The Elusive White Rhino Adventure

It was another early morning start for Matt and I this last Saturday. This time we went a little further north to Nakuru, Kenya's 4th largest city. Just south of Nakuru is Lake Nakuru which is home to even more wildlife than Lake Naivasha which Matt and I visited the weekend before. We went in hopes of adding flamingo, waterbuck, and the famous white rhino to our growing list of sighted wildlife.

We arrived in Nakuru bright and early to go get supplies for our weekend trek. Nakuru is a bustling town and is definitely a larger city. It is a popular destination for tourists as the neighbouring lake is such a good spot for wildlife viewing. However, like most things in Kenya, things aren't very well marked and we end up spending a while trying to find the main gate to the park! I have to admit, it is mostly my fault as I am not used to navigating and don't co-operate well when under pressure. But, like good explorers we trudged on and did finally find the park!

Once we arrived at the gate we were greeted by Vervet monkeys. Little things with mostly grey fur except a ring of white surrounding their black faces. They were very curious and we even ended up seeing some climbing on people's cars! Once we got in, we immediately saw a huge waterbuck male! Very much like a larger deer with dark brown fur....and one pair of large horns...hmmm...so not very much like a large deer but I think we have some pictures of some! Matt and I then drove up to the banda which we would be staying in. They're sort of like circular huts with thatched roofs. Very...rustic. At this point I think I ended up taking a nap because I was feeling a bit tired and cranky. I believe it was from the "roads" that led up to Nakuru. Although, I don't think I would call them "roads"...more like bits of cement in an immense field of potholes the size of Lake Nakuru itself. Nonetheless, after the break Matt and I set out and had an awesome wildlife viewing. We saw all the previous animals...zebra, warthog, Thomson and Grant's gazelles and LOADS of baboons! They were everywhere! I have to say I really enjoy watching primates though! They're very uninhibited and remind me of what humans might be like if we weren't restricted by the rules of being in polite society.

After some time, Matt and I wandered around to the South side of the lake where we had a little drink by a flock of flamingoes. The lake edge was like a moonscape because it was all dry and all was left was white. We continued by the water's edge and found our first white rhino! SO BIG!! And skittish! There was a long procession of vehicles though, so after we waited for them to pass, Matt got out of the car to get a shot. The rhino didn't really like this though and charged in the other direction. He then faced Matt as if he was going to charge at us! But, ended up doing nothing. Wuss. Haha, no just kidding. It's actually quite scary being in the presence of wild animals...you never know what they're going to do!

Anyways, we ended the day by crashing into a local swanky lodge located inside the park. While driving there we ended up seeing our first predatory animal: a spotted hyena. He was just walking up the road when we spotten us and continued walking right by us in the car...amazing! Anyhow, when we got to the lodge, we lounged outside their very spacious bar, drinking Tusker and Pina Coladas. The tables and chairs were then cleared for some traditional African dancing. It was quite the treat. Matt and I finished our "African" experience at the lodge in the restaurant at an all-you-can eat buffet. SCRUMPTIOUS! Then, we left the lodge and went back to our meager banda. Haha...it was pretty neat!

Well, I'm sure you've read enough by now so I'll leave you there. I'll keep you posted on our other trips in the future. Right now I am working on getting some STD research work and am making some progress! Keep reading to see what happens....Miss you all and will see you soon!

Jessica

Photos from Lake Nakuru National Park

We've returned from our maiden voyage in our new 4x4, and the new steed definitely did well. The last 30 km or so of the road getting to Nakuru was bumpy to say the least, and the Suzuki performed great. The park itself was incredible, and there were lots and lots of animals to be seen. Some of the new species that we saw: White Rhino, Waterbuck, Ostrich, Spotted Hyena, and Vervet Monkeys.

Right now I'm pretty tired from the drive back, and just getting caught up on some work but we'll post some stories tomorrow. Video in a few days hopefully!

