Sorry for slacking on the posting...

Looks like I've got a little bit of catching up to do here, but I've been pretty busy since getting to the Mara. There's so much to learn about the hyenas, not to mention taking care of camp business. The other day Dave turned to me and asked, "So, you think you'll be ready to run this camp in 5 weeks?" (five weeks being how long he has left before he leaves) and I all I could do was stare at him with a WTF?!?! expression on my face. Seriously?

Anyway, my first day on the job was CRAZY. I arrived in the Mara on Feb. 8 in the evening. On Feb. 9 we were out at 5:45 am to go do a morning obs session. So we drove around watching some hyenas, and I got in some practice ID-ing hyenas ASAP. Jeff and Dave were cramming as much knowledge about geography and getting around in the Mara into my head as possible, and trust me, trying to figure out where the hell you are when you're standing in an ocean of 3-foot high grass? Well, not so easy.

After watching the hyenas for a few hours, we decided to go and do a few prey transects. While we're on the transect, we come across three adult male lions lounging around a buffalo carcass at the base of a hill. Pretty cool right? So we watch for a while, then continue our transect.

We get around to the other side of the hill, about a quarter of a kilometer away from where we saw the lions, and oh shit, WE GET STUCK. Have I mentioned that it had been raining in the evenings for the past few days? Well the trails were messy. Really, really messy. We slipped into a rut, the wheels were spinning, and the car was high-centered. So, we had to pile out of the car and try to figure out how to get the car unstuck, periodically glancing over our shoulders to make sure that, no, the lions hadn't decided to stroll around the hill to come help us out.

So, there we were, on our hands and knees in the mud under the blazing sun trying to 1) dig up some rocks to put under the wheels, 2) dig the car out, and 3) keep a look out for wild animals. After an hour of digging, pushing (and yes, I definitely took my turn at pushing), burning rubber, and judicious use of the high-lift jack, we did finally get the car unstuck, at which point we decided that we were done for the morning and headed off back to camp for breakfast and showers.

The boys claim otherwise, but I'm convinced that was all part of their secret hazing conspiracy. Loads more to report, but it'll have to wait until I get the chance to type it up. Coming up in my next post, pictures of camp!