Do some supply shopping online and arrange for another researcher to bring them when she comes in a few weeks. Learn about a master’s thesis that was done at Mpala on nitrogen fixation (some plants form nodules on their roots in which bacteria live; the bacteria are about to ‘fix’ nitrogen, i.e. convert it from its atmospheric form, N₂, to a form that usable to the plants, NH₃). Hunt it down in the library and start reading up.

Outside of office spy an African paradise flycatcher and snap a picture of a pair of Lesser striped swallows.

Very sleepy, try to nap, but a shower and some stretching wake me up a bit. When return to banda see that squirrels will work to eat tangerine flavored lip balm. Drive with couple to eat some South Indian food at researcher’s house who lives off of Mpala. En route, get the closest I’ve ever gotten to a Buffalo, see some jackals, and first time I see a stripped hyena in daylight, got a great view (for a few seconds) as it loped off into the bush. Amazing Indian food, and get to see some pictures of the wedding in India. As we drive through the gate back into Mpala, guard warns us that eles are everywhere. Get dropped off right at banda door. Can hear eles ripping down trees ~ 40 feet away. Impalas are also hanging with them tonight, so when shine flashlight see 30 sets of eyes staring back.

Get MS submitted, takes long time to upload document to site, but as of lunch time it’s officially submitted!

Start to sketch out experimental design for the summer. Finally find great article on how to stain for mycorrhizal fungus, search for supplies and try to figure out way to get them here.

Enjoy some sundowners on veranda with couple who arrived a few weeks ago. He’ll be here until August studying the effect of parasites on territoriality and mating behavior of gazelles and she’s visiting for a month, soon to go back to the States to start a residency in emergency medicine. Nice to chat with them and have some laughs.

Start to get settled, get computer hooked up to Mpala’s network, dig myself out of inbox. Work on final changes to a manuscript. Want to figure out how to stain plant roots for the presence of mycorrhizal fungus which aids in plants’ acquisition of nutrients. (The fungus actually penetrates the plants’ cell walls and transports nutrients to it – in return the fungus gets energy (carbon) from the plant).

Want to get a little exercise but lots of eles around station, so Alison and I take a cautious bird walk around the ring road, and then I run a lap. Afterward run into Tyler (about to finish a 6 month stint at Mpala looking at the reproductive behavior of Starlings) and manage to throw a disc around a bit. Yay!

As come back to banda at dusk to take a shower, see remains of fire lit in the late afternoon to heat our water.

Head out on first night game drive and see lots of eles and watch a Bat eared fox munching on some insects. On the way back come across bunch of zebras in the road, lined up single file. Each one follows, almost to the exact step, the one in front. The leader stayed in the road for a good mile or two, so we puttered behind this zebra congo line for awhile.

Quick breakfast at hotel, take a taxi to Wilson airport, catch (surprisingly smooth) flight to Nanyuki. See Mount Kenya peeking up above the clouds. Get picked up by field assistants, purchase provisions (fruit, nuts, beer, granola) and, of all things, a cell phone. Turns out that in pretty much any country but the U.S. incoming cellular calls are free. So, Mom, you can call until your heart’s content …or you drain the bank account! :)

Arrive at Mpala in the afternoon, catch the tail end of lunch, check in to get keys, turns out I’m assigned to the dorms. Look at big board of arrivals and departures and banda assignments for a long time with the guy in charge and finally figure out I outrank some one who’s assigned to banda #7 – and I successfully move it. Good to be back in the old banda! Kind of feels like I never left…

Unpack, and run into a handful of folks I met last year – and the resident pooch, Talak! Great to catch up with folks and enjoy seeing Talak play with the honking pheasant toy I brought from the States.

During dinner a big herd of elephants was munching away about 50 ft from the dining hall. A few adults and a whole mess of li’l ones. You could hear them trumpeting all throughout the night. A handful of us woke up during the night to munching and belching ele noises outside the banda.

Meet Alison for breakfast – so glad we both made it! Head to the National Museums of Kenya to visit a few collaborators and talk project details. Also need to figure out how to get our luggage up to Nanyuki, as it’s too heavy for the small plane and it’s too late to cancel flight and drive. End up paying collaborator’s relative to go up with luggage with a driver. Back at hotel think about nap but end up behind computer emailing back and forth with STRI contact about another project idea. Enjoy a nice dinner at the fancy neighboring hotel with Alison.

Read great NYT op-ed “Put a Little Science in Your Life”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01greene.html?em&ex=1212552000&en=b8d2f5a9a25f1d82&ei=5087%0A

Read a bit before bed, able to go to sleep, but wake up at 4:45 and cannot get back to sleep, my brain is fully awake. For some unknown reason the chorus to “Evita” is on a permanent loop: ‘Don't cry for me Argentina, the truth is I never left you, all through my wild days, my mad existence, I kept my promise, don't keep your distance.’

31 May 08 – 01 Jun 08

Minneapolis to Chicago to London to Nairobi

Everything on time, but very full flights and get little to no sleep. In Nairboi no customs issues and get a bit worried about luggage when one piece came relatively quickly and then wait over 30 minutes for the other (which turns up on a different carousal). So nice to see the hotel’s taxi driver holding my name on placard upon arrival. Share taxi to hotel with woman from Columbia here to give training on sustainable coffee agriculture. Take a life affirming shower, exhausted but can’t sleep at hotel.

Remember how empty the plane was to Nairboi when flew in Jan. Pro: was able to sleep. Con: was totally freaked out that no one was traveling to Nairobi. Overall, nice to have a sense of what to expect during this trip (travels, people, project… pretty much everything).

Highlights of time in the States include but are not limited to:

Mini-Pong at ‘the Pig’

$30 Keg deals

Dinners at 60

(ABC) Birthday Breakfast

Visit to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in MD

Spooning with Ike

Graduation Hooding Ceremony and Dinner

Road trip to Cleveland (and seeing Arthur’s niece)

Annual Wittman flower planting

(PAW) Birthday Baseball Game

(and celebrating Twins defense picking off A-Rod...)