Off to Nairobi!

Nothing too exciting has happened in the past week. We had final exams the past few days for all our classes, so most of our time was spent studying...or procrastinating by watching videos on our laptops and playing soccer. We'll have a few more assignments in the next two weeks, but mostly we will be preparing to start directed research (DR). Exciting! We're already halfway through the semester...

We did get out of the fence a few times. First we had a field exercise for Environmental Policy. We interviewed farmers in the group ranch about their conflicts and views on wildlife. People told us that they don't sleep except for two months (the wet season, which is supposed to be now although it hasn't started and might not). They are always awake at night, getting maybe a few hours in, to make sure that zebras, gazelle, and especially elephants do not ruin their crop. Most of the farmers believe that the government doesn't do much to help them, which is unfortunately true. They believe that wildlife is inherently good, but they have a hard time seeing this in their daily lives. The other time we got out of KBC was to go to K-town again for market day. My cook crew (Luo) got aprons made from Obama fabrics. Then today after our last final we went to the bar in Oloitokitok to unwind. I didn't get to kill any elephants (they ran out of Tuskers) so I tried some Kili. All the beers here just taste like Coors light, but it's still nice to have a cool-ish beverage.

One of the staff, Marias, got a new job and left SFS last week. He has worked here for a long time, so many people were sad to see him go. We roasted a goat for him, a much tastier one than the first one we slaughtered. After the first time we killed the goat, I decided I wasn't going to participate in it again (a lot of the guys have discussed doing it again...for example today they bought some chickens from the market to kill and eat...) But this would have been like turning down birthday cake. It was nice to share in eating the goat with our friend before he left.

Tomorrow we are going to Nairobi for the next two weeks. SFS has two sites in Kenya - Kilimanjaro Bush Camp (where I am now) and Nairobi Park Site (NPS). They used to have students at both sites simultaneously throughout the semester, but now they only have one group at KBC for the most the time, and NPS is a trip of sorts. Apparently it's the same as KBC in terms of set up and management, but there is no internet or hot water showers. So this is the last time I'll be on the internet until April 4! Kwa heri!

Nyama choma. Tuska. Hakuna matata!

Finally the internet is letting me post photos! They are all from Tsavo. The second one is Mzima springs, the rest are just from around the park.

Since Tsavo we have mostly be doing school work. Not so much fun, unfortunately. We don't have a spring break here, but I guess the whole semester is a big trip so it balances out. A few of us have been joking about going to Cancun for "spring break." As I have mentioned before, we come up with some pretty ridiculous things here to entertain ourselves...

Today we actually didn't have class. Instead, we built desks at a pre-school in the area. Since there are so many of us, most of the time we weren't needed to physically build the desks. So instead, we played with the kids. So much fun. We played Maasai-type "ring around the rosy" games, ran around, gave piggy back rides, and served as dolls to play with (Maasai shave their heads, so the kids obsess over our hair. And our body hair - they don't really have much so they like to stroke our arms...) It's very rewarding whenever we get to interact with these kids. They are shy but quick to latch on and take you by the hand. You become instant rafiki (friends) with them. It's great.

On the way back to KBC, a few of us stopped in K-town to watch the Manchester vs. Liverpool match. So intense! We went to an establishment that was basically one small room with lots of rows of pew-style benches and a tv. We paid 20 shillings to get in. It wasn't a bar or anything, literally just a tv-viewing place. It was packed out the door with men. We were the only girls, let alone mzungu. The game itself was pretty insane, but watching it in such an energetic and unusual situation made it even better. We rarely do things like that - stopping off in K-town randomly and doing really local things (we kinda broke cultural taboos as women in the area...) but it was so worth it, just this once.

Nakupenda kama nyama choma!

I actually wrote this yesterday but the internet has been really bad. Since I wrote this I haven't really done much...we'll mostly be doing schoolwork the next week and a half, unfortunately. But I did go into Kimana town (K-town as one of our Maasai staff, Sipaya, said today) for market day. We ran into some staff who had the day off, including Daniel who bought us all Cokes and Fantas. We got some chapati and chatted with mamas and other locals. A fun escape from the boring drudgery of writing essays and being back from Tsavo in general...

Tsavo was fantastic. In a good way it was different from what I expected. I just laughed when I reread my last entry. We saw no rhinos or big cats, although we visited a black rhino sanctuary and heard lions roaring outside our camp every night. And in terms of the maneaters, yea they are still at it, though not to the same terrifying extent as they were about 100 years ago when the Uganda-Mombasa railway was being built around where we were just camping (google it!). Scary? Yes.

The days started off cloudy and cool, often with patchy rainfall. By the middle of the day the sun was so strong that even the wind was often hot, like walking into the city streets from an air conditioned building. Each day was different. Tuesday was mostly traveling to Tsavo and game driving to the camp site. Compared to Tsavo, Amboseli was simply a zoo. Amboseli was so open and more populated with tourists that the animals practically pose for the flocks of vehicles. Tsavo, on the other hand, is so dense with vegetation and huge (it’s the size of Massachusetts) that you really have to be vigilant to spot wildlife. Plus there is so much more vegetation that it supports a higher diversity in animals, so although there aren’t animals every where you go, you see more species.

