11:25, Monday, 25 June, 2012

Well Dad, remember when I used to tell you I didn’t mean to do something, and you would say “well mean not to”?  I’m not sure that advice works for me out here.  Because I certainly meant not to get stuck on Thursday night; in fact, not minutes before getting stuck, I told Tyler and Ian, “Okay, we cannot get stuck, because we don’t have a phone.”  Someone upstairs has a questionable sense of humor. 

We were following the hyenas over toward Crocodile Den, excited to find out where everyone was going since Juno, Oakland, Alfredo?, and Alice were all headed in that direction with deliberation.  Ian swore there must be a secret hyena club meeting, perhaps to discuss how to save Echo and Foxtrot.  We had managed to follow Juno until she was almost to Crocodile Den, but it was getting dark.  I was afraid of getting stuck without a phone, so I reluctantly gave up the chase.  Trying to be responsible, only to lose the track to dark and find myself in probably the only wet patch for kilometers around since it hadn’t rained in ages.  And I could use none of the getting unstuck tools I had been taught as there were no rocks, no branches, no anything at a distance close enough to get to without risking being eaten or trampled.  There was nothing to do but wait and hope.

We sat in the dark for two hours, strategically leaving our lights off until it was late enough that the others might be missing us at the dinner table, and then turning the car on with them so as not to drain the battery.  I learned how to flash “SOS” based on Morse code from the boys: three fast for S, three slow for O, three fast for S.  We got through a lot of “would your rathers” and “out of these people who would you marry and why,”, before nearly giving up hope.  We had water and granola bars; we could have had one person on elephant watch while the other two slept.  But then the blessed headlights graced the hill; Kay to the rescue!  Unhappy, worried Kay to the rescue. :/  Shan’t be forgetting a cell phone again.  Cold pizza and everyone in bed when we got back.  Sitting around the table, I told Tyler and Ian I was glad it was them who were stuck with me.  They were calm as cucumbers the whole time, encouraging and sweet.  And I still love how there’s a new adventure at every turn out here.  I’m beginning to realize I am an adventure junkie.

22:20, Wednesday, 27 June, 2012

Nora left about a week ago for Serena, switching places with another graduate student named Julie.  We miss Nora tons, but Julie is also very fun to have around.  And I’m so glad there is finally another girl who will play soccer!  No longer the only one on the field who receives surprised yells when she does something halfway right.  And as a side note:  Joseph is absolutely amazing at soccer!  I personally think he belongs on an Kenya’s Olympic team.

Got water with Tyler the other day– we sang Disney songs on the way there and back to pass the time.  I feel like Jake and Joe would really understand how much I appreciated that (and happy birthday by the way, Jake!  yesterday.  Happy birthday very late also to Sam!).  While there, the normal water hose was broke, so we had to use this obnoxiously wide hose that shot water out at about a bajillion gallons a second.  Recipe for becoming muddy and soaked, that’s what it was.  Driving back a mess, I took a wrong turn.  We found ourselves on some gorgeous hills and had a very scenic drive before I nearly kissed the ground upon arriving back at camp.  Note to self: pay attention to which track you turn off of to get onto the main road.

We (Michelle, Eli, Julie, Tyler, Ian, and I) went to a birthday party in Talek town Friday night.  It was Delores’ 24^th birthday, a friend of Michelle’s.  I don’t think I have ever enjoyed a party so much.  It was in the courtyard of a stone hotel/bar, beneath the big equatorial stars on a pleasantly balmy night in humble Talek town.  There was African music and lots of Celine Deon (sp; she is a big hit here), and...I DANCED!  Not like I usually dance – my hips actually moved, and I didn’t feel self-conscious.  I just DANCED.  I don’t know what came over me, but I do know it made me so happy, and that people at home wouldn’t have recognized me.  Michelle and I were in the middle of the dancing circle at one point, and made up a bristle-tail dance in honor of the hyenas, holding our hands with fingers spread out like bristled tails by our bums.  Sometimes you just have to live up to being a bit off the mark, and I think Kay would have been proud. 

