Goodbye KBC

Pole, (Po-lay) about not writing in my blog for a while. I’ve been trying to spend my last few days in Africa soaking up everything around me so I won’t ever forget such a beautiful place. But lets backtrack a few days. Wednesday was our community presentation, and what better way to top off our academic semester with a long, very intimidating public presentation about our Directed Research to the local community and government officials. Over 50 Maasai men and women filled the chumba for hours listening to our findings about water quality, land use changes (that ones me!) and wildlife sanctuaries. We all dressed up in ‘community’ wear some in Maasai clothes and I even put on makeup for this special day. Shocker, I haven’t touched it in 3 months. The presentations were a great ending to the semester and when we finished it hit me that junior year was over and we were officially on summer vacation. I’m a senior in college already!? When did this happen? My group was amazing we really caught the audience’s attention, and explained very sufficient recommendations to help improve their agriculture production. Everyone was extremely impressed. And as for my 46 page research paper on human-wildlife conflicts in the Amboseli Ecosystem? A-. Yes I did extremely well this semester and I’m going home with no regrets.

            Thursday we were rewarded with a trip to Amboseli National Park, our last non-program day. We spent the morning game driving around the park, searching for wildlife our car packed with 9 people. Unfortunately once again it was cloudy and we couldn’t see Kili. And on another note, currently we are also in the wet season so animals aren’t really found in the park, making it difficult to find them that morning. We got a few pictures of some hippos and elephants though.

            That afternoon we enjoyed another wonderful buffet, and a dip in the pool, but as we were getting ready to head out to our last game drive it started to torrential downpour. So we sat inside the lodge sipping our hot mochas watching the rain fall. A few hours later it cleared up and we set out for our final game drive. We watched elephants crossing the road trumpting as they headed out into the sunset. Some were even 2ft from our car! We watched them splash in the recent rainfall puddles and I added about another 400 pictures to my photo collection.  

            And then just like that it was over. The semester was coming to a close and the days passed even faster. Our final days were spent packing, which actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and wondering around Kimana. And now it’s Saturday, my plane leaves tomorrow and I’ll be back in America by Monday. Scary to think how fast these past 3 months have flown by and that my junior year is finally coming to a close. But senior year is right around the corner and new adventures are coming my way. To conclude my last blog post in Africa and linking it to my title, here’s the adventure time theme song: “It’s ad-venture time, c’mon grab your friends, we’ll go to very distant lands. With Jake the dog and Finn the hu-man, the fun will never end it’s adventure time!”

Done with DR!

8 days of field research

3 days of data analysis

4 days of writing and 46 pages later I have finished DR!

my work station the past week

T.G.I.M, Thank god it’s Monday. Hell week is over, our DR papers are handed in and we're spending the next 2 days preparing ourselves for community presentations on Wednesday. It’s been great sitting in the same seat for 7 days writing the finishing product of my research. My back hurts from spending hours hunched over the computer, my butt is sore and there’s a throbbing behind my eye, but I can finally say I’m done and it feels great!

         Now there’s only a week left here in Africa, I can’t believe tomorrow is May already. Time goes by so fast. Just yesterday I feel as if I was introducing myself in the airport, trying to catch everyone’s names, and not to cry in front of strangers. Today, 3 months later, I can’t imagine not seeing everyone's faces everyday, hearing their laughs and retelling stories about our crazy African experience. 

Only in Africa……

            Will you see invasions of baboons in front of your bandas everyday

 Spend an afternoon learning to bead with the Maasai mamas

Watch a vervet monkey steal bananas from the dining hall

Catch the mouse in your banda after its been living in your walls for the past 4 weeks.  (Fudge is the key trapper)   

The last five days are going to go by by in a blur, I can already feel it. Since my final paper has been handed in 2 hours ago I now know the feeling of what “a vacation in Africa.” is. (Except its probably going to start rain soon, I can smell it). As for my paper, 46 pages are printed and handed in and I can now tell you all about land use and tenure changes in Amboseli ecosystem and the impacts of human-wildlife conflicts. But I’m not going to talk about my research right now, since I just spent the last week eating, breathing, seeing my research paper, it’s break time now and summer vacation is right around the corner!

An Elephant's Way to Kilimanjaro (DR)

Research in the slopes of Kili

Now that classes are officially over in Kenya its time for Directed Research to begin. Directed Research, or DR is a part of SFS’ 5-year research plan that allows us to design a research project, collect and interpret data in the field, and learn to write a scientific paper. There are 3 research projects, 1 for each class, Wildlife Ecology, Wildlife Management and Economic Policy. After a few DR introduction classes and hearing what each project entailed we got to rank our top choices and then the professors assigned 8-9 people per group. I got chosen for Economic Policy (EP). For EP we get to assess how land use changes and land tenure influence human livelihoods, environment and wildlife conservation in the Amboseli ecosystem. Each DR group then divided into their groups and Ekisa is my DR professor. The way the schedule works is we have 8 days of fieldwork (tomorrow is our last day), 3 days of data analysis, and 4 days to write our research paper. Then we present our findings to the local community on May 2^nd. And before you know it the semester is over and my time in Africa is coming to a close, very quickly I must add. For my DR we visit different regions all over Kenya, one in the slopes of Kili, Kimana (where we live) and Kuku group ranch. Each student is has a specific focus within the DR based on agriculture changes. Some are looking into more sustainable agriculture, others are focusing on nutrition and the livelihoods of the local people, one is looking at waste management and the impact on the environment and me I’m looking into the topic of human-wildlife conflicts. There are 7 students in the EP DR and so we have 3 groups going out into the field conducting interviews with local farmers based off a questionnaire that we created. The interviews cover everything from types of crops grown, to studying the livelihood of the local farmers and the impact the environment has on the land use changes and my personal favorite, current wildlife conflicts. 2 students and one local guide are dropped off at different locations along the group ranches to conduct at least 10 interviews in the 8 hours we spend out in the field. In the past 7 days we’ve collected over 150 interviews, which is not bad considering we have only 7 people in our group.
 

