15:46, Wednesday, 30 May, 2012

Things are finally drying up!  We have had nothing but sun since last I wrote, and the afternoons have been hot indeed, more like the common conception of African weather.  It’s nice to be able to use the quicker crossings and have shoes that aren’t caked in mud.

Monday was filled with learning.  I learned how to do a car check, and I feel like a right mechanic now that I know the name of all the whatchamacallits and thingamajiggers.  My favorite part was getting down and dirty laying face-up under the car.  Now I know why Maina and his men wear those overalls; it rains dirt beneath there when we shake the shock absorbers, universal joint, bushings, etc. to make sure they are intact.  And who knew a car held so many different types of fluid?!: brake, steering, transmission, wiper, obviously oil and gas, and I think I’m missing one or two.  I can identify an engine, radiator, and fan belt.  Eli also showed me some parts of the wheel and how to use both types of jacks; I can hardly push the big one down without using all of my body weight.  More reason for my terrification (wish that was truly a word).  I don’t think I’ll be touching that thing.  I would rather spend the night in the car amidst a whole horde of elephants, thank you.

The car was cool, but I have a love/hate relationship with cars since a) they contribute greatly to climate change, and b) we could still be riding horses if it weren’t for that swine (I have been around a Brit for too long now! calling someone a swine) Henry Ford’s genius.  So the real fun part came when I was taught how to use the darting gun  It’s not as complicated as I thought it was going to be, and practicing is a great time!  There is one switch that must be pulled so that the gun can accept air; another so that the proper amount of air can be loaded from the carbon chamber based on distance (there is a meter at the back of the gun); then you load the practice dart into the disconnected barrel, just barely fully in so that the red tuft of it is still at your end; properly line up the barrel with the scope; attach the barrel; turn on the scope; remove the safety; line the red dot up so it’s on the protruding bit of metal at the end of the barrel; line both of those up with your target; and shwoop!  Pull the trigger and the dart shoots out to stick in the cardboard box (in this case).  I practiced standing first, at a distance of ten meters, and then we pulled the car around so I could shoot out the window (since that’s how it’s done).  I hit the box every time (thank God), only once outside of the circles that are supposed to approximate the circumference of a hyena thigh.  I am going to like this; I get to shoot, but I don’t hurt the animal apart from a slight sting.  Who says you need to kill in order to shoot?  We are allowed to practice whenever we can, and are expected to gradually increase the distance up to 25 meters.  Normally the hyenas are much closer, but if you practice at 25, 10 is a breeze.

Monday night Michelle and I left for obs early to collect paste.  Hyenas have a substance termed “paste” in their anal sac, and they often wipe it on grass stalks, many times pasting over where a different individual has already pasted.  The reason for this is still under investigation.  One of the graduate students is currently studying the difference in composition of paste at versus away from the den.  No hyenas were out at Res Den, which is above a creek at the edge of the reserve, so we got out of the car to sniff stalks for paste.  I can only imagine how ridiculous we must have looked, running our noses up and down tall stalks of grass.  We have to find where the paste ends on each confirmed stalk in order to collect a control, which is snipped off into a glass vial separate from the pasted stalk bits.  It was absolutely wonderful to be freed from the car for a bit, especially on such a gorgeous afternoon.  The sky was so blue, and it felt almost like we were two little girls playing in the most glorious meadow imaginable, mountains crystal clear in the distance.  Although what sort of weird game a child could concoct to match the situation I’m not sure.