Blogs from Laikipia, Rift Valley Province, Kenya, Africa - page 3

Valentine's Day in Kenya, surprisingly, is not just like any other day. In fact, I was intrigued to find that it appeared more important to the locals than to the researchers - I don't know why, but I had a misconception that Valentine's Day was a Western thing. Both Wilson and Godfrey commented on the holiday, and one of Kayna's field assistants wore a bright red fleece specifically to celebrate the occasion. For lunch, we were treated to chocolate cupcakes with frosting hearts. Perhaps one of the reasons that we researchers don't give much outward thought to Valentine's Day is the fact that we're thousands of miles from the people with whom we'd normally celebrate the holiday. The most that we can do, really, is send a romantic e-mail or make a phone call to the ... read more

Technically, my day actually started very, very early in the morning, sometime between 2-4am, when a Spotted Hyena woke me by whooping right outside my banda. It must have been immediately on the other side of the wall, since I could actually hear its feet padding the ground as it loped by. Makes me think twice about just stepping out of my banda to go to the bathroom at night! So does the several-month-old pile of elephant dung approximately 1 meter from my front step. I hear hyenas nearly every night, but this was the closest yet. I absolutely love the night noises around here - it has to be one of my favorite aspects of the African bush. For instance, also around 4am, a lion's roar broke the early morning's silence and again woke me ... read more