Dung hunting in the bush

We've just returned from a week in the field and were fortunate to have great luck collecting samples and had a great time in the process.

We left Sunday the 15th for Tsavo West NP arriving at the Ngulia Rhino Camp in the late afternoon. The camp is only a few hundred meters from the entrance to the Ngulia Black Rhino Sanctuary within the park and houses a number of KWS rangers including those in charge of the park's rhino population. I was very excited that camp had a lot of my favorite tree - the large baobab - scatter throughout the site. We set up our tents and fire and enjoyed our first night camping in the bush.

Early Monday morning we woke up just before sunrise to head out in search of of rhino dung. We were joined by Jilo, a young KWS ranger, and his AK47 and ventured into the sanctuary. We got out at the first water hole we came to and had found our first dung samples within minutes. It was a little strange to be walking around the park on foot, especially after spotting a hyena running through the bush only a few hundred feet away - we quickly learned not to wander to far from the man with the gun.

We spent two nights at Tsavo West and got to see a lot of bird life at the camp when we weren't dung hunting. Between the starlings, hornbills, ground squirrels, and lizards we were thoroughly entertained. After our last morning in Tsavo West on Tuesday we had collected a total of 20 dung samples and left for the town of Voi and Tsavo East after packing up the camp and a quick lunch.

On our way out of Tsavo West we picked up one of the Rhino management rangers at the main gate, named Adan, and continued on through the town of Voi to the Tsavo East gate. After some discussion with KWS headquarters in Tsavo East we were put up in the dormitories at the education center for the night where we were spoiled with electicity, mattresses and dozens of showers and toilets to chose from - we had expected to be camping every night! The guys - Muya, Antony (another KWS member currnetly working on his Masters and assisting us in the field), and Adan - were put in one dorm and Lindsey and I were in another with 11 beds for the two of us. The guys still decided to put up the tents on top of their beds, however, as they claimed the bugs in the room were too much to deal with - funny that we didn't have any in our room!

Dung hunting in Tsavo East was much more of a task than in Tsavo West. The Park is by far the largest in the country and stretches from Tanzania all the way north of Nairboi and does not have a designated rhino sanctuary, so all of our dung hunting was done under the observation of those on safari. At the first stop, Lindsey, Muya and I stayed by the car while Tony, Adan and Joseph (our KWS gun man) ventured out to a more dangerous area by the river to look for dung. While they we were gone we practiced climbing an old tree just in case we were faced with the daunting prospect of having to escape from a charging rhino. Unfortunately, the black rhinos are pretty elusive and we did not see one in either Tsavo East or Tsavo West.

We drove further on and deep into the bush, which required a great deal of off road adventure. Although we'd managed to squeeze five people in our tiny Toyota Cami (a 4WD vehicle slightly smaller than a Rav-4), Joseph got stuck riding in the trunk for the trip! Since we had been travelling so far away from the offices or any other civilization, we packed some bread and crisps (potato chips) and a few juice boxes and had our lunch in the middle of the park under the shade of an acacia tree.

Wednesday night we somehow ended up staying at a lodge 20 minutes from Voi called the Sagala Lodge. The lodge has a number of captive species (including oryx, eland, and waterbuck) on its grounds as it doubles as a rapidly expanding animal sanctuary as well. Tony had worked withe owner of the lodge and arranged for us to spend the night for free with all our meals included. We felt so spoiled! Dinner was a very tasty four course meal which we enjoyed with the company of the Tony's friend over candlelight and enjoyed a very comfortable night's sleep on our fancy beds. Breakfast the next morning was equally impressive and we all filled up on eggs, sausage, potatoes and fruits before heading out for another day of dung hunting.

After getting lost only once, we found a hot spot of rhino dung and reached our goal of 20 samples from Tsavo East just before lunch - a total of 40 samples for the Tsavos. After lunch at Lugards Falls and a quick visit to the rhino camp (which had a very shy crocodile living in a stream behind their office), we headed back to Voi for dinner and to get the car washed - the Tsavos are infamous for the bright red dust that covers everything - including the animals. We finally got around to setting up camp at a public site in the park and went to bed after a few Tuskers around the campfire.

Not long after going to bed we were visited by what we believe was a bushbaby that had been making noise in the trees overhead while we were putting up our tent. It was very noisy and thought nothing of climbing all over our tent as we tried to sleep. We had other visitors later in the evening which we eventually discovered were a group of hippos and baboons that were arguing over something close to the tent - the hippos loud bellows and the screams of the baboons made it impossible to sleep through.

Friday morning we packed up our camp again and headed for the coast. After three hours we arrived in Mombasa - the largest port on the East African coast - had some lunch by the beach while it poured outside and then headed out for a swim in the Indian Ocean. The water was beautful and green and EXTREMELY warm in comparison to the beaches in New England. We felt like we were on a resort vacation with all the green water and palm trees and were amazed by the camels that were being trekked down the beach offering camel rides.

The rest of the weekend we spent sightseeing at various areas around the coast, including a visit to Fort Jesus - an old Portuguese fort along the coast - and a trip to the town of Kwale where we visited with one of Muya's old school mates over lunch. Saturday night we were invited to a local veterinarian's home for dinner, who Tony was also friends with, and were treated to a feast of a meal complete with beer, a LOT of tasty red wine, and great conversation about American politics, different ways to spay a cat, and the challenges faced when trying to conserve endangered wildlife species. After returning to the campsite we headed out for a fun night of dancing at a beach side club called Pirates that happened to be owned by the same couple that owned the lodge we stayed in. It interesting to see how different cultures like to dance - while the crowds always seem to be packed in pretty tight back home, every one dancing here at at least a foot and a half of space between them and the people around them. It was a very tame scene.

Sunday we packed up all of our wet tents as it had rained quite a bit over the course of our stay in Mombasa and headed out for the long 6 hour drive back to Nairobi.

This week we will spend some more time in the lab extracting DNA from some of the samples we collected and then hope to head up north on Thursday or Friday to visit four other parks for collection. If all goes well we hope to visit Laikipia, Aberdares, Ol Jogi, and Lewa for at most 10 days. Still no word on when the rhino translocations will be taking place, but we should find out by the end of the week. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

~Corynne