8/14
Now I'm back at Mpala. We had a sundowner at baboon cliffs to say goodbye to the last of the Princeton kids. The sundowner was cool b/c there were lots of baboons and we saw two African Porcupines.
Now we are down to 13 people. Me, Mike (zebra researcher), Matt (hippo researcher), Katherine (Yale PhD student working on birds), Tyler (Princeton PhD student working on UHURU), Laura (UC Davis Postdoc studying primates and leopards), Kato (Princeton grad student studying ecohydrology), Georgia (UC-Santa Barbara PhD student studying ticks and grasshoppers), George (Smithsonian postdoc studying insects on a solanum), Gavin (UK postdoc doing pollination), Billy (Gavin's undergrad assistant) and 2 Princeton undergrads: Sally (Princeton in Africa fellow who is in charge of outreach) and Julia (doing something with local schools). But soon it will be just be 6 of us: Me, Matt, Laura, George, Sally, and Julia as the rest go back for school. The wild dog/cheetah people (Stef and Helen) are also here, but they live 20 minutes away and don't eat meals here, so they're not technically staying at Mpala
8/16
Last night we had a sundowner to Lizard rock, which is one of my favorite sundowner spots. I had previously taken the palmer lab there once. It involves a bit of rock climbing to get up (I made it without difficulty even with the knee) and has a magnificent view across the bush and is one of the few places at Mpala that you can actually see the sun set.
After dinner back at the centre, we went for a night game drive. It was crazy successful as we saw 6 zorillas (members of the weasel (mustelids) family that look like skunks), white-tailed mongoose, some hippos out of water, a baby grevy's zebra, several elephants, buffalo, 2 genets, several bushbabies, tons of hyenas. But best of all, we saw a lioness with a freshly killed warthog. There were lots of hyenas yipping around and she was fending them off while the warthog was still in her mouth. And on occasion she would drop it to roar.
Now I'm back at Mpala. We had a sundowner at baboon cliffs to say goodbye to the last of the Princeton kids. The sundowner was cool b/c there were lots of baboons and we saw two African Porcupines.
Now we are down to 13 people. Me, Mike (zebra researcher), Matt (hippo researcher), Katherine (Yale PhD student working on birds), Tyler (Princeton PhD student working on UHURU), Laura (UC Davis Postdoc studying primates and leopards), Kato (Princeton grad student studying ecohydrology), Georgia (UC-Santa Barbara PhD student studying ticks and grasshoppers), George (Smithsonian postdoc studying insects on a solanum), Gavin (UK postdoc doing pollination), Billy (Gavin's undergrad assistant) and 2 Princeton undergrads: Sally (Princeton in Africa fellow who is in charge of outreach) and Julia (doing something with local schools). But soon it will be just be 6 of us: Me, Matt, Laura, George, Sally, and Julia as the rest go back for school. The wild dog/cheetah people (Stef and Helen) are also here, but they live 20 minutes away and don't eat meals here, so they're not technically staying at Mpala
8/16
Last night we had a sundowner to Lizard rock, which is one of my favorite sundowner spots. I had previously taken the palmer lab there once. It involves a bit of rock climbing to get up (I made it without difficulty even with the knee) and has a magnificent view across the bush and is one of the few places at Mpala that you can actually see the sun set.
After dinner back at the centre, we went for a night game drive. It was crazy successful as we saw 6 zorillas (members of the weasel (mustelids) family that look like skunks), white-tailed mongoose, some hippos out of water, a baby grevy's zebra, several elephants, buffalo, 2 genets, several bushbabies, tons of hyenas. But best of all, we saw a lioness with a freshly killed warthog. There were lots of hyenas yipping around and she was fending them off while the warthog was still in her mouth. And on occasion she would drop it to roar.
1 comment:
The night drives sound awesome!
Post a Comment