The Shimoni coral rag forests are a very rare and unusual east African forest belt. These hard wood forests grow out of essentially limestone rag, along the coastline, with little soil. The canopy effect they create supports the trees against collapse as they grow to enormous heights .Its also ideal for primates so there is a healthy mix of monkey species around Shimoni, including several colonies of the endangered Colobus.
The baboons, vervet and sykes are all common and not considered in danger.
The Colobus however is another problem, due to its very limited range of environment it can survive in, essentially old coastal rag forest canopy.
Shimoni hosts a highly specialized plant community that has developed to survive without any groundwater, instead depending on capturing the moisture from the humid air and storing the rainfall during the rainy seasons. The bedrock of the penisnula is made up of an impressive substrate of fossilized coral. You can still see the skeletal structures of corals and giant clams - a gentle reminder of the passage of time. More staggering still is the coral-rag forest. The density of the forest is spectacular, as adventitious roots thrust out in all directions and epiphytic species cling to life by wrapping themselves around all available surfaces. Researchers have taken up to four hours to transverse the 1 km stretch through the central forest reserve and the crags and caves hidden underfoot as remnant of the reef structure of this fossilized coral habitat, makes studying this environment both challenging and consistently rewarding as new discoveries are constantly uncovered. For guests the nature trai ls provided allow for an insight into this otherwise virtually impenetrable habitat.
Angolan Black and White Colobus
The Angolan black and white Colobus monkey has black hair with a white brow band, cheeks, and throat. Long haired white epaulettes stream from the shoulders. The lower part of the tail is white as is the band on the buttocks. This subspecies, the palliatus, can only be found in the southern Kenyan coastal forests and the northern Tanzanian highlands. Although the palliatus were previously found along the entire coast, deforestation in the northern parts have resulted in their restriction to isolated pockets of forests south of Mombasa. Travelling further inland, the Guereza black and white Colobus occur. These are much bigger, have longer coats, have a full cape of white hair around their backs and full bushy white tail. Colobus eat mostly leaves (and some fruits and flowers), have no cheek pouches, are arboreal (live in the tree canopy and rarely come down to the ground) and have a light-weight bone structure and elongated limbs - making it easier to leap from branch to branch.
Infants are born strikingly white, and then turn grey and black and then by three months of age, to the adult colouration of black and white. They are born throughout the year but a birth peak is seen in September and October.