Click the link below to go directly to the album:

2006 Africa Nakura Trip

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Also, I put a few links in the side bar on the right (you might need to refresh your browser) for those of you who wanted to know more about the work that we are doing here in Nairobi!

Back on Sunday!

We got our new 4x4 today! We took it for a test drive, and everything seems to be going well with it. So we're off to Lake Nakuru for the weekend, and should be back before 6pm our time on Sunday.

Pictures coming soon!

Heading back to the Rift Valley in our new 4x4!

We have finally secured ourselves a 4x4, and we're going to be testing it out this weekend (assuming we get our insurance sorted before then) on a trip back up north to the Rift Valley. It's a 1993 Suzuki Sierra, which is similar to the Suzuki SJ's or Samurai's on the North American market. Sort of like a small Jeep. I'll have a some pictures/video of it up soon, but for now here's a shot that I pulled off the internet which is somewhat similar:

The roof on ours is quite a bit taller, with small windows above the rear windows. Also, there is a cargo rack on top for storage and an extra spare tire. It's a small little 4x4, but it's supposed to be great off road, and also very good on gas.

This time we will be going a little bit further than last week to a lake called Lake Nakuru. It's about 150km away from Nairobi, and is just north of Lake Naivasha where we were last weekend. The lake is famous for it's numerous flamingo which come to the lake to feed on the abundant algae which thrive in its warm alkaline waters. There is a larger variety of animals at this park than at Hells Gate (where we were last week), and we're hoping to see Rhino, leopards, lions, waterbuck, and possibly even pythons! Here's a satelite photo of the park, and you can see Lake Naivasha just beyond it (looking south), and Nairobi (where the 4 thumbtacks are) at the top middle of the photo:

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In other news, this Friday is a big day for me as I will be sacrificing half of my 40 lab mice to test their blood for specific type of bacterial toxin. We infected them with the parasite that causes African Sleeping Sickness about a week and a half ago, and the whole experiment is now two weeks in the making. Hopefully the results are good! Since we are testing for bacteria in their blood, the big risk is contamination during the experimental procedure which could lead to false-positive results. That's what we have controls for though, but if contamination does occur then the past two weeks will be lost!

Video: Trip to Hells Gate National Park

Note: Sorry about the pixelated-ness of these videos. We are soon going to be experimenting with some new software, which should allow us to use our DVD Handicam instead of our little digital camera for video.

Hell's Gate

Our first wildlife adventure was one of the best things I've ever experienced! I was so excited I could hardly contain myself! Matt and I went up north of Nairobi to lake Naivasha, which is about an hour's car ride away. Anyhow, there's a wildlife park there called Hell's Gate National Park and is located in Africa's Rift Valley.

After going to the town of Naivasha to stock up on supplies, we showed up at the gate to the park where we found a rather large gathering of cars. I guess Matt and I didn't pick the best time to go as this past Friday was a national holiday (Kenyatta Day). But, I volunteered Matt to go up in line as he was a much more intimidating presence than I was! That didn't stop people from trying to budge in front though! We waited a good hour at the gate I think before we entered the park! It was crazy! Once we did get in though, we were surrounded by steep cliffs on either side of us and what seemed to be endless grasslands dotted with low shrubs and the odd Acacia tree. Our first animal sighting was zebra! It was so exciting to know that the animals were wild and free to roam! Matt and I then turned off the main trail to our camp site which was actually situated midway up the cliffs. On our way up we spotted a small family of warthogs, a mother and 3 of her little children! So cute! They were very skittish though and it was hard to get a good picture of them. After setting up camp, we went back down to finish the circuit of the park. That day we ended up seeing zebra, warthogs, gazelles, hartebeests, and elands. Then towards the end of the day we ended up seeing my first giraffe! So impressive! And so large! I didn't expect them to be so big. It was almost like stumbling upon a brontosaurus or something.

