Cubs in camp

I haven't posted in awhile, pole (sorry in kiswahili)!

Things have been great here in the Mara! Very busy, but very good.

Last night the four of us (Julie, Wes, Lily and I) were sitting around the table after dinner and heard a pitter patter in the woods next to us. We grabbed a light in time to see a little hyena cub trotting past us! A cub in camp! It was wonderful, we tried to follow it and ID the cub. The cub was definitely from our North clan and one we would know if we got a good look. We couldn't see it well enough to confirm but we think it was Michelle or Jude (Beatles lineage). We saw at least one other cub sized hyena near the kitchen tent but also couldn't see it well enough to ID.  Later last night when I was going to bed I heard some scuffling around the lab tent. My guess is that the hyenas were rolling around playing. They luckily didn't get into too much mischief for us to clean up this morning! I guess it is a good thing we love our job because apparently work comes home with us here : )

A few nights ago Lily and I were driving around Happy Zebra Territory trying to find the clan's new den.  We were off-roading in an area we had recently seen some of the clan members. Around an old termite mound I saw a little black face with two big round ears. "HIGS!" The youngest cub Higgs, sub-atomic particle lineage, was hanging out by what appeared to be their new den! We found it! Because dens are the most active at sun rise and sun set we decided to come back in a few hours to check out the den scene. As we were driving towards the den later a herd of about 10 elephants got in our way. We were able to safely maneuver around them and make it to the den. That is when we realized that it was getting very dark, very quickly and there is now a herd of elephants between us and the track we need to take to get home. On the other side of the den is a rock field where we got stuck the day before trying to find the den, so driving that way wasn't an option. Crap! Elephants that you can't see are scary while you are driving a Maruti (our smallest car). I'm sure an elephant could easily roll and squash a Maruti without even noticing they ran into anything, basically, they're huge. I made Lily be on elephant patrol, we took pictures of all the hyenas at the den to ID later and got out of there. Lily said the elephants weren't really paying attention to us but I floored it past them just in case. We made it safely back to the track and headed for camp. It was very exciting! Because of getting stuck in a rock field and having to dodge elephants to get to Happy Zebra Clan's new den we decided to name it Oy Vey Den (this area has dens named after yiddish words)!

Birthday in the bush!

We had a storm last night and finally got some much needed rain! When it rains quite a bit we don't go out and look at hyenas because of the possibility of getting stuck in the mud and leaving big tracks behind us. So this morning we got to sleep in (I still woke up at 5:30, sadly) and I am using some of my extra time today to get some personal things done. My tent is getting cleaned, I am doing my first load of laundry and blogging!

Tuesday was my 22^nd birthday and we had a lot of fun! We woke up and went out to look at hyenas. We hung out at a den and got a lot of good bonding time with the cubs. There was a beautiful sunrise and then we headed back to camp for breakfast. After breakfast we played a game of Settlers of Catan and then decided to head up to Serena lodge for drinks and a swim in the pool. We spent all afternoon hanging out at the lodge, enjoying beers by the pool and soaking in the beautiful landscape around us.

This is not my picture but this is the Mara Serena Lodge that is about a half mile away from our camp.
Not too shabby.... 

After getting a little cold in the pool we explored and found a sauna. The power wasn't on but it was still nice, warm and dry. We met up with our friends the balloon pilots and had another drink with them. The balloon pilots are great. Barry is from Northern Ireland and Shelly is from Canada. They are both a lot of fun. I feel very lucky to have such an interesting group of new people to call my friends.

Dave, a grad student, had four friends coming to camp on the night of my birthday. They were all really nice and we just spent the rest of the night hanging around the lab tent enjoy some Tusker. They just left this morning and we will miss them. It is really nice having guests in camp, I can't wait for a few guests of my own. 

I had a really great birthday and am only more and more excited for the year ahead!

First Week

I've only been here a week and already I have seen so many amazing things!

3 male lions eating a zebra (which I think they stole from hyenas)

28 hyenas trying to get that kill back (they were unsuccessful)

Plenty of elephants

So many wonderful hyenas! I really can't understand why people don't like them. After spending only a few days with them I am only more impressed and fascinated by their behavior. I certainly don't know all of the hyenas in our clans yet but the ones that I do know I am already getting attached to.

A cub checking out our cruiser

This cub couldn't decide if it wanted to sleep or play more

Our days normally consist of waking up early to get to a den before sunrise. Then spending about three hours in the morning out looking and watching. We then return to camp and have breakfast and some time in the afternoon to work on transcribing our notes, playing Settlers of Catan and working out. This is also time to get some camp chores and anything else you need done. At 5:00 we head out again to go find and watch some hyenas and return after dark. We eat dinner and go to bed so we can wake up early and get to the dens for another day!

Sunrise at Schmutzy Den

Sunset in North Territory

I have loved my first week at fisi camp and I think that I will just keep liking it more and more. It is a lot of work learning all the behaviors and learning to ID all of our animals but it is really exciting and I can't wait until I get to know everyone better (people and hyenas).  

Home, sweet, home!

This is my tent at Serena fisi (hyena in swahili) camp. It is very nice and contains a comfy bed, bookshelf and soon a desk and chair.  

So far I have been out on two observation (obs) sessions and have seen a lot of really cool things already! Last night we saw a wildebeest crossing. This is when wildebeest stampede into the mara river. There were a lot of tourists there standing on top of their safari vehicles to see better. This is a really high season in the Maasai Mara and people come from all over the world to see the migration. I am so lucky that my job includes seeing such incredible things. The elephants in this picture got a little trapped by the wildebeest and safari vehicles and seemed a little perturbed. I guess they normally move out for awhile when the migration gets here, they like things a little quieter.

 I also saw a few of the many hyenas that I will soon need to know how to identify. We identify the hyenas based on their age and sex as well as their spot patterns and any damage to their ears. There are about 50 hyenas in each clan and we follow three different clans. This means that I have a lot of learning to do! The hyena below is Rachet a sub-adult male.

This morning at breakfast we had two visitors. During our breakfast of french toast, fresh delicious fruit, avocado and other veggies, two female warthogs stopped by looking like they would like to share. I guess this is the first time they had trotted over to us wanting food. They were very skittish (as they should be, they are wild animals) but got braver and braver with the more food we threw them. We would like some camp pets and I think these warthogs will do quite well. The adult female, shown below, was really into the french toast and only acknowledged and banana and avocado when the french toast was all gone. They have been wandering around camp all afternoon feeding, I hope they stay! 

A warthog a few meters from our table at the lab tent