Zombie today.

Today is Dave’s birthday but I haven’t seen him yet as I was napping when he got back from his loop. I was in bed for three and a half hours just now, woke up a bit of a zombie, sleep debt is catching up to me and we were out late last night. We left late because it started raining at 5 so it was about 6 when we reached the den. But we had perfect conditions for a box trial so Julia squeezed one in, though BilJ who had already seen the box before dived right in before we could even pull the car away! This made the other cubs much less fearful overall but hopefully still distinguishes individual differences. 

Oh, we also saw a cheetah!! Just strolling up the road that our driveway connects to just 500 meters or so from camp. A very old lanky female, less attractive than other cheetahs I’d seen, but also wilder. Fantastic siting. There are three bat-eared foxes living very near the dens and we’ve been disturbing them every time we drive in there. We also got to see Waffles, our alpha, social sniffing, parallel walking, and grooming with LCS a very low ranking female. Waffles is the benevolent matriarch having been very low ranking herself once. We also got a head poke from a black cub!! Just getting white eyebrows so probably not too much older than 5 weeks, most likely LogC’s cub and Waffles grandcub. Adorable!!

This morning we went to happy zebra and Julia did some filming with her narration for this BBC film crew that wants to do some filming of the hyenas in several different parks. Happy Zebra was fairly quiet, just Boom and Ring showed up, but we got a nice elephant siting also. 

Sunburnt...

Went out with Dave on one of his big loops the other morning. He is examining the hyena as an indicator species (in short) and does a lot of demographic work. His and Julia’s work both instigated the use of GPS collars with the hyenas, which has only been going on for about three years! Once a  month he drives tracks that cross each square kilometer of the territory and does game and predator counts. VERY comprehensive! It usually takes him over half the morning from 6 to 8 hours. Super fun and I got to see some areas of south territory that I’d never been. Drove down through some brushy woodsy lugga area that was very pretty and very different from the vast open rolling hills of the rest of the mara. Man did I sunburn my left arm though, the maruti just doesn’t offer enough shade. It was very nice to enjoy breakfast out in the mara next to the maruti. Also got a lot of practice using the rangefinder, though my eyes starting to get sore from looking through it trying to get distances on animals over 800m away. We saw just about every prey species possible and not a single carnivore. Super pooped from being in the hot sun into the afternoon. The sun will take it out of you. Usually obs are just in the morning/evening light and camp is nicely shaded. 

Still got some working out in (that sprint workout somehow made the outside of my calf very sore. I think because I was not running on flat, was doing uphill and some sideways stuff and used part of my calf muscle that has never been used before! Pushing down the clutch was mildly excruciating.) just upper body and then mostly lay in hammock/bed and read constant gardener. Half way through already. Good obs last night and this morning. Hooker vomited near the den and everyone had a party in it…got a nice good whiff and it smelled absolutely disgusting. 

The hyenas have been using two dens, the first is one they’ve used before Grits den (all the dens on the breakfast plain have breakfast names) and the second hole about 200m north we’ve decided to call flapjacks den, though currently we’re just referring to them as north and south den holes. Which is also a little mentally confusing because south den hole is uphill so when someone says lets go up there it could mean uphill or north.

This morning the battery on the car died and we had to call Wes, on his morning sleeping in, to jump start it. Luckily that worked and now we just have to wait for a new battery. Seems like there is constant car problems... the cruiser is currently mostly fixed but the brakes still need work and of course the maruti is perpetually bouncy and prone to overheat. Topped up my airtime and internet so I am very stocked! 

May 28th and a rooster...

Got charged by an elephant again last night! This time driving the hilux to happy zebra’s den. The elephants in happy zebra are a grumpy bunch. Looked like we were in the clear, all the elephants were at least 75m from the den so I shift up into three to speed by when we hear the trumpeting and this big bull elephant charges us as we zip by! Adrenaline!

Leopard was still up in its tree this morning, and this time Leprechaun, a north male immigrant was staked out underneath picking up scraps. Turns out its been in this tree for a few days because it has a carcass up there, probably an impala. Leprechaun ate a hoof whole, just swallowed it right down! Started reading constant gardner and already 83 pages in, so good! After reading so much nonfiction I am devouring this.

Had an amazing work out, did my upper body work out then also did a sprint work out since I skipped the bike yesterday. I may stick with this sprint workout walk down the driveway, sprint up it, do some stretching in between because I get some sun and its more of a muscle work out for my legs. I am determined to be tan and buff by the end of this year. 

We have a live rooster crowing in camp today that we will eat tonight. Monica (the fruit/vegetable lady) arrived at Serena lodge today so Julia went up to buy more mboga yay! And we somehow also ended up with a rooster. 

First time out driving on my own!

