Archived Blogs

Saturday, March 24
Lewa Conservancy

Christy wrote: Thursday, we got up early to find the cheetah brothers Dave had mentioned earlier. We found them and got some great pictures of them scratching on a tree. After breakfast we went and tracked some radio-collared plains zebras and then did behavioral observations on them. In the afternoon, we did vegetation transects again, through we couldn't do the last one because an elephant with a newborn baby was in the way! They were pretty vocal and it was clear that the mom didn't want us around.

Friday, we did waterhole observations at a dam in the morning. We mainly saw giraffes, though we did spy one Grevy's zebra stallion. It was very interesting to see that out of all the species, he was the most weary about going up to the dam to have a drink. He took a long time, just making sure there weren't predators. We've seen a huge population of the Grevy's zebras while here in Kenya, which is really sad because there are so few of them, and in just a small area we've seen so many.

On Saturday, we did a fecal analysis, before participating in the highlight of the trip: horseback riding and watching the sun set. Our last night in Africa we fell asleep listening to the sounds of Africa, with one Grevy's zebra stallion up all night. A fitting memory for our last night in the wonderful place.

Thursday, March 22
Wamba, Kenya

Dave wrote: We censused zebra today. It was an odd experience to see areas so close to the community lands we've been working on, and yet so different an environment. So much more grass, more water, more animals to see like buffalo and gazelle. The effects of people and livestock on the landscape could not have been clearer by comparison.

Those of us in the Land Rover were myself, Chase from the National Zoo, Geoffrey, whom I mentioned before, and Hasan, one of the chief researchers at the project here. Hasan is quite young and has an overdeveloped sense of mischief, loves telling humorous stories about other people and enjoys giving them trouble. No wonder we get along!

We left Buffalo Springs Reserve and were heading for the gate of Samburu Reserve, and found our way effectively blocked by a great number of foraging elephants. After a minute, we realized we had elephants in the heavy bush on three sides of us. Hasan, who was driving, started getting very jumpy, but seeing as he is an excitable type already, we paid him no mind. There were many calves in this herd of elephants, most of them wrestling, playing and carrying on by the side of the road, opposite of where their mothers were. We carefully inched forward where we could, but after half an hour went by, we had only moved a dozen meters or so.

One little fellow, quite full of himself and all boy, came to notice our presence for the first time. He broke away from a vigorous trunk wrestling match with one of his playmates and charged us! A mighty two-year old with oversized ears flapping and sounding his challenge like a trumpet on helium! Immediately, gears ground and gravel flew as Hasan flew the Land Rover in reverse and flew erratically back down the dirt road in attempts to get away. Heartened by his success, the elephant child pressed his advantage and chased us gleefully down the road, trumpeting smugly. But he gave it up and went to brag to his friends.

We slowed to a halt about 50 meters back. Hasan earnestly explained to us that he was concerned because getting between calves adn their mothers is a recipe for disaster, and he thought the mother would come to the aid of the young one if we hadn't made a retrograde movement. An admiral sentiment and eminently sensible in theory. In this case, the female elephant's total lack of interest in the entire proceeding, and the continuous chuckle from Geoffrey in the back seat made us wonder about his wisdom in this incidence. It took merely another half hour for the road to clear up so we could safely pass.

Love to my family. More later.

Wednesday, March 21
Lewa

Christy wrote: Today, we did behavioral observations on Grevy's and plains zebras all day. And after lunch, we had a special treat. We went and saw nine lions that were eating their lunch: a large Grevy's zebra stallion. That means they killed two Grevy's zebra in two weeks, which is just unbelievable.

I don't know if I've told you this yet, but one of the four members of our team is a videographer for National Geographic, so everything we're doing, he's taping. It's exciting that we'll be able to get the word out about this amazing program!

Wednesday, March 21
Wamba

Dave wrote: As eye-opening and enjoyable as this trip has been, it has also been, at times, challenging and exhausting. That's why the rest of the team is so glad to have me around. As the youngest of the group, they rely on my youthful enthusiasm to help them get through the more trying bits...

