Cercopan

Pushing monkeys off the front page for a change, this story is about Sylvain our Research Coordinator in Rhoko camp. After 16 months in the bush, Sylvain recently went on vacation. Instead of heading straight home to family and friends, he took a plane first to Thailand to compete in the 25th World Championships of Sepak Takraw!

Sylvain at the Sepak Takraw championships

Huh? For those of you not from South-East Asia, you may not appreciate what a highly skilled and fanatically popular sport Sepak Takraw is. To an outsider it appears to be a sort of tennis-football played on a badminton court following the rules of volleyball. The small plastic ball is kept in the air using any part of the body except your arms. This leads to sensationally acrobatic play, with the top players demonstrating astonishing flexibility and agility as they spike the ball from great heights with their feet.

Germany- Iran Sepak Takraw match

Sylvain is a core and highly-valued member of the French International team and was playing in his third World Championship. Three people are on court during the game, and the level of strength in depth in France is such that….well let’s just say that if Sylvain had failed to get out of bed on some of the days they would have been disqualified for not fielding a full side.

What they lack in quantity, they clearly make up for in quality as the French side won through to snatch the bronze medal in their category. During an entire week of competition, Sylvain and his team performed against the best Sepak Takraw teams in the world, Thailand and Malaysia being the strongest, and the French team left much more experienced, and determined to train harder and return next time to continue their climb up the world rankings.

Sepak Takraw is a growing sport which aims to become Olympic one day. As Sylvain trains back in the bush, children admire and imitate him…who knows, one day they may form a Nigerian team which would constitute the first African team ever playing this amazing sport!

CERCOPAN has yet more exciting new additions to the growing family of pigs in Iko Esai village with the birth of four more healthy babies to our newly acquired female ‘Punch’. This project is proving to be an excellent flagship for our efforts toward alternative livelihoods in the communities surrounding Cross River National Park. Alternative sustainable livelihoods are a vital part of our larger goal to reduce reliance upon the dwindling rainforest resources and increase the financial and physical health of people in the area.

The newest babies at 2 days old

The Iko Esai Ubhena farm co-operative made further improvements to the pig sty facilities to prepare for the babies, adding a new extended roof and cementing the floor of the ‘nursery’ to ensure the best possible welfare conditions for the piglets. The group is planning to develop a good breeding stock of females before commercial sales begin to ensure a constant and sustainable supply of protein for the village.

As with all CERCOPAN’s efforts, this project and others like it are only possible with the support of generous individuals and organisations around the world. CERCOPAN is entirely non-profit making and is managed by a dedicated core of international volunteers in conjunction with our fantastic Nigerian staff. If you wish to help us to continue touching lives please visit our website and donate today . Find us at www.cercopan.org or follow us on our facebook fan and cause pages.

Since CERCOPAN started to rescue Nigerian monkeys in 1995, the welfare and well-being of the orphans has been our ultimate priority. Over the years, as the project grew, primate conservation and forest protection became obvious objectives, leading to the formation of a partnership in 2000 with Iko Esai community to conserve their community forest and reintroduce rehabilitated primates there. These two main facets of our work, Welfare and Conservation were at the heart of the Compassionate Conservation International Symposium organized in Oxford at the beginning of September. CERCOPAN representatives Sylvain Lemoine (Research Coordinator) and Zena Tooze (CERCOPAN founder) attended the symposium to present the results of our first reintroduction of Mona monkeys and to discuss its benefits and consequences for the welfare of guenon Cercopithecine species.

Sylvain and Zena at the Compassionate Conservation Symposium

The main objective of the Symposium was to bring together conservation and welfare science which although naturally interconnected, have tended to be entirely discrete due to welfare’s focus on the individual, and conservation’s focus on populations. The Compassionate Conservation approach states that “the well-being of individual animals should be considered when making conservation decisions”. This philosophy is very much in line with CERCOPAN’s vision and it is very apparent to our staff that all of our monkeys are different and that they each respond differently. Whilst this seems obvious when considering primates, which are thought intuitively to be ‘more conscious’ than other animals, it also appears to be true for many other species of animals, from the simplest to more complicated.

For two days, researchers, conservationists and specialists in welfare science presented their various projects at the Symposium and discussed ethical issues arising from making conservation decisions. A common point of view was that no animal should suffer under any circumstances, and that the well being of individuals should always be a key consideration in any conservation research project. The idea of a compassionate conservation will hopefully show that science can be used to serve individual animals and that empathy and sympathy can go hand in hand with biological science.

