Saving the African manatee

LAKE OSSA: MARINE BIOLOGIST HAS QUEST TO STUDY, PROTECT THESE SHY 'SEA COWS'

- Dizangue

Ever since his first hard-won sightings of African manatees, award-winning marine biologist Aristide Takoukam Kamla has been devoted to protecting the little-known and at-risk aquatic mammals.

African manatees are found in fresh water along the coast of western Africa, such as in Cameroon's vast Lake Ossa where the researcher first saw them more than 10 years ago.

But they are shy creatures - spotting them requires setting out before dawn when the lake is glassy and tranquil, all the better for following the trails of bubbles and, maybe just maybe, catching two big nostrils taking a quick breath.

"I was expecting to see them like on YouTube: in clear water, jumping like dolphins... a completely surreal idea" stemming from publications on manatees in Florida, the 39-year-old Cameroonian recalled, smiling.

Their African cousins, however, are very different and the then University of Dschang apprentice researcher had to row for a long time before being rewarded.

Thanks to local fishermen, Takoukam Kamla has now learnt how to spot African manatees more easily within the darkened depths of the 4,500-hectare Lake Ossa, part of a sprawling wildlife reserve in southwestern Cameroon.