Twiga [giraffe]

We're leaving for Mbita tomorrow morning on a ferry towards Kisumu!  Warning:  this might be the last time I have internet for the next two weeks.  You guys will go through Maria-withdrawal, or blog-withdrawal, or probably nobody will notice anyways!

We'll be camping for two nights at an impala sanctuary in Kisumu, and then we head to Kibale Forest in Uganda for ten whole days!  You know what that means.... more monkeys!

How about some safari pictures to tide you over for the next few weeks?

Let's start with some cute little buffaloes! (buffalo? buffali? buffaloni?)

And then there's these weird stripey horse things. I forget what they're called...

MUFASAAAA!

And all his itty bitty Simbas cuddling in the grass!

We didn't get to see the real pride rock, but this cloud pretty much did the trick:

We went on game drives almost every day while in the Maasai Mara area.  One day, we were driving through the reserve just to get to a conservancy on the other side.  It had been raining the night before, so the roads were a bit too much for our trucks to handle... One of them got stuck on the side of the road!  The staff spent nearly an hour and a half trying to dig the bus out of of the mud.  Here's a picture of half of my classmates walking through the Mara to get to the other truck.  (This brings back memories of that time Kevin drove into a ditch).

What they didn't know is that there were lions lurking not too far off in the distance!

Menyatta [a traditional Maasai home]

Yippeee!  Just finished my first final exam of the semester!  That means I'm a third of the way done with this semester, and one class closer to graduating...yikes!  I'm celebrating with a nice cold I-don't-even-know-what-flavor soda, but its red and delicious (but definitely not Red Delicious flavor)... mmmmm.  ANYWAYS, enough of that rambling!

Once upon a time, waaaaay long ago (back in mid/late January) in a faraway land called Elangata Wuas, we did a homestay with a traditional Maasai family.  Wanna hear all about it?

On our first day at Elangata Wuas, we went to the market.  This actually wasn't part of the homestay, but it was my first introduction to Maasai culture.  Lots of stuff for sale -- fabric, jewelry, food, secondhand clothes, household items, lions, tigers, and bears!  I bought a nice piece of fabric and a beaded bracelet.  I'm not a pro at bargaining in Swahili yet, but it was fun to try!  Below is a picture of me wearing my goodies and pretending to be Maasai.

Okay, so now let's get to the actual homestay experience...  Boy oh boy, I did not truly realize how comfortable home is until I stayed a night in a traditional Maasai menyatta.

As you can see from the photo below, the typical Maasai house is slightly shorter than the average Maasai woman.  Luckly I am also slightly shorter than the average Maasai woman.  It's made of sticks and mud and cow dung, and has no windows save for a couple 3-inch squares on each side.

Inside there were two rooms -- the main bedroom consisting of bed made of stretched cow hide (featured below), and the kitchen room which had enough space another bed and for a couple people to sit around a mini charcoal stove.

I was with two other students from my program, Kate and Amelie, and we were accompanied by a youth guide named Hellen.  The house we were staying at happened to be Hellen's aunt's house, so she was really familiar with the area.  We spent much of the day chatting with Hellen about life in general, and asking questions about each others lifestyles. We talked about everything from dating to development, and had lots and lots of chai in between.

The Maasai are a pastoralist culture, so when the livestock returned for the night, I got to milk one of the goats!  I was surprised at how hard I had to squeeze, and every time the milk came out, my first instinct was to pull the cup away...oops.  But after a squirt or two, I got the hang of it.  Later that night, I drank chai made with this milk, so that was pretty neat!

We helped prepare dinner (cabbage and ugali), and then went to bed.  The four of us slept in the main bedroom, shoulder to shoulder.  It may not have been the best sleep of my life, but it was absolutely one of the most memorable parts of the trip so far, and something that I am so thankful to have experienced!

Picha! [picture]

Greetings from the shores of Lake Victoria!  We're currently staying in Mbita, at another ICIPE station (the same insect research institution that we stayed with in Nairobi).  This place is absolutely amazing...I feel like I'm in a resort!  I'm currently living in a nice single dorm room; hot showers and real toilets right in the very same building!  We had class this morning and yesterday while sitting in lounge chairs, overlooking the lake, with mountains on the horizon.  Could life get any better?

Anyways, I have free wifi here, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to upload a bunch of random photos from the past few weeks!  Yippeeee! 

First up is a horned cucumber that we got to eat in Ethnobotany class!  It tastes a bit like a mix of cucumber and lemon...nomnomnom!  It's not super common yet, but is becoming  more and more available in local supermarkets.

Here's our campsite at Lake Naivasha.  That tent on the left with the laundry lines attached is mine.  I don't think those are my clothes...but maybe they are!  Hmmm...

This is a monkey that got onto one of our trucks.  Pesky little guy!   I was sitting on the other truck writing a paper (it was raining outside), but I made sure to take plenty of photos before chasing him away!  He might be the same monkey that tried to steal my breakfast once... 

Here's me and Arielle doing a power pose at the top of Mount Longonot.  Behind us is the crater of a dormant volcano, which hasn't erupted since 1812 (I think), and thus has been filled in with forest.  It was a really fun/quick/dusty/butt-hurting climb!

A performance of a traditional Kikuyu dance.  This was right before members of our group were pulled in to join them!  On top of their heads are hats made of monkey fur.  Pretty, but poor monkeys! 

The men all had these metal things attached to their legs, filled with stones of different sizes  to act as shakers, keeping the beat of their dance.  It sounded pretty neat!  Fortunately for them, they only wear these during ceremonies...not every day life (I think).  That would be tiring!

These are candelabra trees at our campsite in Maasai Mara.  They're all over the place!  More importantly, check out those ominous clouds...  Rain's a-comin'! 

Last but definitely not least, baby goats! 

BONUS ROUND: Baby goats cuddling in a tire!  

Alright folks...it's getting late and I have some work to finish up before I can hit the hay!  I hope these photos give you at least a tiny taste of what I've been up to here in Kenya... Clearly the baby goats are super significant.  Actually, people thought we were really weird for being so obsessed with them.  

Things to look forward to this week while I still have decent internet access: an entry about the homestay with a traditional Maasai family, and photos from our game drive on the Maasai Mara!  

Simba [lion]

Jambo!  Checking in from Maasai Mara, and procrastinating working on my ethnobotany essay...

It's quite chilly here!  I'm so glad that I brought warm leggings, and a rain jacket!  This time of year is usually dry-season, but because of climate change, the rains are becoming more frequent and less predictable... Basically we're all cold, wet, and soggy.

Today we went into the nearby community to learn about land ownership, traditional knowledge, and medicinal plants.  I got to taste a few strange plants (one of them was a different species of basil), and brushed my teeth with a twig!  Squeaky clean!

We've been going on game drives every day.  So far, we've seen zebras, giraffes, elephants, hyenas, buffalo, all sorts of antelope, ostriches, a cheetah, a leopard, and LIONS GALORE!  Seriously, so many lions!  Maasai Mara has one of the world's highest lion densities.  On our first drive, we saw two mothers with about nine little baby Simbas all cuddling together, and yesterday we saw a bunch of lions and cubs (probably the same ones) chowing down on a nice big buffalo carcass!  (Pictures to come next week when I have free wifi in Mbita!)

So now we've seen four out of the "Big Five" (lion, rhino, elephant, buffalo, leopard).  We have one final game drive tomorrow, so hopefully we'll see a rhino.  Gotta catch'em all!

On a final note, one of my classmates pooped in the Mara with elephants on the horizon.  Pretty cool, eh?