Kisii Adventure!

On Wednesday night I met Amanda, Chris, Joyce, Daniel and Brian for drinks at the lodge. We talked about different parts of Kenya (Amanda and Chris just got back from an amazing road trip around Kenya and Tanzania) and why the Mara is just so darn awesome. We shared recent amazing animal sightings etc. When we were leaving, Joyce asked me if I wanted to go to Kisii the next day and help her hand out sanitary pads at a few schools and see some old friends she hadn't seen in ages. I have never been to Kisii and a day trip sounded great to me!

Backstory: For Joyce's birthday she had asked for donations to buy pads in bulk for young Kenyan girls who couldn't afford them. For many girls getting your period means you don't go to school. Most girls use all sorts of things like old cloth, paper etc. to take care of their periods. Girls are afraid of staining their school uniforms (of which they only have one and are expensive to replace) and being teased by other classmates so they just stay at home for those days. This means that the girls miss a lot of school and can fall behind in their studies and probably leads to many of them to not continuing with their schooling. Not cool! Learn a little bit more here: BBC Africa story

Yesterday morning we met for breakfast at the lodge (yum!) and then packed into a tour car and were on our way! A Serena car was headed towards Kisii to drop off the manager for a vacation and give a few more guys rides home. We passed trough Lolgorian and Kilgoris (where the guys who work at our camp live) it was really good to see a new part of Kenya and talk with Joyce on the ride. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, lots of lush rolling hills. Kisii is known for its really fertile landscape and their banana, avacado, mango, tea and coffee crops. 

We eventually arrived at a school that Joyce had gone to when she was younger but hadn't been to in 8 years. There we met and talked to the head teacher and explained what we were trying to do. They gathered all of their 6-8th grade girls for us to meet with. At the first school we went to we met with around 80 girls. Joyce is bubbly and outgoing and had no problem demonstrating how to use pads and dispose of them. Even though we were met with a lot of shy giggles it was clear the girls were really grateful to get them and even asked for more. 

We met an old friend of Joyce's named Julius who walked with us to the next school and eventually accompanied us to lunch. Julius was really neat to talk to, he had spent 7 years living in the US, mostly in Texas. They decided that I needed to do some classic Kenyan things so Joyce and I bought sugar cane and she taught me how to peel away the hard exterior and get to the good stuff in the center. She also found me some Changaaa to sip which she explained was like homemade Kisii vodka. It tasted about how you would imagine that tasting. 

After walking around Kisii land for awhile we met back up with our group and headed back towards Serena (our group included a live chicken in the front seat). It was such a fun day! Joyce was so great to invite me and show me around where she grew up! While living inside of the reserve is incredible for many reasons it is still nice to get out every once in awhile and actually experience real Kenyan culture.

Marten gets sleepy

This morning we finally got her! For 6 months or so Dave (a phD student in the hyena lab) has been trying to tranquilize one of Serena South's adult females that had a bum GPS/radio collar.

This is Marten avoiding us a few weeks ago. You can't dart them near water due to the possibility of drowning. She sat here for hours, classic Marten.

A week ago we found her on a den (she probably has new babies) and we were so excited because now we knew where to find her! We waited until there were no male hyenas around (who will beat up the females when they get 'drunk') and none of them were looking at our car (we don't want them to associate us with a sharp pain in the butt) before Dave could get a shot off. It was great! Right in the butt where we want it.

We waiting for her to go down but she never did! She was really fighting off the effects of the drug and we were not able to get close enough to get a booster in her. It was terrible and really rarely happens during dartings. We hung around until we were sure that she was okay and then left but we were really worried that she would get nervous and freak out when she saw us next or move to a new den and we wouldn't be able to find her.

Luckily, she didn't move and wasn't nervous around our car at all! This morning we decided to try again. Dave had a shot, took it and we got her! She went down just fine this time. Dave opened up a new batch of Telazol, the drug we use. We were hoping that the last batch was just off and for whatever reason and luckily this time everything worked according to plan. She fell asleep really peacefully and was soon dead to the world. The first thing we did was draw blood. For some reason Dave trusted me with this even though I had never done it before. Turns out it went really well and we had no problem getting lots blood for hormone analysis among other things.

 

Carefully removing the dart

Next, we fitted her with a new GPS/radio collar so that we can track her movements for some of Dave's research.  We took body measurements, bacterial swabs and general observations about body condition etc.

Trying to measure her girth

Once we were done with our sample collection and measurements we rolled her onto a gurney and weighed her. We then put her in the back of the car with me!

This was really crazy because she was just starting to come to on the ride to her drop-off point. She occasionally lifted her head and I had to hold her to make sure she didn't thrash around and hurt herself. At one point I remembered that this is in fact a wild hyena that I am holding in the back of our field vehicle and got a little nervous but I was assured that she was still far too sedated to do anything other than drool. 

We found a shady spot to release her and built a little fence out of branches around her for some camouflage and to keep her in there until she was really coherent enough to get out. We will go check on her tonight. She should be long gone at that point, back to her den with her cubs and acting like nothing happened. 

