Nairobi Adventrues

This week has been mostly organizational as we prepare for a 9 day camping trip to the field. We've been spending the mornings at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) headquarters being introduced to various members of the administration and establishing the necessary relationships to assure that everything with our project runs smoothly.

Earlier this week we visited the Nairobi Wildlife Orphanage and Safari walk which are adjacent to the KWS and Nairobi National Park. Some of the highlights include Lindsey getting spooked by another monkey (Monkeys 2, Lindsey 0) as we got a little to close to her baby, which was on the wrong side of the cage. Not long after that adventure, we were asked by some of the staff members if we were interested in petting the cheetahs during their feeding time (for a donation, of course). After my initial reaction, which was "is that really a safe idea?," we happily accepted and went in to pet their backs and give them some ear scratches while they snapped photos of us with our digital cameras. At first I felt like a little kid petting house cat for the first time - a little apprehensive but beaming the whole time. The only surprise was that their fur was a lot coarser than I'd expected.

Not long after our cheetah experience, we had another surprise. We were both sitting quietly writing some post cards when two high school girls approached us to ask if it would be okay for them to have their picture taken with us. We were very confused and couldn't understand why, but figured it was harmless. Before the picture had been taken, there was a line of 20 students (both boys and girls) waiting to have their pictures taken. I felt like an exhibit! It was so amusing though that all Lindsey and I could do was laugh. Some of them would just sit between us quietly and others would sit down and put their arms around us like we were old friends. My guess is that they hadn't seen too many white people before. It was an amusing experience none-the-less. Just for the memory, I had the last person take a picture with my camera as well (see photo, right).

The remainder of the week we have spent at KWS organizing the demographic information on file for Kenya's black rhino population and making the appropriate preparations for our field work, which we hope to begin this Sunday. The plan is to start at the Chyulu Hills, then spend three days in Tsavo West National Park, three days in Tsavo East NP, and then spend a day or two "on holiday" in Mombassa before heading back to Nairobi on the 22nd.

Although the rhino translocation dates have not been finalized yet, there's a good chance that three should be taking place before we leave. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

~Corynne