Went out by myself for the first time last night into South! Dave has been doing these large exhaustive loops where he makes a note of every mammal encountered which takes him quite a few hours, he left at 5:30 this morning and just got back now at 1pm. This means he isn’t going out in the evening, and Wes was still at Ololoolo getting supplies and Julia wasn't feeling well so I went out alone to South territory in the Maruti. Unfortunately I saw hakuna! However I didn’t get lost or stuck and successfully navigated around south territory, so I felt pretty good about that.

This morning I transcribed for north territory and got to see some good behavior at north den and some new feeding avoid w/ food behaviors while we were driving around. Starting to get the hang of these den sessions! Also saw my first leopard! Still up in the tree from where Wes saw it yesterday (let me tell you Wes had a much more interesting evening yesterday than I did!), where I could see a paw and a tail. Also two lionesses strolling across the road. Yesterday on his drive to get supplies Wes also saw Digs and two cheetahs. Cheetahs! Can’t wait to see a cheetah, which Dave also saw one this morning. Super jealous. AND a caracal!! Though that was yesterday, again by Dave. Apparently Digs just walks right up to the cheetahs who got all poofy and archy and ran off. Hyenas.. no respect.

And last night Strummer again! He and Ramone were noisy around my tent for over half an hour pulling and chewing on things. In the morning I can see they cut the line holding the tarp up over my tent in addition to pulling up some of the tarp underneath my tent. Lots of baboons being noisy in camp now.                                           

This really is fisi camp...

Had a great birthday several days ago, slept in, just Julia went out, and then had a nice relaxing day in the hammock, flipping through the hyena books, transcribing, and going through photos. Went out for evening obs with Wes and got to drive around in south territory for the first time! Got to take the maruti over some rough tracks which was a lot of fun and saw an amazing sunset with a bunch of lightning up on the escarpment. After obs we went up to Serena lodge and sat outside on the balcony by a fire with a full moon shining across the savannah. So beautiful. Had a dawa (vodka/honey/limes), a shot of jameson, and some jameson with ice. Its always a little weird up at the lodge, it's really like its own little world separate from the field life that we live as hyena researchers. Flush toilets! Mirrors!  

Hyenas in camp all night two nights ago and into the morning! When I got up around 5:25 there were at least four subadults/cubs in the kitchen tent area knocking over chairs and one of them even started walking up the path to the lab tent where Julia and I were! When we got back to camp after morning obs Ramone and Strummer were/are hanging out around the choo. Wes (who stayed in this morning due to us still only have the maruti) apparently watched them wandering around camp all morning. They are both “in the process of graduating” and it seems like camp is becoming a regular hangout for some of these guys. It also looks like the den may have moved away from Schipol Den (the den right on the road) because there has been very limited activity though it’s not clear whether or not that’s just from some of the cubs graduating.

Then the afternoon day before yesterday actually got to see strummer in camp. Sometime after lunch while I was alone in the lab tent he comes walking down the path from the choo, walks around the table to the end of the lab tent, stares around camp, then turns around and starts walking back up towards the choo. NO RESPECT! Ramone stayed further back in the woods. Apparently he went inside the lab tent also, possibly looking for powdered milk that Julia uses in box trials? Quite a feeling to be that close to a little hyena.

We were starting to wonder if maybe ramone and strummer had graduated to our camp! Julia had the thought that they had moved to the breakfast plain and Dave was picking up a lot of points around maji nedge. So who knows?

Last night we finally got our answer. While driving out of camp we immediately started getting a lot of points from several of our collared moms, probably coming from the breakfast plain, we encounter Ema sacked out in the grass not too far from camp with Dr. P possibly nearby. When we started making a loop around the breakfast plains we see them through our bincolars! Then it was just a matter of finding a way too the den without hitting the lugga, wet spots, and rocky areas that plague the breakfast plain. I was driving and I definitely got a little stressed out with all the “slower!” “turn” “back up” “not there!” That was some serious off road driving and the tall grass disguises everything. Thankfully the hilux is a fairly forgiving vehicle. We finally made it to the den and almost all the cubs were there! Didn’t see Rama but he’s often a little separate from the others. Also found an easier way in than out. This also explains why we’ve had cubs in camp, they’re only about 600 to 800m away! No one has graduated yet, Uzi was still there at the den and they have to be seen away from the den three times in a row in order to be considered graduated. 

Dave (grad students) is back in camp again so we're back up to four. Quiet morning at happy zebra today, but did some nice driving around the burned area where two male lions (the clegane brothers?) were hanging out. What is it about male lions? Very relaxed and regal. Also got to see Temp aka buttsicle (for the sickle shapes on his butt). I’m really making a point to study those books so I can get these hyenas down now that I’m pretty familiar with the cubs. The north cubs still throw me a bit though, they’re all the same size and color and when I see like six of them romping around the car my brain freezes up and goes ahhh so many spots! And I don’t know both sides of every cub so sometimes I’ll see a side and not be sure if it’s an unfamiliar side or I’m missing a key spot.

Finally have clean clothes- been wearing shorts for the past two weeks and it feels strange to have pants on again (though nice for chilly mornings). Wes says my definition of dirty will evolve. 

