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!