Location: Ewaso Nyiro River Camp, Mpala Wildlife Conservancy, Laikipia Valley
So charging didn't happen as planned . . . I mean, I got a little bit done but I'll be out by tomorrow . . . I'm a bit disgruntled by the lack of resources and information going on here but doing my best to stay positive cuz Hey, I'm in Africa =)
We compared and analyzed data from yesterday and found that most of our assumptions--that the largest ant colonies were nearest to the glades and that the ants in those colonies would be the most aggressive--were wrong.
Next, we went out in the field with Truman Young--a famous plant biologist and professor from UC Davis--who was basically the first researcher at Mpala. He took us to the research projects (after 1 flat tire) called KLEE. These were fenced-in areas meant to exclude one type of herbivore or another and determine the effects of a particular herbivore group's herbivory on black cotton plant life. I found what he was working on to be very current and interesting but he outright disreguarded Rubenstein's findings for no other reason, it seemed, than that they clashed with his own. Young's project suggest that cattle and wildlife cannot coexist without dire consequences inflicted upon both groups. I loved Rubenstein's findings so much that I wanted him to be the one in the right and this definitely influenced my view of Young--that, combined with the heat at the field site and his ceaseless spewing of facts and experimental data--definitely put his persona down in my mind. For sure, both researchers had an agenda, but I really wanted the one that favored wildlife and societal cooperation to be right.
On the way back to river camp for lunch, we saw a lioness in the black cotton amongst the tall grasses. B spotted her--I don't know how--but she was at least 150 yards from the road and too far for a picture.
We went to the MRC so R could lecture about pastoralist systems and their relation to cultural and political ecology and anthropology. It was a really good lecture I just wish I had had more background; it seemed really dense and there was a lot to wade through. The fact that it was pouring on the tin roof just made everything all that much harder to understand.
We played get-to-know-each-other games around the campfire until late. The days are picking up speed. It felt like the first days I was here were impossibly, exhaustingly long but today it seems like breakfast was just five minutes ago and I'm suddenly in bed again, writing in my journal by the light of my headlamp. I don't want this trip to ever end--I need to find someway to make the days longer!
Vocab word of the day:
"Pride Rock Fixation"-the need to associate everything you see in Africa with Disney's "The Lion King"; example: calling all red-billed hornbills "Zazu"
No comments:
Post a Comment