There is one project going on here that I find really interesting and is a very different take on Grevy's conservation. A young Samburu college student named Geoffrey is conducting a study to get an idea of what general population levels were in the area before records started being kept in the early 1970s. To do this, he is conducting interviews with a large number of Samburu elders, picking their brains to find out how many Grevy's were in the areas they lived, as far back as the 30s and 40s. He's also gaining priceless insight into the timing of droughts and disease. For example, many people reading this will recall the recent anthrax outbreak last year which killed a large number of Grevy's zebra and which the Saint Louis Zoo was instrumental in containing. Geoffrey's research has uncovered evidence that there were a number of unrecorded anthrax outbreaks at various times in the 20th century that had gone completely unnoticed. And he's doing this project for this undergraduate thesis.

We have a frequent visitor at camp here which causes equal parts commotion and hilarity. A member of the touraco family, this is a big gray bird with a big white-belly. It also has a call like a duck and a tall star crest. He invariably announces his presence with authority by soaring into camp, quacking at the top of his lungs, and crash lands in the top of a fig tree or bush and proceeds to thrash around in the foliage like a drunk in a cornfield. It has the uncanny ability to know when one of its observers wants to take a picture. It will eventually tire of flogging the shrubbery and will extricate itself, posing dramatically for a close-up. Only when you finally give in to its antics and return with a camera, will it disappear without a sound.

Love to my family. More later.

Tuesday, March 20
Lewa Conservancy

Christy wrote: It is so different here in Lewa. It's very lush and green, and they've had quite a bit of rain. We have seen tons of animals right away, including a white rhino that was right next to our truck. And we all got really quiet and could hear him chomping away at the grass.

On Monday, we met with Joseph, who is going to be in charge of us here at Lewa. He took us to our camp and talked to us about the research we would be helping with. That evening we went on a sunset drive, which was gorgeous. So beautiful, I can't even explain it to you.

It rained this morning! We did a census of Grevy's zebra in the morning and then in the afternoon did vegetation transects, which is something I'm not very good at. So I'm trying to learn my grasses and things that are new to me!

This afternoon we walked down this ravine, and as my family knows, I'm terrified of heights. So thanks to everyone who helped me get down there to see the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen. It started to rain again, and we headed back to camp. It was a bit dicey on the slick roads, but we made it back safe and sound.

Tuesday morning, March 20
wet, wet Wamba

Dave wrote: We are the rain-makers. We arrived at Wamba and by the end of the day, the rains had arrived and continued today. They had not had rain since December. So as you might imagine, we are quite popular.

I mentioned that Dr. Philip from Wamba Hospital ate dinner with us last night. Philip is a fascinating person, a self-proclaimed man of two worlds. He arrived at our camp dressed in full-blown Samburu regalia. Something he has not done for this big of a group before. He then spoke with us about HIV and hospital bed capacity, among other things. He was locally raised in a traditional Samburu family. His grandfather had more than 20 wives. And he feels his heritage quite strongly. At the same time, he is a modern man, betting the local odds by getting an education and going to medical school. He then returned to his local tribe and serves a vast, vast area.

People like Philip have the best chance of helping the people and wildlife in this area, as far as I'm concerned. He believes in his culture, but know there are things that need to change about it. He is risking outcast status by raising his family in such a way that it takes the best of both worlds. One of the things that Philip says he is most proud of is the reaction of Samburu men when they see him working at the hospital. He says that often when they look at him they find his achievements impressive and they would reflect well on a man's family to have a son that becomes a doctor. Little by little, step by step, attitudes in this seriously traditional society change for the better, without sacrificing their identity.

At then end of the evening, I gave Philip a laptop that several team members from a previous trip to Wamba sent with me, to help with his work. He was quite beside himself and very moved at the generosity of the gift. So to those of you who were responsible for the laptop, it was a first-rate idea and genuinely appreciated.

We drove a long stint today, long intervals where we saw nothing but livestock and the occasional lone stallion. Then we came upon what was described as the preferred foaling area for the Grevy's zebra. Although we only saw one foal on the ground, we spent an hour amidst a vast herd of over 200 zebra. It was an amazing and sobering experience to be in the middle of over 10% of all the wild Grevy's zebra left on the planet.

Love to my family. More later.

