A big male and two females. The one on the left is has a collar on.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Hybrid fight
Today I needed to go to Kamok to get more fuel. The roads are still bad, so I asked if there was an alternate route to Kamok where the roads are ok. Apparently the road just inside the northern boundary fence has been all gravelled since last year. It is a longer route, but less chance of getting stuck so I went that way. It turned out to be a really good road and I got to see part of the conservancy I haven't before. There were a few places where you had to drive through a literal pond, but the road was gravel underneath, so no chance of getting stuck in mud. You just keep driving through the water.
On the way I found a hybrid. This was a male that appeared to have a harem of 1 female and (I presume) her colt from last year. While I was watching, a bachelor male came over and started challenging the hybrid. They started trotting, then running, then biting and kicking at each other. I have a lot of it on video. But in the middle of the battle I lost sight of them in the bush! I tried to see if they would come back out, but no luck. So I continued on to Kamok.
While there I got fuel and went to find Mathenge's office to see if I could talk to him a little more about my project. He wasn't there right when I walked in, but another guy called him on his cell phone and Mathenge came to meet me. I told him about the delay on the cages and being unable to find clips for the cow collars. He is going into town tomorrow, so he said he will check at several stores and let me know if he finds them. Then I can go back to town with Kim on Friday (when she is going in to meet another grad student from UC Davis who is coming here to research) and buy them.
Mathenge also introduced me to Giles, the head cattle manager. I told him about my project and he seemed very supportive, so it was a good meeting. I also made a plan to meet up with Mathenge again on Saturday so he can show me one of the sites we chose that I have never been to before. It is in the far northwest corner of the property. There are no cows there now, but they are planning to move some there soon. So this will hopefully be a crucial "before cows" site that then becomes a "during cows" site so I can see how the wildlife respond. Giles said that if I only need 2 weeks to get "before cows" data, they can hold off on moving the cows there for me for 2 weeks. So that was nice.
On the way back I drove by the spot where the hybrid had been trying to fight off a challenger and saw the hybrid alone-- without his female. So it looks like he lost the fight, and his harem to that other male! Poor guy. As a hybrid, he was much bigger than his challenger, so I don't know why he lost. I will have to check back in the next week and see if I can find that hybrid again and see who he is with now.
On the way I found a hybrid. This was a male that appeared to have a harem of 1 female and (I presume) her colt from last year. While I was watching, a bachelor male came over and started challenging the hybrid. They started trotting, then running, then biting and kicking at each other. I have a lot of it on video. But in the middle of the battle I lost sight of them in the bush! I tried to see if they would come back out, but no luck. So I continued on to Kamok.
While there I got fuel and went to find Mathenge's office to see if I could talk to him a little more about my project. He wasn't there right when I walked in, but another guy called him on his cell phone and Mathenge came to meet me. I told him about the delay on the cages and being unable to find clips for the cow collars. He is going into town tomorrow, so he said he will check at several stores and let me know if he finds them. Then I can go back to town with Kim on Friday (when she is going in to meet another grad student from UC Davis who is coming here to research) and buy them.
Mathenge also introduced me to Giles, the head cattle manager. I told him about my project and he seemed very supportive, so it was a good meeting. I also made a plan to meet up with Mathenge again on Saturday so he can show me one of the sites we chose that I have never been to before. It is in the far northwest corner of the property. There are no cows there now, but they are planning to move some there soon. So this will hopefully be a crucial "before cows" site that then becomes a "during cows" site so I can see how the wildlife respond. Giles said that if I only need 2 weeks to get "before cows" data, they can hold off on moving the cows there for me for 2 weeks. So that was nice.
On the way back I drove by the spot where the hybrid had been trying to fight off a challenger and saw the hybrid alone-- without his female. So it looks like he lost the fight, and his harem to that other male! Poor guy. As a hybrid, he was much bigger than his challenger, so I don't know why he lost. I will have to check back in the next week and see if I can find that hybrid again and see who he is with now.
(The hybrid and his female, before he lost :( )
Yesterday was a mixed bag
There were good and not so good parts about yesterday.
