A Kenyan Type of Class Time

Mambo!

Yes I am in Africa, but yes we obviously still celebrated Halloween.  Our costumes ranged from zombies (robed with prom gowns from the 60’s that we found at the Karatu market), the Peter Pan crew (I was one of the lost boys…luckily I had a soccer game right before dinner so my costume came pretty naturally), UNC fans, Red Sox fans (embarrassingly enough, this was my own roommate), Indiana Jones, elephants, etc.  I’ve already introduced you to Zarah, but this is my other bandamate Corina (she was the pure and pristine, Wendy)  .  Here is the Peter Pan crew …don’t judge, the only decor we had to work with was mud, twigs, leaves, and safari gear.    Our site manager made us a piñata!  The staff was so confused…especially when we started doing our Beyonce, Single Ladies dance in costume .  By the end of the night the staff finally became comfortable with the whole “getting into character on Halloween” concept .

Okay so our classes here have been crazier than you can imagine.  One of our first days of class, we were informed that we were going on a “field lecture” so we thought, no big deal, the Land Cruisers will drive us to a beautiful site and we will just sit in our Crazy Creeks and listen.  Not even close.  We hiked this  and much much more…with our notebookes, with our Crazy Creeks, with our assignments…basically we brought our classroom to the top of this summit.  I even conquered Kili in one footstep ! From this spot, we examined the ecology, population dynamics, and threats of the Tsavo-Amboseli Ecosystem.  The next morning we had yet another “field lecture” (my legs were still burning from the previous morning’s hike) on Chyulu Hills, near Kuku Game Ranch.  This is my Wildlife Ecology professor…the white of a lab coat on the summit of a peak , life can’t get much better, right??  We had a few visiting students too  .  As riveting as the lectures truly are, my old roommate Kat was found sleeping/soaking up the rays “in the back of the classroom” (behind a few boulders). She got a nice Tusker tan line.  Day three: field sampling.  It’s funny, before we go out into the field for our lectures or sampling, the professors always tell us about it so nonchalantly…like, “We will just walk around the land adjacent to us and survey the vegetation and grass cover…”  It’s never a big deal.  But then we realize that “the land adjecent to us” is a wildlife corridor (migration route) from Amboseli National Park to Tsavo National Park. We were given four large sticks that were used as markers for our sampling quadrant.  We began our first, 200 m transect going 230 degrees south.  We then would make a 2m x 2m sampling quadrant with our very professional sticks (we are crazy intense researchers, don’t let us fool you).  We would then sample this area by first measuring soil cover, erosion, and trampling.  Number of trails/paths was an indicator of trampling.  For example…, look at the discoloration in the soil in this picture.  Can you make out the huge elephant tracks?? Yes they are those huge tear-drop shapes. To put them into perspective,  I could fit my whole body,equipped with a clipboard,  in one footprint! Secondly, we looked at grass cover (number of grass species, maximum height of grasses, etc. )  Here in Africa, we are currently in the transition from the dry-season to the wet-season, so basically most of the land is completely arid , waiting anxiously for the upcoming rainy season (side note: it has been raining now for 2 days straight! Bandas + rain at night = the best sleep I have ever had).  We then did the same for herb cover and woody species.  We completed 8 transect counts.  These transect counts may seem a little monotonous and if the guys were the only ones  completing them, they would be…  thankfully group 4 had us two !  Our field guide, Solonco, taught Jackie (from my homestay) and I how to recognize literally every type of mammal dropping (my proud list: giraffe, zebra, cow, goat, elephant, wild dogs, wild pigs, lions, gazelle, wildebeest, hyena…please quiz me when I get back to America). Additionally, I took two real zebra teeth for you Mom and Dad…I thought it was a fitting gift?  Solonco found a skull and cracked them out for me 🙂 We then got to experience not the night-life, but the market-life, of Kimana, Kenya.   I have never been so stressed out in my life…   This may look colorful, pleasant, and peaceful, but the Maasai mommas mean business.  They will literally just tie their jewelry around your necks, wrists, ankles…basically anywhere they can get their hands on.  At first it’s like, yes free jewelry these mommas are the best! …not at all… Well the mommas are still awesome but the not-so-free jewelry is not.  They will then say something in Maa (the Maasai language) which I learned, the hard way, means “give me money student.” …and their knots mean permanence.  To say the least, the crown cover of my baobab jewelry tree drastically increased,  whoops! So that was a quick recap of my life in Kenya so far.  Today is an extremely exciting day.  We’re starting off with a guest lecture (in an actual classroom) who does elephant research at Amboseli National Park.  We will then depart for a game drive in Amboseli.  Never have I experienced a safari during a torrential rainstorm but it should be awesome. Thank god for full-body ponchos!  I don’t think I am going to bring my camera because the mud might steal its life but I will definitely let you know how it goes! Save the last of the autumn leaves for me!

☮ Hannah

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 4th, 2010 at 2:52 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to “A Kenyan Type of Class Time”

1. Kerry Wright says:

   November 6, 2010 at 9:59 am

   HANNN!!!! Sorry I haven’t written on here in a while! I miss you, but it seems as though you are in good hands in Kenya! Your costume was great! So much more cost-effective/eco-friendly than in the States. We should try to make our costumes next year out of the stuff we find around campus 🙂 I can’t believe they just put their bracelets on you and that completes the transaction! That would not fly with me lol. Sooooo I will definitely save some Fall leaves for you, you know my feelings on Fall…hehe. Please stay warm and dry during the torrential rainstorm! LOVE YOU!!!

   Kerry

2. Colleen Donnelly says:

   November 8, 2010 at 5:56 am

   You’re making me so jealous I wish I was in Kenya with you! I’m glad you love it so far it sounds like you’re having the most amazing time… I love the halloween costumes! I can’t belive how big those elephant tracks are.. cutest pic. When we went to Maasai Mara we were waiting to get inside the park and they bombarded our land cruiser and literally were stuffing their hands in the windows of the car it was insane and so overwhelming. Can’t wait to read your next post love you and miss you so much! XO-Coll

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