Elephant's footprint

Our guides and translators are Benson, Jonathan and Moses. Jonathan is my favorite guide to go with because by now we are pros at doing the interviews quickly and have met our quota every time, and I must say he has swag. (yes, I did tell him this). From these interviews I’ve learned more Maasai in the past few days then I did at my homestay, which makes the people I interview shocked. Sometimes they laugh a little cause they don’t expect a mzungu to know Maasai, but my guides are great helping me expand the language barrier. I’ve also noticed the frustration I can see in these farmers eyes when we talk about the damages wildlife, (mainly elephants) does to their crops. An elephant can destroy several acres in one night. They yell furiously hand gesturing everywhere showing us the destruction done to their fields.
I’ve learned to listen and hear what these people are saying and the hardest question they ask me at the end of the interview is what are YOU going to do about this destruction? Me? Put on the spot, well I want to help them in everyway possible their suggestions are to electric fence either the parks or their farms which I think is wrong because, a) your trapping the animals in one location and soon that area will reach carrying capacity or b) by electric fencing your farms your limiting an animals migration pattern plus it’s extremely expensive to fence each farm, and based on the interviews I’ve learned that these people struggle daily just to make a living and provide for their families, especially with current environmental degradations done to their land.    

A Maasai man we interviewed

So what’s the solution here? I love the wildlife but by the end of the day they provide almost no benefit to the locals. I can see their aggravation as they try to stop the wildlife from destroying their property and killing their livestock. I want to help them, I can see the difficulty they have with an increase in droughts and limited water resources. For some reason there is never enough water to provide to their families or crops. I hope by the end of this research us 7 students can provide feasible, sustainable solutions to benefit the wildlife and to the locals to help improve their standards of living. So  after 8 days of hard field work, packed lunches, roaming around in fields=sore feet, I still can’t complain because each individual we interviewed took time out of their day to stop working, stand in the hot sun with us and answer all 56 of our questions and for that I would like to say Ashe oleng (Thank you very much)
                Sere (bye)
                    -Dee

Our EP group (missing Sean)

A typical Interview: Natalie & Jonathan

First Non-Program Day, Kenya.

So I completely forgot to blog about our first non-program day in Kenya. Last Saturday (4/7) we spent the day in Loitokitok. We started the morning with a hike around the edge of Loitokitok town. It was pretty easy, short 45-minute hike that brought us downhill to an amazing waterfall. Kind of like the hike we took in Israel but we couldn’t swim in the water, it was filled with diseases. Anyway we climbed rocks and hung around the waterfall taking pictures. It was weird because I didn’t feel like I was in Africa at all it was like a jungle filled with canopy trees and climbing above our heads were Colobus monkeys! They are pretty neat looking you should google it, because I had my little camera and the zoom wasn’t close enough to capture a good picture. But I enjoyed watching them swing from the trees                                above us. 

            After a few hours I was ready to head back but couldn’t find Ernest who was the leader during the hike. So Jessica & I started the climb uphill cause I knew it’d take me a while because the mud was pretty slippery. Soon enough everyone started following us. We then started walking back the way we thought it we came and behind us was another staff member Kioko. So we kept walking when we realized we lost the group. Well at the time we thought the group was lost, so we stopped and picked some leaves waiting for them to catch up. When in reality we were the ones who were split up from the group. So we just kept going Jessica, Kioko and I talking about life and Africa as we hiked the hills back. Sure enough we got to the top and the rest of the group is sitting by the cars eating lunch. I already ate my lunch by the waterfall so I relaxed put my skirt on and we were then heading to VCT.

         The VCT is all volunteer counseling and testing center for women who have AIDS. At the center we met 5 women who told their stories about what it was like to have HIV. It was very heartfelt as we all sat in a circle and they shared their life stories struggling to fit in Africa with HIV. The clinic was started to help women with HIV come together as a group and share their struggles and get provided with opportunities to get tested. They also have a small shop where the women were taught to make bead work to help support themselves financially. We got to visit the shop and I bought a few things because goes to a fund that gets distributed to women so they can feed their families and continue the free testing. The VCT was an unbelievable, real experience. Looking at these 5 women they fought a battle and are still here today to tell their story.

          After the VCT we walked into downtown Loitokitok because Saturday is market day. We shopped around the market I bought some wraps and mangos from the produce market and then I remember that Tara said there was ice cream nearby. Of course I went on a hunt, and sure enough I found ice cream and sat outside for the rest of the day eating my ice cream. After Loitokitok we drove back to Kimana to go to Club K. It’s like Happy Days in Tanzania except they don’t sell food and there’s no hard liquor. Okay so I guess it’s not like Happy Days but everyone sat down and enjoyed a few beers, or Smirnoff Ices. It’s the only chance we get to drink so I can just say that everyone enjoyed themselves. Being so tired I just hung out until it was time to drive back to KBC. 
      But that was basically our first non-program day in Kenya. As tired as I was after a day filled with activities it was really nice to finally have a day off. That week we had 3 papers due, traveling lectures (see pictures below) and exams on Friday, my last exam this semester!! Monday we had  traveling lectures for Wildlife Ecology where we walked around and tested the vegetation on Kimana group ranch. Tuesday for Economic Policy we went out to Imbilikanu group ranch and interviewed farmers about human-wildlife conflicts. And then Wednesday after being assigned groups and animals to observe we traveled out with Shem for Wildlife Management to Kimana Wildlife Sanctuary to observe our animals (mine was warthogs) and to develop a Habitat Management Plan. After all those traveling lectures we had to come home and write 3 papers and study for exams on Friday. So I say we deserved a day to not worry about academics. The next day we are preparing to start getting ready for Directed Research Projects starting Sunday!!