The best part of the party was mixing with the people there while dancing; we were no longer the wazungu (white people) riding about in a research car and turning heads, children pointing and saying, “Mzungu, mama!”.  We ceased to be apart and were accepted as a part, and it felt so wonderful.  I wish we were viewed like that all the time, but unfortunately our brains construct differences that aren’t there, only to turn around and generalize stereotypical similarities rooted in history and artificial truth.

It was wonderful when “Happy Birthday” was sung.  Delores’ closest friends danced and clapped, singing it over and over again beside “How old are you now?  How old are you now?”  Then there was a cake cutting song on top of it all; Delores seemed to be cutting the cake for ages, and I swear the “kata” (“cut”) song is still stuck in my head.  “Kata kata, usiogope!  Kata kata, ishirini na nne!”  (Cut cut, do not be afraid!  Cut cut, twenty-four!)  The cake was surprisingly delicious (desserts are not a common thing out here).  I may or may not have had more than my fair share...

The restrooms in Talek town are very male-centered, so we decided peeing to the side of the building between our cars in the dusty street was best.  A donkey gave me quite the start while I was in the process – never thought I’d live to see the day a donkey watched me pee literally in the middle of a  town, albeit dark.

The day after the party, we had a DNA extraction day.  When we shook up our prepared DNA tubes with isopropanol, you could see the DNA separating out!!!!!  I assume all the double helixes were clumped together, resulting in the twisted form of DNA visibly suspended in the tube.  Incredible.  The blueprint for each of our darted hyenas, right there before our eyes.  Science never gets old.

We have added to our 1-horned antelope group, expanded to include Giraffa camelopardalis (sp).  There is thus a one-horned giraffe named Gary to coincide with Sheila the one-horned grant, Jude the one-horned hartebeest, and Derrick the one-horned impala.  While driving around with Kay and Eli once, I suddenly yelled excitedly, “Sheila!!!”, and she screeched to a halt and looked around saying, “Where?!”. Erm, it’s just a one-horned grant we named.  She thought I was referring to some rare hyena or something, hence the dramatic stop.  I cannot help but wonder if she ever questions her choice of research assistants and graduate students based on how easily amused we are. :)

Unfortunately we have since picked up Samburu’s dead signal along the river; the collars start beeping at an accelerated pace if they are inactive for 24-48 hours, I think it is.  Eli looked for the collar down near the river, but no luck.  I wonder what happened to her, and I now know for sure there is no way I will be seeing Humphrey’s again.  :(  Seems to be rough times for the clan lately, but who am I to say whether this is abnormal?

9:34, Thursday, 28 June, 2012

Rain has limited our obs lately, giving us plenty chance to sleep in (“sleep in” having a new definition of 7:30 or so).  The morning in camp is seriously heaven.  Sun raying through waxy green leaves with that smell of post-rain earth ready to be inhaled at every step.  Shy dik-dik poking around the corners, fresh new day on the tip of every bird’s tongue.  Perfumed white flowers drifting down from trees in bloom.  There are many times out here that it suddenly hits me how overwhelmingly alive and exultant this place makes me feel, times it hits me that my being here is actually a reality, my burning dream unfolded.  These are some of the best realizations I’ve ever had.

Kay and Eli have left.  We miss them.  We grow pretty tight out here; hard not to when you live day in and day out with people.  It reminds me of college, how quickly attachments are made.  Dinner is not half as entertaining without Kay, and of course we miss Eli loads as well, especially poor Michelle.  But luckily she will be visiting America before too long, where she can see him again. 

