A Lack There of..

Hamjambo everyone!

Sorry I haven't been posting as often as I should, I'm kinda bummed that I haven't been keeping up. After today though everything will be much better. There are one or two tiny setbacks. First, sadly, no more pictures. The internet has been too slow so we have all agreed to stop uploading them. If you want to see my pictures, I'll upload them when I get back. Second, Expedition Serengeti is tomorrow! I'm SO SO SO excited. It's like my dream come true! So I won't be available for about 5 days. This time, camp has no fences. We're just out in the middle of the grassland. The last group even had a lion in camp. Isn't that awesome?!

Anyways I'm gonna give you a bro tip early due to circumstances:

bro tip #1755
be as cool with as many people as you can, bro. sometimes it's not about what you know, but who you know.

Swahili Word of the Day is paka mbaya or "bad cat" (mbaya is "bad")

Tutaonana ninyi

-Ian

Ngorongoro Crater Photos

From Manyara to Mac N' Cheese

Hamjambo all!

Hope everyone had a fantastic SB2012. Mine seemed pretty similar to the rest of the semester. We're just finishing up final assignments before we have the exam and get the show on the road.

Yesterday we went to Karatu town for our non-program day and man I was feelin good. I got almost everything I wanted, made new connections for stuff in the town, and got to eat mac n cheese and a burger with fries. I also had a skirt made for Taylor and it cost me like $4 USD. So of course I decided to make a hoodie as well out of a thicker shuka. Hope that turns out okay too. Just a few more things and then I'll be done with souvenir shopping.

Excited for everything to happen. Ready to come home but also lovin it here. Honestly everything I miss just involves the people, so I need to be sure to bring some of you along next time. I suggest saving up now...

bro tip #1740
at least once in your life, have a job you don't do for the money.

Swahili Word of the Day is kupata which means "to get"

Ulipata hiki wapi?
(Where did you get this[object]?)

Tutaonana marafiki

-Ian

Mimi ni Mirishi na ishirini

Hamjambo marafiki yangu

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while but here the internet is super crappy.

Anyways, We arrived in Tanzania on my birthday. I loved all the birthday wishes. It was a pretty intense moment at the border, everyone was sad to leave the staff of KBC behind. There were quite a few tears shed, and even I almost cried. We met our new SAM Whitney and some more of the staff on the drive here. Tanzania is absolutely beautiful because of all the green rolling hills.We arrived at camp, and I am super satisfied with the facility. The food is good, the buildings are nice, our bathrooms are in our bandas, but the internet is definitely worse than I expected. No big deal, I'll just enjoy my surroundings more.

The past couple of days, we've been hanging out in Lake Manyara National Park. The wildlife is stunning.

We had to observe the behavior of the olive baboons in the park for one exercise, and I found it fascinating. I think it would have been more interesting if it were a longer term thing, but thats just me.

Time is whizzing by here and I'll probably be leaving Africa before I even remember I'm in Tanzania. Directed Research will probably fly by, but I hope to enjoy every minute I'm here.

Swahili Word of the Day is jikoni which means "kitchen"

bro tip #1729
the average person sleeps away a third of their life. don't be average.

-Ian

Midterms and Maasai Music Videos

 Hamjambo marafiki!

So this will be my last blog entry in Kenya. Kinda bittersweet, it'll be cool to have a change of scenery, but I'll miss the staff. They are such good people, definitely some of the best in the world.

Just a few announcements. First off, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Been listenin' to "Rocky Road to Dublin" all day. Second, congratulations to Keela Kennedy. She's gonna be goin to East Africa in the fall of 2012. SFS will definitely love to have ya.

As for me, nothing has really been happening. Just a lot of exams and gettin' ready to leave. Grades look pretty good to all those concerned *ahem MOM*. Talked to Dad today on Facebook chat and things are apparently going well. Shout out to my brother Tim for a pretty good rowing season so far. Proud of ya bro. Davidson lost(HA!) and so did Duke which screwed me on my March Madness bracket. But as long as the Buckeyes win tonight I'll be happy.Went on a last hike yesterday, and it was beautiful. Got some cool pictures, but I figured you'd like the baby giraffe we saw on the way there a bit better. Also learned how to throw a spear today so... I am now a certified weapon. (At least at close range :P)

Hopin for safe travels in a couple days

Swahili Word of the Day is...... actually a song title

See if you guys can get it. The hint is that it is related to "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" which I have just been obsessing over lately.

Mimi ni mtu mara kwa mara huzuni

Tutaonana!

-Ian

Twende marafiki yangu

 Well, it's almost time to go to Tanzania. Exciting stuff is ahead. Trying to figure out how to fit all my souvenirs/ new stuff in my suitcase with the clothes. Also thinking about everything I did here, what I'm gonna do in Tanzania, and when I get home. Startin to get sentimental around here. I'm turning 20 in like four days. I've been on Earth for two decades. I know that's like nothing, but my parents have been parenting for 20 years. Props to them. Love you guys.