We are very grateful to AAP for providing the necessary funding to our team to attend this conference.

www.compassionateconservation.org

www.aap.org

CERCOPAN has worked in its host village of Iko Esai for 10 years but, as of 2010, we have also expanded our alternative livelihood community work to over 100 people in Agoi Ibami, a neighbouring village. One of the larger projects targeting women is poultry farming for egg production, which can be done effectively at household level.

Caroline with her partially completed enclosure

Eggs are an excellent source of healthy protein which are difficult and expensive to buy at village levels due to the poor state of access roads to external markets. Local chicken breeds do not produce high quality eggs for consumption and so CERCOPAN, with funding from BNRCC (Building Nigeria’s Response to Climate Change), has provided assistance to 15 women in Agoi Ibami to purchase agricultural layers that can provide a long term source of income and household protein.

As no one had tried rearing agricultural chickens in rural areas before CERCOPAN’s community conservation manager (Rachel Hemingway) bought two chickens to determine whether they would thrive and lay on locally available foodstuffs. Happily Fatty, one of the chickens, has started to lay high quality eggs already that are being given out to women in the village to encourage this type of farming.

‘Fatty’ chicken, the experiment on locally available food

As with all our work CERCOPAN cannot continue to finance and expand the livelihoods programme without the generous support of individuals and groups from around the world, who we rely on entirely. Please visit our website www.cercopan.org for more information on how to support us. Also check out our facebook fan and cause pages for more pictures, downloads and updates.

Some of the children who will benefit from our expanded livelihood programme

by Alex Gerard, Rhoko Manager

Living in the rainforest always throws challenges your way and in my first 4 months there have been plenty of those! Today was one of the more alarming. Having had a relatively uneventful first hour I walked back into camp to find what appeared to be steam coming off our solar shed’s roof. Since it had just rained and the sun was attempting an appearance I thought that I was witnessing a rather atmospheric event of evaporation and called Sylvain to enjoy it with me (you sometimes take any entertainment you can get!). I soon started to smell a very worrying scent, that of burning plastic! We quickly moved inside the shed where it was obvious that we were very close to a fire as the cables that supply our main shed with light and power for our radio had completely melted and there were sparks flying everywhere. I quickly unwired the dangerous wires, I know what a hero! and then started to investigate the mess that was left.

Alex fixing the solar power

We are often battling against the environment out here, sometimes the weather and sometimes rodents! The start of the damage to the wiring appeared to be from a mouse. You’d think that with all that the rainforest can offer, plastic and wire would be way down the menu! Unfortunately the damage had extended outside of the hut and this meant a complete rewire.

All of our cabling is buried underground, so I had to pull everything up and assess the bigger picture. Like with all jobs, there was more damage to find! Having followed the cables up to the kitchen, where they go under the floor, I found that my furry nemesis had been busy! Not only had he (or she) been chowing down on the supply for the radio under the flooring, it had made the lighting cable it’s desert! This meant I had to remove ALL the wiring to the main shed. We do not have much of the heavy duty cable needed at camp, so I had to use what I could to safely wire up to and inside the hut, then attach to the remaining uneaten cable.

The Solar shed

As I mentioned earlier and as anyone who does DIY will know, such jobs always lead to more jobs! The radio in the security shed is also fed by the solar shed and it quickly became apparent the Danger Mouse (British reference to one of the best cartoons of the 80’s!) had been slowly destroying our communications! (This could be part of a bigger plot, so be warned!) This meant that my day of wiring was not over and as the light in camp faded I was left to continue with my trusty headlamp, though compared with the rest of the days electrics, this was quite straight forward.

I was certainly an eventful day and I now know that we must all be vigilant as we don’t know when DM will strike again! It also highlights how important out solar shed is. It is the only way we have of charging out portable radios for patrol, security etc. It runs our radio for communicating to Calabar and the outside world. It gives us light for the evenings and powers our laptops for research and for writing these blogs!

By Fabian Schmidt

Me, relaxing in Calabar

On June 5^th, CERCOPAN once again held a truly inspiring and flamboyant event to celebrate World Environment Day (WED). The  event was attended by thousands of school children, the Governor of Cross River State, Commissioner of the Environment, Special Advisor on Biodiversity and Forests and the Chairman of the Forestry Commission, amongst many other important guests.