Sherman is alive!

Sherman is alive! We went back to that spot again last night, and started picking her up strong, to our dismay. We were in two vehicles because Julia had been hoping to do a startle response at north den but the situation wasn't quite right. Anyway Wes was getting all ready to flag over a ranger so that he could help us when we were getting out of our car to get her body, when: she walks calmly out of the thicket like nothing happened. Just spent over 24 hours in one spot for the hell of it. I was soo frickin’ relieved that she wasn't dead though, having to watch Lady die would have been awful. I hadn't realized how much I’d already gotten attached to these cubs. I’m going to have to deal with some of them dying at some point during the year that I’m here.

Saw three lionesses this morning in South territory- almost second guessed myself and disregarded the one as a topi as it was standing up on top of a termite mound in a very topi manner. We managed to drive closer and identify two other lionesses with her, and as Wes says lions are extremely apathetic. We had to wait half an hour to get a few head lifts to get some ID shots of the whisker spots. Still no sign of the last den cub Boyk, but we did see a few other south clan hyenas around. Otherwise a very calm an non-eventful morning. 

South clan politics, hyena in camp, some giraffes, and Sherman maybe dead?

I don’t care what day of the week it is, I hate that my watch tells me, and I’m going to stop noting it on these journal entries. I love the feeling of days blurring into one another, living somewhere where they day of the week is meaningless, almost as meaningless as the number.

Just spent all morning editing transcriptions and writing up this morning! Man is Wes anal about tiny little things like spaces and caps, but understandably and he admits it. Consistency makes it easy when we combine all the transcriptions into one massive document, and for those researchers back in the states when the extract the information.

Finally got to see some hyenas in South Territory yesterday! We picked up Clovis, the aging queen of South clan, on the radio and tracked her until we found her sacked out on a mound, all sleepy and regal, very close to where we’d been doing so many circles. You can tell this is an old hyena, she is going gray around the face, but she looked like she had food in her belly. Wes says she is dying because she has reduced the area she moves around in to this area of about 300m2. The clan is somewhat in transition as Clovis has essentially retired her role as dominant female. However, her daughters are not to inherit the title as Clovis ‘hates’ her daughters, or at least one or two them. Neither will the second highest ranking female inherit as Clovis hates her too. (Where Happy Zebra is filled with love, South seems to be filled with a certain amount of inter-clan disagreements.) Clovis actually killed Slink’s cubs once and fed them to her own. Java is the third highest female and Clovis has been backing up Java in aggressions against other females and she seems poised to inherit the crown. We pick up Java next on the radio and find her some distance away in the same general area as Clovis also sacked out sleepy. Later on we see a few more hyenas including a subadult female named Jameson! She and Jack Daniels are the sole survivors of the whiskey lineage and I think Jameson might have to be a new favorite of mine, she has an Erlenmeyer flask on her side. Jameson is my absolute favorite whiskey.

Also: very exciting: adult hyena in camp last night! And not just down near the driveway or in the woods, this one walked RIGHT PAST THE LAB/DINING TENT where Julia and I were sitting! Less than 10m away and no car to protect us! Not that the hyenas would ever hunt humans, but still. Again reminded that this camp is NOT fenced in and that there is NOTHING separating us from the hippos and leopards and lions and other animals that are potentially lethal. I say hippos first because I can hear them EVERY night grunting and groaning and whistling and all the weird rumbly noises that hippos make. Wes’s first instinct was to chase it away, which it had already moved off, and then he said that he always immediately regrets chasing them off because he wishes he could have IDed them. However the territorial ‘get out of my camp!’ instinct I think is rightfully dominant. Especially with how desensitized the cubs at north den are right now (we can bang and shout all we want on the car and it will not stop them from chewing on it!) when they graduate we might be in trouble. They are used to our voices and our smell and we are smack dab in the middle of their territory only a five minute lope from their den.

As we drive back into North territory we pick up Waffles who is sacked out dozing in the warm morning sunlight along with her subadult son Torani. Julia does a focal survey (mother/cub pairs interactions are part of her thesis) on the two of them for a nice peaceful thirty minutes. Then we disturb the peace and quiet by doing a startle response trial. Julia mostly does these at the den and observes who startles (when she fires a cap gun), how far, if they go all the way into the den, and if they do how long until they emerge again. However she also does them on mother/graduated cub pairs for comparison. Both hyenas startled however Torani ran off first to be followed by his mother, they both sacked out in taller grass about 100m away and promptly went back to sleep- sorry guys!

Later there were two pairs of male giraffes fighting. What a neat thing to watch. They stand parallel to each other where the rear ends somewhat pushed against each other and legs splayed for stability while they take turns whacking each other with the head, neck, and horns. What power in those necks. They would nearly knock each other over with those blows.