Wednesday we went to Chyulu Hills. Beautiful. With its high elevation, it is an important dry season pasture for the Maasai’s livestock and wildlife as a whole. We had a field lecture at the top of one hill and then hiked up a larger one. Maasai perform burning in the hills to benefit their livestock, so we got covered in charcoal from the ground and shrubs. Every view was breathtaking. With herds of livestock scattered throughout the hills, it looked liked a painting of the Alps.

Thursday we stayed at the campsite for most of the day. We had a guest lecture which was overall uninteresting, but then we had a big discussion with the whole group and our three professors. We discussed problems facing the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem and possible solutions. Although it was frustrating to have such a large group, I definitely enjoyed hearing what our peers had to say and seeing how genuinely interested our professors were in our opinions and ideas. I need to mention how incredibly cool it is to go camping with your professors.

Friday we did another field exercise of counting large mammals. This time our data was just for lab purposes. Again, we had to look really hard just to see wildlife. The best that we saw were two warthogs fighting and a hippo on the verge of death. Then we climbed a hill of volcanic rock for lunch, followed by a trip to Mzima springs. Mzima means “life” as it supplies water and, well, life to the region. There were hippos and monkeys, including Sykes which we hadn’t yet seen, fish, hyraxes, mongooses, and a crocodile that waited at the rapids with its mouth open for fish to land in. It was a bit like a zoo – there was a path to follow and an underwater viewing tank, but it was still fantastic.

Friday we had a guest lecture at the Ngulia black rhino sanctuary. Again the lecture wasn’t too interesting (KWS guards do not lecture as well as they serve) but, like many other lectures here, it was amazing to see everything that was being discussed. For example, the lecturer mentioned how the current drought will affect the already vulnerable rhino population. Sure enough, by the end of our Tsavo expedition, we saw three hippos either dead or dying because of lack of water. Although we didn’t see any rhinos, I still enjoyed hearing about what the sanctuary does. After, we went to another lodge for a less spectacular, but still fulfilling, buffet and swimming (and showering!!)

Game driving in Tsavo has easily been a highlight of this program for me. Just standing through the hatches of our Land Cruisers, feeling the wind and smelling the air, watching the sunset, scouring the landscape for wildlife…the feelings I get on these drives are unexplainable.

The best game of soccer. Ever.

1) Watch out! A sneaky hyena checking out a fleshy zebra in Amboseli. 2) A very pushy mama in the Oloitokitok market. Excellent saleswoman...

For yesterday's non-program day we went to an orphanage in Oloitokitok. There are about 20 kids there, most of which are in 5th or 6th grade. Most of their parents have passed away because of HIV/AIDS, the main reason why there are currently so many African orphans. One boy was found in the clutches of a python, bloated from dehydration and starvation. Despite these obvious hardships they faced, these kids are amazing. They love to play and have visitors to spend time with. The orphanage was founded by a man who lost his parents as a kid. He is currently ill, so we met his wife who now runs the orphanage.

As soon as we arrived at the orphanage, we paired off with a kid and became his or her buddy for the day. Mine was Singore, but I was more of a floater as he already had two other buddies and I was one of the last to arrive. The children introduced themselves and proudly said their class standings. They work very hard in school. They said a prayer, and the woman in charge explained how they are so grateful that God loves the children so much that he sends visitors. I'm not really religious, obviously not Christian, but it was very touching to hear that. It's hard for me to explain the feeling I had during all this. Then the children sang some songs for us and showed us around. Tin played and made everyone laugh. We also did the hokey-pokey.

After all this, we went into town for a quick lunch. This time we were more aware of what we were ordering. No ugali this time! I then made my first market purchase. I got a head scarf in exchange for two bandanas and a few shillings. It was definitely needed as my hair is sooo thick here and I fear that I'm on the verge of getting dreads.

Then we rejoined our friends from the orphanage and played some soccer! It was so much fun. The field had no thorns, but instead there were paths that ran through it that got plenty of traffic by people on foot and motorbikes. These kids are really good at soccer. They are not afraid of the ball at all. It was fun to let them run circles around us and steal the ball from us. Okay, they did that no matter how hard I tried to keep up. Some other local kids also joined our game, including an adorable 3 year old who literally ran around the field shouting "YES YES YES YES YES" until one of the bigger guys would pick him up and take him to the ball. Then the little boy would pick up the ball and start running. The older orphans were not amused, but we found the whole ordeal hysterical. I enjoyed goofing around with the kids and chasing them around, even though the ball was on the other side of the field. The whole day was so rewarding.

The orphanage is funded by private donations, so they need all the help they can get. I think they told us that each kid just needs a dollar a day. In the future when I post I'll put up the web address and contact info. I urge you all to consider making a donation. It's amazing how far such a little bit goes.

Today we went to Amboseli for the last time. If we want we can go again at the end of the semester, but Amboseli isn't as special at the end of the rainy season. Animals flock there during the dry season because of the swamps, so in the rainy season they disperse throughout the region (right now it is the very end of the dry season). We had a traveling field lecture throughout the park. Our wildlife management professor Okello would stop and point out the management issues that Amboseli faces. There are a lot!

On Tuesday we leave for a week expedition in Tsavo National Park. Home of the notorious maneating lions, but they don't eat people anymore, plus we'll have KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) guards and the askari with us. We'll also see lots of wildlife that we haven't seen so far like rhinos and big cats. And the beautiful Chyulu Hills. Can't wait! So no more updates for about a week...