Traveling Lectures: (Top left) Wildebeest, (top right) WE measuring vegetation (bottom) Driving around Kimana Sanctuary 

Amboseli

Monday, last week we went to Amboseli National Park. The drive took about 40 minutes from KBC. When we arrived at the gate we drove another 10 minutes straight to the office headquarters to listen to lectures for 4 hours. Our first guest speaker was Amboseli’s Senior Park Warden. He was pretty interesting as he explained how he manages the park and the wildlife within its corridors. Nothing we haven’t heard of before, but they have more of an active management plan here in Kenya then Tanzania. Then we sat around for an hour waiting for another guest speaker. When she showed up she explained to us about her research at Amboseli Elephant Trust. She told us stories of her encounters with elephants and a lot of personal stories about them. I’m sorry I can’t remember more I was dying to get out and view the wildlife at that point and when I lose focus, I really lose focus. Anyway after lectures around 1pm we popped the tops to the jeeps and were cruising around the park. The first thing we saw were cows. The Maasai are aloud to come into the park for water for their livestock during the dry seasons.  Though they are not aloud to graze their livestock, they do anyways. But right behind the cows was a dead zebra and 5 lions in close proximity. They weren’t feeding on the zebra because stalking them was a spotted hyena. Can you say Species Association?!

            After that we drove to this lookout point where we were stopping to eat lunch. We parked at the base and walked up this massive hill to see such an amazing view. I already ate my lunch waiting for the guest lecture that morning so I just walked around taking pictures of the landscape. I should mention that the whole day has been pretty cloudy and we haven’t seen a clear view of Mt. Kilimanjaro but up ahead it was raining the sky filled with dark rain clouds. We stayed there for an hour while the drivers got lunch but I was growing bored wanting to see more wildlife. Around 3 it was time for our game drive. FINALLY! We saw so much! Elephants wallowing in a swamp up to their bellies, zebras, baby hippo out of water, lions having sex, wildebeest, and so many more elephants. By the end of the day we were getting ready to drive home, when I see a bunch of tourists cars. Driving over to check out what they were looking at we see a herd of elephants crossing the road and Kili just starting to clear up. I was finally going to get my elephant crossing in front of Kili picture. But of course there were so many tourist cars blocking my shot. I did get a nice one of the SFS cars in front of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Overall it was such a great day despite the slow morning. Here is a little bit of what I've had the good fortune of seeing:

Cloudy view of elephant in front of Kili

Elephants 

And more elephants!

Maasai Homestay

Photo Credit to Fumes

Last week (3/31) we had our second homestay at a local Maasai boma. Since I was better prepared from Tanzania’s homestay I felt ready the 2^nd time around. I heard we could be doing anything from sitting inside the boma all day, to cooking, making jewelry, collecting water or firewood, or building a boma. Building or patching up a boma consists basically of putting cow manure on the side of the house. Yeah this was the one thing that I was hoping not to do. Anyway I was paired up with Fumika, I call her Fumes and I was ready to go. Harrison dropped me and several other students off at the same boma around 10:30 that morning after classes. We each were met by our mamas and was led inside their boma. The first thing I noticed (though I knew this was coming) was the language barrier. I speak kidogo (little) Swahili but these mamas only spoke Maasai, their tribal language. I knew TaKwyena the Maasai greeting for hello and my mama instantly smiled. I can’t remember her name although she told me several times so I called her mama for the rest of the day. She took Fumes and I inside her home and we sat around for a little while as I met her son and son’s friend (again I forget names, they were Maasai names so don’t blame me). We were then given buckets and directed to outside the boma to start collecting dirt. 10 minutes in and we were getting down and dirty. As I scooped hot dirt into the bucket with my hands I was thinking at least I don’t have to touch cow poop. We carried the buckets back to the boma and dumped them on this huge pile of cow manure. Still at least I wasn’t touching it. We made about several trips collecting dirt outside and then piling it on top of the pile. Finally on our last trip we dumped the buckets as I wiped my hands on my skirt thinking it was over. Then my mama stuck her hands in the pile and starting mixing the dirt in.

Partly finished- Fumes and Mama

I stood there watching, mouth agape when she grabbed Fumes’ hand and shoved it in the pile with her. Fumes look like she was gonna have a panic attack, I think we were the last people who wanted to do this activity together as I watched Fumes in shock while she was trying not to look. I took her watch off for her before it was covered in manure and tied it to her camera bag. Then the son comes over with water to help soften the pile and grabs my hand and takes off my watch and jewelry and shoves my hands in there too. I thought I was gonna gag hot mushy manure all up in my fingernails and up to elbows in poop. I tried not to think about it as we mixed the pile and more water was added. Eventually probably about half-hour later it wasn’t starting to feel like cow manure, just …something else. We put the poop in buckets and carried it over to the boma where we started slamming it into the cracks and spreading it on the side of the house patching it up. After a while it became a rhythm and didn’t feel so bad as other mamas came to help me. They kept saying Ohh, sadai ohh, ohh, which I took to mean as good, good, as we spread the poop across the wall. Fumes looked at me and went “uh, Dana you got some on your nose.” Oh great as I tried to wipe it off with my forearm. She giggled and said “Well now its on your forehead.” I just ended it leaving it there, but as I look back it now it was quite an experience and pretty funny. In the end it felt really good and proud of myself that I helped fixed up their house. 

Carrying water on our heads..Maasai style!

