I’m just back from Nairobi, Kenya after one of the most motivating and inspiring days I’ve had for many years. It’s going to take me a week or so to fully write-up everything that happened - which included speaking at a village school in the grasslands below the Aberdare Mountains, being made an honorary Kikuyu Tribal Elder, and visiting a superb conservation initiative, the Njabini Wool-spinning Workshop, run by the Friends of Kinangop Plateau (FOKP)! - but I want to get online as quickly as possible some initial thoughts and photographs, otherwise I’m going to explode…

Sharpe’s Longclaw Macronyx sharpei

I was in Nairobi visiting the Kinangop Plateau, the core distribution area of the Endangered Sharpe’s Longclaw. The purpose of the visit (as I understood it) was to deliver the second tranche of the money raised by 10,000 Birds Readers for the “Small African Fellowship for Conservation”, and to present both a new pair of binoculars donated by Eagle Optics to Dominic Kimani and the FOKP and a laptop generously provided by Joanna Mowday through the Peter Mowday Conservation Fund. The day though was so much more than that, and was co-ordinated and organised by three incredibly dedicated researchers and conservationists (who will probably be familiar to anyone who regularly reads this blog): Dr Muchai Muchane (National Museums of Kenya, Head of Department - Zoology), Luca Borghesio, and Dominic Kimani. They were backed up by a whole team of other activists and supporters from the FOKP who gave up their Saturday to welcome and meet me and who came and went throughout the day.

And I just want to stress how remarkable a day it was. I was treated with unforgettable warmth and friendliness everywhere I went, and the message was repeated over and over again just how vital even the relatively small sum of money we raised was to Dominic, how important the gifts of binoculars and a laptop was to the small communities who are being inspired to save the Sharpe’s Longclaw by Dr Muchai, Dominic, and Luca et al, and how valuable the international bonds formed by this blog with the people of the Kinangop Plateau really are.

So, how about a few images? As I said it’s going to take me a while to really write properly about everything that happened on this amazing trip, and I also need to wait for Luca to email me some of the photos he took during the day which I haven’t seen myself (including me dancing with the Kikuyu which should be - well, ‘interesting’), but I hope the following will inspire readers to come back and check out the full posts as they go online as they will properly explain what is being done to protect the Kinangop grasslands and the Sharpe’s Longclaw.

Luca Borghesio, Dr Muchai Muchane, Charlie Moores (ie yours truly), Nairobi National Museum

 

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Hajo Friends Academy, Naivasha

Students at the Hajo Friends Academy wonder who the odd bloke they’re waving with is…

…Dominic explains, and talks about Sharpe’s Longclaw and how they can help in its conservation (while the school’s head-teacher looks on)

 

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Friends of Kinangop Plateau Resource Centre, near Naivasha

Kikuyu Tribal dancers show their appreciation for the funds and gifts raised through 10,000 Birds and its readers (yes, genuinely)

 

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The Njabini Wool-spinning Workshop run by the
Friends of Kinangop Plateau

Weaving wool at the Njabini Wool-spinning workshop

Spinning wool on a locally-made spinning wheel

While we were driving away from Kinangop back to Nairobi, Dr Muchai asked me what I would take away from the day. It was an almost impossible question to answer. I’ve been privileged on my travels to see many beautiful and special things over the years, but I’ve rarely felt so humble, emotional, and motivated before. I was made to feel a genuine part of the action to save Sharpe’s Longclaw (and remember, as I said to Dr Muchai, I’m an ‘outsider’ who has only very recently become involved in work that has been going on for many years already) which is extraordinarily generous and trusting of the Nairobi-based teams.

I came to understand too just how important our blogs can be, because so many of the world’s conservationists don’t have access to the audience we have or the ability to be heard that they need. We can give them both very easily - in fact, I feel strongly that any blogger who ‘loves birds’ should do so. The fact is that ANYONE who wants to CAN make a huge difference to conservation initiatives - it doesn’t cost much, it doesn’t take specialist knowledge (none of us on 10,000 Birds would claim to be researchers or scientists), it just takes time, will, and effort. And the rewards - if my day in Nairobi is anything to by - are absolutely huge…

I was asked many times not to forget the people I was meeting or to sever the links that were being made, and I am absolutely determined that this visit will be the first of many (as many as the conservationists in Nairobi want me to make anyway), and Mike, Corey, and I will be discussing over the coming months a whole range of initiatives that we feel inspired to launch and hone on 10,000 Birds. The “Small African Fellowship for Conservation” will be the first of many such projects and - we hope - that our fantastic readers will want to come along for what promises to be a very exciting ride…

Before I finish this short post though can I just have a moment of total indulgence (readers with sensitive stomachs may feel a need to turn away about now), because I feel incredibly excited that 10,000 Birds has given me the sort of platform to make the journies into conservation that I’ve always wanted to take and I just want to thank Mike and Corey for their patience and understanding (I can be very - er, ‘passionate’ when I get the bit between my teeth), and to send my deepest love to my incredible partner Jo for the way she supports me, understands me, and allows me the time it takes to get projects like this launched when I should really be spending my time at home with her and Evie…I’m a very, very lucky guy.

Some friends we made en-route…

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores 2008