Skip to main content

a shout-out to Solomon

I just want to give a shout-out to our armed guard this year, Solomon (he's the one on the left in this 2011 research team photo). We've worked with a different guard each time we've been here and they've all been great. Solomon has a particularly good sense of humor with a great laugh; keen eyes that can see elephants from a few hundred meters away as well as bones seemingly hidden in the grass; and is always patient as we ask him questions about animal behavior and footprints while we're tromping around the bush. Thanks for keeping us safe out there, Solomon!

Comments

DawnK said…
I guess this is really timely!!
DawnK said…
In retrospect...this is REALLY timely. Hope that you're all well.

Popular posts from this blog

D minus a week and a day

I'm leaving for my annual migration to Kenya soon, just like the wildebeest.... well, only there's a few million less of me than there are of them. Also, I'd like to think I run in a few less circles than they do, given that they spend their year basically making a big circle between Kenya and Tanzania in the Serengeti/Mara ecosystem (though that's debatable!). I'm going through my usual 'I'm leaving soon' routine: getting together with friends who want to spend a little time before I leave for a few months; making sure I can take care of all my (as my fab friend Fire calls it) "personal admin" online while I'm gone - banking, paying utilities, etc.; adding things to the duffel bag I keep stocked during the rest of the year with my 'going to Kenya' things. It's always hectic, and no matter how well I plan - and those of you who know me know I plan! - there's always a lot to do at the last minute. So it's D (departure) mi...

Final Fieldwork Week

We're home now - arrived yesterday. Our travel home was uneventful... well, except for running into my colleague René, his wife Susana, and their 5 year old son Andres in the Nairobi airport on the way home! René and Susana took Andres to the field in Mozambique for the first time this summer, and were on their way home to England after attending a conference in Nairobi. Toby and Andres got on like a house on fire, running around the waiting area together and calling to each other across the plane. It was very cute, and Toby kept talking about how much he enjoyed making a new friend. But back to our final week, which was pretty busy... Here are some of the highlights of our last day off. Toby imitating the gape of a hippo at "Hippo Hide", a place at Ol Pejeta where you can walk along the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro River  Kari, Ella, and Toby walking along the river When I was doing my PhD research at Ol Pejeta, I offered to create some educational material...

99 transects for bones in the bush, 99 transects for bones…

(sing the title of this blog post to the tune of 99 bottles of beer on the wall) We completed our 99th transect this morning – and then our 100th! It was a momentous occasion. I started doing bone transects here on my own in 2003, and while I always envisioned this as a long-term research project, it’s exciting to see it really happening. Team photo after our 100th transect today - Fire, me, Isaack, and Kari (Ella was in camp not feeling well) Ella, Fire, and Kari looking at and measuring bones in a bush transect Fire and Kari walking around a small muddy water puddle Ella and Fire getting ready for a transect Our vehicle with "gari ya mifupa"  (which means "bones car" in Kiswahili)  written in the dirt on the back door Ella, Fire, and Kari hard at work Kari still drinks a can of Coke at the turnaround point on every transect Ella and Isaack with their weapons of choice, a giraffe radius and a rifle Kari asking Fire ...