Although CERCOPAN began hosting this International Day of Environmentalism over ten years ago, this was my first ever trip to Nigeria and so I was very excited to be able to witness it for the first time. Coincidently, the celebrations fell on the last weekend of my stay in Calabar and as a result turned out not only to be a great opportunity to meet the Rhoko team again, but also to end my trip on an incredible high note.

Although the event itself is just a single day, CERCOPAN starts the preparations and associated environmental outreach almost 10 months before the actual carnival! Indeed, after one World Environment Day celebration ends, there is hardly time to relax before preparation for the next starts once again in earnest. As the event approaches nearer and nearer, the preparations reach a crescendo and by the final week all staff seem to be working tirelessly day and night to ensure that the event is perfect and hitch free – not an easy task in Nigeria!

I happened to be visiting CERCOPAN in May and June undertaking virology studies to assist CERCOPAN with their important release programme. Although I had set aside the final week of my stay to view pathology folders, it was almost impossible not to become caught up with the excitement of the event and before I knew it, I had been co-opted to join the event planning team! The majority of the funding needed for World Environment Day is provided each year thanks to the kind support of Cincinatti Zoo and Botanic gardens. Nevertheless, CERCOPAN also tries to involve local businesses and government to garner additional in-country support and increase the magnitude of the event.  This year was no exception, and in addition to gaining the support of many local companies, the government decided to help jointly host the event.

World Environment Day 2010 celebrations

Everyone who had previously experienced the day, had explained to me how much June 5^th means to the children and how much they look forward to the carnival, music, dancing and celebrations every year. Despite hearing so many stories I was amazed by the sheer strength of the reaction from the children on the day. The Chairman of the Forestry Commission in his speech put it best saying that for him and the children the event was like “a second Christmas”.

Children Enjoying World Environment Day

The day was filled with unique and colourful dancing, environmental banners, speeches, the giving of prizes for environmental competitions run by CERCOPAN during the year and even a tree planting ceremony. The part of the day with the highest environmental education impact for me however, was probably the drama competition, which took place in front of the governor. His Excellency was not only notably moved by the enthusiasm of the acting, but also made the point strongly that that the future of our environment lies in the hands of the youth.

His Excellency, Liyel Imoke, Governor of Cross River State enjoying the dramas

For me, World Environment day was a great way to end my trip to Nigeria and left me with lots of memories I will never forget. I am sure however, even as I write this and think about last months event, CERCOPAN are already busy working out how to make next years celebrations even bigger and better!

World Environment Day forest drama

Waking up today in Rhoko Forest, I had an invigourated feeling about the days upcoming events. This feeling was not just inspired by the ever-soothing sounds of the rainforest at dawn, which always does a good job of adding an extra bounce to my step in the morning ( granted, after my first cup of coffee!). My feelings of excitement were multiplied by the fact that I knew we were welcoming a new addition to the CERCOPAN family at Rhoko Camp. Dallas is a Canadian civil engineer who has been building roads in the harsh conditions of Alberta, and decided to give construction in the rainforest a go! Being a Canadian myself, I’m aware just how different those two jobs might be, with their own dichotomous set of challenges posed by very different climatic conditions. But I have every confidence that Dallas is the man for the job!

Dallas on a tour of Calabar HQ with Head Keeper Egu

Claire, Alex (the Rhoko Co-Manager) and I picked Dallas up in Calabar on Saturday evening – coming from Canada, he had been travelling since Wednesday! Arriving in Nigeria is always daunting, regardless of how much jet-lag you are suffering from, but Dallas was relaxed and excited about his new home and new adventure. On Sunday, we travelled up to Rhoko with Dallas, allowing him to get acquainted with our bush truck, and see the sights and sounds of Cross River along the way. A quick tour of camp, dinner, a nice chat, and then relatively early to bed was the agenda once we arrived.

Dallas with Simon at the main hut on his first day

This morning was his first proper day at camp and started out how most days do: up at 7:00 with some coffee and toast, and a chat about the day’s plans and activities over breakfast. Dallas was excited to explore the forest more and see the enclosures, particularly the mangabeys. After a quick meeting with our Assistant Operations Manager, Obio, we sent Dallas to the enclosures with Sylvain, our Research Coordinator to have a look around.  As Dallas was busily exploring Rhoko’s many attractions with Sylvain, we got down to work again, preparing for the move of one of our captive mona groups housed near the mangabeys, to their new home further into the forest. At lunch we reconvened to hear about Dallas’ first impressions of his new home – all very positive!