Monday night, March 19
Lewa Conservancy

Christy wrote: Today we drove for two hours to census Grevy's zebra in the Samburu Reserve, and we could definitely tell when we got there because all of a sudden it was lush and green, which is very different from the red dirt and sparse vegetation we've been used to in Wamba. We saw waterbuck, elephant, giraffe, baboon. We didn't see any Grevy's until we were almost out of the park (where it was the driest area) and we saw one Grevy's for the whole day.

We then pulled up along the riverbank to eat our lunch, and what came up but a bunch of elephants - even with babies! They came up right next to our vehicle and that was a little bit scary at first but we enjoyed our lunch there.

A few of my friends here want to send a shout-out to their loved ones who are reading this blog. So from Bethany, from Utah's local zoo, and Josh, from L.A., hello to their families!

As for my family, tell Jillian to hug my dog for me while I'm gone. I miss you and will talk to you soon!

Monday, March 19
hot, hot Wamba

Dave wrote: Okay, we're at Wamba and now it's hot. Lewa was warm, but this is another story all together. Wamba compound is half-way up a big hill overlooking Wamba town. It's a very garden-like little setting compared to Lewa. Like Lewa, the vervet monkeys are ever present, only they don't behave badly like they do at Lewa, or so we are told. Mercy, Wamba camp manager, assures us with a straight face that the monkeys here are "disciplined." So we won't be subjected to the delinquents like the three we got to know at Lewa. We called them Ethel, Pooch and Spartacus and they require constant watching.

We'll be getting a great deal of cultural education here during this leg of the trip. The Samburu people are so vital to the conservation efforts in this area that ignoring their impact on and their stake in this process would be like taking a knife to a gunfight.

We ended our afternoon by hiking to the top of the hill behind the camp, which reminded me exactly how close St. Louis is to sea level. Dinner was lively. We had six languages represented. Dr. Philip from Wamba Hospital ate with us and talked to us. But that's for another night.

Love to my family. More later.

Sunday, March 18
Lewa Conservancy

Dave wrote: I find it very hard to credit that we've reached the last night here at Lewa, and bright and early tomorrow we fly to Wamba.  To celebrate the occasion, we did a night game drive with the express purpose of trying to find a leopard.  Jospeh and Benjamin have so far been absolute magicians when it comes to showing off amazing animal moments, so we were very optimistic about our chances. Unfortunately, the leopard proved to be equal to our friend's conguring skill and failed to make an appearance.  Early on we saw a promising pair of eyes in the spotlight and we all got very excited until we realized it was a waterbuck.  It was neat to see the waterbuck, but we all agreed that it was very bad form on the waterbuck's part to impersonate a lion.  Everything looks different at night.  We did see a lot of neat animals.  For all you small mammal lovers out there, we saw a white-tailed mongoose and a hare.

It's been an amazing week filled with more wonders than I can count and it has just flown by.  Many thanks to Joseph and Benjamin, Carol and Luce, David Parkinson, Professor Rubenstein, and all the other people at Lewa and Northern Rangelands Trust.  

Love to my family. More later.

Sunday morning, March 18
Wamba

Christy wrote: After we did zebra identification on Saturday, we went on a cultureal visit in Wamba to a Samburu wedding.  Talk about your party - thesee weddings last three days!  We were able to see the final day and were treated with traditional singing and dancing, which includes a lot of jumping around.  They even let us join in and had us bobbing up and down along with them.  We were so good, I'm sure we really looked like part of the ceremony...

All of the kids were very interested in us (well, I'm sure everyone was wondering who we were, but the kids were the most obvious about it!)  We took lots of pictures with them on our digital cameras and they like looking at themselves right away.  It was quite amusing and our technology made us very popular.

It was all just so cool. 

Saturday morning, March 17
Lewa - the best place on Earth

You cannot afford to miss the acacia grove, like emerald banks floating through the lowlands, their trunks nearly superfluous. You cannot afford to miss the flocks of hadada ibis, flying coarsely on their way to roost at sunset. You cannot afford to miss the meandering streams trickling through the variety of fertile greens, in more shades of color I have ever seen. You cannot afford to miss the sunbirds, like molten gems in the trees.

You'll never for one minute regret coming here. Trust me.

Love to my family. More later.

