Over breakfast learn of the swelling village population (likely related to access of free, clean water).

View a lion in the bush!

See director while running, get the thumbs up. Later learn that whenever she runs the security folks run behind her, report on the radio that ‘mama is running.’

Some researchers throw a celebration in the village. Traditional cooking with a huge vat of boiled sheep, ugali, rice, and cabbage cooked in the biggest pots I’ve ever seen. First all the kids lined up (a ton of them!) with their little bowls in hand. Then the Whities and then the Kenyan adults. Next a few speeches in English, Swahili, and Turkana (the main tribe of folks here). Then the kids did some singing and stomping/moshing and then the men did some dancing. They got in a half circle, sang, and then two or three of them would jump in unison into the center and back. All of this illuminated by a little fire and a few lanterns in the trees.

Now I'm covered in sheep grease and dust from sitting on the ground and I think I have half an animal stuck in my teeth. Off to wash my hands and floss my gums...

Finish up in field, spend rest of day processing samples in lab. Encounter the largest engorged tick I've ever seen!

Coordinate travels home.

Middle of day interjected with great surprise: package! Yeah! Only took 17 days! Thanks mom and dad!

Good news on the Kenyan political front

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/world/africa/29kenya.html?_r=1&8au&emc=au&oref=slogin

Trying to coordinate plans with a field assistant to go and check out their experimental plot, maybe help with some ant ids.

Collect pitfall traps this morning. And turned out to be a wildlife morn! Saw wild dog running around by station while driving up to field sites. Two big waterbuck bums as they run into bush. Giraffes (baby too! though already taller than me…) hanging out with zebras. Drive back: awed by ostriches running across road.

Field assistant’s sister runs women’s co-op makes Kenyan items, picked up a few things to take home.

Process samples. Take contents of pitfall traps (=mass of insects and water) and strain so have ball of insects, and then pick through the ‘desirables.’

After shower hear noises, sounds like barking. At dinner compare notes and conclude jackals are riled up about something.

Another long day in field. Took me half a day to wake up.

Driving back on bumpy road, through the noise and the Swahili accents I hear “Kikiyou (=member of Kenyan majority tribe) killed by lion” “you know, larger than eland, with stripes” “the hippo pool” “killed sometime last night.”

Find out later that a “Kudu” (large antelope, not Kenyan tribesman) was killed by a lion by the hippo pools. Ah, now I understand.

Enjoy some Sundowners on rock outcrop (with disagreement as to namesake, new researcher claims its his, other says no way).

Didn’t get to sleep until late. Still needed to work through the final details for sampling today, so worked until bedtime. Which meant brain was still engaged when it should have been sleeping. And my foot was really itchy. And then the Wild dogs were hunting through the station. I could hear them vocalizing and the Dikdiks alarm calling. Woke up early for Skye date. Ate Powerbar for breakfast so could chat longer. Out to field to start collect specimens for food web analysis = hand collecting acacia ants and arboreal insects, setting pitfall traps for ground insects. Long field day, worked through half of the sites and was dragging arse by the end. Sun and wind got me all dried out.

Met new visitor at dinner. She’s a Masters student who was originally stationed in Nairobi working for the UN Environmental Program. UN got nervous in Jan with political fallout and sent every non-permanent worker home. This woman wanted to continue to do work in Kenya and got hooked up with a researcher here.

Catch up on Sunday paper and science literature. Welcome new researcher who’s done a lot of work here. Nice to connect the face (and sweet personality) with the reputation. Work through sampling protocol – want to get start getting some preliminary food web data (= my original proposal). I’d like to see if something interesting is going on in the glades, but don’t want to blow my budget on a potentially crap side project. Figure I might as well collect the specimens for analysis and keep my options open.

Get a chance to through a disc, which always makes me happy. Might be figuring out my high forehand, we’ll see… Skype with folks at night, get to hear vacation stories and see a picture of Ike on video. Yeah!

