Safari Sam: Habari Gani?

Oops, it's been nearly two weeks since I last updated the blog. Life in Kenya is quite often 'pole pole' or 'slowly by slowly', but not for me. I've been wrangling baboon poo, avoiding elephants, getting poked by cacti, enjoying the gorgeous scenery, and playing lots and lots of volleyball.

After the 3 hour ride from Nairobi to Nanyuki, full of smiles and catching up on the past year as we passed dusty shops and shambas (gardens). We made a pit stop in the local grocery store for the essentials, wine, chocolate, and wine... and had lunch in town before we made the trek in a rickety matatu up the to the highlands of Mpala. Once we arrived, we unloaded our things, got settled in and met up with old friends and new at the dining hall for chapatti and vegetable stew.

The following morning Anne-Marie took us out into the field to get oriented with the project a bit more and to see the field sites. We went to a place called Baboon Cliffs, named because they are a common roosting site for one of our study baboon troupes. We couldn't actually go our to the cliff because they were apparently at the time, "Elephant Cliffs". It wasn't the worst timing in the world because the second we got back in the car, we got a call from the head of security about a wild dog sighting. So, on our first day in the field we got to see a fairly elusive and ferocious top predator. (check out my Mammal Crush Monday blog post on Lyacon pictus for more info!!)


Samson

The rest of the week we saw a variety of animals while we were out working, collecting baboon scat and measuring cactus. We also have the best field techs in the world, Samson and James who have definitely saved our lives from buffalo multiple times. Rule #347 ALWAYS trust your field guide. Even when doing something as mundane as walking, just follow them, or you will end up being laughed at as they pick you out of acacia trees, scratch free.

We were doing cactus surveys one day when my boss sat on a dying cactus paddle. As I picked it out of her posterior, she exclaimed "Aye yei yei", to which Samson absolutely died laughing. We found out two days later that "Wai yeiyei" means "oh my mother" in Maasai. They have a sense of humor too.

On weeknights, the staff play volleyball in the village, and Samson invited us wazungu to come play too. So for the past week at 5pm until dusk I have found myself up in the village, bruised arms and all playing volleyball against our Kenyan staff who have figured out I am good at serving and receiving the ball, but not so much spiking... or jumping. Regardless, I am learning lots of Kiswahili slang and, most importantly, getting to know our amazing staff even better.

We also took a trip to the equator, so I was back in my home hemisphere for a few :)

Unfortunately, in field work there are many 'unpredictables' which left us with a broken vehicle and therefore we HAD to go into town a few days last week for drinks... I mean to make use of our time and acquire field necessities. Like goose wire and PVC pipe to build a bunny cage. Because as professionals, we still can't handle the cuteness of baby bunnies. My friend Arnold is raising them for meat and my boss decided she needed one (no, mom I haven't bought a baby bunny.... yet) soooo Latte now has a home.