When we finished part of the wall and washed our hands the son then decided to take us to see the baby donkey outside. We walked around and took pictures of the beautiful landscape. Then he showed us the puppies, they were adorable I wanted to take one home, as Fumes and I sat and played with the puppies till lunch. At noon we were told to go back inside the boma where we sat and helped wash dishes and cook. First we made chai and then help cook ugali and chop cabbage for lunch. Let me mention how much everyone loves pictures here. As we cooked the chai the son kept asking to take pictures, pictures of me pouring the milk into the pot, stirring ugali, chopping tomatoes and more. Again like the last homestay we brought bags of food and a jerrycan of water to cook with. I ended up serving everyone in the boma lunch and then washed their dishes. I met mama’s daughter Jennifer and she spoke English, (the son did too) and Jennifer and I chatted for a while. After a nice lunch mama told us, or basically we charaded that it was time to collect water. We gather up buckets and walked about a little over half a mile to the river, swinging empty buckets over our shoulders. Mama went into the river to fill up our buckets. She then tied them to a piece of fabric and placed them on our heads. Oh man this was already giving me a headache and we haven’t even left yet. Mama laughed as I struggled to balance it on my head and my back and we started walking back, running into the other SFS students on their way to collect their own water. I have a whole new appreciation for the women who carry everything on their heads, I don’t understand how they do it. My neck was killing me by the time we reached the boma. Mama then sat us outside the house in the shade. This was rest time for the Maasai since it’s the hottest part of the day. We sat for a while in silence; again because of the language barrier since I only know a few Maasai words staying in the shade out of the sun. Mama then started admiring all my friendship bracelets and my beads. Then I remembered I brought some with me. I tried to charade to her if she wanted to make some, but I just ended up breaking out my beads. Mama loved it. She made a bracelet and her daughter even joined. She then decided to make me a necklace out of my jewelry which she was very proud of and placed around my head. After arts & crafts we still were sitting around for a while, and dranking more chai while mama played with my hands. She then figured she wanted to make me a Maasai ring. I loved it! I wish we made our own jewelry together but Tara said we have an opportunity to make Maasai bracelets later on. After sitting for a few hours we walked to collect some wood. 

Chopping firewood

Mama was such a badass carrying her Machete around chopping wood. She was handing pieces to me which I threw in a pile to carry back. Oh yeah and I forgot to mention she loved pictures, so we documented the whole thing. After carrying the wood back, not on our heads this time we placed it next to the boma. Then came time for more sitting around. I was getting tired sitting so I decided to walk around. I tried to coo a baby goat into coming to me, but mama grabbed him from behind and shoved him in my lap. I can now say I held a baby goat on my lap. It was adorable, me and Fumes decided baby goats are the greatest. Then out of the corner of my eye the puppies were out and playing. So I dashed over to them and rolled around till Harrison pulled up signaling it was time to leave. As we grabbed our backpacks, took goodbye pictures and hugged it was finally time to leave. I picked up a puppy and started to walk away. Yes I was really planning on convincing Harrison to let us get a camp dog. Showing him how cute it was he was like haraka twende (hurry, lets go). Yeah, we both really wanted to leave with the dog, I called him bully because he bit and bullied all the others, but I knew he would chase away aalllll the baboons at KBC. But sadly I had to leave the dog and return to the car. The whole way Harrison and I chatted how we could convince Moses, the SFS director to get a camp dog somehow. But by the end of the day despite the language barriers I really did love my homestay and many smiles and laughs were shared all afternoon. Although I can’t say which homestay I liked better, each was unique in there own culturally different way. I felt like I really did bond closely with my Maasai mama because the next day when we went to visit another boma as a big group I saw my mama there. As we were shaking hands with the other mamas, she say me and her eyes lit up and gave me the biggest hug ever! And yeah and she was still wearing the bracelet we made yesterday and I had on her ring. It's our very own special bond. THE END. 

Part 2. Expedition to Lake Nakuru

Ice cream galore….

3 days into Kenya and were already off on our second expedition to Lake Nakuru. Located within the rift valley floor it’s the one of the few national parks that’s completely fenced and famous for it’s various bird species and large rhino population. During our risk management session with Tara this expedition was going to be a little different then the Serengeti. She said because of the weather and because it’s known to get so cold at night we were not going to be sleeping in tents. This got numerous groans from people. I however, did not know if I cared or not, it would be nice to sleep in a bed but I had no personal preference for camping this time around, all I cared about was getting to go on a lot of game drives. Then she explained we were leaving at 6:30 which, means breakfast at 5:30 and cook crew at 4:30. This made me freak out a little because of course I was cook crew that morning. If I haven’t explained what cook crew was basically we have 5 rotating groups of 6 people that have to be in the kitchen at 6:30 to cook breakfast (on a normal day) and then clean the dishes after dinner. Yeah dad, I’m scrubbing dirty dishes. We’ve been doing this in Tanzania and Kenya. Anyway back on track. So that morning I’m up at 4:30 grumpily cooking breakfast, packing my lunch and we’re on the road. During the trip I herd rumors that we were stopping for ice cream and sure enough we stopped at this massive grocery store called Tusky’s it’s like walmart times 100. So I grab a box of cookies and a pint of ice cream and we were on our way. I loved the car I was assigned to as we ate ice cream, made friendship bracelets and rocked out to music all through Nairobi. Nairobi is actually a really developed city with tall building and there’s always always traffic. After finally making it through the city we hit another stop for an hours rest. Walking around Tara points out where to buy milkshakes. Round 2 of ice cream complete as I lounged on the grass slurping my shake. We pile back into the car to finish our trip to the campsite, which is more of fenced in area within the park, it’s like a mini KBC. I haven’t slept the entire car ride, probably because I was on such a sugar rush and that 10 ½ hour drive was really getting to me. We pull up to the site I unpack my stuff and was passed out by 9:45. Not without doing the dishes before bed. 

Rhinos, Rhinos EVERYWHRE!