Last day of baiting, and this morning we cover a bit of politics – my field assistants are very excited as the possibility of Obama becoming President. The running joke is that a Luo, the Kenyan minority tribe of Obama’s father, will be president in the US before Kenya. He wonders what time is it in the US right now and when I travel from the US if I can take a direct flight to Nanyuki.

Work on MN – VT roadtrip details. Try to work in a stop in Chicago to visit a good friend’s HS biology class to chat about the Kenya trip. Enjoy a great dinner at couple’s house. Homemade pizza and cold beers. Real cheese and great spices. Sooo fat and happy.

Surrounded by KWS crew as I eat breakfast. Guns propped against chairs as they eat, one guy has his upright between his legs, barrel pointed as his cheek while he eats his toast.

In field, ants still sparse, so compare notes on US vs Kenyan marriage, religion, dancing. He mentions that “most people marry within 2 months, if you don’t another guy will come in and steal your girl.” Women usually marry by 20-22, men 24-27. Most folks in the area are Catholic, whose hour long church service is preferred to the traditional 8a-2p service. We both note how people have left the Catholic church after learning or watching church heads lose their desirability as role models. His village has traditional music with drums and guitar. He says that most children are not learning the songs because they feel it’s old fashioned and they want to be modern.

Find out that the fire wasn’t on Mpala, but on a neighboring ranch. Took most of the day to put out the fire started by some folks trying to smoke out some bees to harvest the honey.

At lunch I learn that the wild dogs were hunting around station last night. They make a “who-who!” call when one is separated from the pack and wants to locate its buddies. When friend was walking her dog in the morn, saw a bunch of tracks on the road by the station.

Organize data, shot off an email about some new ideas on a related project. Hear back and project manager is excited about the possibilities. Perhaps can get another project cooking out here.

Wild dog researchers had tracked the dogs during the day, and they were resting about two km from the station. So we grab some wine and have our sundowners watching the Wild dogs. The dogs rest all day in shade, then around sunset get riled up and start playing with each other, before they go off to hunt together during the night. We hope to see them playing with eat other, but they rest until after sundown. What we did see were two Spotted hyenas resting with the pack of Wild dogs. It was absolutely incredible how close we could get to them. The few times the researchers have seen the Wild dogs hunt they have spotted a hyena nearby; likely the hyenas scavenge the dogs’ kill, but uncertain. On drive to station, catch a giraffe in the remaining daylight. Once back at the station, we hear something rustle in the grass as we walk to dinner, and spy a hedgehog!

More baiting today, ants not very active so have some down time to compare some notes with the [field assistant]. Topics include how far away our families are from where we work [400km], How long [13 hrs], cost [~1,000 shillings, ~$15US, one way] and by what means [Matatu = minibus] we travel through the country to see them. He asks what kind of meat we eat in the US, and we spend some time figuring out how much a kilo of cow costs (converting $/lb to shillings/kilo). I ask a bunch of questions of life in his village, find out his family farms, raising food for substance, maize, beans, etc. Hunting wildlife isn’t allowed, and perpetrators are jailed by the Kenyan Wildlife Service. Folks kill impala and eland with arrows (some use outlawed guns). He notes that it is easy to kill Dikdik (a small, spaniel sized antelope; they’re ubiquitous and hang around the station a lot), practically through a stone and it’s dead. Eland is the best meat (some report it’s better than cow) but it takes a long time to kill, can take all day when using arrows. His village is outside of Eldoret where a lot of post-election violence has occurred. His brother has moved from the city back to the village.

At lunch the station mechanic runs past and speeds off in his truck. He gets joked a bit by other station workers, I bemuse – watch, there’s a fire and we’re making fun of him. Of course he’s running because there’s purportedly a fire on the border of Mpala where a lot of folks are running field experiments.

At night walk into dining area to get food, and see about a dozen guys in fatigues and rifles. Their guns are stashed under table like kick-off shoes. Find out they’re the anti-poaching unit of the Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) and they’ve been tracking an elephant poacher to the area, so they’ll be here for the night.

