Visiting A Rocha, Kenya

A Rocha, Kenya, is a based in Watamu, on the coast between Mombasa and Malindi, and Fergus and I recently returned from a 10-day visit. The purpose of the visit - a holiday  -  was to join in the conservation work of A Rocha and to enjoy some diving, dolphin watching, snorkelling amongst the coral reef and fish, and birdwatching.  

We stayed at the Mwamba Field Study Centre, which operates a bit like a Youth Hostel - we had our own accommodation, but there was a central house where everyone gathered to eat, to relax and to chat. There were guests from Australia, Germany, UK and Switzerland who passed through whilst we there. The centre is currently being managed by a Canadian couple.                                                                                                                                                       On the Sunday there was a church service and Bible study held on the roof terrace overlooking the ocean...possibly the best view from any church I've ever visited!                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Here are a few highlights and photos from our trip...

Mida Creek

Mida Creek is a tidal creek, where the ocean makes its way into the Arubuko Sukoke Forest at high tide bringing with it migrating birds by the thousand, and leaves a vast area of exposed mangrove roots and sand at low tide. It is a stunningly beautiful and rich site - we saw countless species of birds (including the rare Crab Plover which appears on the A Rocha logo), fiddler crabs, sea slugs, starfish and (though we didn't see them) sea turtles.

Conservation work in this creek is part of A Rocha's work in the Forest - employees and volunteers are involved in education of the locals in how to care for their environment (ie not chopping down the mangroves which provide a natural habitat for the birds), and as Mida Creek is visited by tourists and birdwatchers, the money goes towards both the conservation work but also the education of local children who are funded through Secondary Education. You can watch a short video on what this project has meant for one family here.

A visit to Mida Creek involves a walk along a rickety walkway that - despite the risks it entails! - takes you to a bird hide with a view to die for...

The view from the hide...

We walked and canoed to the island that you can see in the distance. The island has a population of 300 people.

A few sights from the walk to the island:

Crab Plover - though I can't claim to have taken this photo, we saw dozens of them.

‘How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number—living things both large and small.’   Psalm 104:24–25

Waterfowl count

Part of A Rocha’s work in Kenya is to conduct bird counts at specific locations, and to feed that information to the national Kenya Wildlife Organisation so that patterns can be observed. 
I joined a team of keen local birders and travelled to 2 locations to count waterfowl. I know this isn’t everyone’s idea of a great day out, but let me tell you...
First location was Lake Mikimbi, which involved driving off road for a while until the minibus couldn’t get any further, then walking through some remote farms and villages to reach a stunningly beautiful (and huge) lake. Despite the size of this lake - several miles long - I can't find any reference to it on the internet. Sadly, I took no photo's of the birds, as my 'job' was to be scribe as others scanned the lake. I got this job because my ability to identify the birds we were seeing was zero! A few photos...

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Dolphins

We took a boat from Turtle Bay (30 min walk from A Rocha) to look for dolphins - not far off the coast we came across about 20, who performed a few routines for us...

Mombasa

Having enjoyed our stay at A Rocha, and eaten very healthily - no processed food for a week! - we arrived in Mombasa and treated ourselves to something a little more...Redhill:

There was a great deal more that we packed into our time in Kenya - we visited a snake sanctuary, saw spiders in their bird-catching webs, dived and snorkelled amongst the most beautiful coral and fish, baked in the sun, avoided some (very) unpleasant wasps, ran on the beach early in the morning and late at night, etc. 

I come back thankful to God for the work of A Rocha in this stunning and diverse part of His world, and for our opportunity to visit.