             It was our 1^st full day in Lake Nakuru and what do we do all morning? Lectures. Yes, lectures from 9 till 3:30 in the classroom all day. It was such a tease because right outside the fence I could see zebras, and buffalo roaming the fields and here we were sitting in a classroom listening to the history about Lake Nakuru and it was hot. But by 4:30 we were loaded into the cars for our 1^st game drive, sorry wildlife drive, the professor don’t refer to it as game drives in Kenya because it’s associated with illegal hunting. Anyway as we headed out let me just clarify that this park is pretty small, 200 sq km so for a while we weren’t seeing any animals and then we hit the lake. Immediately I saw Rhinos. Rhinos everywhere! We spot this baby and mama and stop to take pictures. But then the mama starts to walk away from the road so what do we do? We follow it. We follow it so much soon it’s only 3ft besides our car. And then the rhinos start to run away, and we follow them some more. Then after a while we stop the car and watch the baby run around in circles for a while, like when a puppy gets so much energy it runs around the house in circles. That’s what this baby rhino was doing. Eventually they got to far to see and Daniel (our driver) turns around and says, does anyone see the road? Yes, in our excitement we followed the rhinos off the main road. Oops. So we make our own trail back to the road and continue our game drive. By 6:30 it was getting dark and time to head back but our highlights of the drive was seeing a stripped hyena, this bird trying to eat a rat, and Rothschild giraffe the tallest giraffe in the world. Which we were actually pretty close to, and Tara said that usually they are much further away and you only see 1 or 2. Nope, we saw about 10 during that game drive and some were only 5ft from our car. Exciting stuff and sure enough again I was in bed by 8:30 and asleep by 9.

Huyu Kenyan jua na joto…

            This Kenyan sun is hot. By the second day I was really starting to see the difference between this expedition and the Serengeti, besides the heat. We were up and packed into the cars by 9. This time we were heading outside the park for a few hours of traveling lectures. It was really interesting to see the town outside the park knowing that people live so close to the wildlife, although they are mostly fenced in. By the afternoon we were back and eating lunch preparing for our 2^nd wildlife drive. Our first stop was at lion hill which was a lookout point of Lake Nakuru. We got out of the cars and walked around for a little while taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. Me and Ashley below.

We drove to the edge of the park and followed the fence around for a little while and stopped to watch some lions and saw about 5 baby cubs, with their mamas they were adorable. As we were driving home we stopped to talk to this other driver. He told us in Swahili that there was a leopard further down the road. I’m also starting to pick up driver lingo. When drivers tell each other that there is a leopard or lion nearby they don’t use the Swahili word Chui or Simba, most tourists know what that means and get wicked excited. Instead they say kichwa wapi (where’s the head, code for lion). So Daniel told us to sit down as he sped towards the forest looking for the leopard. Sure enough we found it, but it was pretty far away. When I say “far” it probably wasn’t that far to other people, but we were so spoiled in the Serengeti seeing that one leopard with Christian 10 ft away, I ended up getting a little side tracked and starting taking pictures of a Verreaux’s eagle-owl instead. By 6:45 we were back at camp eating dinner and of course I fell asleep right after. Typical. 

Unlimited amounts of dessert…

            It was our final day in Lake Nakuru. I guess I never clarified about the amount of wildlife in Lake Nakuru. Although our sleeping quarters were fenced in from the larger animals this didn’t stop baboons from jumping the fence and coming into our campsite. Anyway so I’m in the room getting dressed for our morning field exercise when all of a sudden the door creeps opens. No one’s there, but then a hand reaches in and grabs our garbage by the door and runs. Yep a baboon just stole our trash-can. Someone yells to Daniel what happened and he’s out there with a stick chasing the baboon who jumps on the roof of our kitchen screeching at him. I’ve just come to the conclusion that baboons are crazy. Our garbage is all over the place so we pick it up and finally load into the jeeps to start our field exercise. This time were studying the behavior of rhinos and zebras. It was actually a lot of fun, sometimes hot but I liked watching rhinos. They remind me of dinosaurs with their big horns. I still haven’t seen a black rhino yet. So after the exercise was over we drove back to camp to pack our stuff for the lodge and buffet. I was so antsy I already had my stuff packed that morning and just sat in the car waiting for the other cars to arrive. All week Tara and Jenna have been raving about this buffet and how much better it was then the Serengeti with unlimited desserts. So after waiting for what felt like forever we took the 10 minute drive to the lodge, our whole car screaming chocolate, chocolate the whole way (or maybe that was just me). So what was the 1^st thing I do when I run into the buffet? Head straight for the dessert bar of course. I’m stuffing a strawberry pudding in my mouth as I grab chocolate moose cakes, cream puffs and more piling my plate high. Then Jenna shows me this amazing Toffee pudding cake which I immediately drop all my previous desserts to have about 6 bowls worth with whipped cream and chocolate syrup!! Seriously these tourists must think that we’ve haven’t eaten in 6 months the way we were acting. I’m sure we were quite a sight. After my 2 course dessert meal I have some real food, pastas, chicken and yeah some salad. But that was only to make room for the more dessert I was about to eat. Sure enough by the end of my 6-course meal made mainly of desserts I felt like I was going to explode. I washed it down with some Tums and headed off to the pool. After some relaxing and playing ping-pong in the sun we were off on our final game drive. We didn’t really see anything that we’ve haven’t seen before but it was still an enjoyable last day. The next day we packed up our stuff and headed back to KBC.  

KBC Kenya

So here we are at KBC Kimana Bush Camp, Kenya! We left Rhotia, Tanzania Monday morning the 19^th It was really sad leaving the staff because I feel as if I was just getting to know them and I wasn’t ready to pack up my stuff just yet (nor did I want to tackle the mess that has exploded out of my suitcase and into my banda). The drive to the Kenyan boarder took about 5 hours. At the boarder we met the other group coming from Kenya to Tanzania. After exchanging visas we bid goodbye to Whitney, I told myself I wasn’t going to cry (again) but it was really sad leaving Whitney, I just wanted to take her with me. We met Tara our new SAM (student affair manager) and Jenna, our intern. I was pretty skeptical of them at first but after a few days of being here I’ve come to love them and their laid back personalities. We exchanged money, got new pupil’s passes and started crossing the boarder (but of course before taking the casual one foot in Tanzania and one in Kenya picture first). The heat was really starting to get to me, as it is much more semiarid due to the Amboseli ecosystem in Kenya and we lost the Tanzanian breeze and green vegetation. 