Middle of night hear a loud ‘WHO-WHO!” noise, sounds a bit like a bird, but definitely different. And very loud.

Briefly check out busted exclosure, continue baiting study. Captivate field assistant with an enthusiastic telling of last night’s buffalo-flat tire story. One assistant asks me how many brothers and sisters I have, and we end up comparing family sizes. One field assistant has 11 siblings, the other has seven. Both mention that they don’t want as many kids (one has three kids and says ‘that’s enough’ – the other says he wants two or three). One makes the statement “people in US rich, and have few kids, people are here poor and have many.”

Successfully submit conference Abstract, going to wait to see if they select if for an oral presentation. Coordinate sampling with another project, going to do some ant species identifications for them. It’s a beautiful night and decide to so another game drive. We took a different, ridiculous small vehicle which reminds me a clown car.

We try to lure in animals by making dying animal noises. We park the mini-car in a big clearing and call out the window. Wait awhile and hear some elephants trumping a little way away. Eventually a white-tailed mongoose sauntered up to the car for a look, and then took off.

We head along a road with high grassy banks, take a sharp turn, and almost run into an elephant. It wasn’t full grown but it towers above us. We (both us and the ele) freeze and the driver and I are in full silent panic. If the ele gets pissed it could gore the car and/or crush it like a tin can. As we rev the car to get out of there we spook it and it runs away. I can safely report that my adrenaline is in full working order.

On the drive back we spy lots of Bushbabies. As you stop to look at them they eject themselves off the thick bushes – it looks like they’re spring loaded. One jumps on the end of a branch, toward the car, and for a few seconds we get a great view of it. Then it ejects itself, but finds itself in the middle of the road. Instead of using all its limbs to run, it takes huge bounds on its back feet, looking like an ultra mini-kangaroo bouncing across the road.

Finish the night drinking beer on the veranda of a friend's banda. It was a full moon in a cloudless sky and I’ve never seen more distinct moonshadows. In the distance the lions were roaring – a sound so deep and primal I can almost feel it resonate in my bones.

Start new baiting study, see how termite mounds may affect diversity of ant communities. One field assistant is wearing a Boston Red Sox hat – nice to see Sox fans are everywhere! Partly cloudy skies this morn, cooler. May be a sign that that rains may be arriving soon. Work on Abstract to submit for oral presentation at Entomology meeting in South Africa. Go for a run around the station, exchange enthusiastic “hellos!” with Mpala schoolkids walking back to the village.

Hear about giraffe damage to one of the exclosure plots (=large ‘cage’ of wires and posts cemented in ground to keep out big mammalian herbivores). Somehow it got into the exclosure and then got tangled up on the way out (maybe spooked by something?), knocked over the posts and took out big swath of wires.

Epic night drive! Out for awhile, and haven’t really seen anything. Friend comments “Games drives are so hit or miss. So often they are a big bust.” Not more than five minutes later we see the silhouette of something sitting on the side of the road. It’s not moving, but appears to have the outline of a hyena. As we approach, it slinks cat-like into the grass. And it’s got a really long tail. Turns out we’ve spied a leopard! It moves slowly and we get a good long peek at it. What a beautiful creature. We drive a bit farther, and the driver jokes, that she hasn’t seen a lion for awhile, and we’re only stopping for lions. The friend manning the spotlight sees something – we ask, “Is it lion, we’re only stopping for lions…” He responds “No, it’s a leopard.” Ha ha, we think, really, what is it? We drive after it, and it’s another freaking leopard! It’s a juvenile, and we get pretty close to it. We start making dying animal noises, and it stops and looks at us for awhile. We follow it as it takes us for three or four loops around a large bush, and then loose it in the brush. Awesome!

