Siku ya kuzaliwa yangu.

Well, tomorrow is my birthday. Another year closer to 30. I have heard from several people now that I need to do something special for my birthday which got me thinking of how I spent my birthday last year. Stephen and I were all packed and ready to move down to Georgia the very next day. Some friends came over, we went for a run in the park and then feasted on salmon, wine, and vegetables fresh from Mom & Dad's garden. I don't know how I can compete with that this year. However, because of the numerous requests to "do something special," I began brainstorming what would be something special to do for my birthday in a country where birthdays really aren't recognized. Here are my ideas:

1. Take a bubble bath by candlelight (actually, there isn't a tub here... but maybe I could settle on jumping in the waterhole with the elephants... no, that's not a good idea... maybe I could take a bucket shower with 2 buckets of water ...and conditioner ...and put on clean clothes afterwards!)
2. Feast on a special food. (I hear there is a village 2 dala-dala rides away that sells cheese...)
3. Watch a movie (I am out of new movies, but maybe if it wasn't so windy I could climb a hill for a nice view)
4. Drink a whole bottle of wine by myself (that would actually be a first and sounds like a brilliant plan except for the trip to town to get the bottle of wine...)
5. Go watch elephants. (I think I will stick to this one. No, it is not more special than any other day, but really, what else could a girl ask for... besides her husband... and salmon... and a swig of wine... ;0) )

Pappy is in heaven now.

Some of you may remember my friend from Kenya who started a mission near the ranch where Stephen and I met. When we were in Kenya together, we celebrated Pappy's 91st birthday. Recently he hadn't been doing very well and I got a call yesterday morning from the mission nurse, Lucy, that Pappy had passed away. Pappy's wife died in Kenya so there is a place for him and her to be remembered together. I was disappointed that I didn't get to have one more visit with him, but I know he is in a better place and we will see each other again one day.

Ya huzuni

I have a very sad story to tell. For the past two weeks or so we have been monitoring a female elephant on the property who looked pregnant and was limping quite severely on her left front leg. She has not been travelling with the rest of her herd and has therefore fed too sparingly to support her body size. On Wednesday morning I got a call that she had passed away. I wanted to go inspect her body to see if I recognized her from my ID files and to get her age. I went in the afternoon and to confirm if she was pregnant, her stomach was cut open to expose a fetus that was completely ready. It was a baby boy fully ready for birth. There was a wound behind the elephant's ear which raises the suspicion that she was wounded by a poacher, although this couldn't be confirmed because she was lying on the wounded side. After further investigation and talking to people at the ranch, most likely the wound was caused by an arrow with poison, as the Masai use in the area. Poachers aim for behind the ear hoping that the spear/bullet would go to the brain for a quick kill. However, this elephant's swelling was probably caused by the poison which unfortunately does not kill quickly. I have been stricken with the reality of why I am here. I think it is quite easy to fall into this routine of going and enjoying all the wildlife and experiences Tanzania is offering me, but this incident has really fed my desire to conserve the wildlife of Tanzania. Although devastating, I am now more determined to play a part in saving these elephants by providing methods other than killing that will keep peace or at least alleviate conflict between humans and elephants. The tusks were collected from the elephant and will be picked up by the wildlife division.

Game drive usiku bomba!

I was fortunate enough to go on another night game drive with my temporary neighbors. There were 3 students only so lots of extra room in the car. We saw many springhare which was quite exciting. I really want to learn to hop like one- it looks like a lot of fun like every springhare has their own pogo-stick. Now that I have seen them, I realized that Safari the dog has brought Rose and I tails from springhare on 2 occasions. I admit, I am rather impressed with Safari's hunting skills if she indeed caught them, they are quite fast as the spotlight holder and driver on our game drive will attest! We also saw an African wild cat which honestly, I thought was a joke, but now have confirmed that African wildcats do exist separate from stray domestic cats. We also saw more bush babies which is always a treat for me. When I was walking back to my house, my headlamp caught the eyeshine of a creature in the bushes and on closer inspection (and after searching my mammal book) I learned that there is a genet living in the bushes next to the house. I am going to try to get a closer look one of these days. Rose came with us on the game drive, and as you can see, we were chilly!

Eland

An eland is the largest ungulate alive today. Adults can get up to 2 tons, and they are rather incredible to see in person. The picture doesn't do them justice, but I have to try, right?

Happy Birthday Mume Yangu!

Today is Stephen's birthday! Cheers, love. I sure miss you!

Jumapili bombastic!

I had a rather incredible day yesterday. Only one day this week have I spent in the village. I am trying to enter and analyze data to find out if I need more information for the correlation study. So, this means a lot of time in front of the computer or going on a walk to let the solar panels charge up the computer! Yesterday I wanted to spend time at the waterhole because there have been a lot of elephants around this week. There were 4 groups that all came together at the waterhole which was fantastic because I managed to get data for all of them. Now of course, I have a lot more work to do sitting in front of the computer but I can't help but feel like everything else should come second if there are elephants around. What a treat. Additionally, there is a group of students camping this week. There are only 3 of them and they come across as a little lonely and maybe bored of each other's company. Unfortunately, they missed the elephant convention at the waterhole yesterday, but they invited me along on their afternoon game drive. We saw elephants and giraffe, rather typical, but nonetheless, it was a welcome change of scenery for me. An exceptional Sunday indeed!