In the morning I tried to go out into the field to look for hybrids, but the roads were still so bad because of the rain. And I think I am so scared of getting stuck, I just don't try any roads that look bad. So I could see all of the zebra over on this one plain, but I could not get to them because the road there was bad.
In the afternoon I went to town with Kim to pick up her friend Alli who is staying for 2 weeks, and run some errands. One thing I forgot to mention in my last post is that I bought cow collars in the US (collars made for cows) to attach my GPS units to and brought them all the way to Kenya with me. But when I showed them to the cattle guy he didn't like them! He thinks they will scare the cows, and just wants me to buy chain and clips to make collars with instead. So I bought those collars with my own money and hauled them here for nothing!
But anyway, so I needed to buy chain and clips and also chicken wire to put on the cage frames which were supposed to be being welded. I went to the hardware store and got chicken wire and chain, but they said they have no clips of any kind. The chain is kind of useless without the clips, so I need to try to find some somewhere else ASAP. They also told me that they had been busy and hadn't started making my frames yet. They will start today. So that pushes everything back by another 2 days at least. I can't really start without those frames.
On the way back to Ol Pejeta we saw it had rained here again and the roads are even worse. I need to get to the workshop (called Kamok) soon to get more fuel, but I'm afraid the road there is too bad. So in the meantime I can't really drive around anywhere else (on the ok roads) because I don't have that much fuel left. I need to save enough to get to Kamok (which is kind of far) to get more.
One bright side was that on our drive back in we saw three lions really close up. A big male walked right by our open car window and stared at us. Then he headed over to nap with 2 females. Of course I didn't have my camera! but Alli did. So I will post a picture as soon as I can copy her photos.
So to recap:
Good: some errands completed, Alli is really nice, lions
Bad: roads suck and it rained again, hardware store had no clips, my frames won't be ready
In the morning I tried to go out into the field to look for hybrids, but the roads were still so bad because of the rain. And I think I am so scared of getting stuck, I just don't try any roads that look bad. So I could see all of the zebra over on this one plain, but I could not get to them because the road there was bad.
In the afternoon I went to town with Kim to pick up her friend Alli who is staying for 2 weeks, and run some errands. One thing I forgot to mention in my last post is that I bought cow collars in the US (collars made for cows) to attach my GPS units to and brought them all the way to Kenya with me. But when I showed them to the cattle guy he didn't like them! He thinks they will scare the cows, and just wants me to buy chain and clips to make collars with instead. So I bought those collars with my own money and hauled them here for nothing!
But anyway, so I needed to buy chain and clips and also chicken wire to put on the cage frames which were supposed to be being welded. I went to the hardware store and got chicken wire and chain, but they said they have no clips of any kind. The chain is kind of useless without the clips, so I need to try to find some somewhere else ASAP. They also told me that they had been busy and hadn't started making my frames yet. They will start today. So that pushes everything back by another 2 days at least. I can't really start without those frames.
On the way back to Ol Pejeta we saw it had rained here again and the roads are even worse. I need to get to the workshop (called Kamok) soon to get more fuel, but I'm afraid the road there is too bad. So in the meantime I can't really drive around anywhere else (on the ok roads) because I don't have that much fuel left. I need to save enough to get to Kamok (which is kind of far) to get more.
One bright side was that on our drive back in we saw three lions really close up. A big male walked right by our open car window and stared at us. Then he headed over to nap with 2 females. Of course I didn't have my camera! but Alli did. So I will post a picture as soon as I can copy her photos.
So to recap:
Good: some errands completed, Alli is really nice, lions
Bad: roads suck and it rained again, hardware store had no clips, my frames won't be ready
Monday, June 13, 2011
Meeting went well
This morning was my meeting with Dan, Nathan (the research coordinator) and Mr. Mathenge (the assistant to the head cattle guy), and I think it went pretty well.