When we got back to camp we processed her blood samples and got the darting kit restocked for next time. It was a pretty awesome morning, I finally got to hug my hyena! 

Merry Christmas from Kenya!

For the first time ever I am not spending Christmas at home. While I miss my family, friends and snow (among many other things) I know it is only one year and I will see my parents soon (In February) and be home next summer!

This morning we went out on a 6 hour game drive! We counted all the animals in our Serena North Clan and said Merry Christmas to our hyena friends. Tonight we are playing card games, eating my favorite Kenyan dinner and watching a movie.

For New Years we have invited our sister camp from Talek to come spend the holiday with us. I am so excited to show them our side of the park and spend some time with friends.

Happy holidays everyone!!!


A fitting video. Watch until 2:40 and you will understand : )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

Nairobi: Take 2

Hadley and I went back to Nairobi to get supplies and pick up Dave (a grad student) from the airport. The drive up was pretty uneventful, we only got stuck once! Note to self, when pulling over on the side of the road for a pit stop make sure not to stop in really soft sand. Oops. Luckily a tour car was right behind us and gave us a quick tow out of the sand.

Nairobi has been really fun so far! We got to see Amanda and Chris, the Yale river researchers. They took us to see Thor in 3D which was a totally crazy experience after being in the bush. We exited the theater and there was a huge crowd of people waiting to go in. I felt so claustrophobic! I am only used to being around a few people at a time, tons of excited Thor fans was overwhelming. We snaked through the crowd and avoided the video cameras set up for some company doing a promotion for the opening of the movie. We jumped in a cab and headed to Brew Bistro a microbrewery just down the road. It was a really happening place that seems to be the cool spot in Nairobi on a Friday night. I instantly felt underdressed in my dirty jeans and running tank top. The food was amazing and they had good beer! Chris and Amanda said I should get a half-meter which was a sample flight of their beers. Chris and I agreed that the strong IPA was our favorite and I drank all of mine with a very happy hoppy smile on my face. The meal was incredible and we had a great time talking and catching up. Chris and Amanda are amazing and I feel so lucky that we have them around. Otherwise the beginning of our Nairobi trip was full of traffic, no power in the cottage and a lot of rain. The positives were watching a lot of movies (when we could charge our computers), eating frozen yogurt and hot showers (I forgot how amazing these are).

Towards the end of our Nairobi trip Hadley and I went to check out a glass place called Anselm (website:http://www.kitengela.com/) and it was so cool! We watched them making a lot of cool pieces, walked around their gallery and explored the awesome property. It was completely different than anywhere Hadley and I had been in Kenya thus far. We had a ton of fun wandering around their little artist compound exploring their eclectic sculpture garden (complete with camels coming and saying hi). All these photos were taken by Hadley (I forgot my camera).

Watching one of the artists making the start of what will be a wine glass

Walking out of one of the shops

Walkway up to a roof top "coffee shop"

Enjoying not being in the city for a few moments

Watching some people cross a super sketchy bridge in the gorge below us (don't worry we didn't even try)

Outside of the studio/gallery/furnace

The drive back to the Mara was also pretty uneventful, the only issue was that a lug nut fell off on our back left tire but we were able to fix it in Narok (and it only took 2 hours to get fixed, woo hoo!).

Now I am back in the Mara and back in my happy place: tons of amazing animals, beautiful landscapes and my tent!

November already!?

I cannot believe that it is already November! The weather hasn't really changed here from when I arrived in early August. We are so close to the equator and don't really have seasons (in the same way that Michigan does) so I am having trouble believing it is fall.

Halloween was a lot of fun. I dressed up as a giraffe, one of my favorite African mammals (really, I love them all!). Lily dressed up as a tiger, her favorite animal of all time. We were dressed up all day and got lots of funny looks from non-Americans (everyone). We did a psuedo-sundowner, trying to catch the sunset but timed our route wrong. After that, we went to the lodge and got a drink and hung out. Daniel, a balloon pilot and his wife, Joyce were around as well as some other lodge friends. We had a really good time socializing. It has just been Lily and I in camp lately, while Lily and I get along really well and I am really glad I have her as my co-research assistant we were both glad to catch up with other friends.

Me hanging with some of my giraffe buddies on halloween morning

Can hardly tell us apart, right?

Right now Lily and I are trying to see the solar eclipse! It is working only alright. Lily has a much better ability to stare directly into the sun than I do. We are actually lucky that it is a little cloudy because it helps shade it a bit. I don't think that I have done any permanent eye damage yet. Hopefully this gets easier as the moon moves across the sun more. Here is a photo Lily was able to get with my camera. She is an awesome photographer and frequently shows me how to use my camera.

The sun looking like the moon! Super cool!

In recent hyena news, its baby season!!! Adult female hyenas are disappearing into their natal dens and tiny black cubs are coming into the world. Luckily, we know where a few of these dens are and we get to enjoy the little black cubs playing and exploring! Some natal dens we will never find and in a month or two cubs will just show up at a communal den.