         After crossing the boarder we walked to a lodge to eat our packed lunches, and drove another 3 hours to KBC. The first thing you noticed is the size of Kimana Bush Camp. It is wayyyy bigger then Moyo Hill. The fence surrounding KBC is about a mile long that makes for a nice running trail, (which I haven’t been using at all, you hear that Miranda? We need to go to the gym when I return please!). And an outside track that is 2 ½ miles long.

         These are our bandas, and with new bandas comes new roommates! My banda is the first one on the right. We are the twiga, the giraffe banda. There are 4 beds but I only have 3 roommates, Jen and Natalie. This time there are no bunkbeds but we still have mosquito nets which need to be tucked in at all times to prevent bugs, and snakes and furry creatures from entering our beds at night. Oh yeah and we already have a fuzzy friend living with us and I shall call him Herbert. No food is kept in the bandas because of Herbert, sound like summer camp all over again? Yeah. Speaking of the wildlife here, baboons raid this camp morning day and night. It’s fun to wake up to them screeching at one another atop our bandas, or running around climbing the gazebo during the day. Baboon observations occur 24/7 around here. We have a chumba, which is open on both sides and serves as our dining hall, classroom and a place to hang out.  So, the chumba's in the center of camp and bathrooms are located on the left and right. Unlike Tanzania we have to share bathrooms and showers. There are 3 showers, and 3 toilets. The 1^st shower has amazing water pressure and is supposed to be hot but I haven’t figured out the trick yet. Jen said she’d show me next time I decide to shower..soo in about 4 days??

         Our 1^st day here we went through a few introduction classes, our schedule and safety rules and regulations. Were not really having lectures here because we’re starting directed research in early April. After the staff introduced themselves we got to drive into Kimana. Kimana town is about an hour walks away but we are allowed to walk to town if we have free time, and there’s a place to stop and get ice cream. Don’t worry mom I’m getting my ice cream fix here. Oh and the food is amazing! Arthur is our head chef and is an exquisite cook. He’s a funny guy and I’m really attempting to learn how to cook this time.  

              The mornings here are beautiful.  Like I said in my last post you get to wake up and shower to a beautiful sunrise or sunset over Mt. Kilimanjaro. For our first traveling lecture the staff took us atop of one of the highest point in Kimana. We had an amazing 360-degree view of the region as well as Mt. Kilimanjaro. So one could say it was hard to pay attention instead of taking pictures. So far I’m loving it here and the nice change of scenery. Hard to believe I’ll be returning back to the states in a little over a month.      

Traveling Lecture, view of Mt. Kilimanjaro

Badaaye Tanzania

Sorry this blog is somewhat late. I’m already moved into KBC Kenya but I thought I’d reflect on my last few days in Moyo Hill. The last 3 days in Tanzania flew by in a blur. After coming back from camping in the Serengeti we had the rest of the day to shower, relax and unpack. I was MOD that night, mwanafunzi (student) of the day. MOD is in charge of leading RAP sessions after dinner where we are able to reflect on the day and then do a presentation. This was my second MOD of the semester and I lead a reflective conversation about how we were finally coming to a close in this chapter of Tanzania but to take with you the memories and friends we've made and to become excited to start new beginnings in Kenya. We basically spent our final 3 days saying goodbye to the staff, and as we know i'm the worst when it comes to changes and saying my goodbyes. I never realized the attachment I had in this beautiful place. Its always bittersweet leaving a place you’ve come to love for new adventures.

Bora and Safari in the Library

            Friday was our last non-program day where we got to go into Mto wa mbu to finish any shopping we needed to do and to say goodbye to the friends we’ve made in the community. Saturday was spent relaxing for the most part. Me and Megan (my bandamate) decided to take the opportunity to take pictures around the camp. Bora and Safari followed us around all morning asking us to take pictures of them in every setting, the classroom, the library, the entrance gate, it was really funny and we loved the company. See picture above.

In the afternoon we were able to go volunteer at the local orphanage. They had to move locations because apparently they were too close to the main road (according to the government) but the new place they were relocated too look hardly finished or homey. There was one main building with a roof and the rest was all open fields and one spiket with running water. The children were transported there during the day and back to their old location at night to sleep since the new place was still in the building phase. We were able to paint their classroom, which I felt that the teachers were especially grateful because it definitely brightened up the room. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing games with the children such as duck, duck goose, hokey-pokey and follow the leader.  *And mom I donated the last of your book to Juma, the head of the orphanage who was really appreciative of everything we’ve done for them.* Tired and hot from all the playing and painting we arrived back at camp to find a big Italian dinner that some students stayed behind to cook for us and the staff for staff appreciation day. Pizza, cheesy bread, pasta with a homemade Italian sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, garlic butter dipping sauce but what’s a home cooked Italian meal without Ugali. And for desert ice cream and cookies! The staff loved it and it was delicious. That night we all gathered round the bonfire to roast marshmallows and reminisce about the time that we’ve spent together.

            Sunday was our final day. The morning was spent debriefing on the program and reflecting on our 7 weeks here. We sat outside in a circle staff and students included and shared our thoughts and ideas on what we liked about the program and what needed improvement. To me I couldn’t think of anything except more grilled cheese for lunch and chai all the time! After the debrief session was over we said more goodbyes to some of the staff and to Kioko, who was leaving that day. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry but as soon as I hugged Yohanna I lost it. I didn't realize how much this badass Maasai man meant to me. Other then that I was pretty okay with saying most my goodbyes. However, the thought of leaving a place we called home for 7 weeks hit me pretty hard, especially leaving my banda for new bandamates. Here's a picture of us: TEMBO RIGHT LOVE!