And sadly, we picked up Sherman on the radio in the exact same spot that we did two days ago. Not a good sign. We track it a little better than we did before and narrow her location down to a small dense cluster of grass in which we cannot see anything. However that she does not at least lift her head and show us some ears is a very bad sign. Hyenas may enjoy a certain area and you might pick them up on the radio in the same area but not the exact same spot like this unless they have cubs at a natal den. Which Sherman, who has a cub Lady (male) at the communal den, does not. Additionally, no matter how desensitized they are to a car, they are usually not completely uncurious about vehicles circling their resting areas. The grass was very dense, to the extent that if we tried to narrow it down anymore we could have run her over and not known until we bumped. Additionally there was a good ditch/culvert bordering the road which the dense thicket grass was next to. If her GPS points show that she has not moved from that spot for another few days we will likely have to get out on foot and look for her body so that we can do an autopsy and collect her skull for measurements. Which would be really cool but also really really sad because it means we will probably have to watch Lady starve to death. Lady’s older sister has cubs, Billy Jean and Smooth Criminal, at the den and hyenas have been known to adopt and nurse related cubs, but this has never been observed in North Clan, or any of the clans this side of the Maasai Mara. 

Happy Zebra Clan, May 19th

Got to see Julia do a “boldness” box trial yesterday evening! Super neat watching the cubs notice and it cautiously one by one go and investigate. Julia hasn’t looked at the data yet, but she thinks that the less dominant cubs might be more investigative. Older cubs tend to be less afraid, but Mojito just sat and watched everyone else investigate it for about fifteen minutes then walked up, went inside, and ate almost all of the powdered milk before anyone else went in. Maybe older/dominant cubs are ok with letting subordinate animals do the ‘risky’ exploring and only when it seems safe calmly go ahead? Clay, the youngest daughter of Happy Zebra’s alpha Pike, was happy to not make a single appearance! They startled themselves at least ten times, I can’t remember who initiated the startling but exploring something new involves a lot of approach and backing off. They sure LOVE the powdered milk that Julia puts out. 

After the trial Arbalet came to the den to say hi, she is Clay’s older sister. Happy Zebra clan is my favorite so far for several reasons, the cubs are easy to tell apart and there aren’t as many as at North, the grass is short around the den making it easy to see CIs (critical incidents), and I love the family dynamic of the alpha family. Pike has several sister’s and daughters and some granddaughters (almost all girls!) and they form a very loving and friendly family. Even the younger daughters without cubs come and hang out at the den just to play with the cubs. There is very little aggression between family members. This means that Happy Zebra’s alpha family is very strong, the fact that Pike had many daughters means that she’ll have an easy time maintaining her leadership over the clan, and there is indication that female hyenas have some choice in what sex their children will be. A mid/low ranking female having a lot of daughters may be thinking about a take-over. 

In animals in which the fitness of males has a very broad range and the fitness of females is fairly constant low fitness animals who may only have a few children and only has a few resources to care for them will typically have girls (a safer bet) whereas very successful animals who have the resources to produce and care for many offspring may have more males (higher payoff). However in hyenas female cubs often means stronger clan relationships, girls will stay in the clan their entire lives and therefore provide support for family members (and in some clans may even nurse related hyenas offspring). I wonder what the range of fitness is for male hyenas? Males have their own dominance hierarchy that is completely separate from the females (immigrant males that is). The females don’t seem to care or pay much attention to the dominance ranking of the immigrant males and I’m not sure if the dominant male has a greater reproductive success. Dominance within males is strongly correlated with length of time in the clan. Males that are still with the natal clan that have not yet dispersed maintain the rank they were born with through their mother but no female will ever mate with them, forcing them to disperse and try to be accepted into another unrelated clan. 

Skipped dinner last night, guts feeling a little strange, perhaps not nauseous but still uncomfortable enough to compel me to take some tums and sleep in this morning! I climbed into bed at 8:30 and stayed in bed until around 6 (to pee) then went back to sleep until around 8, though I did wake up a few times all shivery/anxious/guts feeling weird. Wes and Julia went to Happy Zebra again and some hyenas were ‘testing’ a pack of wildebeest but there weren’t enough hyenas really joining in for anyone to start a real hunt, lucky for me. I would have been soo mad if I had missed a kill! I’m not sure if my sensitive gut last night/this morning is the expected ‘getting sick’ that everyone usually goes through within their first month here, but if it was then I got off pretty easy. Ate a piece of toast and part of a fried egg and then had some green tea with ginger and am feeling better now I think.

I did the transcribing last night which was a lot of fun, I’m getting familiar enough with the hyenas at Happy Zebra that I can really start catching all the CIs. Oh, and for those of you who don’t know how hyenas hunt, hyenas are typically distance runners rather than ambush hunters like lions and leopards or sprinters like cheetahs. A group of three of four hyena will run into a herd of animals to make them scatter than stand and watch and select one they want to take down (all four hyenas may select four different animals) so they are not as coordinate pack hunters as wolves/wild dogs. Then they’ll chase that animal until it tires and they can disembowel it. They are also very efficient scavengers and can crack open bones with their jaws to get at the marrow inside. (They have huge crests and huge zygomatic arches on their skulls- reminded me of a gorilla! Such powerful jaws! Very different from a dog skull.) So this morning Julia and Wes saw some testing but no actual chases. Apparently there were some other males sitting off to the side not really helping or getting involved and if they had perhaps the hyenas doing the testing would have pursued some of the animals. 

