Beginning of the End (and Amboseli National Park)

Today we went to our final national park, perhaps even our last game drive.  That seems crazy.  For as slow as time seems to go at times, other times it feels like its racing by.  We went to Amboseli National Park, however the last game drive didn’t really end with a climax.  We only got about 1.5 hours to game drive around the park and it took about thirty minutes to get to the swamps where any animals were.  After our short game drive, we were brought to this picnic area, with a beautiful view, and left there while the drivers and staff went somewhere to get lunch.  It was an odd situation, especially since we all ate our packed lunches before we got to the picnic spot so we ended up taking naps and sitting around.  After the picnic we went to the park headquarters and had a lecture from a senior officer in the KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) about Amboseli and after that we left. 

As you can probably tell, Amboseli didn’t go out with a bang, which is kinda sad.  We saw your standard zebras, wildebeest, tommies, gazelle, as well as elephants and hippos.  We did see an Egyptian mongoose however!  We haven’t seen an Egyptian mongoose yet. 

During the game drive I was doing some thought about the incredible game drives I have been able to go on over this semester.  We have been to five national parks and one conservation area.  Lake Manyara NP, Tarangire NP, Serengeti NP, Lake Nakuru NP, Amboseli NP, and Ngorongoro CA.  It’s hard to say which one was my favorite because each place has such good memories attached.  I think if I had to choose, I would choose Ngorongoro CA to be my favorite.  Everything seemed to go perfectly that day; great company in the car, incredible sightings, essentially the circle of life played out in front of my eyes, and gorgeous scenery.  Yet Tarangire has some great memories as well, but so does Lake Manyara because it was my first safari.  I can’t forget Serengeti or Lake Nakuru, because I feel like I got to know those parks fairly well.  Unfortunately, Amboseli gets the last place.  It has nothing to do with the park itself instead everything to do with I didn’t have enough time to get to know Amboseli.  It is like an acquaintance that could have been a close friend.  I’m very grateful for all of my safari experiences, they have been the highlights of the semester and something I will never forget. 

In the spirit of moving towards the end, today we were introduced to the directed research topics.  Directed research is structured in a way that the three professors have a topic of research and the students are divided among the three topics.  We must follow the umbrella topic of research, but there are more narrow areas of research under each topic that we will write our own papers about.  The Environmental Policy professor, Ekisa, will be studying land tenure and land use changes and how they have impacted the environment, wildlife, and people in the area.  The Wildlife Management professor, Shem, will be studying the group ranches surrounding Amboseli National Park and how they are wildlife dispersal areas and have wildlife corridors for migrations.  The Wildlife Ecology professor, Kiringe, will be studying the water quality in a specific river and how people, livestock, agriculture and the sorts impact it.  We had to rank our top choices and give them scores and using those, the faculty will decide who does each research topic.  My ranking was:  Kiringe and water quality as #1, Ekisa and land tenure/land use as #2, and Shem with wildlife dispersal areas as #3. 

I’m really hoping to work with water quality because I think that is interesting and very needed in this area.  Also, if I want to work with soil or land in the future, this may offer me some more insight and I may be able to work with researching soil erosion!  For those of you who know me, you know I have always wanted to work with animals; I wanted to be an ocean researcher, dolphin trainer, marine biologist, veterinarian, and finally wildlife biologist.  However, I took one geology class and wrote one research paper and realized how fascinating I find soil.  Sounds crazy doesn’t it, I wouldn’t have believed myself a few years ago.  However, I really do like soil and the land and sustainability!  Well before coming on this trip I was still going back and forth in my mind with animals and soil and figured this semester would be a good way to figure out if soil was really something I should pursue or if I should stick with animals.  The very first safari in Lake Manyara National Park I was standing in the back of the land cruiser, enjoying myself and I got this overwhelming sense that God was telling me “Not animals.  I have something else for you.  I have others to care for my animals”.  It was the weirdest thing, but also the coolest thing.  I was floored for a while.  Then as we continued this semester, I began realizing how true that was, that I really had no desire to work with animals.  I still don’t.  I love animals and always will, but I just don’t want to dedicate my life to working with animals.  Therefore, I guess I’ll be pursuing soil and land! Woo!!  However, if someone ever offers me a job to swim and play with dolphins all day, Ill definitely be taking that job.

I think we hear about our DR placement on Sunday.  I’ll let you know where I’m placed.  Pray it’s with water!!

In other news, I learned more Maasai skills yesterday.  We had a non-program day and two Maasai men came to camp and took us on an expedition to learn how to track giraffes and other animals.  We also saw a tree that you puncture and it will squirt out this juice that the Maasai use for soap.  While in the bush, they taught us how to throw spears.  None of the boys really tried, but us girls were pretty awesome at throwing spears! Ok, so I wasn’t one of the girls, I got it down decent, but if I had to spear lunch I might be in trouble.  Later in the day, some Maasai Mamas came and taught us how to bead!  I made a pretty sweet bracelet and have another one in the making.  If I didn’t have to do homework, I would be beading all the time. 

Well I’m really tired.  By that I mean I want to go work on my beaded bracelet.  See ya’ll soonish! Be good.