Jaedyn's Journeys: walking swamps and writing stuff

Oh hi!

Grey crowned crane (Amboseli National Park)

After my last post, I had a few more days of work in the field. We had two more days in the community swamps, neither of which had nearly as much water as the first two days in the swamps. In fact, my boots hardly got wet at all. Then, we went and censused Amboseli National Park for three days. Since it's a national park, we weren't allowed to get out of the safari vehicles and walk through the swamp on foot; Instead, we recorded our information from the cars. We saw many more cranes in Amboseli National Park than in the community swamps, and we also saw a lot of other cool wildlife, including an elephant in musth who walked after our vehicle, a caracal cat (and my professor said he wasn't aware that there were any living in the park, so this was a very rare sight!), some itty bitty elephants (my professor thought they were less than a month old), and 14 hyenas in one day (who had just hunted a baby hippo, which the very pregnant alpha female was carrying around the head of). I do love Amboseli and am going to miss it. We have one more optional, all-day game drive next free day, so I'll be able to see it one last time. It'll be a very bittersweet moment.

Community swamp

Elephant in musth

A beautiful grassland mosaic in Amboseli National Park

A baby vervet visitor during lunch!

Me, zero, and mom as elephants

We finished the field work portion of DR a week ago. Then we worked on creating data tables summarizing our group results. We also had a very quick crash course of QGIS so we could make a map showing where exactly we saw each crane. A few days ago, we split into small (2 to 3 person) groups to begin writing the research paper. I'm working with two other students. So far, we've revised the introduction, drafted the results, and revised the methods. Next, we'll work on the discussion, which is both the most difficult part and the part I'm most excited for. We'll be done writing our paper in about a week. After finishing our paper, our whole DR group of 8 will get back together to create the community presentation, which we've invited all of our interviewees, other members of the community, and some NGO employees to attend.

A curious giraffe (Amboseli National Park)

Aside from schoolwork, I've been trying to figure out my class schedule for next semester (they dropped me from stats but then made an exception for me, which, while nice, made all of my searching for replacement classes at the other 4 colleges for naught) and I've been helping the chef at KBC in the kitchen! I've made guacamole and salad for dinner a few times, and I made nana's lemonade recipe for the end of DR fieldwork (everyone loved it!) and deviled eggs for Easter (people also loved these). I've been enjoying being in the kitchen. I'm waiting to get back in the kitchen again so I can learn how to make chapati and egg curry. I also learned to bead a few days ago when one of the mamas came to teach a small group of us. I've made a bracelet and a necklace since then.

Cranes prepping to fly (Amboseli National Park)

Yesterday, we took our free day to go to Tsavo West National Park. Though there weren't a lot of animals there, the Chyulu Hills and the lava rocks made it beyond worth it. Also, I saw five baobabs! That's a lifer.

Baby gator in Tsavo

Klipspringers standing on the Shetani Lava Flow with the Chyulu Hills in the background

Momma and baby hippo in the Mzima Springs (Tsavo)

Mzima springs pond

Yawning hippo (Tsavo)

The first baobab I've seen! (Tsavo)

With only 13 days left of the semester (and 14 days until I'm back home), I'm starting to get nostalgia for this place that I haven't quite left. I feel like I've done a fair bit of reflection on the last 13 weeks. This has been a wonderful and unique experience. I hope to one day come back to Kenya, but I'm not sure that'll happen. So, with these last two weeks, I'm trying to absorb as much as possible. It's amazing how much faster each day goes by the older you get. This is one of the times where I wish it would go a bit slower. I'm grateful for the experiences I've had here, and I know I'll carry my knowledge with me through the rest of my life.