Dallas is someone who wants to hit the ground running, which really suits our small, dedicated team. He even took it in good humour when I explained to him his first job at camp – fixing his future home! You might remember that we blogged about some storm damage a few weeks ago – one of the hardest hit structures was Dallas’ hut! We are currently housing him in our tourist facility until he can begin work on it. The roof was completely destroyed by a very large tree that fell. We are desperately trying to raise funds to buy the materials to fix his roof so he can move to his home and settle in to life in the Forest. Any donations are greatly appreciated!

Dallas' Hut seriously damaged by recent storms

Now that rainy season is upon us, the general mood of staff, volunteers, and monkeys in Calabar is a little glum compared with the recent sunshine-filled days of dry season. Damp staff clean out enclosures where soggy monkeys peep down from under their roof shelters, and everyone is waiting and hoping for some sun to brighten their day.

Last week however, a little ray of sunshine entered the compound in the form of a tiny, mischievous putty-nosed guenon, who was brought in by a concerned member of the public. After seeing the little orphan terrified and alone at a market, the gentleman had felt so sorry for her, that he bought her immediately and carried her straight to CERCOPAN (Centre for Education, Research and Conservation of Primates and Nature) to give her a better life.

The man had carried the baby to us in a small cardboard box and on seeing me, he opened the lid and the tiny creature cautiously peeped out her head. The sight of several pairs of human eyes and the backdrop of primate enclosures filled with animals all staring at her was overwhelming and she she quickly lept out and hid behind her rescuers legs.

Nervously Bingo peeks out from behind her rescuer’s legs.

Egu, our head keeper quickly brought over a plate of food and I tried to tempt out the nervous infant; hoping to win her over with some tasty treats. As fear slowly gave way to hunger, she gradually tiptoed out and stood in awe of the big plate of food put before her. It wasn’t long before she plunged face first into fruit, now completely oblivious of everything and everyone around her! Being so young, in the wild she would have just started moving on to solid food and so the softest fruits were the first to disappear.

Seeing so much food Bingo dives in head first.

We are not sure how long she had been away from her mother, who was likely shot for bushmeat leaving the infant alone in the clutches of the hunter. She was in very good condition however, so it is likely that it was only days before.

After hearing fellow putty-nosed guenon calls, Bingo tries to find her voice.

Once she had her fill of fruit, we brought out some milk, essential to all young orphaned primates for healthy development…..and loved by monkeys of all ages!. She gulped down the milk and now completely at ease, began bouncing all over me as if we had been best friends her whole life!

Milk is a firm favorite amoung all monkeys and helps Bingo feel more relaxed.

Before leaving, her rescuer named her Bingo. We explained to him that in the future if he ever saw another primate in a market he should not buy the animal as doing so encourages trade, rather he should report to CERCOPAN so that we can go and confiscate the orphan.

As we walked Bingo into the office, which will be her home for the next few weeks, outstretched arms appeared from every passing enclosure as all our resident adult females indicated that they wanted to be the one to hug and care for the tiny infant. Bingo must go through quarantine before being introduced to a group, but as all of our monkeys seem so desperate to mother her, she will certainly have no problem fitting in anywhere!

If you want to help CERCOPAN continue to provide a refuge for monkeys like Bingo, please support our cause today. As a non-profit organisation we rely fully on donations by caring people such as yourself to feed our ever growing primate family. With over 160 monkeys currently between our two sites we have so many mouths to feed and we just cant do it without you.

With yet another mouth to feed, CERCOPAN really needs your support!

Everyone at CERCOPAN (Centre for Education, Research and Conservation Of Primates And Nature) told us that the rainy season in Rhoko Forest is something of an experience in itself. Take the struggles of just living in a remote environment and add enormous downfalls of rain and violent storms causing trees to fall, roads to completely change to cascading water, and just the general annoyance of your laundry NEVER properly drying – then you’ve got rainy season in one of the world’s wettest places! A few nights ago we experienced the first real storm of the rainy season and it was very impressive – lightning struck right next to our main hut, rain pounded our aluminium roofs so loudly we could not hear each other yelling, and trees fell all around us. In the morning we awoke to what I can only describe as scenes of complete devastation! The first storms of the rainy season are always the worst, as all the trees with weak and damaged limbs tend to fall at once with the weight of the water and force of the wind- and this certainly had happened.