Hawk is a bamf, May 17th

Finally called Zoe and Mommy yesterday and got in some good chatting- mommy probably coming to visit last week of December and will likely stay up at serena lodge! Zoe is describing riding and carriage driving which made me very jealous- but I get to watch impala and topi grazing while the sun rises over the foggy mara river every morning so I can’t say much! Happy Zebra last night and I’ve pretty much got all those cubs down, there’s about half as many as at north and they are all very different ages so its much easier. North den cubs were scattered around 100m of the den, very difficult. Saw Ratchet, a male subadult for the first time this morning.

Tonight: Got to drive the Maruti for the first time! It is a small jeepy little car with a much more sensitive clutch and accelerator, but luckily I only stalled three times and that was while off-roading in the tall grass. Also got charged by an elephant- what an adrenaline rush holy shit. Especially in the tiny little maruti. We approached carefully but apparently 100 or 150m was too close and this big male started getting real huffy, flapping his ears and coming running at us. I reversed that little car real quick and thank god I didn’t stall. Also drove through a herd of buffalo. Drove practically underneath a giraffe and saw a black rhino off in the distance.

On the drive home we followed Hawk for a while who walks nonchalantly through the same herd of elephants who were still chilling out on both sides of the road. She lifts her head when she sees them and just keeps meandering down the road, the elephants seemed to get very nervous and moved away rather quickly. So they’ll charge me in a maruti, but a hyena walks up and they scatter? At least she cleared the way for us! Amazed at the balls that hyena has, a lone hyena is no match for even a small elephant. 

Damn cubs, May 16th

Last night cubs chew the wire to the starter. Wait for half an hour for Langat who tows us so we can push start.

Get lost in tall grass around Happy Zebra's den with Julia and despite GPS we cannot get make to main track for half an hour. (Rocks and ponds and such). 

Lions, May 15th

I’ve been here for two weeks! Saw six lions this morning, all young males still getting their manes in. Though I suppose three had slightly darker bigger manes, almost there. The one was wandering down by the mara river in South territory, absolutely beautiful area which I just got to see for the first time a few days ago. The mvua mingi (the long rains) are officially over and it has been warm and sunny (though without the clouds the nights are a bit cooler and I’ve been sleeping under three blankets). South territory is very wet and boggy and we’ve only just started trying out some of the tracks (offfical off-raod car trails) down there. The other five lions were all wandering at the north end of south territory. Wes thinks they are the group he’s been calling the Baratheon brothers (though they really should have been the Lannister brothers right?).

Fisi camp is quiet with Kay (Dr. Holekamp, head of the hyena research) and Dave (grad student) are gone. Just five of us now, me, Wes, Julia, and Filiman and Moses (the two local camp assistants). I have now been in all three hyena territories though I’ve only seen one south hyena. The south hyena clan has only one cub left that is too young to have graduated from the den. Last Wes knew this cub was at Lighthouse Den but we’ve driven by a few times and seen nothing. Hyenas will give birth to their cubs alone at a natal den and then, when the cubs are old enough to start poking their heads outside the den they are moved to a communal den where all the clan’s cubs grow up. A cub typically graduates from the communal den between 8 to 14 months. Uzi is still at the north communal den (currently located at Schiphol Den conveniently placed right on the road) but we’ve seen him making a long excursion to a kill maybe a kilometer away early one morning.

Usually when its dark out we’ll sit at a den using the car headlights to watch record which cubs are still there and CIs (critical incidents including specific social interactions). This morning however it was already pretty light by the time we got to a silent Lighthouse Den so we used the time to do three prey transects. Usually these will not be done on the same day but the rains have turned so many tracks into mush that today is the last day in the first half of the month that we could do them. There are five prey transects that must be done twice a month. Wes took us for a wild ride through barely driveable boggy grassland to squeeze all three in this morning before 9:00! Luckily we were in the light little Maruti rather than they clunky land cruiser or we certainly would not have made it through some of those puddles.

Also saw a black rhino, looked like a male to me, all big and buff and muddy. My third black rhino ever, saw two (likely a mother almost adult calf pair) last week during a prey transect in north territory that uses a road rather than a track. There are no white rhinos in the Mara, likely because they were all wiped out and have never really been reintroduced. Also so my first Oribi last night, looks much more deer like to me than an antelope and has a distinctive scent gland right behind its eye.

I’ve set up my hammock which I am enjoying currently. It’s wonderful to be outdoors all the time, even inside a tent isn’t quite the same as being shut up in a building. Fresh air, a breeze, and a stunning view peeking through the trees is my companion 24/7. Getting up at 5:20 every day and usually not in bed before 9:20 so I’m adjusting to only 8 hours of sleep a night. I may have to learn how to nap, but my hammock should make that fairly easy. Got a little dozing in yesterday.

