Birthday Ngombe.

Well, I had a fantastic 27th birthday. In the morning, I climbed a new hill to see something new. It was extremely windy, but I got some great pictures. Here is a picture of my house, the river, and the village where my research is being conducted:And here is the waterhole and treehouse:

For the afternoon, I went to the waterhole to get some data and had a marvelous time listening to music and taking it all in. I was secretly hoping to see something very cool for my birthday and I think God heard my thoughts and decided to play a little joke on me. In the early afternoon I saw a beast behind a bush. It was dark colored and had its head to the ground so I couldn’t see its face behind the grass. At first I was thinking that I was looking at my first Tanzanian cape buffalo… but then he looked up. It was a bull who must have wandered from the eye of its herder. He seemed awfully unconcerned that he was the only cow around, and was very excited to see all of the ungrazed grass near the waterhole. I got on the radio to report the sighting. Often when cattle are grazed illegally they are taken hostage so that the owners have to sheepishly come forward to collect them. However, because my birthday cow was apparently lost, I was given free rein to chase it away. Who else gets to chase a cow for their 27th birthday?

I did not feel nearly as alone as I was anticipating as I was fielding calls and SMSes from my relatives in Kenya in the morning, and then my family in America in the afternoon. As an added bonus, one of the guides came to my house in the afternoon to listen to have a God-song jam session. I am so glad I gave in to the pressure to conform technologically. I love my MP3 player.