21:18, Monday, 21 May, 2012

Today was lovely, although I woke up this morning to more Maasai yelling, lions roaring, hyenas whooping, and for some strange reason elephant trumpets were in the mix.  Benson and I made sure no one needed help when we saw some Maasai running on our way out to obs, but they said it was under control.

I had an extended driving lesson, driving most of the morning.  I’m so glad that Benson was helping me, because he is exceptionally patient, and for some reason I started out terribly today.  I was very worried about the car’s transmission, and insisted we get out and check the fluid.  But it was just fine, and I got worlds better over the course of the morning.  I finally have some confidence in the matter.

While we were driving along, we saw several big male lions.  I hear say that four big males are going around, taking over prides, killing cubs and impregnating females :(.  I REALLY hope that’s not the case.

Helped push someone out of a ditch and got delightfully muddy.  Then Kay called and asked us to go into Talek and buy a goat head so they could try and lure Yogurt toward the car.  While we were in Talek, I was overjoyed to find a dog that actually let me approach and even PET it.  Its eyes were so sad, and I carefully held out my hand to let it sniff, and gently moved it to the top of its head.  I could tell it was surprised to have someone petting it, but also that it liked it because it did the contented mouth opening/chewing type thing that Belle used to do when satisfied.  I have named that dog “Ufuko,” which is “beach” in Swahili, because it is the color of sand.  I would give anything to take it home with me in a year...any thoughts, Mom? I hope I get to see it again on our next trip to Talek!

Well, Yogurt made off with the head and alluded the darters again.  I think Kay or Eli should write a book, Adventures with Yogurt.  They are both quite annoyed with her, but I think she’s brilliant.  So clever, watching the car from off in the grass with ears going this way and that, running up at the perfect moments, making off with our expensive bait.

Benson and I played a game while driving.  I told him we must pretend that I don’t know English, and therefore we talked only in Swahili.  It was a tremendous help in terms of fluency.  Languages are so hard to properly master unless you consistently practice.

Upon returning, the BEAM students had arrived.  It was great to see Dave and Julia!  And of course Booms as well.  I think the kids enjoyed the activities.  Eli showed them how to fill darts, and they got to shoot the gun at the practice box (all doing very well, and several apparently hitting the bull’s eye!).  Michelle showed them how we take measurements of teeth and body during a darting, and I handled the tracking, which took them a bit to get a hang of.  But on the whole, they did a very good job finding the collar.  The best tracker was one of their drivers, Chris.  He was intrigued by what we were doing, and we insisted he take a turn.  It’s very good when Kenyans are interested in what we do; it helps the face of hyenas.

Dave showed us some GPS points while they were over.  Magenta and Pan are spending considerable amounts of time outside the park!  It’s crazy incredible that a GPS collar can construct something like the map he had.  A point for each collared hyena is generated every hour, then only has to be downloaded onto the computer.  Baez’s first points were on the map, which made us feel quite proud.  Dave also had a video of the most amazing hyena-lion interaction, of course occurring on the morning we slept in.  The lions had presumably made the buffalo kill, and for once it was the hyenas who stole from them- good show, guys!  (Although somewhat concerning as the lions are thin.)  They whooped to one another, and all formed a big group around the two lions, a courting male and female, which I think Benson and I saw this morning.  The lion looked ridiculous in the video, just laying in the middle of this enormous group of hyenas.  I guess they eventually attacked him, and he and the lioness moved off.  I can only imagine such rare occurrences fueled the misconceptions of The Lion King.  Also in the video, Helios and Loki got a hold of the same bone, and each refused to let it go.  They were hilarious running about the plain, awkwardly connected by the bone in their mouths, reminding me of dragging the softball field in high school. 

Eli showed me how to clean darts after the students left.  It is great fun squirting the water out at the end by hooking up a syringe to one end of the dart.  We shot it up in the air, at the lab tent, ground, etc.  I think it would be fun to have a dart-cleaning squirt war.

We couldn’t go out for evening obs, because it rained a whole lot to the near southeast of camp (wild how spotty the rain can be here) , and the crossing was flooded again.  Therefore, we had a game night.  We played Quiddler; Kay is extraordinarily good at it.  I, of course, was what Kay’s friend apparently terms “toilet girl,” as I lagged behind for a significant portion of the game. :)

Lasingo came to us before dinner with a cut finger.  Eli and I doctored him.  It was strangely heartwarming and sweet to be wiping clean the finger of this big man who protects us at night, having him squint because it was “kali,” (severe/ it stung).  We fixed him up with antibacterial powder and a band aid, and all was well.

Kelsey and the bushbabies at dinner.  Bushbabies apparently love garlic bread.  One of the big ones came up and took it eagerly from my hand, and once touched my finger for a prolonged moment with its exquisitely gushy hand.  My heart is still missing since it liquefied.

Fresh lion or leopard tracks by the shower, hyena tracks leading to Kay’s tent (they know where they are most loved), and boisterous hippo burps nearby.  Wondrous.