I know all of the north cubs but can’t ID them as fast as Julia and Wes yet but enough that they are having me transcribe quite a bit. All behavior we speak into audio recorders and then type up later.

Also exciting, I saw my first ever serval yesterday! It was walking down the road when Digs (a hyena) comes loping up. The serval arched its back in a very domestic cat-like manner before sprinting into the grass with some flying leaps above it (this is three ft. high grass btw). What a beautiful animal. Still waiting to see a cheetah and a leopard. I’m hoping to get to see some rare animals too while I’m here like a honey badger and a pangolin. Koala has been very bold and whooping loudly around camp every evening, Filiman and Moses say he came within 5 meters of the kitchen tent. Reminds one that this is not a fenced camp! These lions and elephants can walk through anytime they want. Exciting to be out here in the middle of the mara like this with nothing separating me from the wilderness.

Some other incidents: elephant charges us at the border to happy zebra territory. Drove through a herd of buffalo none of whom charged us. Saw 15 elephants by the trees. Julia did a boldness trial and we watched the cubs investigate a metal bucket. Saw two hyena kill/scavenges with only topi heads left. LogC has a torn phallus and maybe has cubs at a natal den?! There is a male hyena named Jean Luc Picard. Clay is the youngest daughter cub of the happy zebra matriarch Pike, and is my favorite cub.

Immigrant and unknown hyenas are given names rather arbitrarily but all the cubs they have in a lifetime are called a lineage and are given a theme with which to name them. Pike’s mother was Koi (the former matriarch of happy zebra) and all of Koi’s cubs are in the fish lineage. Waffles was given her name randomly as far as I know but was a very low ranking female so she didn’t need a lineage that would provide MANY names as a low ranking female does not have as many cubs as a high ranking one. However there was a coup and the old matriarch was overthrown and somehow Waffles was thrust to the top. Her cubs lineage is syrups, not very fitting for the alpha female of north clan! So far we have Torani (a british syrup apparently) and LogC (Log Cabin). They are waiting for her to have two surviving cubs together so they can name them Mrs.Butterworth and erg what is that other syrup? I think if she has a singleton it should be Grenadine. Very fun coming up with lineages and names and the RAs that first see the cub get to name it.

Filiman and Moses are wonderful cooks and I’ve been spoiled with all the excellent food, we usually have some version of eggs and toast for breakfast every morning and dinner consists of something cooked from rice/bread/lentils/vegetables/meat/salad. Lunch is leftovers or Filiman also usually cooks some stuff like braai pap and a delicious leafy green called sukuma which is chopped up finely and cooked in a pan with some vegetables and seasonings. Extremely delicious. No deserts and I haven’t had any sugar craving!

The only downside is it’s not exactly safe to just go wandering around in the savannah and therefore hard to get exercise. Serena camp is very open with little underbrush except for the brush surrounding it but I still feel a little closed in. I can’t wait to get out and drive around twice a day. I’ve started doing push-ups, curl-ups, and chin-ups/pull-ups to stay in shape and I may start using Julia’s exercise bike.

Birds- Papa would love it here! So many different species of birds. Sitting on the choo (pronounced cho) is a great bird watching opportunity. The little fly-catchers (black heads and brown bodies) especially enjoy watching you take a shit. Superb sparrows, lilac-breasted rollers, hammercops, egrets, storks, franklins, guinea fowl, eagles, vultures, doves I’m still learning them all.

Monsoon Season, May 13th

No morning obs today either, though we did get out yesterday morning. Getting up at 5am was not very hard at all and it was wonderful to be out at dawn with the sunrise coming up over the mara. I am quickly learning to differentiate the different individuals, already I am picking up on what are typical spot patterns and coloration so that I can recognize when an animal has something distinctive. I have about five of the North cubs down and though I don’t know if I could recognize an individual on its own, I could differentiate between the adult females (5) at Happy Zebra den last night. Which by the way I got to do the driving! Finally put me behind the wheel in one of the more forgiving vehicles. Only new things to remember is to let the engine coil warm up for a moment before starting (diesel) and how to handle four wheel drive. Also driving in much lower gears than I am used to, when off-roading and going through difficult sections it is normal to stay in first gear. 

Happy Zebra den is way off in the grass much farther than the north den and driving through the grass is a bit nerve-wracking, you can just barely follow the tracks left previously though the 3 ft. high grass. Close to 8 it started to rain and we turned around to head back and driving through the tall grass IN THE RAIN was crazy not knowing the area. But Dave assured me we would hit the tracks we came in on and he was right. I know I’ll get a feel for the land pretty quickly, but if I get lost I have no Yukon to correct me! 

