Whale Sharks

Fantastic news from France!! Our 2 tags have arrived in San Diego and they are now safely in Brent’s hands. They will be sent off for analysis and then stand by for ground breaking data and history making news! I am so relieved that they are safely with Brent. You always worry that such a [...]

Here is the story in pictures of our tags trip to Europe. I carried these tags in my hand luggage like they were gold dust! Here they are in my hand luggage with my book and keys. Can you see how scratched and worn they are? The one that is really badly scratched is the [...]

My name is Simon and I have been volunteering with the East African Whale Shark Trust for over a year now. This is the story about how we found the 2 tags. A few weeks after the the great Expedition 2008, I recieved the call from Nimu that two tags hadfallen off! I rushed to see Nimu [...]

Remember I told you about the whale shark that was sighted off Mafia island in Tanzania on February 16? Matt Potenski, the researcher in Mafia, has sent me these pictures of our whale shark and its tag!! He told me that it was seen near the surface at 1125hrs. It was a male of about [...]

I don’t know if you remember me telling you about the children’s book I have written about a whale shark. I would be so grateful for any information on how to go about publishing it. If any of you know anything about publishing or if you know anyone who would be able to help me I would [...]

A big thank you to Theresa Siskind for making a very generous donation. It is our second Wildlife Direct donation and we are thrilled. Thank you so much Theresa! Theresa reads our blogs everyday and comments very often. It is so great to have support like hers. The project has no proper funding as such – it is [...]

Amazing news folks!! We have found BOTH tags. Huge congratulations to our 2 tireless volunteers David and Simon who have been tracking these tags for days. They set off again really early this morning and found the one that came off near Kilifi under some seaweed on the beach. They had called me 5 minutes before [...]

There is good news and bad news this morning. The good news is that the last tag we deployed last year has come off  after one year on a whale shark. It was scheduled to pop off about 2 weeks ago when we started this year’s expedition. We heard nothing and were beginning to fear [...]

Here is a picture I have been sent by Aniket who came on Expedition 2008. It is a super picture and you can make out the tag on the right hand side of the shark. It is a black object sticking out of the sharks side just behind the dorsal fin. We have had a very [...]

It’s back to earth with a bump and back to the real world for us here in Diani. We enjoyed the tagging so much but now it’s back to work!! Simon and David went into schools yesterday to give presentations and generally blow the East African Whale Shark’s trumpet after Expedition 2008!! (Can you really [...]