members here in writing his first blog (Hamisi) although he is already such a talented writer that I ended up only assisting him with word press and uploading photos!
Living and working in Diani has been such an amazing and fulfilling experience. Tourism and volunteer numbers are still so low from last year that even a few weeks here has made a big difference. Let’s hope that next month that tourist and volunteer numbers will return to Diani and Kenya.
As I have mentioned before I have a huge appreciation and love for the sun and the beach so every morning I have been getting up around 6 am and heading to the beach for my run and work out before we start work at 8 am. I don’t wear any thing of value (no watch, no jewelry of any kind) and use only my little iPod shuffle which I stuff down my shorts to keep out of view. I am one of those people that absolutely have to run with music so regardless of where I travel I somehow manage to hang onto my iPod and running headphones (although there was the time in Madagascar where I did have my old iPod nicked so the word is I “try” …)
Waking early and greeting the day (and the monkeys) has been bliss. I am the first one up in the volunteer house and I get the beach gate keys and make my way down the beach path hoping not to get attacked or swallowed by huge spider webs (bugs are my Achilles heel – don’t really like them on me in any way especially that lovely early morning ‘Amy -Winehouse- beehive -spider- web-do’ that I sometimes get when I walk into a big web) I say "Jambo" to the Sykes monkeys in the trees eating their breakfast and I take the risk of bugs and spiders early in the morning to arrive first on the beach with an amazing view of a burnt orange sun rising over the coolest blue Indian ocean. The sun’s glorious rays shine on the breaking waves in the distance on top of the coral reef and the sun’s rays glisten on the hand carved Dhow fishing boats bobbing up and down in the shallow waters awaiting the Swahili fishermen to hoist their sails and greet their day in Kenya.
I run on the softest coral white sand. Diani used to be under the sea hundreds of years ago so all the ground is made of what was pristine and virgin coral of all types. The sand is so fine from years of being pounded by nature that my shoes sink about 3 inches with each stride making my run more and more work. Sometimes I stop and walk a bit and look for unusual bits of old coral or small seashells that have been abandoned by their previous residents. The shells I usually pick up are the really small ones similar to the ones that the village people on Wasini Island scour the sands for to clean and dry and then sell to exporters. I saw what looked liked millions of them laid out on old sheets on Wasini Island. I asked the guide what are they going to be used for locally and he said they are harvested and then exported to China where they will be probably be used in mass production of clothing or curios items. My picking up 2 or 3 small shells that I then give to local artists for jewelry seem (well no pun intended) a drop in the ocean.
The last couple of days running in the morning there haven’t been many people on the beach not even some of the local fishermen as the weather has been a bit precarious with a lot of wind and heavy rain. I have been lucky as my runs have been perfectly timed with no rain and a bit of sunshine so early in the morning. I sometimes see some of the locals walking and exercising their dogs on the beach either on lead or off lead. I greet the dogs and the owners whenever possible.
Yesterday I met one of the locals, a lovely Indian woman who lives and works in Diani with her husband running one of the smaller hotels and restaurants. She walks three rescue dogs – one Dachshund, one Jack Russell and one Swahili bush dog that she adopted from the Mombasa KSPCA. We chatted about her dogs and then one of the local fisherman’s Swahili dogs came bounding over to her bush dog. I could easily see that they were best friends as they played and bounded into the water. I started my run again and both dogs starting playing with me almost egging me on to run faster. I must have had the biggest smile on my face as they continued to run with me for about 5 minutes down the beach.
This morning the sun decided to finally come out and I was so happy to be greeted first on my morning beach run by two different Swahili dogs (they must have been from the same litter as they looked like book ends!) These dogs were the same colour as Vizslas but they had the same build as a Swahili dog and the cute long, skinny and curly tail that goes up when they are happy. With collars and tags I knew these were pet dogs belonging to an owner of one of the many beach homes in Diani. They must have sensed I was a dog lover as they both came running over to me and greeted me with big licks on my salty, sweaty and white sandy legs. After a few pets and good scratches on their heads they decided to join me for the rest of my run. I ran a good portion of the beach with both dogs at my side who were playing, jumping, smiling and encouraging me to dance with them. I was the only one on this beautiful stretch of beach this morning with just these two dogs dancing in synch with me in the receding tide while listening to Take That’s “Greatest Day.” It certainly felt like it.
The Dog Reporter
www.thedogreporter.com
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