This is Seabuiscut leaning on her mommy Bellagio. 

HELLO! Is there anybody in there!

This is Waffles, the queen of our Serena North clan! She is the matriarch that gained power during the great syrup rebellion a few years ago. Waffles and a few other low ranking hyenas formed a coalition and overthrew the old ruler. This is pretty rare in hyena society, normally you just inherit your mother's rank. Anyway, the cubs Waffles is hiding in this super deep hole is the new princess(es) or prince(s) of our North clan. We would have never known she was here if it wasn't for the super awesome GPS/radio collar that she is sporting (thanks Dave!). Waffles' cubs are all named after syrups (hence the great syrup rebellion) and her next cubs name's have already been decided. They will be called Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth. Isn't that the cutest thing you have ever heard? A little black cub named Auntie J or Butters. Naming hyenas is awesome.

I spotted my first snake!

Yesterday I spotted my first snake in camp! 

Check out this adorable little guy

I quickly looked him up in our camp's snake book. Its a boomslang, a very shy snake that lives in trees and hunts during the day. It is poisonous but is so shy that bites are rarely reported even though it is a really common snake to see in this area. 

I watched him for awhile (from a safe distance) and then he slithered away. 

Cute! 

Nairobi, Necropsy and Malaria

A lot has happened since I last blogged! Basically, I went to Nairobi, came back and ran camp by myself for a week while Lily was gone, performed a necropsy on one of our hyenas and got malaria!

I got back from Nairobi a few weeks ago. Nairobi is nice because you get a hot shower, you get cold drinks and you get frozen yogurt. The first few days I was ecstatic with food I hadn't had in a few months and cold things! I totally binged on dark chocolate, pretzels (the only brand I have found is a German brand called “Saltlettes”) and chilled white wine. We take Nairobi trips every few months to re-stock camp. We go grocery shopping, we get more liquid nitrogen and we fix our bush vehicles, among other camp errands. Driving in Nairobi was pretty wild, not only did we have to remember to stay on the left side of the road but many Nairobi drivers don't really follow driving laws like they would in the states. You have to be aggressive to get anywhere, if you don't just start pulling onto a road, nobody will ever let you in. The Nairobi town car that we were driving is an old Land Rover that is pretty clunky and doesn't have any power steering. The lack of power steering certainly made parking interesting. It was like a little arm workout every time you needed to go to the store. Nairobi was nice but I was ready to get back to the bush. I missed the quiet and all my animal friends. I have quite a story about how our drive back from Nairobi went but I think that will have to be its own blog post.

The only pretzels I can find in Kenya! 

When I returned from Nairobi I was the only hyena researcher in camp. The Mara River researchers from Yale were around and Phillomon and Jorgi were here to keep camp running smoothly. It is double the work to be in camp alone though, instead of splitting up camp chores you do them all yourself and instead of just transcribing (taking notes on the hyenas) once a day, you have to drive and transcribe twice a day. I think the hardest part was not having four arms. At night it was very difficult to speak into my DVR, hold up a light and use my binoculars/camera all at the same time. My first few sessions out alone I fumbled a little with how to do everything with only two hands but overall I think it went pretty well. I was identifying the hyenas better and I think doing a good job catching all their behaviors.

I was worried one morning when I couldn't ID this hyena, turns out this is TREX a hyena we haven't seen since April!

On the second day I was in camp alone I got a call from Chris (one of the river researchers) that they had found a hyena dead in the road. I raced to the area they found him with Phillomon, got a location and took pictures then returned to camp with the hyena. When a hyena dies, we try to do a full necropsy on the hyena, find cause of death, take tissue samples and prepare their skull for a museum. This is the first hyena that has died since I have been here so I had never helped out with a necropsy before. After many phone calls to other researchers making sure I was doing everything correctly and reading the manual a few times, we got to work. It was a little gruesome to dissect a hyena and really sad that this was a hyena that I knew and that I had seen hanging out a few nights before. His name was Malotrus (I think it is french) and was going to be two years old in december. It appeared that he was hit by a car that was probably driving way to fast.

This is Malo a few weeks before he died during a target trial. We use this fake hyena to test social intelligence among a few other things. Malo was adorable and quickly figured out it wasn't a real hyena so he started trying to eat it. 

The day that Lily got back is that day I started feeling sick. Luckily, she was back and convinced me to not over do it and took care of most of the camp chores. I am feeling much, much better now. There is a doctor at Serena Lodge which is about a 5min drive for us so it was very convenient to just pop up there and get tested for malaria and get the meds I needed. Malaria is certainly not something to take lightly but it is an all too common reality for people living in sub-saharan Africa. It has been very interesting, all of the Kenyans that I have told that I have malaria are sympathetic that I am sick but not really that concerned. Most Kenyans have had malaria many times, almost like the flu in the US. All the white people I have told I have malaria are much more concerned. Anyway, I got the medicine I need and am feeling better now. The worst part is that I have been stuck in camp for the last few days and haven't been able to go see my hyenas! I miss those little guys!