It's been a while since I posted b/c life has gotten crazy with the pollinators. First off, the honey bees dropped off quite a sweet treat into Nairobi for my birthday. Elisha arrived into Nairobi on my birthday, and I had arranged a ride for her with Karanja for the 4 hour journey to Nanyuki and then Mpala. Little did she know, but I was planning to surprise her at the airport. But as things go in Africa, I didn't quite get there. The private vehicle to Nairobi costs about 80 bucks, and although Elisha is worth that, she would be angry at me for spending that much money. So I hopped in the back of a lorry heading from Mpala to Nanyuki. I then planned to catch a Matatu (6 bucks) to Nairobi and then the airport shuttle to the airport. From Nanyuki it's about a 3.5 hour drive to Nairobi. I got to Nanyuki at 9am and Elisha was set to arrive at 3pm plus an hours worth of customs and immigration, so I knew I had PLENTY of time. However, Matatus don't leave until they are full, so I sat in the super hot matatu until 10....then 11...then 12...then 12:30, which was about my cutoff to make sure I met her, but then the Matatu was almost full, so I was thinking I could wait a bit more, but it was taking forever to fill that last seat. Then all of a sudden it was 1:30 and it was filled. I said, what the heck, I'm going to go for it. So off we went. I texted Karanja to ask for the number of the driver and then let Elisha's driver know I was on the way (but shhh...don't tell Elisha). After her driver picked her up, I handed my phone over to the Matatu driver and they arranged for a place to drop me off so that I could surprise Elisha. I got dropped off at a hwy exit that goes to the airport (you can bypass Nairobi to get to the airport). It was this junky place with people selling wares and food. I didn't have to wait too long before her van pulled around the roundabout.
We got right into the field work shortly after she arrived as Todd had also arrived the day before and had sorted out the nasty permit issues for me (turns out Todd of course had been correct and the Mpala director wrong). We've been insanely busy on my project. Getting up early, staying up late in the lab, but also throwing a couple of game drives in there as well (I can add 3 young cheetah brothers, jackals, greater kudus, and genet, and baboons to my list). Basically, we get up early, head out into the field all day either doing floral abundance surveys or flower observations to catch pollinators visiting the flowers. In the evening, we re-charge the killing jars, enter data, and pin the hundreds of insects that we catch amongst other logistical things. Todd is teaching a field class, and he paid for this post-doc from UC-Davis, JC, to come help a bit with the class, but also to help me get started as JC has done pollination network stuff before. So he's been helping us a lot, with ID'ing the local flowers here and with pinning techniques. Both he and Todd keep saying how my project is more like a PhD project wrapped up into a master's, so they are pretty happy with me. But Todd, knowing that my workload is pretty intense, has had me hire 3 field assistants--Zachary, Julius, and Peter. They are all really cool and very helpful. But the most helpful and the most invaluable has been Elisha. I am so lucky to have her here, and she is such a hard worker and makes sure the little things (like packing a field lunch) get done, which are the things I usually (wow! a cute little Genet just walked into the library to eat all the bugs that came out in this rain) put as a lower priority.
Todd has also been awesome of course. Super supportive and super positive, and I can tell he's happy with me. Kat his girlfriend told me that Todd tells her a lot how happy he is with me and how he wished all grad students were like me. That makes me feel really good because sometimes I feel like I am failing miserably at this grad school and research things! The first night that Elisha arrived, Todd and Kat invited us into their banda for drinks (Todd is gluten free so he makes very tasty mixed drinks) and to just talk and laugh and tell stories. Todd is so funny and always has the best stories.
Last weekend (the field assistants get Sundays off, which means we can't go into the field b/c they are also our guides) Todd took Elisha and I into Nanyuki to do a bit of shopping and to take us out to eat at this super tasty Nyoma choma (grilled goat) place. It was some of the best meat I have had in a while. It's a local place. To get to the tables you bypass several dead goats just hanging there. You pick out the pieces you want and then they grill it up for you. The waiter delivers it and cuts it up for you, and then the waiter takes a choice piece to eat in front of you to show it's not poisoned (tradition).
Also last weekend Elisha got to experience her first sundowner. The whole group went out to a rock outcropping to watch the sunset, eat popcorn, and pass beverages around. I really like the group here. Full of a lot of cool people.
Here are a few pics from the commute to work, visitors to the office (like the genet and vervet monkeys), and the view of Mt. Kenya we have at breakfast
We got right into the field work shortly after she arrived as Todd had also arrived the day before and had sorted out the nasty permit issues for me (turns out Todd of course had been correct and the Mpala director wrong). We've been insanely busy on my project. Getting up early, staying up late in the lab, but also throwing a couple of game drives in there as well (I can add 3 young cheetah brothers, jackals, greater kudus, and genet, and baboons to my list). Basically, we get up early, head out into the field all day either doing floral abundance surveys or flower observations to catch pollinators visiting the flowers. In the evening, we re-charge the killing jars, enter data, and pin the hundreds of insects that we catch amongst other logistical things. Todd is teaching a field class, and he paid for this post-doc from UC-Davis, JC, to come help a bit with the class, but also to help me get started as JC has done pollination network stuff before. So he's been helping us a lot, with ID'ing the local flowers here and with pinning techniques. Both he and Todd keep saying how my project is more like a PhD project wrapped up into a master's, so they are pretty happy with me. But Todd, knowing that my workload is pretty intense, has had me hire 3 field assistants--Zachary, Julius, and Peter. They are all really cool and very helpful. But the most helpful and the most invaluable has been Elisha. I am so lucky to have her here, and she is such a hard worker and makes sure the little things (like packing a field lunch) get done, which are the things I usually (wow! a cute little Genet just walked into the library to eat all the bugs that came out in this rain) put as a lower priority.
Todd has also been awesome of course. Super supportive and super positive, and I can tell he's happy with me. Kat his girlfriend told me that Todd tells her a lot how happy he is with me and how he wished all grad students were like me. That makes me feel really good because sometimes I feel like I am failing miserably at this grad school and research things! The first night that Elisha arrived, Todd and Kat invited us into their banda for drinks (Todd is gluten free so he makes very tasty mixed drinks) and to just talk and laugh and tell stories. Todd is so funny and always has the best stories.
Last weekend (the field assistants get Sundays off, which means we can't go into the field b/c they are also our guides) Todd took Elisha and I into Nanyuki to do a bit of shopping and to take us out to eat at this super tasty Nyoma choma (grilled goat) place. It was some of the best meat I have had in a while. It's a local place. To get to the tables you bypass several dead goats just hanging there. You pick out the pieces you want and then they grill it up for you. The waiter delivers it and cuts it up for you, and then the waiter takes a choice piece to eat in front of you to show it's not poisoned (tradition).
Also last weekend Elisha got to experience her first sundowner. The whole group went out to a rock outcropping to watch the sunset, eat popcorn, and pass beverages around. I really like the group here. Full of a lot of cool people.
Here are a few pics from the commute to work, visitors to the office (like the genet and vervet monkeys), and the view of Mt. Kenya we have at breakfast
1 comment:
Reading your blog....I could almost feel that I was there!
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