Kenya Trip - Day 5 (am)

Dated: August 8th, 2010

Location: Ewaso Nyiro River Camp, Mpala Wildlife Conservancy, Laikipia Valley


Had a really good sleep last night--even though apparently Jody had a conversation with me at about midnight about her suspicions that there might be a hippopotamus grazing outside her window. I apparently told her it was just a dikdik and to go back to sleep. All I remember is my head hitting the pillow and the next thing is daylight and the sound of someone pouring water into the basins on our porch.

I tried the granola this morning. It was very good. I always look at what's laid out for breakfast and think that it's not much--orange slices, papaya, toast, hard-boiled eggs, and granola--but I always end up feeling full before I've even finished.

I left out some clothes on the dry bar outside the tent to be picked up to be laundered yesterday morning and they're still hanging out there. K told me that it was because I had put underwear out there as well; apparently, it is a cultural taboo to wash a woman's underwear with other clothes here, so it looks like I'll be washing my underwear myself.

Kenya Trip - Day 4 (pm)

Dated: August 7th, 2010 (pm)

Location: Ewaso Nyiro River Camp, Mpala Wildlife Conservancy, Laikipia Valley


R's daughter is sick from all the traveling so the professor J showed up. We did team-building with the graduate students also living at river camp, C, K, and W. The activities were the stereotypical electric fence (with the criss-crossed wires you have to stick your teammates through so that everyone can get to the other side) and the lava river (with firepit cushions as our safety rafts :).

We then went on a field trip to the red soil and black cotton soil ecosystems, both of which are present inside the conservancy. The red soil has much more biodiversity and we saw lots of giraffes and zebras there. When we got back to the cars, the drivers were like, "Weren't you afraid out there?" And we were like, why would we be afraid? And they were like, "Whenever you see zebras and giraffes in the same place, there's always lions." Just glad we had the ascari with us.

Next, we went to the black cotton soil. The soil there is made of a dark grey clay. There are only 5 species of grass, 2 types of trees, and 4 species of ants. C brought us to a clearing that had greener grass and no trees--a glade. He asked us what had happend here. C's research is about how bomas cause glades which later lead to differences in productivity--so our first guess was that a pastoralist (herder) had corralled his livestock here in a boma at some point and their defecation had brought about an increase in nutrients for that area, but he said no that wasn't it. There were a lot of holes in the ground and a few patches of grey soil. C eventually gave in a told us that there was a termite mound here at some point, and, much like cattle, the termites had brought extra nutrients to the area and deposited them in the clearing. They had also devoured all the trees within a given radius, much like the pastoralist who remove trees from their corralling areas to use as boma fences.


We have a lot of readings to do but I don't yet have a course pack so Jody is letting me borrow hers when she's done with it. The readings are all either about the black cotton soil ecosystem or the livestock-wildlife interactions in Laikipia Valley.

I saw an elephant today. Actually, we saw a lot of elephants today. They're kind of like squirrels are to Michigan here. I saw a squirrel today. Just one.


Dinner was fish, rice, beans, tomato soup, carrots and zucchini.

Jody and I have named the cricket living in our tent Bonner.

Kenya Trip - Day 4 (am)

Dated: August 7th, 2010 (am)

Location: Ewaso Nyiro River Camp, Mpala Wildlife Conservancy, Laikipia Valley

Apparently, there were elephants in the camp last night--Jody and I saw a fresh "patty" on our way to the bathroom at about 11:30pm. The ascari also chased off a hyena. I was awake what felt like most of the night playing the what's-outside-the-tent game. As another student put it this morning at breakfast, "Nature is loud."



Breakfast was toast, mini pancakes, papaya, orange slices, and oatmeal. The cook's name is John and he is very friendly. He brings out the food at 7 and takes our plates away when we are finished. We may not have electricity, but river camp is seeming pretty posh already :)

One student, C, and I bought a mystery fruit at the Nakumatt (Kenyan Walmart, sort of). It was in a bin labeled "Mangos" with a bunch of papayas, but it kind of looks like an impossibly big avocado (just look at it compared to the grocery bag and butter knife below). While waiting for the profs to make it down to camp, we took bets on the fruit and, with much ado, cut the thing open. It was an avocado. We made guacamole. It was awesome.

Kenya Trip - Day 3 (pm)

Dated: August 6th, 2010 (pm)

Location: Ewaso Nyiro River Camp, Mpala Wildlife Conservancy, Laikipia Valley

So . . . we're here.

After several more hours in the LCs and several more mysterious stops at various tourist shops and grocery stores (apparently the drivers get a cut from the vendors for bringing us places), we've made it to Mpala. And it's gorgeous . . . and a little bit terrifying.

We saw oodles of wildlife on our way into the conservancy: giraffes, zebras, gazelles, impalas, baboons, and dikdiks (small antelopes). And we're told that the conservancy is home to nearly a thousand elephants and--with the amount of elephant dung laying around--I believe it.

And then we got to our camp and realized that there are no fences so all that wildlife we saw out there will be in our camp every day. It's for this reason that we are required to have an escort to and from our tents and even the bathroom. The escort is called an "ascari" (pronounced ah-scar-ee). There are no guns allowed in Mpala, so the ascari carry forearm-lenth sticks with knobs on one end. They don't speak much English--they understand the word "tent" and numbers and we say "cho" for the bathroom. We haven't had to test it yet, but I'm hoping they understand the word "lion" too.