Oh and I have a few things on my wishlist for my birthday. Maybe a set of work gloves, a set of walkie talkies, money, a bigger knife, a cowboy/cool safari hat, and... Dre Beats headphones. Not a requirement, just maybe give it some thought ;).

Here are a few good pictures, images of Kenya to reflect on. It's a really beautiful place, and I plan on comin' back in the next 5-7 years for sure.


Swahili Word of the Day is kuenda which means "to go".

Nilienda Tanzania.

Tutaonana
-Ian

Expedition Post 3 of 3

Hamjambo friends, family and other followers!

Appreciate all the feedback from the photos. I hope you enjoyed them This is the light at the end of the tunnel as far as Expedition Nakuru goes; hold on to your hats, this may take a while...

So.. where was I? Oh yeah, the male lion crossing the road. It was SO cool.We proceeded through our transect, counting animals, recording habitats, blah blah blah. Saw some huge buffalo, a pair of rhinos chasing one another (I think for courtship purposes), and a ton of other animals throughout the park. That night is when things got interesting.. I stayed up talking to one of my friends here, about life, how it feels being the only guy, all that jazz, and we saw a jackal come into camp. The funny thing was, how unexpected its presence wa. We were in the middle of a National Park, and I forgot animals except baboons could get into camp if they really wanted too.But it gets better..You know that horrible sensation when you have to pee really bad in the middle of the night, but you're in a tent on a camping trip and it's freezing outside. Yeah, supplement that with the sounds of a spotted hyena right outside of camp and that's what happened to me. I wake up, try to dress quietly, and all of a sudden, I hear the whooping contact call of a hyena, and then some cackling. One of my roommates, Erin, wakes up and says, "Ian, what animal is that?". I then proceeded to say, in a shivering, hurried voice. "That? That's a spotted hyena. AndIgottapee, soI'mgoin'outthere. HopeIdon'tdie. Hyenawouldbeaterriblewaytogo. See ya.", and proceeded outside the tent. In case you were wondering, I ran. The thing is, hyenas don't wait until you're dead before they start eating you. They also don't choke you out first like cats do, so you're awake for the whole thing.So again I say, I ran. After quickly doing business, my curiosity got the better of me. I walked out toward the fence, headlamp in hand, and searched for the predator. And I found him/her, at least a glance. Those big red eyes are freaky in the dark alone, let me tell you. Totally exhilarated, I walked back to the tent, and soundly slept until morning.

The next day, we woke up for a traveling lecture around the town of Nakuru. We were planning on talking about the effects of tourism and human activity outside the park. Boy was I surprised when we saw the image to the right. Ya see, that leopard kill was there the day before, but no one actually saw the culprit for more than a brief second. So it was interesting coming back to the place where it was, seeing all the cars surrounding the kill, and then seeing a full grown male lion walk up the tree to retrieve it.After a while, he dropped it out of the tree and we moved on, only to see the leopard that the lion had stolen the kill from. It made sense, since it was a big male leopard, and he looked pretty stressed. My theory is that the lion saw him eating, chased him up the tree and proceeded to commandeer the food.

There he is, on the right.

The day went on as planned, and we of course learned a lot. but we still had a full day of Expedition left.Unfortunately, this time I heard no crazy animal noises during the night, and didn't wake up to see any deadly predators.

The following morning, we performed a final exercise, the usual. During the afternoon, we went on a game drive, observing animals and taking pictures. We saw the two girls again, this time chillin' in a tree, lookin' all cool and lion-like.
Possibly the most surprisingly exciting part of that day, was getting to see a critically endangered black rhino, right next to the road. He was just chillin, and the more I though about it, the better the sighting actually got. Ya know, they might not be around much longer; so yeah even though they don't come near the vehicle often, or they don't  do much, remember that you're even lucky to see one at all.

We ended the day on a high note, even though it rained.We saw a HUGE rainbow over the lake, and I got a few great pictures of it right before my camera died. Lake Nakuru National Park is a truly beautiful place, and should be a constant reminder to not only conservationists, but everyone, how people try to put wildlife in a box. It was great place to see incredible animals, but it now is a terrestrial island, which we should avoid at all costs.

Swahili word of the day is mrembo which means "beautiful"

bro tip #1691
if you're not willing to change, don't expect your life to.

Tutaonana marafiki yangu

-Ian

Expedition Photos

Group of white rhinos (mother with two subadults)

View of a herd of cape buffalo from Baboon Cliff

Here are some cool photos I took while on Expedition. Enjoy!

-Ian

Female leopard 

Single black rhino

Mother rhino with young calf

First lion sighting (Two adult females)

Female lion (part of the pride of the big male)

Better view of the pride (the lions we saw the first day may or may not be these ones)

Striped Hyena (I saw two while on Expedition. It was completely unexpected)

Zebra fight! (Two stallions)

Female Rothschild giraffe
(Fun Fact: you can actually determine the gender of a giraffe
by the way it feeds. Males prefer tall browse, while the
females prefer the medium height vegetation.

