The Swahili call it 'Nunga', while for the Giriama of the coast it is 'Harake', perhaps because it is adept and quick to disappear (haraka means 'quickly'). In reality, the only disappearance that worries this animal, which at the biological registry is called 'Aders's Cephalofo', is that of the species from the face of the earth.

The alarm is raised by animal activists in East Africa, because this species of minute herbivore, a kind of dwarf antelope but larger than Dik Dik (it can measure up to 70 cm in length and 30 cm in height), is in serious danger of disappearing, and in the coastal areas of Kenya and on the island of Zanzibar, its only breeding grounds, fewer and fewer of them are to be seen, due to tourist overbuilding and deforestation.
The Aders' mullet, with its beautiful shiny tawny-red coat, likes to roam in forests not far from the sea, where the soil is coral. It feeds on small rock grasses, insects that nest in this type of terrain and the remains of aerial food left by monkeys, which it often follows.

One of the areas where hardly any are now seen, unlike some 20 years ago, is the Arabuko-Sokoke forest in Gede, which still remains one of the few untouched microclimates and patches of environmental sustainability. But the forest is also under threat, and environmental groups are always on the "who's who" (Friends of Arabuko Sokoke is an association that anyone who cares about the beauty and nature of Watamu, Malindi and the surrounding area should join, if only to help their volunteer work with membership fees. (For information: https://friendsarabukosokoke.org/).

The country's economic crisis and the poverty of the people on the coast do not help, of course. Like the Dikdik, the Aders mullet is also threatened by the hunting of those who want to catch them for food, and there is certainly no difference between a rare and a normal species.

The small specimen's hope for survival lies in the discovery of a few families in the Boni forest, north of Kenya, on the border of Somalia. Some environmental groups would like to relocate them to Arabuko or repopulate the south coast, Funzi Island and Wasini Island, with cephalopods.
But penetrating the Boni forest, infamous for the presence of al-Shabaab terrorists, who set up paramilitary training camps here, is not easy, and for the Kenyan security forces, the survival of the Aders mullet is the least of their worries.

All that remains is to cheer for its sexual activity, for the generosity of the monkeys and for the preservation of the last forests of this country, which hide wonders of the animal and plant world.