It’s been off and on rainy and sunny, cool and hot, the temperature was ok last night even with all the rain we got but we didn’t attempt to go out this morning. The driveway was horrendous last night and I did almost get stuck. I’m already falling in love with the hyenas, they are absolutely fascinating and beautiful creatures and I’ve started reading a scanned copy of a hyena textbook. Also reading a book on the behavioral ecology of African mammals, the text they use to teach the study abroad course for undergrads that comes out every summer. (In addition to reading Guns, Germs, and Steel on the kindle on this computer, and my hard copy of architecture of the mind that Christina lent me.) None of these books are fiction ha ha! Though some of them are less and more fact heavy. 

Still haven’t seen any lion, leopard, or cheetah, but I’m sure I will before the year is out! Still highly enjoying the stunning rolling landscapes and beautiful escarpment just filled with game. It is thought that the hyenas have a pretty easy life here, the mara is lush. 

Serena camp at last, May 5th

Finally made it to Serena camp my home for the next year. Right now I am sitting in the kitchen tent staring through the trees at the amazing view of the savannah below us and the escarpment behind it. Absolutely stunning. Where Talek was closed in and dense with all the tents spread out and tucked into the trees Serena is open with little underbrush and taller trees. Part of the way up a hill, the entire camp slants down towards the savannah with flat spots for the tents cut into the hillside. Where Talek was fairly dry with only a few soft spots left over from the rains Serena is dripping. As the crow flies Serena is not too far from Talek maybe 50km? But the road winds first east and south before curving west and north back up to Serena. 

Serena is in the Mara Conservancy Triangle side of the park while Talek is in the mostly unsupervised section. The Mara river splits the two and there are limited places to cross the mighty Mara river. As we drove across the rolling hills and between koppis and mountains we could see the rain coming down miles away- luckily we put a tarp over the back of the truck and everything stayed dry when we finally drove into the rain. The road into Serena camp has been hit badly by the rain with deep gullies in it and the immediate driveway is almost a creek. Wes says he hasn’t seen it this bad but a two or three other times. This means we’ll sleep in tomorrow again. But soon enough I’ll have to get used to the 5:00am work day starts. 

The grass is taller here because grazing is tightly controlled and it makes me wonder if an ecosystem that is not at its capacity may benefit from grazing to keep the grass soft and fresh. Though they do controlled burns and some areas are beautifully soft and green. There was a plethora of game right outside of Talek and Talek is heavily grazed, the sound of cow bells is a constant, softly dingling in the background admist the noise of birds, bats, and insects. The rest of the Mara was very quiet as we drove through it, granted it was the middle of the day, but as we hit the river, and then the rain, some vervets, buffalo, and elephant made an appearance. We also saw a few hyenas and topi on the way in.
Walking around at night alone in the dark I remember that there is no fence between me and any lions, hyenas, or hippos that want to eat me. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so nervous walking around at night in the woods in my life. It is also very humid, all my clothes and blankets feel dampish. 

Talek, May 4th

Wow, what a long day! I am now in Talek camp where Wes and I are spending the night before going the next 2.5 hours to Serena camp where I will be spending the next year. We started off the day with last minute errands and managed to hit the road by 10:30. Its about a 6 hour drive into the mara but with stops/traffic we got in about 5:10. Talek camp is great- there is a genet that comes up to the dinner table to take scraps. Adorable! 

Speaking of adorable the hyena cubs are about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. One of the grad students is looking at reaction time of the different cubs to the loud noise of a cap gun. Evening ‘obs’ usually start at 5 but luckily they were running late so Wes and I got to ride along with Julia and Kay. Kay seems super cool and all the other RAs and grad students seem cool. Hope I don’t come off too shy and awkward. Maybe I’ve overcome the shy, but I suppose I am intermittently awkward and quiet ha ha. There were 5 black cubs and another 5 older cubs with most spots visible. They make all sorts of little squeaks and squitters and whoops. The cap gun scared the shit out of the little guys but the bigger cubs barely batted an eyelash. 

We have real beds inside huge camp tents that are big enough to walk around in, very nice. Dinner was delicious, they have guys to cook for them and we had burgers- very American! I can hear some hyenas whooping now in the distance. On the drive into the mara saw topi, hartebeest, grant’s gazelle, impala, thompson’s gazelle (tommy’s), dik dik, giraffe, zebra, and wildebeest. Just about everything that eats grass! Driving over the escarpment was stunning, Nairobi is somewhat up in the mountains and though we went uphill some I think it was more downhill, though at dinner Kay said we’re at about 6k here. Anyway it was just like driving down out of Kodai, huge drop off and beautiful view. Nairobi is very jungly but down here it is mixed jungle areas (like in camp, mostly wooded) and huge open plains. Stunningly beautiful especially since we got blue skies mixed with huge puffy clouds. 