Group of common eland, the world's largest antelope.

Single hyena, sleeping off the day ( This was the last picture I took in Nakuru before my camera died)

Expedition Post 2 of 3

Hamjambo fellow mzungus!

Sorry for the delay in the post, internet has kinda been fritzy lately and I've been busy. Anyway, here is the second installment of Expedition Nakuru 2012. I ended my story at seeing the female leopard, but that wasn't the end of the day. No, there was plenty more to come.

We first sat through a guest lecture by Emily,  a scientist studying the Lake Nakuru National Park ecosystem. I am unsure as to what her research exactly was, but her lecture was mainly a means of understanding the ecosystem, the reasons for the way things are now, and some unique information about the park. The park serves not only as a haven for the local wildlife, but also the critically endangered black rhino and the globally threatened Rothschild giraffe, the largest giraffe in the world.

In the afternoon, we then went on a game drive around the park, familiarizing ourselves with the habitat types, counting animals, and of course, taking a ton of pictures and video. The picture above,  is of the migratory colony of lesser flamingos that call the lake home for specific times of the year. It was there that we also got to see white rhinos up close, and man, were they big. We saw a mother and young calf at a distance, but then were able to see a group of four about ten feet from our vehicle. It was incredible, but did it end there? Of course not! As we were driving back to camp in the evening, we spotted dark shapes on the side of the road and quickly stopped. There they were, a pair of lionesses, just sitting about 20 meters from the road. They were of course sleeping off the day, and were only just waking up enough to put their heads up a couple times, yawn, roll on their backs, and maybe flick their tails. But even with that little activity we stayed captivated, hoping they would move more of course, and sat there for about 45 minutes. Eventually we would head back to camp to go to sleep ourselves after eating a good dinner and settling around the campfire for around a half hour.

The next morning, I was awoken suddenly by the grunting and roaring of grazing hippos outside camp. It was around 4:30, but I still couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to venture out and make a fire. After the fire started burning brighter, I grabbed some chai and sat down with the night askaris (guards). We talked a bit in Swahili and some Maasai, glad I got to learn a few new words.

After breakfast we went out on a transect field exercise, counting the animals in the particular habitat types, so we could use the data to assess the relationship between species and their habitats in the park. As we drove on to start the exercise, the first animal we came across was a large male lion. You could see the power in his body as he crossed the grassland. He was a BIG cat. I think the manes on the cats at the Center are much fuller and nicer, but he was huge by body size comparison. He was definitely taller and more muscular, and as he crossed the road in front of us you could really see how big he was, even in comparison with the vehicle. What a way to start the day...

TO BE CONTINUED....

Swahili Word of the Day: baridi which means "cold"

Maasai Word of the Day: sidai which means "cool" (like "poa" in Swahili)

Expedition Post 1 of 3

 Hello dear friends and family. Hamjambo to you all. Hope I haven't missed too much since I've been gone. Apparently Davidson made it to the tournament again. That's bitter-sweet to hear, but all the same it's exciting. Hope I can find a  bracket so I can do March Madness here.

Anyways, about Expedition Nakuru 2012... After about eight hours of driving our caravan arrived at the park in the mid-afternoon. We got out of our vehicles to stretch our legs only to observe a menagerie of wildlife around the perimeter fence (Lake Nakuru National Park is a completely closed system, surrounded entirely by electric fence and the town of Nakuru).

First, there were Vervet monkeys, Olive baboons and impala. Our car saw a monkey literally jump into a visitor's car and take her trash. Man they were crazy. Plus I got super close; so close I could have grabbed it I think. There was a multitude of young monkeys climbing all over the gate as the antelope grazed in the background. We also saw the Defassa waterbuck, well known in Nakuru, especially by Dr. Shem Mwasi, our Wildlife Management professor. They're his favorite.

After arriving at camp, we went over the conditions of the stay and set up our tents. We only ran into a small conflict with the baboons, everyone got away. They just aren't afraid of white women. And the only reason they ran from me is because I had a slingshot or a knife. Granted that was the only real close call.

The following morning, I woke up around 5am and saw buffalo standing right outside camp (If I could upload the video I took I definitely would). I knew then that I was gonna love this particular camping trip. After a quick morning class, we went up to a place called Baboon Cliff to enjoy an incredible view of the lake. On the way, we saw zebra, waterbuck, impala, gazelle, hundreds of buffalo, and even a group of white rhinos. It was an incredibly beautiful place, covered in green. Absolutely gorgeous. While heading back to camp for lunch, one of the cars had stopped in front of us. We had no idea why, but it became quite evident as we looked across the canopy. A breathtaking spotted cat emerged from the shadows and danced across a tree branch. Finally, I'd seen a leopard. My Big Five sightings are now complete. It was absolutely amazing.

TO BE CONTINUED....

Swahili Word of the Day: chui which means leopard

bro tip #1649
sometimes complicated problems have simple solutions. chill out, dude.

Tutaonana,
-Ian