Saturday, March 17
Wamba

So better in fact, that we spent all morning today doing zebra identification. We learned how to identify zebras by their stripes. A zebra's stripes are like a human's thumbprint, each individual is uniquely different. The pictures that we took the other day are stored in a database with stats and whereabouts listed. Now when we go back and observe the Grevy's zebras, we can look through that database and match the zebras we identify with those that we have already censused. In this way, we can monitor how one individual is faring.

We record all of their movements and whereabouts so that we can learn more about the Grevy's, why they do what they do, and how we can help their populations from declining.

But aside from the scientific mumbo jumbo, following the individual Grevy's zebra is a lot like being the paparazzi, only a lot more fun. :)

Friday night, March 16
Lewa

Dave wrote: Today we witnessed a sad and exhilarating example of one of the reasons we are doing the work here at Lewa. We got up early and left at 5:30 a.m. to go look for lions. Yes, my incredulous co-workers, I said 5:30 a.m. After a long drive in the dark with our driver Benjamin and a conservancy ranger, we descended from a rocky ridge to a wide valley gutted with shrubs and other cover. We knew from our ranger we were close, but it was still a shock to suddenly spy the lions slinking through the tall grass. Pulling up alongside, we were stunned to discover the lions were on a recent kill. It was a Grevy's zebra foal. The seven ten-month cubs were gathered around, gnarling and snarling and eating their fill. After awhile one of the two resident lionesses ventured to her feet and watched us warily. It was a dreadfully beautiful spectacle. We stayed for about 20 minutes while a jackal trotted onto the scene, thought about it for awhile, and decided the odds were just not in his favor.

But now there is one fewer Grevy's foal to grow up and increase the population. Lewa is intended to be a source for repopulating other areas of Kenya with Grevy's zebras and if the population won't grow, Lewa can't do that. We had some free time today when the truck went down and we visited the Northern Rangelands Trust offices and also talked to David Parkinson, the deputy director of Lewa. He spoke at length about Lewa's mission and history, the conservancy... I don't have room here to do them justice.

Time to go now, we have to get my teammate Kate's pajamas back from the monkeys.

Love to my family. More later.

Thursday night, March 15
good ole Lewa

Dave wrote: On our way to the morning census loop the other day, we came across the three young resident cheetah males.  These guys are the rockstars of the conservancy and they know it.  Someone always knows the area they are in and when they are spotted, the Land Rovers coverge like paparazzi.  We bounced over to a featureless expanse of hillside when out of nowhere teh cheetahs had popped up out of the tall grass about eight feet from our tire.  The other two stuck their heads up soon after, while we cackled away in the Land Rover like a bunch of drunken hens.  They stared at us with vast boredom.

It was not long before the nearest cheetah had enough and he heaved himself to his feet in mild disgust.  He ambled about ten feet away, flopped down in the grass and promptly disappeared.  The other two promptly ignored us.  Then we drove away to a full day of counting zebras and studying behavior.

Love to my family. More later. 

Wednesday, March 14
Wamba, Kenya

Christy wrote: Wednesday our team split into two groups, two did interviews with elders and two of us went out to do more census work on Grevy's. It was a different location than the day before and at first we weren't seeing any Grevy's, maybe two or three.  We saw some other really cool animals like th bat-eared fox, which the researchers say they hardly ever see.  We saw gerenuk, Grant's gazelle and white stork.  But finally, after we had been out for several hours, I was the first one to spot a zebra in the distance!  Usually the researchers see them first because they are so much better at spotting them.

So we headed over and it was one stallion with some plains zebras and he started to walk away and we saw the most amazing thing.  From as far as I could see there were zebras. It took us almost an hour and a half just to count them all, see what gender they were, what age they were and take pictures of them for identification.  There were over 112 Grevy's and over 25 plains zebras all together.  

It was the most amazing sight! 

Wednesday night, March 14
Lewa Conservancy, Kenya

Dave wrote: Well I got to say that I'm feeling grass.  While counting the zebras requires skill, inspecting them at 200 meters is an art.  Trying to figure out the various grasses in the area is a job for someone who is...well not me.  I really can't tell my watergrass from my needlegrass from my bamboo grass.  Funny, none of it looks at all like alfalfa or orchid grass.  We have done all of the census we are going to do and will continue with the vegetation sampling and behavioral observation.  I'm sure that will involve more long trips in a Land Rover.  We have collectively agreed that by the end of the trip the marveling of our posteriors will be first rate.  

