We finally arrived at Ol Pejeta Conservancy on a late Sunday afternoon. It feels a little like returning to a second home, although it's been a while - last time I was here (except for one overnight last summer to have meetings to set up this summer's field season) was 2011, when I was pregnant with Toby! Here's a few photos from our first few days.
We stopped on the equator sign to take some photos during our drive to where we're staying.
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| Toby, me, Fire, Kari, and Ella on the equator sign |
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| Fire and Ella walking on the equator |
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| Me and Toby on the equator |
On the way we passed impala, gazelle, zebras, and elephants - I am the driver so I don't get much of an opportunity to take pictures, but I'll try to get some good animal photos in the next few weeks!
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| My favorite sign on the entire conservancy |
We are staying at
the Stables. This used to be a research center, but was converted to budget accommodation. That said, the people who stay at the Stables are often researchers - right now it's a group of people with their
volunteer program.
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| A view of the Stables from the driveway |
We're staying in one of the "self-contained" bandas - which I actually put in the funds to build in 2004! Yes, I actually owned a house in Kenya for a short time. The conservancy bought it back from me when it changed ownership. It's self-contained in the sense that it has a toilet, shower, and sink inside, but we eat all of our (delicious) meals communally in the main house. The main house (which used to be an actual horse stable) also has 6 rooms in it, with shared showers and toilets, and then there are two other bandas which are divided into 4 rooms each and use the showers and toilets on the end of the main house.
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| The banda where we're staying. |
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| Another view of our banda |
Despite July usually being dry, it rained hard during the afternoon of our first full day. Apparently the thatch roof dries out during the dry season, and sometimes leaks when it rains. Which is did. Thankfully nothing
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| Fire using a bucket to find and catch some of the drips coming through the thatch roof |
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| Toby standing in the puddle that was in the toilet area after the rain |
Toby is doing great getting used to the new setting, and new food.
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| Toby reading over lunch at the picnic table, with the tents set up at the Stables for volunteers and researchers in the background |
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| Toby had an upset stomach on our second morning and stayed in bed resting for a while, but felt better later in the morning and ate his lunch with great enthusiasm |
We've spent the first few days having meetings with conservancy staff, getting organized, and doing practice transects with our new digital data collectors to work out any bugs.
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| Having a research meeting at the picnic table |
We are in a wildlife conservancy, and sometimes the wildlife comes right into the camp area. This time it was a troop of baboons who walked all around, raided the garbage area (one ran away with a huge head of cabbage), and played with some of the kitchen stuff that had been left out on a picnic table.
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| A large male baboon striding through camp |
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| A baboon sitting and eating grass in front of one of the other bandas |
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| A baboon checking out a salt shaker and a mug left out on a picnic table |
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