So today we begin DR, the culminating project of the entire semester. I was up at 5am and made spectacular toast for breakfast, while the others members of my cook crew made fried eggs, and mdazi (fried donut like things). After quickly eating my portion and washing my dishes I wrote up the schedule for today on the communal blackboard and began packing up all the stuff I was going to need today. Within our WM DR group we split into four smaller groups. My group (Kipepeo = butterfly) made lunches for the local guide and KWS askari that would be accompanying us and divided the equipment between us. As a final preparation we did a DR waterfall in the parking lot before loading into the cruisers. A waterfall is a game where everyone stands in a circle and one person starts drinking followed immediately by the next person in the circle and so on. The point is that you can’t stop drinking until the person before you stops so the starting person has to stop drinking first and it “waterfalls” down to the last person. We as a group decided to do this every morning before heading out to make sure we start the day hydrated and to do a little team bonding. We refilled our water bottles and headed out. We dropped two groups (Shem-nanigans and Gerenux) off on one side of the Osupuko Wildlife Sanctuary which we are evaluating 40% of today. Kipepeo and Shem n’ M continued on to the other side of the sanctuary where we were dropped on the side of the road with our local guide Joel and KWS askari Kutunge (he mumbled so I’m guessing here). Figuring out where we were and where we should go via the GPS was challenging. The GPS units we had practiced with were different from the one we carried today, and figuring out which coordinate numbers matched different points on the map we had made last night was very frustrating. We talked on the radios quite a bit and eventually figured out what we were doing. Unfortunately we found we were several km from where we were meant to start. SO we started walking northwest. While we walked the 6km to our start point we saw a giraffe, an impala, and a Grant’s Gazelle. At one point we came across several women chopping branches for firewood and the guide and askari occasionally pointed out things like giraffe dung, impala tracks, and the wait-a-bit thorns (engoja kidogo). Despite arriving at our drop off point at 9am, it was 10:30 by the time we began our first transect. Once we got started, things began clicking along nicely. We saw no animals on our first transect, but found a few for the second, and quite a few more on our third. Our last transect took us right to the road and the 1km length ended right in the middle. It was now a little past noon and since starting we had only had one brief water break and a quick snack. Carefully sitting down under the closest Whistling Thorn Acacia tree to the road, we got our lunches out and enjoyed a nice picnic in the shade while we talked about the differences between Kenya and the US. By 12:30 we had only been told to wait to be picked up and I decided to explore the nearest rock outcropping maybe 25 feet away. Christina came too and quickly found a nice sitting spot on a large boulder. I thought the view from here was nice but spotted something more interesting at the smaller rock outcropping 30 feet from the one I was currently standing on. Scrambling down I went to investigate what looked like a lagoon shaped depression in the rocks filled with dry grass. Getting there, it was in fact a scooped out area were grass had grown in soil caught in the depression and watered by rain before dying from lack of water and no soil to put roots deep down into. After checking for snakes and large thorns I hopped up and made myself comfortable. My nalgene made a fairly good pillow, my hat placed over my face shielded me from the sun and my long sleeves and pants kept the rest of me from turning into a crisp. During this time, Jess the askari and guide had been talking and it was now under debate whether we should just walk back to camp instead of waiting to be picked up. Christina wandered over to ask my opinion and took a picture of me flat out snoozing in my private rock nest. Going back we decided just to wait. We ended up waiting a long time. Shem arrived after I had returned to my napping spot and even 25 mins later the final group was still not finished (they were dropped off very far away from their starting point and walked 10km before starting). Finally we all loaded into the cruisers and headed back to camp. We got the chance to wash our hands and faces before starting our DR meeting. We talked about the troubles we had had, how to fix them, better ways we could do things etc. Overall we were free for the rest of the afternoon until dinner. As MOD I have to do at least one educational RAP and so I talked about the work I have done over the past two years with the Lenape Language at Swarthmore. Probably not the most exciting RAP ever given but people seemed to enjoy it. Dish washing is the last part of being on cook crew and I got stuck with the really nasty to clean pan. To improve my mood the neighbor’s dog came and lay down beside me while I was scrubbing my portion of the dishes so at least I had company since I elect to wash at the outside sink instead of inside the kitchen. As soon as I was done, WM DR met to go over the transect plans for tomorrow and print out the new maps. Off to bed for me and I don’t have to get up before 6:30!!
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