On the birding front, after three days in Africa, I have seen over 60 new species!  

Love to my family and friends. More later.

Tuesday night, March 13
Wamba, Kenya

Christy wrote: The first day of field research in Wamba, as we were heading out to our starting point, I saw a baboon!  And before we got to our official starting point, I saw my first Grevy's zebra, and as a fellow volunteer pointed out, I had a moment there were I got teary eyed, it was so exciting!  In our first group of Grevy's zebra we actually saw a stallion, an infant male and a mare.  We censused for about six hours and saw a total of 39 Grevy's, which is just so amazing, because it is so hot and dry here.

We saw lots of other animals: dik-dik, gerenuk, ostrich, plains zebras.  I took lots and lots of pictures because it was my first time seeing all of these animals.  We had lunch out in the field, went back to camp and then had a lecture on different conservation work going on in the area.

And that was pretty much our day!  It was the best day ever.  It was so what I was expecting, seeing all kinds of wildlife and helping with Grevy's zebra research.  Talk to you tomorrow!

Evening of Tuesday, March 13
Lewa Conservancy, Kenya

Dave wrote: The Lewa Conservancy sits like a vast rich platter surrounded by mountains, the white summit of Mount Kenya to keep an eye on things.  The grass is long right now, the year's fortunate rain has kept things green.  There are colors of green here I have never seen before.

We learned our craft this morning, Joseph showed us the art of zebra identification and counting, and tried to tutor us on the various common grasses we would encounter.  Hope there's no test on that last part.

We counted zebra all afternoon and learned new respect for those who are really good at this stuff.  Their distribution is still a mystery to me; some places have groups of zebras - plains, Grevy's or both - about the landscape and other places are wide expanses of nothing, like open seas where the wind sends the grasses rolling and breakers for the horizon.  More sense to think tomorrow.

Love to my family.  More later. 

Monday night, March 12
Lewa Conservancy, Kenya

Dave wrote: We left from Nairobi and rode the shoulder of Mount Kenya and settled into...a wonderland.  We stepped onto the red gravel and saw immediately in the far distance, a dark silhouette of a giraffe.  We stopped at Lewa headquarters and were greeted by a riot of activity - not because of the people, but because of the animals.  Scores of weaver birds chattered in the trees around the open pavilion, hornbills squawked and the vervet monkey strutted around making sure the humans know that they were in charge.  There was even a female ostrich who paced around in dignified confusion.

We talked at great length to Dan Rubenstein, the primary investigator of the project, an energetic man who has studied Grevy's zebras for over 20 years.  We drove through the conservancy in late afternoon and saw more wonders than I have time to describe.  Dozens of zebra - plains and Grevy's - often accompanied by Grant's gazelles and their proposterious horns.  25 species of birds so far!

Tomorrow the work starts. Love to my family.  More later.  Jet lag is pounding me to death.

Monday night, March 13
Wamba, Kenya

Christy wrote: We left Nairobi in the morning and met up with our group.  We boarded a small plane and flew by Mount Kenya, which was AWESOME!  We landed on a dirt landing strip at Lewa Conservancy, were I saw my first wild animal: a warthog.  We dropped off four team members that were starting their field work (Dave included) and then our group of four went back in the plane to travel to our destination: Wamba.

Our team landed and drove to basecamp, where we got to know where we will be staying, and they made some GREAT food for us.  We had a briefing, where we learned how to use our GPS (global positioning device) and what animals we might encounter tomorrow.  After the briefing, we drove into town for dinner and to meet Philip who clued us into the Samburu culture.  Very interesting. 

Monday, March 12 at 6 a.m.
Nairobi, Kenya

Christy wrote: It's 6 a.m. Kenya time.  We have traveled for 24 hours through many time zones with no sleep for 30 hours.  I got a few hours of sleep here at the hotel in Nairobi.  And in an hour we are going to meet our group to travel to the field.  The only main thing that has happened so far is that my sunscreen was confiscated in St. Louis.  So hopefully this morning I can go get some sunscreen, otherwise this Irish girl is going to be very burnt.  But all our luggage made it, which is one thing we were really worried about. 

