So far, one of my favourite things about Kenya has been the number of baby animals there always are here. Because there is not much seasonality, there isn't really a baby "season" here, more of a birthing peak around the rainy season (because it means so much more food). It's a typical girly thing to say, but baby animals just make everything better. And they're always cute. Think about it. Baby giraffe? Cute. Baby chimp? Cute. Baby warthog? Cuuuute. (Baby jackal, baby zebra, baby baboon, baby lion... the list goes on.) And though I don't drive around a whole lot on the plains, what little driving I get to, I almost always see babies.
One of my least favourite things about Kenya has been the mud. I'm not opposed to rain and mud in general, but since I have to drive in it, it has become much less favourable. Furthermore, a couple of the roads I have to use pretty much daily turn to slush after a good rain, and I'm always at least the second car through there, which means I get to deal with other people churning it up for me. The car I'm driving is all wheel drive, but that doesn't mean my stomach doesn't flutter when I'm driving on the roads listening to the sounds of mud hitting the undercarriage and slipping and sliding all over the place. Sure, it can be fun, if you know that you're not going to hit anything and I'm not the one driving. Plus I'm not honestly sure what I am supposed to do if I do get stuck... On the upside, I love the thunder and lightning we get with the rain, and last night it gave us a pretty wicked sunset.
I've done a bit of adventuring around here this week as well. A couple of days ago we had some visitors from the Zoological Society of London, and I accompanied them to the chimp feeding that evening. The chimp night house is very nice and newly renovated, the only problem is that for me to stay out of the grasping hands of chimps I have to walk a very narrow drain down the center of two aisles of rooms. On Tuesday evening, one of the younger chimps, Victoria, managed to get her entire arm out of the room she was in and I turned around to see her hand just a few inches from my face. I think she was just begging for more bananas, but I was pretty startled to see her hand so close to me. After feeding, we got a tip off that there were some lions on Morani. I had no idea where Morani was, or what it even was (I assumed it was a plain), but we followed some signs, took a brief detour to the Sweetwaters Tented Camp, and made our way there. We didn't see any lions at first, just Max the white rhino, a kori bustard and some impala at a water hole, but as we were leaving a whole bunch of tourist buses tipped us off to the presence of lions. It was the same female and two youngsters I'd seen last week, and they casually made their way across the road and down another road. We followed them, because that road was our way home, and eventually they ducked back onto a plain. I managed to make it all the way back to research without the assistance of my GPS, which I was pretty proud of, since my exploring here is pretty severely limited to driving to chimps and back.
It seems that in getting used to my research, I've also become quite forgetful. Yesterday I left my car door open for at least twenty minutes at chimps, until one of the caregivers asked if I was planning on closing it at all. I sheepishly told him I was trying to catch a baboon. I had also lost my watch and voice recorder until I found them yesterday in my shower bag, which was in my car... why was my shower bag in my car, you might ask? Evidently I had just thrown it in there with my backpack and all the rest of my observation materials yesterday in my rush to get out of the research centre. Then, when walking from the young chimp house to the observation platform, I promptly fell in the river at the stepping stones. I didn't fall in all the way, I just took the first stepping stone jump poorly and when I realized I was going to slip stepped down into the river. Stephen blamed it on my shoes, which I also blame (they were caked in mud), but I've made that jump so many times recently that I should have been able to do it. The rest of the day went all right, though, but the morning was a bit frustrating.
The chimps have also been quite frustrated recently, not with mud but with baboons and warthogs. On both sides of the river live baboon troops, and they are quite happy to scavenge the chimps' leavings after meals. You would think that the 20-food electric fence would stop them, but a few clever adult males have figured out ways to get around that particular problem. In each chimp group, males have figured out how to get up on top of the night house (using the stairs at old chimps and a tree and pipe at young) and then the quickly run across the roof and take the 20 foot drop down into the enclosure. (Curiously, the baboons will not do this if you take a photo of them while they're making their way across the roof... in that case they will just drop off the roof onto the outside of the enclosure.) Mostly they stay away from the chimps, but one morning the chimps had been given sweet potatoes for their breakfast. It seems that sweet potatoes were just too delicious to ignore, and three big male baboons made their way into the enclosure for a bit of a snack. Shortly about 12 warthogs also emerged from the bush to enjoy what the chimps were dropping also. Only neither the baboons nor the warthogs were going for what the chimps were dropping, they were literally stealing sweet potatoes out of the chimps' laps!