We head back towards the station along a river that parallels the river. It’s a full moon tonight, and we can clearly see a spotted hyena taking a drive by the water. Driver asks me, can you stick your head out of the window, the front left tire feels a little squishy. Yup, it’s loosing air. We go on for awhile, and it’s getting worse. So my friend gets out of the vehicle to check it, but asks if we can see any animals nearby. We don’t so she jumps out and confirms we’ve got a flat. As she’s opening the door to get back in, she sees two big red eyes staring back at her. Two big red eyes on a massive head. Two big red eyes on a massive head about 20 feet away. Turns out what we thought was an innocent Bushbaby (small monkey) was actually a ridiculously large buffalo (notorious for charging, asking questions later). The guy on the spotlight said “the eyes were so bright I assumed it was a Bushbaby, a Bushbaby on a rock. The eyes started moving up and down, and I thought it was jumping on the rock. But then I saw the rock was moving too…”

Well, now we got a flat tire, a driver who’s recovering from being totally freaked by a buffalo, and as it turns out, about three or four buffalos nearby. We drive a bit farther down the road and have no choice but to change the tire. My two friends change the tire while I stand through the hatch and man the spot. One friend is worried to jack up the car any farther because we’re already unstable, but the tire’s totally flat and we can’t dig to free it, so we jack it up some more. In ten minutes or so we got the new tire on and safely jimmied out the jack. Safely make it back to the station and relive the events of the evening…

Up early to get some skype lovin. And grab a shot of the sunrise with Mt. Kenya in the distance. Restless night of sleep, just couldn’t get comfy and brain wouldn’t disengage. Decide to stay in the lab and do more ant sorting from the pitfall traps. Discovered more podcasts (thank you NPR’s ‘All Songs Considered’) and found that now it feels like I spend my day listening to the radio instead of staring at dead insects. And I seem to get more work done. I like it. At lunch the director asked me if I was listening to “Wait Wait… Don’t tell me” as they could hear some voices from the lab. I confessed. Figured out some species IDs after lunch which I find a small but momentous occasion. Almost finished my novel (“Three Junes”) during the sunset. Per usual I don’t want to say goodbye to the characters…

Station was buzzed early this morn by small prop plane used by wild dog researchers, not the worst alarm clock I suppose. Delighted to see pancakes for breakfast with some papayas and pineapple. Read the New York Times, copy some recipes I’m excited to try. Watch a cardinal woodpecker make some racket outside the window. Finally find a fribee buddy and toss a disc! So happy!

Flush out details for sampling protocol for next couple weeks. Get an email with some great insect data – appears a potential collaboration is coming to fruition. Proposed some community ecology ideas a few weeks ago to a grad student who did a lot of work in the glades. Going to analyze his data with some models I used for my grad work, hopefully add another layer of information to understand how land use affects insect communities, and how this may be connected to bird diversity. Can’t believe that I’m leaving in a few weeks, but feeling good about the different projects getting off the ground.

Enjoy sleeping in. Spend morning catching up on current scientific literature. Get email asking if I’d like to be a part of another project here at station – could be cool but not sure how it may unfold. Snap a couple bird couple pictures of weavers and hornbills. Wash some delicates and start to sketch out ideas for the remaining time here. Big excitement tonight – watch a movie (“Chronicles of Narnia”) on a friend’s computer accompanied by M&M’s and Pinotage.

Up early to say goodbye to folks before they head out on a much deserved vacation. Work out some details for a possible collaboration. Catch a White-bellied canary outside the lab. It’s really hot and I’m exhausted so I read through the afternoon heat. Enjoy some sundowners at a couple’s house during a doggie playdate. Beautiful house they rent about 25 minute away from station, right on the river. Do a little birding while exercising the dogs.

