Hi again!
I wanted to sum up the rest of the week that we had in
addition to the homestay and things mentioned in the blog before this! Currently, we are in the middle of a very
heavy week filled with days and days of classes and assignments. I sometimes wish that there was a better
balance of leaving camp and staying here for class. It seems like we are gone for a week and then
trapped for the next week! It’s really
not too terrible however, because we are taking amazing classes that play right
into the experiences that we are having outside of camp.
On Saturday, we got to go to Amboseli National Park again,
this time for actual data collection for assignments in class. Not only were we using this data for in-class
assignments, but the animal information collected will go to the Kenya Wildlife
Service to help them better manage the animals that they have in the park! I think it’s so amazing that the data we are
collecting is actually going to help a real organization that can make changes
in the park to benefit the animals and the humans in the area! We split into four different groups, around 6
people per car, and left for the park at around 8. When we got to the park around 8:45, there
was a huge conflict with our passes to get in.
A lot of other professionals were waiting for us to come and divide the
park up for the counts, so it was really frustrating that the guards weren’t
letting us in. We sat outside the gate
for an hour and a half in the hot sun, just waiting to get in to the park. When they finally let us in, we all cheered
because the cars moving meant we got some air movement! We traveled to the lodges that are actually found
inside the park to where the other counters were waiting for us. We picked up a KWS official that was joining
us in our car to help with the counts of the animals. He had an automatic weapon and when he placed
it on the ground, it was facing right toward my friend and me. We both noticed and said a quick prayer that
the safety was on tight haha! The entire
park was broken into eight blocks and each group had a block. The data that we were collecting was total
animal counts in our assigned block.
This meant counting everything from guinea fowl to zebra to lions and
everything in between.
Our block started right at the lodge where we picked up our
friend Peter, so we started counting baboons from the second we were in the
car. We had around 4 people counting,
sexing, and aging animals that we passed and two people recording all of the
information on the data sheets. I was
one of the recorders, sitting in the middle seat toward the front and acting as
the liaison between the driver, the KWS official, and the rest of the
group. And oh my gosh did I love
it! I felt so important, recording all
the animals, the total counts, their age, the exact coordinates where we found
them, and the habitat types they were in.
I would yell up to everyone with their heads out the window, asking for
exact numbers, letting them know which side of the vehicle to count on, and
where we were heading next. I would also
communicate with our driver, Charles, and tell him where to stop so that we
could get the best counts and confirm with him the numbers we were
getting. It was so fun and high energy
and important, and I loved being right in the middle of it. This was one of the first activities that we
have completed here that I could see myself doing as a career. Maybe not a career counting animals every day,
but just the feeling of being in the park, surrounded by these gorgeous
mammals, coordinating an important study and working with park officials and
other volunteers. I seriously found
myself smiling when we were right in the midst of the counting, realizing how
happy I was and how I would love to do something like this for a career!
The block that we were assigned to was one of the smaller
ones, so we finished our counts before everyone else and got to see KWS
headquarters in the park. On the way
back, I was talking to our driver and telling him that I have not seen any
giraffes close to us the entire trip. He
promised he would show me some by the end of the day, and I took it with a
grain of salt since I hadn’t seen any before.
But on the drive to headquarters, we saw a whole herd of giraffes! Big ones, baby ones, dark ones, faded ones,
tall ones, everything! I was so excited,
I almost jumped out of the hatches in the roof.
I could not have been happier and had to thank Charles for delivering on
the giraffe sightings!
We hung out at headquarters with a bunch of employees and
their families, watched the Chelsea FC soccer game on TV, and had a Coke, Fanta,
or Krest. We had to wait for all of the
other groups to return, and it turns out one of the groups car broke down! We played cards and just enjoyed our time off
since we knew the upcoming week would be filled with a lot of assignments. As soon as we all returned, we loaded up the
cars and headed back to camp. Even
though it was a really great day, it was exhausting being in the sun for so
long and we all just hung out in the Chumba for the rest of the day!
The next day was finally our day off and it was much needed
after an action filled week! We had the
option of staying at the camp and just hanging out, or heading to a local lodge
to go swimming and have their buffet. I
chose the lodge, just wanting to relax and be away from camp, and have some
great dessert at the lodge. The lodge
was called Kilima, and it was absolutely gorgeous. It was so clean and so bug free. It was shocking to me because it’s so dusty
here all the time and I don’t know how they kept everything so nice. It was very touristy though, and I could see
how people staying there would have a completely different experience than what
we are having here at our camp. The pool
was also amazing. There was a deep pool
in the middle, around 6 feet deep, and an outer pool that was 3 feet deep, with
gorgeous Kilimanjaro in the background and Amboseli National Park right outside
the fence. The buffet had a lot of
similar foods to what we have at camp, but it was done really well and made in
slightly different ways. The dessert was
fantastic though. We had pineapple
crisp, chocolate lava cake, and all sorts of fruit jello and flan. We don’t get dessert a majority of the time
at camp, so we all indulged in what the lodge had to offer. The rest of the afternoon, we all hung out by
the pool and the huge observation deck in the main lodge, having pina coladas
and cokes and relaxing. It was a stress
free day and I loved spending time with the group of people that decided to go. Although it was so nice and relaxing to spend
the day there, I love our camp and the experience that we are getting in
Kenya. It would be a completely
different perspective if we were staying somewhere similar to this lodge.
After the lodge, we had dinner and it was my night to do our
student RAP. RAP stands for reflection,
announcements, and presentation. I
reflected on Penn Stat e Dance Marathon, since the night before we raised $10.6
million for pediatric cancer!!! I was so excited and happy to share it with my
group here! For my presentation, I
decided to teach everyone how to line dance! I go all the time at home, so I
thought it would be something fun and interactive to have everyone do. I wasn’t sure how everyone would respond or
if they would join in, but as soon as I showed them one dance, everyone leaped
up and were so eager to learn it! We
danced for at least half an hour and I taught them all the dances I could
remember! It was so fun and I was happy
to find something everyone had so much fun with. Even the staff joined in and tried to keep
up. I was thrilled at everyone’s enthusiasm!
Now we are deep into classes, with around 5 major
assignments due this week! I can’t wait
until we leave for our expedition next week, where we get to stay in tents in
one of the National Parks around 6 hours from here! It will be quite an experience to be right in
the park with everything we do! Having
so much to look forward to definitely helps you get over the humps of these
long classes.
Thanks so much for reading once again. I hope everyone is having a great week and I
look forward to talking to all of you soon!
Love,
Mollie Ann
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