Dan arrived and I saw he had brought 3 girls from Mpala with him- 2 of the Princeton undergrads and one research assistant who is just starting a year-long position. I guess none of them had been to Ol Pejeta before and didn't have anything else pressing to do today, so he brought them along to show them the place. They just had to sit around during my meeting and then Dan took us out to try to find cool wildlife to show them, but sadly there was not much out today. So I hope they still enjoyed coming.
But back to my meeting... The most important part was for me to find out where the cows are now, and if they are planning to move any of them soon. With this info, Dan and I selected sites for me to focus on. In general, I want to see how wildlife behave before, during, and after cattle grazing. In practice, it would take a long time (more months than I am here) to see this full cycle at a single site (and I would want replicates, so multiple sites). Therefore, we picked 6 different sites that represent different parts of the cycle. For more info on that, read the next paragraph. If you don't really care about the details (and I don't blame you if you don't), skip to the last paragraph.
There are a couple of plains that already have cows grazing on them now and the managers are not planning to move the cows soon, so these will be my "during cows" sites. There are two places where there are no cows now, but they will definitely be moving cows to one of them soonish. So those will function as my "before cows" sites. Once they move cows to one of them, it will become another "during cows" site. There is also one plain where there are cows now, but the grass has gotten very low and they will be moving the cows off of that site any day now. So as soon as the cows leave, that will be my "after cows" site to see how the grass grows back and how the wildlife respond after the cows leave. I may also have a site inside the white rhino enclosure. This is a fenced off area, so no cows ever go there, but there is wildlife inside that I can study. So this may serve as a "no cows" kind of control area.
I will also be putting out grazing exclosure cages (1m x 1m x 0.5m of chicken wire on a frame) to prevent grazing inside these cages. That will let me know how the grass is growing on each plain when it is not being eaten.The frames are being welded in town now. They will not fit in my car, but there are trucks from Ol Pejeta that go into town often, so hopefully one of them can pick up the frames for me. I thought I was going to have to attach the chicken wire myself, but it seems they might be able to do that for me at the workshop here.
So the rest of this week will involve buying supplies, getting things made, and basically getting set up to start the project. Then hopefully next Monday I will actually put out the exclosure cages and the experiment will begin. It looked like it was raining off in the distance today, but didn't actually rain at the research center so far. So hopefully the roads will be able to dry out a bit-- although the rain is very good for the grass and the animals, so I shouldn't complain.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Another Day of Rain
I went out this morning to look for hybrids. The roads were still wet from yesterday, and were just starting to dry when we had another drenching downpour this afternoon. Today's rain may even have been more than yesterdays.Luckily for me, the thatch roof of my room does not leak. Most of the other rooms however, are not so lucky. Kim came back yesterday to find it raining on her computer. She said today it felt like it was raining inside her room (along the perimeter) just as hard as outside.
So the roads will probably be even worse tomorrow. They didn't have time to fully dry today before being inundated again. But I don't have to go out in the morning because I have my meeting with Dan, the cattle, and research people. I am kind of nervous. This is a very necessary meeting so I can find out where the cows are now and where they are planning to move them, so I can pick research sites. I am just worried that the plan I have will not work out because the cows are already everywhere, or are not being moved in the timeframe I am here, etc. We'll see how it goes.
The next step is to get my exclosure cages finished. The frames are being welded in town now and are supposed to be done by Wednesday. However they are too big to fit in my car, so I need to find someone here with a truck that can drive me in to town to fetch them. Then once I get them back here, I need to wire the chicken wire on myself, and possibly hire someone to help me.
So the roads will probably be even worse tomorrow. They didn't have time to fully dry today before being inundated again. But I don't have to go out in the morning because I have my meeting with Dan, the cattle, and research people. I am kind of nervous. This is a very necessary meeting so I can find out where the cows are now and where they are planning to move them, so I can pick research sites. I am just worried that the plan I have will not work out because the cows are already everywhere, or are not being moved in the timeframe I am here, etc. We'll see how it goes.
