International Intern

My internship in Samburu is almost complete, so I was very grateful to see the return of the elephants to the park a few days ago. Still no rain although the hot, still air and clouds seem promising. The river is rapidly drying up and everyone is hoping the rains arrive soon. After seeing only two elephants in around ten days it was unbelievably exciting to see over 60 last Saturday. The Hardwoods were together in a big family – it’s always exciting to see Bonsai since I participated in her collaring – and some of the Virtues were back, and also the American Indians. What was really interesting was that we came across a family Chris did not recognize (and he can readily identify over 600 elephants) and their reaction to the car was very nervous and wary. We couldn’t even get close enough to take decent photographs for the identification file. Another highlight of Saturday was finding a tiny Grevy’s zebra, looking very pretty with its thin black and white stripes, wobbling along on spindly legs after its mother. Chris estimated it to be less than a week old.

A couple of days later, I went out in the field with David to find some elephants way out in Buffalo Springs, past the swampy area and towards the main road. I was impressed that even after two months there are still unexplored sections of the park to see. This section was particularly scenic with a lot of big, beautiful umbrella trees creating shady refuges for wildlife, their twisted branches and flat foliage reaching up into the sky. A beautiful sunset behind the distant mountains completed the picture.

In the last two days I have had the opportunity to go out with Lucy and Resson and meet with some of the headmasters of the local schools (Westgate, Ngare Mara and Chumviyere) and discuss the development of some wildlife education programs. It was great for me to see the diversity of STE projects, as I’ve been very much focused on elephant behavioral research. Community education and development is so important to the longevity of any wildlife conservation initiative and the schools seem really excited and positive about being involved with us. Education must be such a challenge here what with limitations of facilities and resources, large class sizes and sourcing enough teachers.

And of course, a day out anywhere would not be complete without a wildlife encounter. As we were driving down the bumpy, dirt road I felt a little something move in my shoe. I’d checked for spiders (as there was a rather large one that had set up camp in my shoe awhile back) and satisfied they were absent, put my shoes on, tied up the laces and was ready to go. Then I felt something move again and a little sting on the end of my toe. I took my shoe off, and there – clinging onto the inside and slightly squashed was a rogue scorpion claiming squatter’s rights! It definitely wasn’t the scorpion that stung me, as I would have been in more than a little pain if that were the case but I quickly evicted him anyway before he had a second opportunity to try.

We had a friendlier wildlife encounter on the drive back to camp, when we found the Planets family, with four male elephants in tow, feeding on the side of the road. It looked quite dramatic (and very postcard Africa) with the towering bulls, thorn trees, dusty ground and ominous looking clouds overhead. What made the experience even nicer was we were giving three young boys a lift, as they were on their way home for school holidays, and to see their excitement at such a close and safe elephant encounter.

To top my week off at dusk Lucy, David and I climbed the hill behind camp to enjoy the view with an icy cold sundowner. The only low of the week is that I have only four days remaining here – but at least I’ll still be writing up my Msc thesis for the next couple of months as a constant reminder of my time here and the elephants I am hoping to come back to someday!