Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Random Mpala Fall Fun



Interestingly with the drought, there has been some problems with grazing issues b/c there just isn’t enough grass for everyone especially in the drier north.  Mpala Ranch had been dealing with a fair amount of illegal grazing.  But things escalated this week with gun armed maasai and turkana grazers showing up and getting into skirmishes over grazing.  George’s field assistant’s family had to spend a night hiding in the bush b/c 6 armed grazers had ambushed the village.  This past week Mpala had been upping security and all of a sudden all our ascaris (guards) were carrying automatic rifles.  It’s a difficult situation b/c you feel bad for the herdsman in areas where the drought has caused there to be no grass and you realize the only way for them to avoid mass die offs of their livestock is to graze illegally.


Random fun times at Mpala including Sunday fundays, sundowners, and moonuppers,   We also had a RAF LC-130 visit our airfield to practice some parachuting.



watching the super moon rise from eagle scout vista








Elephant and nearly full moon

nearly full moon over George's banda

sundowner on lookout rock


Mt. Kenya peeking out of the clouds




Stef using telemetry to find the wild dogs

me and a little friend

A giraffe on the airfield right before the plane came in!




the para-troopers






















last sundowner at Mpala

jumping at the river




wild dog crew gave me this as thanks




With Theo (in arms) and Dylan (on shoulders)


Breakfast with the elephants at the director's house


Elephants chasing of a wild dog pack


breakfast with elephants!

we love Ramen at Mpala