Photos: 1. the chumba - our everything building; 2. lion in Amboseli, details below...

I finally got to go to Amboseli National Park last Wednesday! Best day ever. In the morning we counted mammals for our wildlife management class. It was pretty tedious, especially when we got to swamps where there were hundreds of animals in a very small space. In one small area I counted about 160 wildebeest! But in all, it was a pretty cool job. The park will use our data for future management and conservation purposes. For lunch we went to a tourist lodge in the middle of the park. Although I really think that tourist lodges are horrible to the local culture and environment, I could see the appeal in staying there. It’s literally in the middle of the park, so on the other side of the fence there are zebra, gazelles, and ostriches. But it was weird because it was so fancy, especially in comparison to every other part of Kenya. We brought our own packed lunches, but I still got a Coke from the bar, the coldest drink I’ve had here, and it wasn’t that cold. After we ate we had a short lecture on island biogeography. Our professor kindly bashed tourist lodges while the employees walked by us. It was very interesting. The rest of the afternoon we game drove throughout the park. In all I saw: zebra, wildebeest, Tommy’s and Grant’s gazelles, impala, oryx, hippos, ELEPHANTS (finally!), warthogs (surprisingly my favorite, they were incredibly adorable, especially the babies), buffalo, giraffe, lesser kudu, spotted hyena (they are insanely creepy!)…We saw sooo many bird species that were so beautiful. Highlights: a huge black mamba slithered by our car, and we watched a lioness come so close to DESTROYING a domestic bull. She put her paw on its back as it struggled to get away (we think it had a broken leg). Then she just got up and walked away. It was crazy!! Yea Amboseli was great…

A few days ago we slaughtered a goat. Some of our Maasai staff killed it in a traditional way, and then some students took turns skinning it. I originally wanted to, but it was pretty brutal so I chose to just observe. Our professor showed us the different organs and chambers of the stomach, which was really cool. Then we smoked the meat and ate it. Yes, I ate it. It’s tradition for the youngest male to eat the testicles, so a bunch of the guys did that. I still can’t believe they actually ate it! I tried some liver, which traditionally only older men are allowed to eat. In the end, it was an excellent experience. I think everyone should watch or even slaughter their own meat. Although I thought it was cool and I’m glad I watched it, I think I might now be a vegetarian for ethical reasons in addition to sustainability ones.

Sunday was another non-program day. We decided to keep it chill because we haven’t had a day off since we got here (would you believe that I haven’t slept past 7:15 here??) We went for a long nature walk further away from KBC. We saw giraffe and zebra – the first time we saw large mammals on foot. It was invigoratingly scary. I also correctly identified my first bird, which made me incredibly proud. The rest of the day we spent in Oloitokitok. As my body has finally acclimated to Kenya, I tried some local food at a restaurant. We ate waaay to much ugali. Then we went to a bar and poached some elephants, aka drank (the biggest brand of beer here is “Tusker,” named after the elephant that allegedly decapitated the owner with its trunk – hence “poaching”). I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed such a warm beer before!

We learned how to tell time in Kiswahili. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but I was taken aback when we learned that it doesn’t follow the Western schedule. There are 12 hours of day that start at 7:00 am, and 12 hours of night at 7:00 pm. It makes a lot more sense than our system, I think. So “saa moja asubuhi” is “hour one of the morning” or 7:00 am. Cool right?