The next step is to get my exclosure cages finished. The frames are being welded in town now and are supposed to be done by Wednesday. However they are too big to fit in my car, so I need to find someone here with a truck that can drive me in to town to fetch them. Then once I get them back here, I need to wire the chicken wire on myself, and possibly hire someone to help me.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Rain
It has been raining here for the past few hours. This time of year is usually about the beginning of the dry season, but I guess the rains are not quite over yet.
Before the rain, I woke up this morning to my first clear view of Mount Kenya since arriving. It had been too cloudy every other time I thought to look, but this morning at dawn there was a great view.
I went out to the field this morning and saw not one, not two, but 5 different hybrids! I am scheduled to meet with Dan and the assistant to the head cattle manager on Monday to get my real project going, but until then I am trying to collect some more hybrid behavioral data to see if we can get a paper out of what I did last summer.
After a fairly successful morning, I came back to the research center for lunch. I thought it looked dark off in the distance and wondered if it was going to rain again this afternoon like it did yesterday afternoon. Sure enough, just as I was thinking about going back out after lunch, the skies opened up with a drenching rain. It poured heavily for a good while. Now it is just light, but the roads will need some time and sun to dry out.
Still no big cat sightings, but I did see a rhino today, just into the bush while I was watching zebra.There was also a lone male elephant that came walking by.
Before the rain, I woke up this morning to my first clear view of Mount Kenya since arriving. It had been too cloudy every other time I thought to look, but this morning at dawn there was a great view.
I went out to the field this morning and saw not one, not two, but 5 different hybrids! I am scheduled to meet with Dan and the assistant to the head cattle manager on Monday to get my real project going, but until then I am trying to collect some more hybrid behavioral data to see if we can get a paper out of what I did last summer.
After a fairly successful morning, I came back to the research center for lunch. I thought it looked dark off in the distance and wondered if it was going to rain again this afternoon like it did yesterday afternoon. Sure enough, just as I was thinking about going back out after lunch, the skies opened up with a drenching rain. It poured heavily for a good while. Now it is just light, but the roads will need some time and sun to dry out.
Still no big cat sightings, but I did see a rhino today, just into the bush while I was watching zebra.There was also a lone male elephant that came walking by.
Friday, June 10, 2011
at Ol Pejeta
I have made it to Ol Pejeta safely and have my internet working here now. I woke up this morning, ate breakfast, packed my car and filled up with fuel and was on the road. It is about an hour drive from Mpala to Ol Pejeta... a little more since I was going kind of slowly to make sure I didn't hurt the car. The roads are still not great. In fact, the main road has gotten worse since I was last here. I gave three different people rides along my way. They all wanted to go to town, but I was not going all the way in to Nanyuki, so I took them as far as I could.
It turns out they are doing construction on the research center here at Ol Pejeta, so the main building is all torn apart and being worked on. They have even moved the kitchen into one of the former bedroom huts. It looks very different than I remember! There is not even a dining room place to eat at currently. So I am not really sure where we will be eating dinner. I think there are only a couple other people here right now too. They are currently out in the field, so Kim is the only person I know is here.
I hope the company is good though. Dan is coming over Monday for a meeting with me and the people I need to work with here for my research. Hopefully that goes well. Until then I will try to drive around and look for hybrids again like last summer. I tried that today and did see one for a bit before he disappeared into the bush. Then it started raining, so I headed back. I probably could have stayed out, but didn't want to get stuck in the mud my first day!
It turns out they are doing construction on the research center here at Ol Pejeta, so the main building is all torn apart and being worked on. They have even moved the kitchen into one of the former bedroom huts. It looks very different than I remember! There is not even a dining room place to eat at currently. So I am not really sure where we will be eating dinner. I think there are only a couple other people here right now too. They are currently out in the field, so Kim is the only person I know is here.
I hope the company is good though. Dan is coming over Monday for a meeting with me and the people I need to work with here for my research. Hopefully that goes well. Until then I will try to drive around and look for hybrids again like last summer. I tried that today and did see one for a bit before he disappeared into the bush. Then it started raining, so I headed back. I probably could have stayed out, but didn't want to get stuck in the mud my first day!
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