Read an article in the New York Times that has a good summary on the current issues in Kenya.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/world/africa/15kenya.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Finished baiting today. On drive up to field sites had Valentine’s Day discussion with field assistants. Apparently there’s much similarity between the Kenyan and American celebration, mainly the giving of flowers, and a bit surprising to me, the wearing of red clothing, as one field assistant enthusiastically pointed out his bright red fleece worn just for the occasion. While sampling heard a loud ruckus which snapped my head up. Sounded a bit like the Grevy’s zebras that hang out by the bandas at night, but a bit more intense. Maybe in distress? Or estrus? Four repeated bursts, and seemed to be heading away from the plot, never got a visual.

Had a veritable feast at lunch. Chicken, potatoes, garlic green beans (mmm, been missing my garlic), salad. And cupcakes topped with red frosting hearts.

Heard stories of domestic cat and wildlife interactions. Small orange cat, beloved pet, outside when elephants come through. Owners petrified of possibilities, watch as cat plays unaware of pachyderm presence. Suddenly becomes cognizant, and starts to playfully swipe at elephant’s trunk, likely unaware of the large mass possessing it. Elephant registers cat, gets spooked, and vacates. Goes to cat’s head, actively stalks elephants from that date forward. Same couple, different cat. Comes back to house to find door open, papers strewn about, and cat missing. Reports of leopard hanging around house thereafter...

Also heard that researcher is stuck in Nairobi, as Virgin Airways is cancelling flights because no one from UK is flying out, so no planes available to fly back.

Finish data entry from bait study, watch Talek enjoy a (zebra’s?) jawbone and enjoy some sundowners. On the drive out catch some Mpala kids playing football on a dusty airstrip during sunset. And send some Valentine’s Day greetings from the top of Lookout Rock.

Successful skype session with parents. Clicked a couple video snapshots of the family. A handful of field assistants came through the lab this morning, and I enthusiastically showed off Ike’s handsome profile. My mom took the opportunity to send her greetings to them. They wondered what time it was were I was from and said I must miss my dog a lot.

A researcher heads out today. He’s scheduled to leave at 11a from Nanyuki, but got advised to call to confirm flight times. Turns out they’re scheduled to leave an hour early (!). So he rushes off, likely just so he can wait longer when the flight will inevitably be delayed. With the conflict a lot of folks are flying instead of driving, so the domestic flights are full and on highly variable ‘schedules.’ When booking my flights out of here, I was annoyed to have a 12hr layover in Nairobi, but now I’m taking some comfort in the big travel window.

Spend day entering data and drive up with some friends to a big glade to catch the sun set and play with the dog a bit.

Oddly enough the cafe at the airstrip is known for their chocolate cake, and the researcher sends back practically an entire sheet of cake. At dinner we eat it until we cnn't see straight. It's the richest moistest thing I've had in months, and my body doesn't know what to do with it.

Out baiting again. It’s hot today but my master baiting skills carry me through (thanks for that, NAD SV). Afternoon of data entry and attempted communication with parents. Cap off day with another episode of Planet Earth. Find a large spider hanging out inside the netting around my bed. After the discovery that a frisbee perfectly covers my wastebasket, and much poking and prodding, I successfully relocate the visitor to the outdoors.

Start off morning skyping, and thus, feeling good. Have a good time doing more baiting, already seeing some cool preliminary patterns. Weather is great, and the work comes easy today. Catch a praying mantis hanging out on an acacia branch.

Do a little office work after lunch and spend some time reading. Manage to go for a running without tripping over any vindictive rocks. Enjoy the new route along the ring road, though the slight hills have my lungs working overtime. And unfortunately I’m running shortly after they’ve lit the fires. Each water tank that feeds a shower is heated by wood, and every late afternoon they come around and start the fires. I try to remember as I’m breathing in the smoky air that it means I get to enjoy a hot shower later. I’m exhausted after dinner and put myself to bed early (I can’t remember the last time I was in bed before 10:00p without being sick). Apparently I slept hard, as I missed the lion and leopard vocalizations reported by neighbor the next morning.