Sunday, March 11
Amsterdam Airport

Dave wrote: We left Atlanta in daylight, landed in Amsterdam in daylight and somehow a whole night went by during a few fitful naps.  Dawn arrived at the same time Ireland did, but the Emerald Isles and everything else was socked in and all we got was a few glimpses of the Liverpudlian Coast before touchdown in Amsterdam.  Speaking of landing in Amsterdam, those who have done it know just how disconcerting it is to watch the trip statistic screen on your plan and see the altitude number go into the negative...

A final note, Americans don't truly understand how much space they have it seems to me.  The realms of Europe really rub shoulders with each other and the speeds with which one crosses borders in the air is truly eye-opening.  Love to my family and friends.  More later.

Sunday, March 11
Atlanta airport

Dave wrote: The commitment of the Saint Louis Zoo to the communities and people of Kenya is truly an amazing thing, but the efforts of some could be considered...overzealous.

For example, my suitcase resembled a sea chest more than anything else. I managed to get it through the baggage check and discovered that my bags were profoundly overweight. We made quite the spectacle in the terminal squatting over our opened bags. A snowstorm of clothes, shoes and coloring books surrounding us, we opened a thrift shop right there in the terminal and made enough money to cover our hotel bill in Nairobi...

Friday, March 9 at 4:45 p.m.
The Zoo!

Christy wrote: I have been trying to learn as much as possible about Kenya by reading about the people, the culture, the land and most fascinating to me as a zookeeper - the animals I may see! I have read my Expedition Briefing with all the information about the Grevy's zebra research we will be helping with. I have also been communicating with the other zookeepers throughout the U.S. who will be going, so we can get to know each other before we meet up in Nairobi. I think one of the most exciting things about this trip is that I will get to experience it all with people who are as passionate and committed to animal care and conservation as I am.

I don't quite know what to expect, except that it is going to be the trip of a lifetime. It still seems unbelievable to me that I will get to experience what life is like for the wild counterparts of the animals I take care of everyday. I feel so fortunate that the Saint Louis Zoo has chosen to send me on this expedition.

The next time I write I'll be in Africa and I can't wait!

Thursday, March 8 at 9:43 a.m.
Red Rocks, Saint Louis Zoo

Christy wrote: The biggest challenge for me so far has been trying to figure out what to pack. Fortunately, Earthwatch and people I know who have gone to Africa, have given me their suggestions for what I may need to bring. One thing I will definitely bring with me is my new camera and lenses. I don't have much experience as a photographer, so I have been trying to practice using my camera as much as possible. Check out a few of my trial runs on Our Picture Gallery.

Wednesday, March 7 at 5:05 p.m.
Kitchen of the Antelope House

Dave wrote: When I told my mother I was going on this trip, she was so excited, she immediately buried me in field guides for Eastern Africa: birds, mammals, customs officials, you name it. The bird guide was what really mattered. Used. By her. I introduced this woman to bird-watching years ago and she had the profound bad manners to blow by me in life list numbers like I was broke down on the shoulder of the birding freeway. That's gratitude.

Guess I better get to packing all my camera equipment, etc. Binoculars (thanks Mom and Dad), digital camcorder (borrowed), camera and gigantic new zoom lens (thanks DB and Mari-Mari).

Hm. I think we're gonna need a bigger plane...

Tuesday, March 6 at 12:05 p.m.
Saint Louis Zoo

Christy wrote: I am so excited about this trip to Kenya! There is a lot to do to prepare for my journey. Luckily some of my co-workers have been on similar trips before, so their advice has been invaluable. The first thing I had to do, after I found out I was going to Africa, was to get a new passport, since my old one was expired. I have only been outside the U.S. once, when I went to France in high school. After my passport arrived I had to send it off with my visa application. Next, I went to get all of my vaccinations: five shots! The travel clinic doctor also gave me a prescription for anti-malaria pills. But most importantly, I had to assure my mom that I would be safe. Everything else was easy compared to that task!

Monday, March 5 at 7:15 a.m.
Sunny St. Louis

Everyone around me is terribly excited about my impending trip. Hm. Maybe they're just happy to have me gone for two weeks. Hadn't thought about that...