First animal encounters

My first few animal encounters have been...well...to say the least...interesting. During our first meal at our tent sites a curious monkey decided to try to venture into the tent that Kate and I are sharing. We followed it to save our items from being displayed across the African grasslands, and I "shoo-ed" it out to which it actually listened. Nimble little guy, I'm jealous of its tree climbing abilities!

The zebras common across the landscape are not like anything I've seen in any zoo enclosure. The zebras are strong and mighty. There are two kinds here that I need to learn to distinguish; the endangered Grevy's zebra, and the Plains zebra. So many stripes to look at which reminded me of a conversation I had with a close friend and PhD colleague (Josh - that's for you!) before leaving for Africa. In our simple academic fashion, we contemplated the purpose of stripes on a zebra....but a quick google scholar search revealed the secret!


My first rhino encounter involved a trek out with the Lewa vet and other Lewa staff and rangers. The vet needed to check out an injury on Lola, a little 3 year old rhino. "Little" is definitely relative only to rhinos (Lola is on the right in the picture)!!! The rangers allured Lola and her mother close to the vehicle with what I'm sure is rhino candy, a special grass that convinced the rhinos to ignore us and approach us within arm's reach. The vet wasn't too happy with what he saw as Lola's open wound under her ear wasn't healing well. A check up over the next few days will reveal his next approach to helping her.

Giraffes are quite the sight to see. A morning drive out yesterday revealed their uniqueness; majestic animals that in a strange way put the image of a long necked dinosaur in my head!

This morning drive, however, took an unexpected turn of events. The drive started when we finished breakfast and Michael (another "guest"/employee staying at the tent site) offered a ride. Three of us jumped at the opportunity and hopped in the vehicle. Murphy's law has it that if you forget your cell phone - something is bound to happen! What was supposed to be a quick drive to check out game animals resulted in a lengthy adventure when we ran out of gas in the middle of...well, nowhere! Murphy's law also has it that it will be a hot sunny morning when you are stuck without sunscreen or water. Luckily, help was relatively nearby as another vehicle stopped by and gave us a lift to what they call the workshop - a maintenance garage on site at Lewa headquaters. We grabbed a jerry can of diesel and returned only to realize we didn't have a spout to pour. Again, luckily the Craig's (the founders of Lewa) house was nearby and we were able to borrow a makeshift funnel. And so in conclusion of all this...Murphy - I curse you, and who are you anyways?