Humpback Whale Duo in Kenya!

October 20th 2008 - We were out on Bardan, our Global Vision International (GVI) research vessel, for a regular day of Bottlenose Dolphin research when we were surprised by slightly larger cetaceans...Shafii Vuyaa, our Boat Captain, spotted their blow on the horizon and we charged after them. Our research focused in and around the Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Park in coastal Kenya. With our base on Wasini Island we often found ourselves lucky enough to spot Bottlenose and Humpback Dolphins in the channel that separated us from the mainland town, Shimoni. However, this day we spotted WHALES in Funzi Bay, and this pair was more than happy to let us spend an hour cruising the Indian Ocean waters with them. The "calf" was more of a juvenile, and as you can see, was showboating a bit in response to our enthusiastic cheers. You'll see the mother breach twice - once at the very beginning of the video (in sync with her offspring) and once again towards the end. We were incredibly fortunate to spot this pair and even luckier still to spend so much time so close to them. Our vessel was small and not so speedy (don't even ask about the motor's power...) but you can see the railing of the ship in the bottom of the frame at one point as well - it's a great reference point for our proximity to these gorgeous marine mammals. There is a longer video of this pair in existence somewhere...hopefully it will find it's way up here soon...The following day we spotted a DIFFERENT Humpback pair while on survey. That day it was a mother and a very young calf - so young that she often submerged herself for long stretches (9 minutes!) in order to allow her newborn to nurse. On that day we were able to get gorgeous photos of her tail fin - the identifying marks for Humpbacks are on their tail fins - so we will be able to add that information to our records. All this data is then shared with the Kenyan Wildlife Services (KWS) in order to support their management of wildlife. This is increasingly significant as tourism grows in the region. Tourism is a vital industry in the Kenyan economy, but at the same time must be managed in a way that is sustainable for the animals and the environment. We were grateful to be able to contribute our time and efforts to support those goals. For now - enjoy the Humpback Whales - it was definitely a highlight of my volunteer experience with GVI in Kenya! If you want to know more about what the GVI Kenya expedition is doing, go visit http://gvikenya.wildlifedirect.org for up-to-date blogs on the cool things they are doing!

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• humpback
• whale
• kenya
• gvi
• cetacean
• marine
• research
• volunteer
• kisite
• mpunguti
• wasini
• shimoni

[xsbgtr]

WOW !!!

[the0sims0are0my0life]

lol ive always wanted to go on a boat ride and see some whales. luzzed it! :P

[justinklosky]

Pretty incredible!

[thewileyman]

love it!

[rodjsr]

Very nice.