Left to right: Megan, Me, Emma, Riley

Me, Yohanna and Ashley

After the packing was over and the rhino was loaded, the staff decided to take us to happy days. Of course since it was our last night in Tanzania we decided to get really wasted. Sitting at the bar all afternoon Kristen G. and I went shot for shot ending the afternoon with signing SFS 2012 on the wall and our signatures. It was a nice way to leave our mark. After happy days we had another goat roast and dinner outside by the bonfire, oh and cake for desert. We all sat around with the staff after dinner to bid our last goodbyes since we were getting up at 6am to part ways. I loved all the staff in Tanzania and I miss them already. KBC will soon become my new home for the next 6 weeks. But waking up to a beautiful sunrise over Mt. Kilimanjaro every morning is pretty amazing. 

Serengeti Expedition

Where to even begin… Classes came winding down to an end last week and exams started piling up. After hours of studying for my 4 exams, I must say I’m glad their officially over. To kick off the week (well Friday) we had another non-program day, which was spent relaxing, by the pool at a local lodge in Karatu, this time trying very hard not to get sun burnt like the last time we were there. We concluded the day with drinks at happy days (the local bar) and soon headed back to camp to start pre-departure orientation for our camping expedition in the Serengeti.

         Saturday we had a quick rundown of what to expect and rules & safety regulations. The rest of the day was spent packing our bags and loading the rhino (our truck) with food, fresh water, and tents. Before we knew it 6am Sunday rolled around and we were up and dressed, eating breakfast, and packing our packed lunches ready to start this 6hr trek across Northern Tanzania to the middle of the Serengeti (with a few stops along the way). By 7:30 all 4 cars were off, we were happily singing along excited to start this expedition when not even 10 minutes down a car broke down and we had to turn around to help them out. We knew this was a bad sign because it was Neru, the mechanic’s car and if he couldn’t fix it we were in trouble. After brief consulting we squished 7 more people into the remaining 3 cars. 20 minutes later we reached Ngorongoro’s entrance gate where another car was waiting. We were allowed to get out and stretch/pee while they worked on getting permits for the cars to pass through the gate. In order to reach the campsite the cars had to drive through the outside crater of Ngorongoro and into the entrance gate of the Serengeti. Anyway I met up with my friend Ashley who was in a different car (we were assigned cars for the trip there) and we stood by the cars watching all these mzungu (tourists) stand 3ft from the baboons taking pictures. We were talking about how stupid it was to be that close to a baboon, although they were used to people when one alpha male breaks away and starts walking soon running towards us. Thinking its coming to get me I freak out and sprint towards my car. Not even bothering to put the seat down I dived into the back seat and safely watched everyone else. Soon we were told to load up, though I haven’t moved from my initial position and we were cleared to enter. We were on our way again through the bumpy crater as I popped in my headphones and realized one of the earbuds wasn’t working. Bummer, we just started the trip but at least I had an extra pair back at camp so I could make it 5 days with 1 just one headphone. After a long ride we stop at Oldupai Gorge, the origin of where humans began as our tour guide told us. We got a brief lecture on the gorge and ate our packed lunches while walking around a small museum that held some bones that were found in the gorge and long extinct. 

         Then we were on our way again, driving along when all of sudden you could see black masses spread across the vast grassland in front of us. THE GREAT MIGRATION! Literally thousands of wildebeest spread across the landscape. After watching for a while I quickly fell asleep and was awake by Kioko knocking on my window asking if I wanted to get out of the car to stretch. Thinking we were at the campsite already I was proven wrong. We were only at the entrance gate of the Serengeti which meant another 3 or 4 hours of driving. While walking around the entrance, I bought some cookies to munch on and climb a few rocks to get a good lookout point of the Serengeti. It was beautiful, open grasslands as far as the eye can see, and I took some scenic pictures. We then started our 3-hour game drive though the Serengeti to reach our campsite. It was only day 1 but we saw a bunch of animals, lions sleeping on rocks, impalas in the sunset and since we were in the car that didn’t have a roof (pop-top) the cool breeze felt so refreshing as Kioko blazed through the trails. Of course rain was in and out throughout our game drive, sometimes it was a light drizzle so we didn’t mind being wet and other times it was a downpour so we were constantly putting the roof back on the cars only to take them off a few minutes later when the rain stopped.          

         We reached our campsite just as the sun was setting and enough time to put our tents up. It was a race to get them up and ourselves dry since the rain decided to act up again this time giving us a quick downpour. Ironically when everyone’s tents were up the rain let up and dinner was cooking and a fire was blazing. We concluded the night by relaxing and eating dinner by the bonfire and were off to bed early since we had an early morning ahead of us. 

DAY 2:

         It was 6 am and outside our tents the sun was just starting to rise. We caught an early game drive around the Serengeti hoping to see some animals and complete one of our field exercises, observations of giraffes (YAYY!) and elephants, although there aren’t many elephants to be found in the Serengeti while still recording Christian’s species association. We then arrived back at the campsite at 9:30 for breakfast and spent the afternoon sleeping/reading/sitting around till lunch at 12:45. I caught a few zzs under a tree the heat soon becoming unbearable and finally lunch was served. After lunch we drove to a lion research facility where we had a guest lecture about their research in tracking and observing lions behavior and social structure. It was actually pretty interesting. We concluded the afternoon with another game drive. I decided to cram myself into a small car (the one that replaced the car that broke down) and it was pretty interesting bumping around squished next to 2 other people (6 person car) trying not to ram them into the sharp metal objects on the side of the car. I was soon to find a few bruises on myself from that specific car. The day wove down to an end as we heading back to the campsite to eat dinner by the fire and share our stories of all the animals we saw and play catchphrase. I quickly fell asleep to the sounds of baboons and hyenas whooping near out campsite and was up again at 6 am for….