Of course, this enraged a few of the chimps and they quickly chased their thieving friends away. This worked for the baboons who ran away quite quickly from even the smallest of the chimps, but the warthogs were completely unphased. Even when some of the very large females started screaming and slapping the ground in front of the warthogs, they just skittered off a few feet and then moved right back in for more potato. Breakfast was punctuated by the sounds of screaming chimps and solid slaps as the adults finally resorted to full on attacks of the warthogs. The hogs were afraid of only one chimp: Jane. Jane is one of the youngest chimps in the young group, and was fostered onto Akela when she was just three. Earlier this year Jane decided that the warthogs would be her new friends and apparently "adopted" a young baby warthog. This adoption wasn't really mutual, as Jane simply grabbed the warthog one day despite his parents' objections. She would then run around with him, and when he got too big to actually hold would drag him around by the leg. This play seems to have given the warthogs a healthy fear of Jane, and even the adults will scatter when she comes barreling through.
So while everyone else was eating breakfast, Jane was defending their honor. She chased warthogs and baboons alike, scattering them with somersaults and a rambling run. The baboons quickly realised, however, that Jane was more bark than bite, and after she had chased them around the shade platform a few times they stopped running from her and started talking back. Jane was not impressed by this, and when the baboons chased her she quickly ran also. This didn't deter her from continuing to charge them, but when one baboon didn't run from her charge Jane actually barreled right into him and they both rolled off the shade platform. Jane screamed and screamed as the two of them grappled -- the big male baboons have quite large canines, though I don't think he was trying to bite Jane at all, and she weighs at least as much as he does -- and her screams brought Chippie and Kisa to her aid. The baboons have a healthy fear of Kisa as he is one of the largest males in the group, and every once in a while he and Niyonkuru will get so fed up with the baboons that they attack them in earnest. I believe they've killed at least one, and recently the two of them ganged up and threw a baboon into the electric fence. Jane was released easily, and sulked for a bit before deciding that she should probably just finish her breakfast instead of chasing off invaders. The chimps left shortly, and the baboons and warthogs were left to scavenge in peace.
One of my least favourite things about Kenya has been the mud. I'm not opposed to rain and mud in general, but since I have to drive in it, it has become much less favourable. Furthermore, a couple of the roads I have to use pretty much daily turn to slush after a good rain, and I'm always at least the second car through there, which means I get to deal with other people churning it up for me. The car I'm driving is all wheel drive, but that doesn't mean my stomach doesn't flutter when I'm driving on the roads listening to the sounds of mud hitting the undercarriage and slipping and sliding all over the place. Sure, it can be fun, if you know that you're not going to hit anything and I'm not the one driving. Plus I'm not honestly sure what I am supposed to do if I do get stuck... On the upside, I love the thunder and lightning we get with the rain, and last night it gave us a pretty wicked sunset.
I've done a bit of adventuring around here this week as well. A couple of days ago we had some visitors from the Zoological Society of London, and I accompanied them to the chimp feeding that evening. The chimp night house is very nice and newly renovated, the only problem is that for me to stay out of the grasping hands of chimps I have to walk a very narrow drain down the center of two aisles of rooms. On Tuesday evening, one of the younger chimps, Victoria, managed to get her entire arm out of the room she was in and I turned around to see her hand just a few inches from my face. I think she was just begging for more bananas, but I was pretty startled to see her hand so close to me. After feeding, we got a tip off that there were some lions on Morani. I had no idea where Morani was, or what it even was (I assumed it was a plain), but we followed some signs, took a brief detour to the Sweetwaters Tented Camp, and made our way there. We didn't see any lions at first, just Max the white rhino, a kori bustard and some impala at a water hole, but as we were leaving a whole bunch of tourist buses tipped us off to the presence of lions. It was the same female and two youngsters I'd seen last week, and they casually made their way across the road and down another road. We followed them, because that road was our way home, and eventually they ducked back onto a plain. I managed to make it all the way back to research without the assistance of my GPS, which I was pretty proud of, since my exploring here is pretty severely limited to driving to chimps and back.
