Jane Spilsbury spent months recording whales sightings in coastal town Watamu, Kenya after learning of their existence from local fishermen.
Spilsbury first moved to Watamu, home to the Watamu Marine National Park and Reserve, one of Kenya's first marine parks, when her husband Steve was offered a job working with the area's sea turtles -- the town's main beach is a critical nesting zone for endangered turtles.
The Spilsburys went on to help found the Watamu Marine Association -- a collaboration between hotels, local fishermen, divers and other members of the public -- in 2007.
Their aim was to simplify communication channels, as well as work on conservation, but the pair found they were constantly being asked about the country's marine life.
"People were asking us about our whale and dolphin situation in Kenya, and we just didn't know because the cost involved in researching mammals was way too expensive," she explains.
"So we spoke with some boat operators, and asked them 'when you take people out snorkeling what else do you see?' And they said 'well, there's dolphins out there too.'
The discovery of humpback whales in the area has been a game changer, but Spilsbury says she learned about them in a similar casual way.
"It was as simple as talking to a fisherman at the bar and asking if he'd seen any humpback whales and he said 'Sure, we've seen them for 30 years.'" she says.
Labeling themselves "citizen scientists," they began hitting the waters together in search of the migratory mammals, building a research database of their sightings.
"We didn't really know what we were doing," Spilsbury admits. "We weren't scientists, but we each had our own set of skills."
They were floored to discover a bountiful Indo-Pacific dolphin population -- and then came the humpback whale sightings.
Over time, they were able to discern that the whales were making an annual pilgrimage past Kenya between July and September, traveling from the waters of Antarctica to Somalia to reproduce.
As a result, Spilsbury was able to convince the Kenya Tourism Board to try out the marketing moniker "Twin Migration -- Whales to Wildebeest" for size, due to both occurring at the same time of year.
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