I slept well at the fig tree camp, but was awoken several times by screeching monkeys or birds. I even thought I heard a hippo once[1] but this was followed by a dream about a hippo eating one of my co-workers, so I am attributing the entire episode to my imagination. We got up at 6 and were in the van by 6:30 for the early morning excursion. There were probably 15 vans in the parking area but we were the first ones out and it paid off. We hadn’t been out 15 minutes before we found a pack of lions ambling across the grass lands. There were three adult females and three sizable cubs. Eddie followed the paths so that we could stop and watch them cross in front of us several times. We followed them to a watering hole where we watched them drink, lounge and play. They seemed mostly unaware of our presence. For nearly half an hour we watched them in the quiet of the African dawn, the only van in sight. I suspect Eddie was slow to radio the sighting in so that we would have some time to watch them in solitude. The cubs did some wrestling which was a highlight.
They all looked very healthy. It was a strange contrast to see healthy animals in the park and people struggling for an existence from the arid landscape outside of the park…but it brings far more money into the region than grazing could and I do agree with the concept of lands set aside to preserve snapshots of the original creation for subsequent generations. It is just a difficult pill.
Eddie finally called the lions in. This is how it works. We scatter and when someone finds something they call it in. As we were leaving a dozen vans descended on the water hole. After
that we happened upon another cheetah. While we were watching it sit and take in the buffet options it decided to head towards a herd of wildebeest on the horizon, so it passed right in front of us. Then we headed back to camp, passing an ostrich and numerous gazelle and wart hogs on the way. (I have put some additional pictures here.)
After a predictably good breakfast we packed up, watched some monkeys eat figs from the tree outside our cabin and then headed out. Two final animals of note on the way out: mongeese (plural of mongoose?) and a secretary bird. The secretary bird was the most memorable from the vast stuffed bird exhibit at the Nairobi museum. It has the head the body of a raptor but the legs of a stork. Very eccentric. One thing this trip has done is renewed my interest in studying ecology at UCD. Of course, I have also been thinking about the great international development classes they offer as well. But first I must
finish the dissertation which I have not touched here.
I did some work on the way home. Processing data on dirt and cobble roads is a neat trick, but I embraced it as a challenge and got a couple hours of work done. We are trying to build some models of Kenyan watersheds before we go but their data is in rough shape and needs some work before it can be imported. Most of the data records start at 1957 and are various lengths, the longest being 30 years. Apparently the Dutch built gaging stations in the late 50’s and they eventually fell into disrepair. I have proposed a gage rehabilitation project as a relatively low cost option to improve Kenyan water management capabilities. Since the gages are already in place, it would not be expensive to fit them with some new technology and train university staff to manage and trouble shoot them. An unexpected byproduct of the data processing, I can now name every leap year in the between ’56 and ’88. There’s a fun trick at parties.
The ride home was shorter than the ride out but still topped 6 hours. When I got in I did some e-mail, wrote and went to the gym. We skipped lunch without noticing. We have been skipping about 1 meal per day here, usually breakfast or dinner. Then, at 6 I settled down with Naan from the Indian restaurant (which is one of the best things I’ve had here), a Tusker malt lager and processed some data with an American football game on in the background. It was a really nice evening. My fantasy football team is in rough shape though. I am looking at an 0-4 start after 3 of my first 4 opponents put up the weekly high scores. Even with Favre’s 6 touchdowns (which I was independently thrilled about), 3 of them went to a receiver on my opponent’s team. Not my year I guess.
Barely able to stay awake I tried my wife one more time, and got her. It was really nice to talk to her in person. Matt was saying on Friday that he was approaching the longest he and Nicole had been apart in their 10 years of marriage. My PhD work kept Amanda and I apart for longer before this, but it is much harder with a toddler. I am really anxious to get back into my daughter’s life.
They all looked very healthy. It was a strange contrast to see healthy animals in the park and people struggling for an existence from the arid landscape outside of the park…but it brings far more money into the region than grazing could and I do agree with the concept of lands set aside to preserve snapshots of the original creation for subsequent generations. It is just a difficult pill.Eddie finally called the lions in. This is how it works. We scatter and when someone finds something they call it in. As we were leaving a dozen vans descended on the water hole. After
that we happened upon another cheetah. While we were watching it sit and take in the buffet options it decided to head towards a herd of wildebeest on the horizon, so it passed right in front of us. Then we headed back to camp, passing an ostrich and numerous gazelle and wart hogs on the way. (I have put some additional pictures here.)After a predictably good breakfast we packed up, watched some monkeys eat figs from the tree outside our cabin and then headed out. Two final animals of note on the way out: mongeese (plural of mongoose?) and a secretary bird. The secretary bird was the most memorable from the vast stuffed bird exhibit at the Nairobi museum. It has the head the body of a raptor but the legs of a stork. Very eccentric. One thing this trip has done is renewed my interest in studying ecology at UCD. Of course, I have also been thinking about the great international development classes they offer as well. But first I must
finish the dissertation which I have not touched here.I did some work on the way home. Processing data on dirt and cobble roads is a neat trick, but I embraced it as a challenge and got a couple hours of work done. We are trying to build some models of Kenyan watersheds before we go but their data is in rough shape and needs some work before it can be imported. Most of the data records start at 1957 and are various lengths, the longest being 30 years. Apparently the Dutch built gaging stations in the late 50’s and they eventually fell into disrepair. I have proposed a gage rehabilitation project as a relatively low cost option to improve Kenyan water management capabilities. Since the gages are already in place, it would not be expensive to fit them with some new technology and train university staff to manage and trouble shoot them. An unexpected byproduct of the data processing, I can now name every leap year in the between ’56 and ’88. There’s a fun trick at parties.
The ride home was shorter than the ride out but still topped 6 hours. When I got in I did some e-mail, wrote and went to the gym. We skipped lunch without noticing. We have been skipping about 1 meal per day here, usually breakfast or dinner. Then, at 6 I settled down with Naan from the Indian restaurant (which is one of the best things I’ve had here), a Tusker malt lager and processed some data with an American football game on in the background. It was a really nice evening. My fantasy football team is in rough shape though. I am looking at an 0-4 start after 3 of my first 4 opponents put up the weekly high scores. Even with Favre’s 6 touchdowns (which I was independently thrilled about), 3 of them went to a receiver on my opponent’s team. Not my year I guess.
Barely able to stay awake I tried my wife one more time, and got her. It was really nice to talk to her in person. Matt was saying on Friday that he was approaching the longest he and Nicole had been apart in their 10 years of marriage. My PhD work kept Amanda and I apart for longer before this, but it is much harder with a toddler. I am really anxious to get back into my daughter’s life.
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[1] Apparently it was not uncommon for hippos to forage in the river next to our tent during the night.
[1] Apparently it was not uncommon for hippos to forage in the river next to our tent during the night.
1 comment:
Cool pictures!! I especially like the cheetah. While I'm a little envious of your safari adventures, I don't miss the bugs, hawkers, and heat...
Charis and Elizabeth got along well at home group, and Steven sleeps well in your dark bedroom (after some initial minutes of shrieking). As usual, we had way too much food.
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