Academic News

During the last week we took students on an expedition to the world famous Maasai Mara National Reserve. The expeditions are used to expose students to the diverse environment, park management activities, as well as the diverse wildlife of Kenya. During the expedition our faculty, park officials, and researchers give lectures on various park and wildlife management issues in the respective parks. Various field exercises are also conducted. While in Kenya, students visit at least six different parks, sanctuaries, and reserves.

At Mara, lectures and field exercises covering a range of conservation issues were conducted. The lectures and exercises covered techniques in aging and sexing of animals, observation of tourist behavior and activities, vegetation survey, and the effect of elephants on vegetation. Various game drives were made where students observed and identified mammals and birds and described the habitats within which these animals are found.

Two very important guest lectures were given during the expedition. One lecture by a researcher with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) who has been working in the area for 10 years covered the management of the reserve by the Narok County Council (NCC) and also community conservation issues. From the warden's lecture, it became very clear to the CWMS students and staff that the NCC is not doing much in managing the reserve. However, the local people living next to the reserve are receiving more benefits from wildlife conservation as opposed to their counterparts in the Amboseli region. The reserve experiences very serious off-road driving but the management is not doing much to control this. Students received a lecture on diverse range of aspects of the hyena ecology and morphology. Dr. Simon K. ole Seno, Center Director

Student Reflections

A story of the last 20 hours and 11 minutes: November 2^nd – the Best/Worst Day of our Lives:

2:00am: I am awakened to chatter outside my door. The other members of my cook crew decide to cover my door with Saran Wrap®, which could mean only one thing: Time to start cooking. I spent at least two hours shredding potatoes for the first ever hash browns in Kenya (we'd like to think so). As 5:30 rolled around we managed to fall behind and pressure was mounting; eggs were flying, tots were frying, and freedom toast left everybody crying. Breakfast was a blur, partly due to the sleep deprived delirium, but it was an utter success. A fact that I have deliberately not mentioned was that we were planned to leave for Maasai Mara at 7:30 that morning. Having not packed, I devoted an entire five minutes to toss a week's worth of stuff to survive in the bush of Africa in a bag. Interludes of sleep and a rumbling stomach we arrive in Narok at 2:00pm, halfway to our final destination (so far, six hours of driving and six hours of cooking). We stopped to eat, but food was not my goal. Schools in Kenya have designated colors for the uniforms they wear. My goal was to find one of these wonderful sweaters. Peaking our heads in shops, my friend, Lizzie “Lizard” Ruffman, and I struck pure gold. We worked our bargaining magic and are now proud owners of matching, hunter green sweaters. Back into the cars we continue our epic journey and I continue to slip in and out of consciousness. It took us another five hours to reach our final destination (11 hours of driving). RECAP: Eight hours in the kitchen (two were sleeping), 11 hours in the car, one hour to set up camp, and 11 minutes to write this. I have yet to eat. It was the best/worst day of our lives. Eric Hostnik, University of Vermont

It is official; the rainy season is upon us. This was made quite clear to us after it took about two hours just to get all of the Land Cruisers out of the mud and onto the main road at the National Park Site (NPS). Our destination was Maasai Mara National Reserve, a place renowned for its abundance of lions, cheetahs, and hyenas. Personally, the wildlife of Kenya has provided some of my favorite moments and I had been looking forward to this expedition because it was said that we may get a glimpse of the elusive leopard. While our time in Maasai Mara was filled with day-long game drives, eating lunch while observing hippos relax in a small swamp, and cataloguing the new species, I was always on the lookout for the leopard. My time finally came on our final game drive. With a light rain falling outside we crept along the roads for hours through what we termed quite loosely ‘leopard territory.' At the end of the day when we had at last given up, we decided to make a last run through some particularly intriguing leopard territory. To our great surprise we pulled up next to about five other tourist vehicles which had just arrived to see not one, but two juvenile leopards sitting by the side of the road. The flash of pictures and gasps of surprise emanating from our Land Cruiser confirmed that we had finally found the elusive leopards of Maasai Mara. While I believe that no experience can surpass that one, it demonstrated once again how amazing Kenya is, and how if you are patient enough you will always find something extraordinary. Elizabeth Ruffman, Tulane University

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