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setting up camp

After a hectic last day doing all the last minute things I left until... the last minute, I made it to our field camp on Monday. A few days before that, we dropped off our Kenyan crew members, who would work hard to set up our fantastic camp on a cliff overlooking eroded hills. Here's a view of the lorry - uh, truck, in American - which drives all our gear down to the site.




One of our oldest excavators, Vincent, loves to climb on top of the lorry and be at least partly in charge of unloading. He has amazing energy, even at the end of the day as the sun is starting to hide behind some clouds.




Here are several of our crew members, carrying one of our gas-powered refrigerators from the lorry. Having a fridge on a dig is quite a luxury; it means cold water in the middle of the hot days, and the ability to keep food for days on end. One of our drivers normally goes back to Nairobi once a week to buy fresh food.



We don't have any electricity in camp. All our food is cooked on gas stoves and charcoal, bags of which you can see here being taken down from on top of one of the Land Rovers.



Though it's hard work, one of our two Maasai workers, Kakai (the guy in front), always finds time to give a big smile and goof around momentarily. Here he is with another Maasai friend of his who lives nearby, who came to watch the spectacle of the camp being set up.

Kakai's smiling up at me as I sit on top of one of the Land Rovers, taking pictures, documenting the start of our field season.

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