Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
The Primary Suspect
A Tawny Eagle...
Last week, one of our teenage chickens was snatched by an Eagle. Our watchman informed us of the act because we just happened to be in the bush when it happened. Today, I spotted this guy in a large tree over looking our chicken coop when all of our chickens just happened to be freaking out. If only I had a slingshot...
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The Mighty Mara River
The Mighty Mara River...Picture taken November 12th, 2008.
The Mighty Mara River facing some tough times...Picture taken February 24th, 2009.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
World Water Day
World Water Day is fast approaching. Get involved. If you're in Kenya...we'll meet you at the Hekima College Event.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
The Wish of a Bat-Eared Fox
He's thinking..."If only I could taken down one of those Thompson's Gazelles."
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
The Elephant - Fish
Here is a small collection of some of the fish the specialists caught in the Mara River. Check out the second fish from the top...he's got a trunk just like an Elephant.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Celebrating with Simba
Tonight we partied with our good friend Owen, aka The Lion, before his return to the US for a few months. Safe travels, Simba!
Goat Roast
A community group roasted two goats for our team after a long and hot morning of sampling in the Mara River.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Hippos ... the Water Guardians
Hippos are quite protective of their water. They do not take kindly to us if we are anywhere near their water.
Whenever we arrive at a site, we sit and observe the water for quite a long time to figure out what critters may be hiding within the water. This day, we had a boat...so we also utilized our boat motor to help drive any animals (hippos or crocs) away from our sampling area.
After the river and banks were surveyed for wildlife that could be a threat, we all began. We had a team of fish specialists from Tanzania who were fish sampling in the Mara. We also had a hydraulics specialist from Tanzania, several specialists from the Water Resources Management Authority here in Kenya and two survey teams from Narok.
At this time, Amanda and I were downstream of a 3 person team in a boat. We were doing the macroinvertebrate sampling and the boat team was measuring the flow of the river from the boat.
Here I am with one of our assistants...using a kick net to collect macroinvertebrates from a riffle.
Here is the three person team in the boat collecting information about the velocity of the river.
A large hippo them came storming down the bank of the river from the scrub land where he was grazing. The hippo plunged into the water and started heading for the team in the boat. All three team members in the boat then jumped into the water and began pulling themselves to the other shore in an effort to get away from the hippo. I started taking these pictures just after the team jumped into the Mara.
Here are the team members pulling themselves across the Mara River with the aid of a rope. The water wasn't very deep but very rocky.
Here the hippo is plunging back into the water towards our team members.
All three members make it to shore with plenty of time to spare.
Our two armed Rangers were at the high ground...prepared to respond if the hippo continued across the Mara.
The hippo splashed about for a while near the boat and then finally walked back upstream...away from our sampling effort.
Another good day of sampling in the Mara River.
Whenever we arrive at a site, we sit and observe the water for quite a long time to figure out what critters may be hiding within the water. This day, we had a boat...so we also utilized our boat motor to help drive any animals (hippos or crocs) away from our sampling area.
After the river and banks were surveyed for wildlife that could be a threat, we all began. We had a team of fish specialists from Tanzania who were fish sampling in the Mara. We also had a hydraulics specialist from Tanzania, several specialists from the Water Resources Management Authority here in Kenya and two survey teams from Narok.
At this time, Amanda and I were downstream of a 3 person team in a boat. We were doing the macroinvertebrate sampling and the boat team was measuring the flow of the river from the boat.
Here I am with one of our assistants...using a kick net to collect macroinvertebrates from a riffle.
Here is the three person team in the boat collecting information about the velocity of the river.A large hippo them came storming down the bank of the river from the scrub land where he was grazing. The hippo plunged into the water and started heading for the team in the boat. All three team members in the boat then jumped into the water and began pulling themselves to the other shore in an effort to get away from the hippo. I started taking these pictures just after the team jumped into the Mara.
Here are the team members pulling themselves across the Mara River with the aid of a rope. The water wasn't very deep but very rocky.
Here the hippo is plunging back into the water towards our team members.
All three members make it to shore with plenty of time to spare.
Our two armed Rangers were at the high ground...prepared to respond if the hippo continued across the Mara.
The hippo splashed about for a while near the boat and then finally walked back upstream...away from our sampling effort.
Another good day of sampling in the Mara River.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Mara Conservancy Visit
The gracious folks at the Mara Conservancy came out and visited us last week during our intensive fish sampling session in the Mara. They posted a bit about their visit with us on their blog at... Life Zapped out of the Mara River. Check it out as well as the rest of their site. Good folks doing good things.
I'll post more in the next few days about the trip including some pictures of a fish that we found in the river...that looks like an elephant!
I'll post more in the next few days about the trip including some pictures of a fish that we found in the river...that looks like an elephant!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
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