Was sitting preparing for a hyena talk we gave to some tourists on my rock outcrop, peacefully writing up my piece in the 15:30 sun, when I was scared nearly out of my pants by the great blowing sound of a hippo directly in the pool below.  My heart skipped two paces, but once I realized there was no way that hippo could get up onto my rock without ample escape-time notice, I was delighted for its company and continued my work.  It’s head very rarely breached the surface; instead, it would descend, hidden beneath the muddy water, and I would see just its nostrils poke above the surface every now and again before going back down.  Chuckle-worthy indeed.  If it moved around beneath the water, little bubbles announced its whereabouts.  I sincerely like hippos, even if they are Africa’s most dangerous animal.  I shall have to think of a name for that one, likely a male since it was alone.

While out on obs, I periodically run into Isaac, one of the drivers from my BEAM trip three years ago.  It’s always nice to see him, and we help each other find the animals we need/want to see.  He smiles so big, and often wears a bright yellow shirt.  After last time I ran into him, we found elephants a bit further up the road, and a tiny one was playing in the mud again.  It would kneel down in it on one knee, the other front leg extended so that it looked very awkward, flaring its ears out, and near tipping over .  I could just hear it, “Come on, guys!  All we ever do is eat.  Look how fun this is!”  It looked like it nearly had an older kid convinced before we had to leave and get home for breakfast.

The hilux decided it didn’t want to open its gas gauge right before we had to drive to the talk (at least I got to see Maina again yesterday!  Always enjoy his company), so Julie, Michelle, and I piled into the new cruiser.  It was like something from a Three Stooges episode, the three of us cramped in that front seat, me in the middle with my legs to the side in order to make the stick accessible to Michelle and therefore basically on top Julie, each bump throwing us into each other and up in the air as we braced ourselves for dear life.  Fun times!  We met up with Steph’s husband Howard (whose tour group we were gave the talk to) shortly after entering the gorgeous wilder lands nearer Serena, and followed him toward their camp, happening upon...a hunting cheetah!!!  Poor tommies had no idea she was there.  We waited for about half an hour as she slunk closer, shoulders definitively raising, small head low.  I’ve never seen antelope 100% oblivious to the presence of a hunter; normally we count on them to find our carnivores.  The cheetah rolled playfully in the grass after every few creeps, tossing her legs in the air.  Perhaps her need for food wasn’t that dire, or perhaps it’s a normal thing for them to be so lackadaisical during a hunt?  Whatever the case, it was very cute.  Once she was in within 100 meters or so, she suddenly sprung up, and I have never seen anything so fast in my life.  Yes, you would expect cheetahs to make quick work of anything, but seeing it is a whole ‘nother story.  She shot in a perfect line, descending on that tommy in literally like 5 seconds.  We drove up to her after Howard’s tour cars (to my chagrin, as I’m always worried about alerting lions to the presence of a cheetah’s kill), and she bit its neck until it was suffocated, thankfully a fairly quick death for the female tommy (although once while the cheetah was catching its breath she sprung up and nearly got away!).  The cheetah breathed really hard and really fast for a long time before beginning to eat; it’s gotta be terribly hard and taxing work to sprint like that, especially under the midday equatorial sun.  She began by eating the rump of the antelope, which I learned is (oddly enough) every carnivore’s favorite portion of a kill.  Then she would stop and gasp again for breath.  AMAZING.  I can’t believe we got to see that.  Nature = best thing ever.  And it wasn’t quite as hard to watch as I anticipated; cats kill through suffocation rather than starting to eat things alive like hyenas, so it was quick work.  (Luckily, Michelle says that hyena prey usually goes into shock, no longer feeling the pain as they are eaten.  Hopefully the shock also impairs the cognition that would otherwise inform them of the current going-ons.)

The talk was great; I have never met people so interested in hyenas, with so many questions!  We must have been in the limelight for near 2 hours.  And we got lunch to top it off, a lunch that included STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE.  Before we left, we accidentally walked upon one of the gentlemen taking a leak, and quickly turned our heads, at which point he yelled, “Don’t worry, it’s not a psuedopenis, it’s a real penis!”...playing on the morphology of hyenas we had just enlightened him on.  Really.  He should teach a class in how to make an awkward moment maximally more awkward.