The professors are staying at the research center and Ranch House farther north of us. River camp is beautiful--we got the quick tour before the sun set. There's no electricity and the "bathroom" is hole in the ground--having been a frequent camper as a girl scout--this is nothing I'm not used to; however, the shower is definitely something different. The water is heated in an oil drum. An ascari will mix the hot water with some of the cold water from the river in a bucket to make sure it isn't scalding, then he takes the bucket into the shower tent and lets down a canvas bag, which he fills, then hoists back up. There is a little spigot on the bottom of the hanging canvas bag which you have to turn and let trickle out--you only have a couple of gallons to use and then you're left with whatever soap is left in your hair. I'm kind of worried because I think I have the most/thickest hair of the group. Would it be gross if I didn't shower the whole time? Itchy scalp is the worst.

We got an introduction by the research center director Margaret and the camp manager Tuni. Tuni went over again the importance of being alert and aware of the wildlife around us and reminded us of the safety precautions available to us, mainly the ascari. Then he warned us about the river; "If you are feeling like going for a swim, please let us know. So that we may say good-bye." Apparently the river is swift and full of hippos and crocodiles. Gulp.

We had dinner in the mess tent--which is basically a 3-sided structure with a thatched roof. There was some soup--we think it was a root of some kind, possibly potato--baked potato, some mystery "miama" (means "meat" in Swahili, but also "animal" interestingly enough), green beans, rice, kidney beans, and boiled cabbage.

Got back to my tent and there was an earwig in my bed. Other than that, the tents are really nice inside. I'm grateful that they're completely enclosing so that no critters can crawl in. My roommate Jody and I share tent #4.

Kenya Trip - Day 3

Date: August 6th, 2010

Location: Fairmont Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya


We landed last night at 7:30pm Kenya-time--and I've already lost track of what that is in Michigan-time . . . maybe noon?

On the way to the hotel from the airport (after spending nearly an hour unsuccessfully trying to find one member of our group's bag--she will just have to hope it makes it to the research center somehow), we got a flat tire. The spare turned out to be flat too, but by that time the cars carrying the other students had made it to the hotel and they just came back to pick us up. It was funny because while the driver was trying to change the tire, the Professor J's 4-yr-old son, A, was playing with one of the student's headlamps and put it on strobe and then I figured our how to open the roof hatch of the Land Cruiser and R was kind of freaking out about drawing attention to our vehicle parked on the side of the road. Her fear is founded though, for a while we weren't sure if the trip was going to happen because Kenya was voting on a referendum to their constitution and it wasn't sure how the result would be received and after the 2007 election violence, there was reason to worry. The votes were actually being counted as we drove from the airport and by the time we got to the hotel, the word was out that Kenyans had voted yes on a revised constitution. Not sure what that means yet, but I'm sure we'll find out soon.

We finally made it to the hotel at about 11. We had a very late dinner and quickly retreated to our rooms, which were amazing. Everyone in the Country Lodge (half of us were there and the other half at the sister hotel the Fairmont) had their own room with a bed, a desk, tv, sink, and bathroom. The room was seriously bigger than my double dorm room back in Ann Arbor at East Quad. The bed was comfy and the shower was wonderful and hot. I had a brief freak out after I realized I had brushed my teeth with the tap water (I almost started taking Cipro this morning just to make sure I didn't spend my first week in Kenya dealing with parasites and whatnot) but this morning the hotel staff told us their water is treated which I guess means I'm ok--the next 24 hrs will tell.

Breakfast was great: porrige with raisins and brown sugar, waffles and syrup, pineapple, water melon, passion fruit (see photo above), and bacon.

After a long wait in the parking lot--apparently the professors' families were a bit more jet-lagged than the rest of us--we're on the road in the Land Cruisers on the way to Mpala now. It was dark last night so I didn't get to see any of the city but this morning the city is bustling. There are no sidewalks (just dirt paths on either side of the roads) but it looks like everyone walks everywhere--you see men and women in suits plodding along these dirt paths leading up to the concrete walkways up to massive skyscrapers. Also, another thing to get used to, they drive on the left side of the road here--like in the UK. It kind of freaks me out--I keep thinking we're going to hit something or seeing someone really young in what I think is the driver's seat.

Too much going on! Must take pictures!

Kenya Trip - Day 1

Date: August 5th, 2010

Location: Amsterdam Airport

We landed at 9am, Amsterdam-time--which is something like 3am Michigan-time. (I feel like I'm probably going to be straddling time zones for a while.) I couldn't fall asleep on the plane from Detroit--part of it was that I couldn't get comfortable, the other part was that my mind wouldn't stop spinning.

After just barely making the bus to the airport and the close shave making the plane out of Detroit--not to mention the complete emptiness of knowledge and expectation hanging over my head regarding this trip--it was impossible to settle. Not to mention when we got to the airport, the professor J realized that he and the early-arriving students had forgotten half of the course packs on a table in the hotel where the bus picked up.

On the plus side, not sleeping gave me the chance to watch several popular movie I missed this year on the headrest video monitor. I saw "Kick-Ass," "The Hurt Locker," and about half of "Invictus." Like I said--long plane ride. "The Hurt Locker" was decent, but I don't think it was worth Best Picture--but then again, what do I know?

Kenya Trip - Day 0

Dated: August 3rd, 2010

Location: Northville, Michigan

I've been packed for days and I'm holding my breath. I can't believe I leave for Africa tomorrow.

The packing list was pretty extensive--a lot of camping gear (flashlights, headlamps, hiking pants, waterproof notebooks, high-top hiking boots, etc.). I'll be without a phone or computer for more than three weeks except the occasional session on the research center computer. I probably won't be able to post to this blog during the next couple weeks for that reason, so I'll just have to write it all down--the old-fashioned way :)

As for my mileage count, its going to be hard to keep track of without my handy speedometer--I may have to forego it but I promise to provide at least an estimation by the end of the summer.

Better get some sleep--who knows if I'll be able to sleep on the flight--get this: we take off at 7pm on the 4th and land at 7pm on the 5th in Nairobi! With the time change, it's like a 24-hr flight!