In the morning, we received radio messages from our fantastic patrol and primate keepers that trees had fallen on our primate enclosures over night and all our 50 strong group of Red-Capped Mangabeys had escaped! Luckily, their quick work and sharp thinking meant that by the time we arrived at the enclosure (our progress was hindered by having to clear multiple trees along the road just to get our truck down – thank goodness for machetes), our team had managed to tempt the entire group back into their enclosure – never underestimate the power of bananas! Unfortunately though, the tree has severely damaged our fence and repairs are currently in progress to get it fully secure, although it will likely need to be replaced at the damaged point in the near future.

Staff worked tirelessly to clear the road and ensure the truck was able to pass through

With this disaster under control, we moved our attention to the mona enclosures adjacent to our main mangabey enclosure. Two massive buttress trees had fallen to rest on Etimbuk & Twiggy’s enclosure, and were straining the structure enormously. The two Monas however, were having a great time as the trees had brought a smorgasbord of insects for them to munch on and we had difficulty tempting them into a satellite to keep them safe as we worked on the tree removal. Luckily, this event happened on the last day our volunteer, Joe Brophy, was at camp. Joe is a tree surgeon based in the US and was able to help our team safely clear these massive trees – in the process teaching us a lot about the way trees fall, move and how we can clear them. Thanks Joe! Unfortunately, our work did not end here, as we received a message that a tree was blocking the road to the village from our camp. Our team jumped in the truck and sped off to clear the road for all the locals who depend on it to get to their farm and back.

Hard working staff cleared the trees with Joe’s expert help – although the monas were enjoying all the new insects they were finding!

Unfortunately, we also received a message that a tree had fallen on our community centre construction, a project currently underway at CERCOPAN. Again, our team arrived to remove the tree and assess the damage caused. The tree has caused extensive damage to the roofing structures that are just in the process of being built, and this has yet again set us back in our project budget and time line.

The fallen tree broke several beams of wood on the community centre

In our haste to secure the primate enclosures, we did not even notice the medium sized tree that had fallen on Sylvain’s (our Research Coordinator) hut – luckily he was in Calabar at the time! The clear up from the storm still continues but further rains (and extra costs) have hindered our progress and we still have 5 more months of rain to come! If you would like to help our camp survive the remaining wet season and make repairs, (plus ensure dampened staff at least don’t have dampened spirits!), then any donations will be gratefully received and put to good use.

Within the last month, Joe Brophy, a professional tree climber volunteering in Rhoko site, has trained one of CERCOPAN research assistant, Usor Arong, in climbing techniques.

Usor, who is from Iko Esai community and previously was a NTFP gatherer, is familiar with climbing trees but in a very traditional manner, escalading large climbers to access to upper branches in order to collect “Afang”, a local leaf used in many Nigerian recipes. Usor actually broke his leg few years ago from a fall after an unfortunate encounter with a snake at the top of a tree!

Jo entering the tree platform

The techniques taught by Joe are quite different and safer, using ropes to access the various levels of any tree. But how to install a rope 30 metres high from the ground without taking any risk? This is where “Robin Hood” skills intervene. We are using a huge bow to send an arrow attached to a string above a large branch, then we just have to set a rope at the extremity of the string, pull the string until the rope passes over the branch, and fix the rope to a tree at the bottom.

Usor really enjoyed the bow but then lost a bit of his courage when he found himself for the first time sitting on a harness swinging on the rope 20 meters above the ground. Nevertheless, Usor managed to climb very well even on the first occasion. Several climbing sessions were then organized where Usor became more and more confident in this exercise. The most exciting moment for Usor was the ascent of the “tree-platform”, a metallic circular walkway installed 30 meters high around a massive tree trunk. The platform is one of the most popular attractions at Rhoko and gives a splendid view of the forest. Only a few indigenes of Iko Esai have ascended the tree to the platform and Usor was really proud of his performance.

Jo training Usor to Climb

Entertainment and fantastic views are not the only reason for climbing trees in Rhoko, the practice also allows the researchers to collect fruits, flowers and leaf samples from the canopy, as part of the long-term phenology study undertaken being undertaken in the Core Area.

Progress of the research and acquirement of new skills for our local staff is the perfect combination to fulfill CERCOPAN mission and to enhance our relationship with the surrounding communities. A big thank you to Joe for bringing his skills and enthusiasm to Rhoko and to Sherrilltree company for donating vital equipment.

Usor wearing equipment donated by Sherrilltree