Wake up feeling good – had my first solid, unbroken night of sleep in a good while. French toast for breakfast. Funny how good food can help brighten a mood. (One thing I desperately miss is the ability to choose a menu). Spend morn catching up on scientific literature, afternoon catching up with folks. Spend day behind computer screen but don’t feel too electronically assaulted, actually feel a bit more connected with the world, albeit virtually. Uneventful night game drive – the usual: zebras, impalas, gazelles, but did manage to spot an aardwolf running across the bush and a spotted hyena right as we pull back into the station.

Wake up in foul mood. Seems that monotony of the research station is starting to wear me down. Same people, same conversations, same buildings, same food. While I certainly am enjoying the benefits of isolation – natural beauty, wildlife, escapism – the downfalls – disconnection of family, friends, world in general – have seeped into my overall demeanor. And I think what’s blown it up today is that I’ve become aware of a visiting researcher’s controlling personality. I generally sit back, stay open, and observe folks for awhile before coming to any conclusions on their character. But once I catch a pattern, once I get a read (good or bad) I generally embrace it. So once I register this controlling behavior, bordering on what I consider disrespectful (not to me specifically, but in general), and I find myself really affected. And the isolation is compounding the problem: not only is it hard to get away from this personality, but I also don’t have the friends, family here (or on the phone) to bitch about it.

So head to river with folks to help celebrate a birthday, and I find it both relaxing (ah, the sound of running water) and annoying (er!, controlling behavior). Manage to wander a bit upstream to take a few pictures.

Unfortunately the negative headspace has me in a tailspin – questioning research, career, future, etc. Need a talk with a good friend, but bury myself in a book as the best available substitute.

Head out into field to continue baiting. Watch some ant wars on a few baits, and it’s great to see the field assistant get excited over the ants. Forget to put on sunscreen and by the end I feel dried out from the inside out. Come back to station and a researcher has been in town for the morning and brings back trout pâté. My knees go weak as real food hits my palate. Need a little nap to sleep off the sun. After a reviving shower organize some field samples and skim doctoral thesis on some insect work that was done here a few years ago. Cap off the day with an episode of “Planet Earth.”

Go into field to do some baiting (=tuna) to look at ant activity and their behavior, i.e. fighting. Good: Skype in morn. Bad: Toaster ate crappy bread, someone stole my egg order. Good: Meet up with field assistants on time. Bad: Vehicle has flat tire. Good: Fastest tire change I’ve ever witnessed. Bad: Field assistant can’t drive. Good: I managed to drive a standard without crashing or stalling. Bad: In field, can’t find assistant at designated meeting location. Good: I get more driving practice, he wasn’t gored by a buffalo, and we up finding each other.

Relax a bit after lunch and finish reading “A Primate’s Memoir.” Highly recommended. Figure out research permit details and do a little office work.

Knees feeling better but looking worse.

Spend day sorting through ant samples, trying to get a handle on specie identifications. Long slow process interjected with fabulous moments of understanding. Every once in a while come across a crazy looking one that I can’t wait to figure out. And then a sample filled with hundreds of specimens to sort.

Looks like I’ll be going to an Entomology conference in South Africa (Durban) in July and looking to extend it into a little vacation. More I read about the area the more excited I get. Stumble across a trekking guide to the Drakensberg mountains which recommends a little B&B (the ‘Antbear,’ coincidentally enough) which looks amazing. Off the beaten path in a beautiful location and which embraces sustainability, local foods, and a home-cooked international menu. Sign me up!

Feeling good today. Remember that I currently don’t have a plane ticket to leave here, but thinking of leaving in about a month. Check out one-way tickets to the US, and they’re over $5000. Ouf, maybe I don’t so great after all – have I waited too long to buy my return ticket? Am I stuck out here longer than planned? Check out the round-trip tickets, (leave in March, return in May) and end up finding a really good deal. Whew. Work on my budget and outline a schedule for the rest of my time here, with a little excitement about seeing friends, family, and four-legged back home.