In Narok we stopped to get potatoes and I followed Benson around as he looked for some clothes for his one and a half year old son. Benson is married with one son so far. At times he seems very serious and mature, a maasai man, and it is very helpful to have someone fluent in Swahili to help us around. Other times though he is the same age as me (one month younger), goofy, and playing around, just being young. (He grabs the bag with the shit load of money that Wes got out of a bank and hid behind a bush in play). And he loves to play Frisbee- woo! I saw a Miami U shirt at the open market amidst piles and piles of clothes. I got a lot of mgungu! White person! There are not very many whites in Narok. Everyone is very friendly though.

Nairobi, May 3rd

Two days in Nairobi and I’m already loving it. It’s a city, and I can’t wait to be out in ‘the mara’ but it’s a lush tropical area and mostly we are in the ‘suburbs’. It reminds me so much of India, sights and smells and donkey carts. Lots of trash of course and open drainages but the trash blends into the background it’s almost so normal you almost don’t notice it. Of course Wes is quite sick of the city and the traffic and the smells, but then again I don’t have to drive- yet. Wes is very happy that I already know stick, apparently this will save him a lot of time. Who knew that be able to drive stick would be such a huge asset to my CV?
I’m already learning a lot of Swahili, and most importantly horse: farasi. Ha ha. Got some money out of my checkings and changed all my cash- I’m rich! Though Kenya is not all that much cheaper than the US, sunglasses are as expensive as 20,000 ksh which is roughly 160 USD. Only luke-warm water in the shower which has upset Wes who has been looking forward to hot showers for weeks. Only cold showers in the Mara. Drinking drostdy hof wine from the cape region of South Africa (where I DIDN’T go wine tasting).
Parts of Nairobi, especially Karen the richer white area, are very Americanized. There is a KFC and a yogurt place in the Galleria, a mall that is close to the cottage. Slept horrible last night, went to bed early at 9:30 but was awoken at 3:30 by a persistent need to pee and perhaps also jet lag. The jet lag certainly kept me awake from 3:30 until at least 5 I’m sure until I was jarred awake by my alarm at 7:30. Had to drag myself out of bed and was quite woozy all morning until we finally got breakfast. Wes is late breakfast eater, I think we didn't eat until almost 11. Had to stop by the mechanic’s place and he had to talk for an hour and also do a last minute check on the door. He’s a white Kenyan with a nice cottage a few streets over from the hyena project cottage (hyena is fisi). He has four very friendly black labs.
Benson is the coolest guy ever, he is a maasai, tall and lean with beautiful cheekbones and eyes. A very calm, quiet and laid back kind of guy. He currently has his bronze safari guiding license and is working towards a silver. Came onto the project as a cook and is now an assistant on the fisi research project. We stopped by his friend Maria’s place this morning and she gave me a shoulder blanket (traditional maasai clothing) and I ordered a traditional dress from her. The shoulder wrap is red with little beads and things sewn on to it. Wasn’t thinking of spending money on souvenirs so early but Maria was really nice and I am very shy and awkward and I didn't feel bad giving her money, and it never hurts to have cool traditional African clothing, I can hang them on the wall. Though I do really like the shoulder wrap. I would wear that, but I might not because I would feel ostentatious?
I got a sim card and it works! Successful hacking of my phone, super easy to get airtime and internet. 100 ksh for 100 minutes/80mg. It all just automatically subtracts for whatever I use. Already down to 63 ksh though because I’ve been looking online to try and figure out how to use my phone as a modem, which Dave says I can do. If I don’t figure it out no big deal, I can use Safari on the phone.
Benson is trilingual, English, Swahili, and Ma (his native tongue). He is teaching me lots of Swahili and so far it is fairly easy to pick up but I’m still awkward about using it right away when I meet someone. Wes seems very comfortable with the regular familiarities and does not come off as a tourist where as I feel like I stand out a bit. Haven’t taken any photos yet because we’ve been running around doing errands all day, but next time I’m on a Nairobi trip I plan to. 

Stepping off the plane, May 1st

The moment I step off the plane at the Kenya airport I am bombarded with the very distinctive scent, one that I used to think of as Indian, but now know otherwise. The slight smoky scent, human sweat, wood, and dirt, a very used smell. Not unpleasant. Smell is connected to that old part of your brain and smells evoke memories very strongly. It must be something about less developed countries.

Where the Amsterdam airport was huge, shiny, sterile, and overwhelming the Kenya airport is small, cramped, but thankfully not too confusing. Lived in: it has that lived in feel same as India.

Granted when I was in the Amsterdam airport I hadn’t slept a wink, it was 2am for me and there was bright sunshine coming in through the windows. Too big and hurried, bustly and crowded. The added security at each and every gate only added to the atmosphere, there to make you feel small and lost, shunted through lines. In Kenya, at the Nairobi airport it is easy enough to get my tourist visa and find Wes and Benson. We climb into some type of old range rover and I am reminded of going up the Sani Pass in a land rover 4x4. Stick, and hard to start, clunky, and not at all reliable. But we escape the airport and drive down barely paved roads, avoiding buses. I smile to see palm trees and stray dogs, greenery. I can’t wait to see it in the daylight. I love the smells and sights already.