TRIP TO MOUNT KENYA
July 11-13, 2009

Arrive and rent out a great banda right outside the park entrance.








Get up early








Check in

And snap the pre-hike photo

We start out as a group of seven, and soon start to break all the hiking rules. After we hike a bit and get some closer views of the peak.


One person turns back early, soon followed by another.
Now we're down to five, and then the clouds roll in, and roll in thick.

We wander into a big valley with an old camping hut.

And outhouse!

Our group of five segregates into two groups, one with the extra water and map, and the other with, er, their wits(?). As we leave the valley, the unmarked trail gets harder to discern, and soon the rock walls and fog permanently separate the two groups. Attempts to find the trail and yawp into the wild prove fruitless, and Stefan and myself (the lost) decide the best bet is to return the big valley, as we know we find the trail back from there.
We arrange some rocks outside the ole shelter and leave a note in case anyone from the other groups comes back searching for us, and make our way back the way we came.

Days spent working on manuscript, planning field protocols with researchers, and doing a bit of preliminary field collections. Get out in the field a bit; one day help out setting some rodent traps. Spot a gathering of vultures, but can’t find any carcass. Few heavy clouds in sky that brighten up the sunset. Get a bit of rain, not enough to green up anything, but enough to make super-clay road a slippery mess. Slid around a bit, but 4WD got us out of the ditch just fine.
Play with a li’l bat (Ivan Batski) that a research rescued from a swarm of ant when it fell out of its nest.

Word one day about a dead elephant not too far from station. Story that they found an AK47 bullet in it; may have been poaching attempt in the north. Take an impromptu night drive with some folks, takes a bit to relocate the carcass in the dark, but sounds of hyenas and smell of decomposition aid our efforts. Can hear sounds, familiar to me as dogs chewing on rawhides, emanating from the general direction of the fallen ele. We sweep the area with the spotlight, and see at least a dozen sets of hyena eyes staring back at us. We turn off the engine and listen to their gnawing and squealing; one hyena unleashes a full blown “laugh,” which sounds like a primitive, hysterical yawp, and echoes through the valley. We drive right next to the ele, and eventually one brave hyena returns, and in the moonlight we watch it lay down and grind down the ele’s knee bone.

Sleeping patterns seem to be a bit off. Work on some manuscript revisions in the morning and then it’s off for a little fourth of July celebration a the river camp (= Mpala’s alternative research base, consisting of a series of tents on platforms, and a kitchen and dining area). Kitchen staff goes all out on a sort of Mediterranean-theme cuisine. The Centre researchers challenge the River Camp researchers to a game of kickball, with the vast majorty of the teams populated by the Kenya field assistants, who immediately embrace the idea to kick the crap out the ball. Base running rules and ball catching skills take a bit longer to master. We return after dinner to enjoy their huge fire pit. One research has brought his fancy speakers (used professionally to observe how gazelles differentially respond to predator playbacks) and a decent dance party breaks out under the stars.

Sleep in until 13:00, get a mid-day check in by a friend to make sure I’m still alive. After breakfastlunch, catch up on a few research updates and do a little work to attempt to summarize my findings to date.

The domestic flight to Nanyuki allows max 15 kg of checked luggage, but doesn’t weigh your carry on, so I transfer my paper and heavy equipment to my backpack, which now feels like I’m transporting bowling balls. Get to little domestic airport early, which despite its somewhat ramshackle outward appearance, has a great little café upstairs. You can watch the little planes come and go with enjoying a decent cup of coffee. Land in Nanyuki without a problem, and am happy to wait for my ride, as it means hanging out at even more beautiful airport café. Soon after, the familiar Prado rolls in, and out roll some familiar and new faces. So nice to be able to reconnect folks I haven’t seen for almost a year! We enjoy some eats at the café, and head into town to run some errands. Arrive at the station, and am a little sad to see I don’t have the same banda (lucky #7) that I’ve had the two previous visits. I’m off in the small grouping of newer bandas on the north end of the station. I get a larger banda, designed to house 4 people, to myself. I’m also next door to a good friend. I unpack and catch up with folks at sundowners on lookout rock. I catch up with the wild dog researcher, who know has her own house at Mpala, and get a dinner invitation. I hear all about her recent wedding, and we excitedly share details of our upcoming adventures: her new job on a new ranch followed by plans to road-trip it through Europe, and my new gig on Charismas Island. I get to catch up with Talek the ridgeback, who’s now a hefty boy, and learn he’s recently been barking at night, kept up by the hyenas on the veranda, chewing his bone on his bed. It’s great to be back.