He Spent 5 Months In Africa Collecting Dung

By Philip Knowling

Paignton, UK - A Devon-based conservationist has returned from five months in the jungles of East Africa with tales of rare antelope, close encounters with dangerous animals and strange coincidences.

Andy Bowkett is Overseas Conservation Officer with the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust and is based at Paignton Zoo Environmental Park. He spent five months between June and November in Tanzania and Kenya and on the island of Zanzibar.

He travelled to Africa to collect dung samples for his PhD and to try to confirm the presence of the critically endangered forest antelope Ader’s duiker in the Boni-Dodori Forests on the northern Kenyan coast.

In Tanzania he worked on duiker research with partners from Trento Museum of Natural Sciences, in Italy, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, and a local conservation organisation, the Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Centre. The work was part of his PhD (on the population structure of Harvey’s and Abbott’s duiker in the Udzungwa Mountains) at the University of Exeter under the supervision of Dr. Jamie Stevens from the university and Dr. Amy Plowman from the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust.

“In Tanzania I collected over 300 dung samples. DNA will be extracted at the lab in Exeter and used in genetic analyses. I used a systematic collection method which involved walking a triangle 1 km per side each day using GPS and map. This might not sound very far but in thick forest and on steep slopes it can take all day. In Kenya I also collected dung but mainly we were setting camera-traps for Aders' duiker. I also helped other researchers with their fieldwork.”

The work will help scientists refine antelope surveys by linking dung to species and will provide information on the effects of landscape and isolation on population structure and connectivity. This information will help inform the conservation of these important species.

“I've worked in Africa several times before but this turned into a really tough trip. I travelled on everything from ‘planes, coaches and buses to four-by-fours with armed guards, motorbike, bicycle, boat, dugout canoe and on foot! Camping out in the bush meant we were exposed to the elements and the wildlife - one night a honey badger came into camp, ate my breakfast and chewed up a plastic mug. At various times I had to run away from elephant, buffalo and a cobra. During our fieldwork we climbed the highest peak in the Udzungwas (2,600 metres) to get to an area of remote forest and four days later climbed it again on the way back!”

Andy had a narrow escape when he was hit by a small bus while crossing the road in Dar es Salaam . He escaped injury, as did two field assistants who crashed their motorbike when a buffalo burst into the road in front of them.

Andy also encountered a couple of strange coincidences. “In Dar es Salaam I met a banker from Zimbabwe called Brian who had gone to my old secondary school in Cardiff, Cathays High School. Then, in the village of Mang’ula I met Baraka de Graf, the education officer of the Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Centre – our partners – who, it turns out, also attended the same school!”

Paignton Zoo Environmental Park is a registered charity. For more information go to www.paigntonzoo.org.uk or ring (01803) 697500.

Paignton Zoo is a member of the British & Irish Association of Zoos & Aquariums (BIAZA). BIAZA represents its member collections and promotes the values of good zoos and aquariums. For further information please telephone 020 7449 6351.

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Paignton Zoo Environmental Park is a registered charity. Registered office: Paignton Zoo Environmental Park, Totnes Road, Paignton, Devon TQ4 7EU. Registration number 792877. Registered charity number 300923. Place of incorporation: Companies House, Cardiff.