Watch out for buffalo, they say. Keep an eye out for elephants, they warn. But, but, what about the super surprise sneak attack of the Cryptus rockii? The one that just up and attacks you when you least expect it? The one that sends you flying, completely horizontal, when a passerby is watching? The one that turns a simple warm-up run into an extreme adventure outing?

Evidence of its damage. Face omitted to protect the idiotic.

Feeling stronger, but not 100%. Bat around ideas for another paper from my dissertation, and spend the entirety of the day reorganizing and analyzing some data. Work until bedtime and make a few small strides.

Relaxing Sunday morning, ‘read the paper’ online, do some laundry, including some wax covered pants, and read a book outside the banda. Realize if I orient my chair just so I can get a decent view of Mt. Kenya. Enjoy a mid-morning snack of left-over birthday cake. Don’t feel great after lunch and use the time to catch up on some blogs. Find another ‘cribbage-head’ and enjoy my first card game in Kenya. There are some rumblings of organizing some euchre as well… By evening I’m all bundled up and afraid I’ve got a fever. Decide to trade in night game drive for an early night of sleep.

Woke up repeatedly throughout night because of insanely loud wildlife ruckuses. First the hyenas were yapping away, but the loudest perpetrators were the zebras. They have this loud braying vocalization which has been likened to a donkey being dragged down a stairwell by its testicles. They were so loud I thought at one point they were sticking their heads in my window and yelping directly into my banda. And then the sounds of hooves moving quickly along the ground. Later I heard the raspy, breathy, sawing noises characteristic of a leopard. I half expected to find something dead outside my banda in the morning…

Spend day working through ant identification keys. I feel fortunate that I was able to get a working key in progress to help with species identifications, but its incomplete state adds frustration to a tedious, frustrating process.

At point a little Kenya kid, probably 4 or 5, ridiculously cute, comes into the lab and asks me a bunch of questions in Swahili, and regardless of my English response he replies “yes, yes.” Turns on microscope next to me, comes over, tries to get in my lap to look at mine, points at computer and starts hitting the keys, asks me a question two or three times, I think, about the music coming from it. Unfortunately I can’t answer of the questions and I’m in the middle of pinning an ant (= taking a small pin, putting a very small triangular piece of paper on it, putting glue the end of the paper, and carefully positioning the ant in the right orientation onto the point of the paper). My amusement is sliding into frustration, and I’m trying to think how to non-verbally communicate to him that I can’t play right now.

At dinner, it’s a researcher’s visiting mom’s b-day, and she put in a special request for chocolate cake. Happy birthday to us all…

Drive over to a couple’s house about 20 minutes from the station, and right before we arrive we see something cross the road in front of us: lions! My first wild cat sitting!! There’s a big male and a female – they lie down lazily and don’t seem to care about the huge vehicle 10m away with its lights on. The two cozy up together, exchange yawns, and the male makes a half-hearted attempt to mate with her, and she tells him off.

Enjoy my first cold drink in awhile (refrigerators only run at the station when the generators are on – about 5 hours a day) and listen folks catch up on Mpala gossip. Return to the station for a nightcap, can’t find my flashlight, and return to my banda via candlelight.

On drive up to collect pitfall traps, see a jackal watching us pass by, a couple warthogs busting across the roads, and some elephants rumps. Drop off collaborators and then drive to sites with field assistant. All seem to be in good shape (i.e. in ground with water and insects) except at one site where several were dug up (field assistant’s guess is by baboons). First time I’ve been in field alone with field assistants and eventually we strike up conversation and enjoy a fair bit of laughter. At one point a dead branch falls down probably 20 m away, and one field assistant almost jumps out of his shirt – thought it was an elephant charging at us through the bush. Get back to the station and need to sort through samples, to get them into ethanol, and some are absolutely overrun with ants. Tedious process but able to transfer them all by nightfall before they start to rot in the pitfall water. Chat with administrator about billing, and what gets charged to what project. In lab after dinner and watch a Fat-tailed gecko on window, trying with futility to eat bugs gathering on the outside.