It seems that in getting used to my research, I've also become quite forgetful. Yesterday I left my car door open for at least twenty minutes at chimps, until one of the caregivers asked if I was planning on closing it at all. I sheepishly told him I was trying to catch a baboon. I had also lost my watch and voice recorder until I found them yesterday in my shower bag, which was in my car... why was my shower bag in my car, you might ask? Evidently I had just thrown it in there with my backpack and all the rest of my observation materials yesterday in my rush to get out of the research centre. Then, when walking from the young chimp house to the observation platform, I promptly fell in the river at the stepping stones. I didn't fall in all the way, I just took the first stepping stone jump poorly and when I realized I was going to slip stepped down into the river. Stephen blamed it on my shoes, which I also blame (they were caked in mud), but I've made that jump so many times recently that I should have been able to do it. The rest of the day went all right, though, but the morning was a bit frustrating.
The chimps have also been quite frustrated recently, not with mud but with baboons and warthogs. On both sides of the river live baboon troops, and they are quite happy to scavenge the chimps' leavings after meals. You would think that the 20-food electric fence would stop them, but a few clever adult males have figured out ways to get around that particular problem. In each chimp group, males have figured out how to get up on top of the night house (using the stairs at old chimps and a tree and pipe at young) and then the quickly run across the roof and take the 20 foot drop down into the enclosure. (Curiously, the baboons will not do this if you take a photo of them while they're making their way across the roof... in that case they will just drop off the roof onto the outside of the enclosure.) Mostly they stay away from the chimps, but one morning the chimps had been given sweet potatoes for their breakfast. It seems that sweet potatoes were just too delicious to ignore, and three big male baboons made their way into the enclosure for a bit of a snack. Shortly about 12 warthogs also emerged from the bush to enjoy what the chimps were dropping also. Only neither the baboons nor the warthogs were going for what the chimps were dropping, they were literally stealing sweet potatoes out of the chimps' laps!
This photo is in no way relevant to these paragraphs. I just put it in
here 'cause it's cute and it breaks up the monotony of text.
Of course, this enraged a few of the chimps and they quickly chased their thieving friends away. This worked for the baboons who ran away quite quickly from even the smallest of the chimps, but the warthogs were completely unphased. Even when some of the very large females started screaming and slapping the ground in front of the warthogs, they just skittered off a few feet and then moved right back in for more potato. Breakfast was punctuated by the sounds of screaming chimps and solid slaps as the adults finally resorted to full on attacks of the warthogs. The hogs were afraid of only one chimp: Jane. Jane is one of the youngest chimps in the young group, and was fostered onto Akela when she was just three. Earlier this year Jane decided that the warthogs would be her new friends and apparently "adopted" a young baby warthog. This adoption wasn't really mutual, as Jane simply grabbed the warthog one day despite his parents' objections. She would then run around with him, and when he got too big to actually hold would drag him around by the leg. This play seems to have given the warthogs a healthy fear of Jane, and even the adults will scatter when she comes barreling through.
So while everyone else was eating breakfast, Jane was defending their honor. She chased warthogs and baboons alike, scattering them with somersaults and a rambling run. The baboons quickly realised, however, that Jane was more bark than bite, and after she had chased them around the shade platform a few times they stopped running from her and started talking back. Jane was not impressed by this, and when the baboons chased her she quickly ran also. This didn't deter her from continuing to charge them, but when one baboon didn't run from her charge Jane actually barreled right into him and they both rolled off the shade platform. Jane screamed and screamed as the two of them grappled -- the big male baboons have quite large canines, though I don't think he was trying to bite Jane at all, and she weighs at least as much as he does -- and her screams brought Chippie and Kisa to her aid. The baboons have a healthy fear of Kisa as he is one of the largest males in the group, and every once in a while he and Niyonkuru will get so fed up with the baboons that they attack them in earnest. I believe they've killed at least one, and recently the two of them ganged up and threw a baboon into the electric fence. Jane was released easily, and sulked for a bit before deciding that she should probably just finish her breakfast instead of chasing off invaders. The chimps left shortly, and the baboons and warthogs were left to scavenge in peace.
Ali Kaka throws Victoria up in the air while they play
Finally, an addendum:
This morning, while I was writing up this blog I got a call from Kim. She needed me to come pull her out of the mud on Marura dam. So I jumped in my car and whizzed right up there (fortunately I knew where Marura dam was because it was right by Morani, the plain I had previously determined the location of) and found her knee-deep in a ford. Elsa, her mitsubishi, was stuck and slowly sinking deeper into the ford. We tied the two cars together and I pretty quickly got her out of there. It was an excellent adventure, but made me realize a few things:
- Elsa will not be able to pull my car out if I get stuck (darn), which means I will have to call control and get an official truck to help me
- I need rope, and gumboots
- I would never have tried to cross that ford
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