DAY 3:        

lilac-breasted roller

         This morning we went birding and drove to a riverine habitat to identify different species of birds. For some reason I wasn’t feeling that well the night before and at a pretty restless sleep so I was pretty tried that morning. My chest was hurting like when you dry swallow a pill and it gets stuck. After trying breathing exercises and also trying to participate in the birding activity my chest was still hurting so I decided to sleep through the rest of the morning game drive. We arrived back at camp for breakfast but we arrived a little late and there was no more food. I was really upset, well actually not really cause there was still some grilled cheese left (which is my favorite here) but no toast, eggs, or potatoes but thank god lunch was at 12 and it was 10:30 at this point. After quick naps and more reading lunch was served and eaten and we were off to the Serengeti’s visitors center. We were able to walk around and have lookout points of the Serengeti while reading about the great migration and the Serengeti’s ecosystem. I sat down and started to watch a few documentaries on cheetahs, wildebeest and gorillas when we were called into another room for a guest lecture. Honestly, I can’t say I paid much attention this one was kind of boring as he blahblah about the Serengeti and really basic overview stuff that we already learned, I put my head on the table and knocked out for the rest of the lecture. (oops). After the lecture we were off on our afternoon game drive. This was my first time driving with Christian, one of the professors and I have to say he was my favorite. I was pretty nervous driving with him cause I herd he sometimes drives like a crazy and I didn’t want to throw up, but I soon changed any previous thoughts I had. We were driving around for a little while when all of sudden we spotted some leopards in a tree. These were the 3^rd leopards I’ve seen on this trip and they were extremely far away nothing my telephoto lens could capture.             

We were talking to Christian about random stuff, killing some time, when all of a sudden a tourist car next to us got a call in about a leopard 10ft away up the road. We suddenly swung around and followed the car and sure enough there was a leopard sleeping in a tree. See photo below. Literally took about 100 pictures.

Here’s the reason I like Christian: he’s a photographer too, he’s got this huge bazooka lens so while we were taking picture I noticed we could move ahead to get a better angle on the leopard’s face, he read my mind cause he moved the car to perfect position and we snapped away, our cameras clicking in tune. After about 45 minutes we decided to move on. We stopped to take some pictures of birds and other animals and soon the sun was setting and Christian, not wanting to be late sped back to camp, where we had dinner and played games by the fire.

         DAY 4:

      This was the final full day we were in the Serengeti. Started out like any typical morning but breakfast came first and then we started our long when I say long I mean like 4/5-hour game drive to the lodge we were going to for the day. Enjoying my time with Christian yesterday I jumped into the front seat of his car and we were off. The front seats have no roof so Ashley and I shared it as we stood blazing through the Serengeti the dust blowing in our faces (also because we were following another car to the lodge the whole time). We stopped to snap pictures of lions sleeping on rocks, which actually are what most my pictures are lately, animals like to sleep a lot. And then about halfway through we stopped at this massive rock we could climb. We reached the top and enjoyed walking around stretching our legs for a little bit and taking pictures of ourselves looking out into the vast grassland of the Serengeti. We climbed down and were on our way again. Driving along for what felt like a while I kept busy by talking with Christian and the people in my car. We soon came upon this huge pool. Looking around I knew immediately what it was …HIPPOS! And before Christian could put the car in park I was out the door running to the pool. I loved watching the hippos, took about another 100 pictures and couldn’t stop smiling. From that point on we only had about half hour left till we reached the lodge. When we finally arrived this place was beautiful, definitely somewhere I’d like to vacation. We enjoyed our $20 buffet filled with salad, fish for me (no chicken, and the rest was red-meat) cheeses of all kinds, soft bread, and stir-fry pasta (ugh, I’m getting hungry just thinking about it again). I had a lovely 3-course meal, coffee and dessert and then quickly changed into my bathing suit to go swimming, and to wash all the dirt out of my hair. The pool was beautiful overlooking the Serengeti high up in the mountains. After a few hours of swimming and more coffee we concluded with an afternoon game drive back to camp. Right out of the lodge we all stopped to watch a herd of elephants unfortunately I was battling tse-tse flies all over again and could not stand up to take many pictures let alone do our field exercise. Other cars feeling the same way we soon took off, while flip-flop in hand Megan and I killed some pesty tse-tse flies. We drove along and stopped for some more lion pictures, saw some cheetahs in the sunset and headed back to camp. What a great day.              

After dinner we were all gathered around the fire talking about our amazing day, and star gazing when all of sudden we herd this deep loud rawr. It was literally the baboons in Ngorongoro all over again I booked it from the fire and leaped into my tent. Peeking out of the flap I hear Bora our guard yell Simba! Simba! Legit a lion was roaming around our campsite. By day 4 we were not the only ones occupying our camp as there were other tourist companies as well. Cautiously looking around BAM! There were 2 lions right by one of the other tourist tents. Cars were started lights blaring and engines roaring in an attempt to chase the lions away. We were safe..for now. Stepping out of our tents we all excitedly shared stories, “hey guys remember that one time when a lion was at our camp” “Yeah I never ran so fast.” I learned that the lions, one male one female were just curious at what was going on since there were about 80 people sleeping at camp that night. After the excitement died down we all headed towards our tents to sleep.   

FINAL DAY: Day 5:

  Morning had come and it was time to pack up our tents and head on home. We ate breakfast loaded the rhino and took off. We did a final game drive out saw some more lions, wildebeest, gazelles, topi and more. Being really tired from all the excitement I popped my headphones on and passed out till we hit the Serengeti’s entrance gate. We were able to get out for a few minutes I bought some Pringles and we were back on the road. And that was pretty much it. We drove for about another 6 hours, all of which I was in and out of consciousness for till we hit Karatu. It felt good to be back in a familiar place. Sadness rushed over me though because I knew this would be the last time I would look out and see familiar landscapes. In a few days, Monday, we will be starting a new chapter in Kenya. I am looking forward to it but I will miss Tanzania and all the friends, and professors I have met while being here. It’s a bittersweet goodbye.

Oh yeah, and I must say a cold shower has never felt so good.

Total number of pictures: 885