The next day, Matt and I woke up early to get a good sunrise in and to finish the other side of the park. There, we ran into African buffalo, more of everything we saw yesterday and a family of giraffes! We were able to get quite close...it was amazing! Then we took a drive through a shrub/acacia forest. It was beautiful. On our way out we thought the new animal sightings were over, when we looked to our left and saw a whole field of babboons! It was insane! There was even a baby riding on one of the mothers' backs! So funny!

All in all, it was a pretty amazing trip. I can't wait for all our other future trips! I think the next adventure will be at Nakura National Park! I'll keep you all posted! Miss all of you and hope you're all doing well!!

Photos from our trip to the Rift Valley

2006 Africa - Hells Gate Trip

Stories coming soon...

Off to the Rift Valley!

We decided today that it will be much easier to search for cars if we rent a car for a couple days so that we can go to all the dealerships, bulletin boards, etc. So we phoned up an ILRI-recommended rental place, and we got a great deal on a small sedan. They even came and dropped it off for us here at ILRI. I've never driven a right-wheel car before, so we took a few spins around the campus for practice, and then we were off! It was pretty easy to get used to the left hand shifting, and other idiosyncrasies of a right-wheel drive car. The blinker/wiper discrepancy was a bit weird at first, but then I realized that no one here signals anyway, so I gave up on it all together!

We got a lot accomplished today in the car search, and we've got some very good leads I think. Tomorrow is a holiday, so we've decided to head up north towards Lake Naivasha. We're going to camp just south of the lake at a national park, which is right in the middle of the rift valley (at least it looks like it is on Google Earth):

It's supposed to be an incredible place, so hopefully I've have some shots/video up soon!

Connor and the quest for a vehicle

We've now been in Nairobi for almost two weeks, and we do not yet have any pictures of wildlife other than cow, goat, mice, or sheep! Our lack of wildlife viewing and adventure is going to have to change very soon or else we're going to get a bit stir-crazy I think. We have had a bit of wildlife viewing in the form of a new roommate named Connor. I saw Connor on the very first night that we got here just by the door of our new residence. He's a local, and likes to eat lots. I didn't see him for about a week and a half, and then only a few days ago he moved into our room. Jessica was a little hesitant -- and even a bit frightened -- at first, but I explained to her that Connor moving in was a good thing because he could help out with the household chores. Namely, getting rid of the mosquitos which never cease in their craving for Jessica's sweet blood.

Speaking of which, here is a shot of Jessica in her mosquito-proof fortress:


And, here is a picture of our new roommate, Connor:


Connor is now a proud member of the family, and he is welcome in our house anytime.

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Anyhow, back to the wildlife sightings. Right now, our wildlife viewing is contingent upon us securing a car. So far we've been focusing on private listings, and notice boards that you find in shopping areas. These avenues have produced a few leads, but nothing too promising. This weekend coming up is a long weekend, and we are dying to get away to one of the nearby lakes, or wildlife areas. This desire has given us the motivation that we really need in order to find ourselves a vehicle, and we are both going to take Thursday off so that we can search some of the dealerships surrounding Nairobi which specializing in importing vehicles from Japan. Toyota, Mitsubishi ... and at relatively cheap prices. So! Hopefully we will soon be planning our first roadtrip!

Some more shots:

Here is another shot from the pastures at the southern end of the campus:


Here are some goats and myself:


The Jacaranda trees here are in full bloom right now:

Jenn & Paul in South Africa

My sister & her fiance (almost wrote boyfriend!) are living and volunteering in Kayamandi, which is a slum just on the outskirts of Cape Town in South Africa. She is volunteering at a local school teaching grade 12 biology and grade 8 math, and has 65 kids in her math class with chairs and desks for only 40 people. Luckily an NGO just donated math textbooks to the school, so for the first time the kids have activities in a book to do.

On top of that she has a placement at an AIDS hospice nearby, where she is doing some observations with the doctors as well as taking weight, height etc. She checks patients adherence to their drugs; each month they have to bring in their pill containers and she counts how many they have to see if they are taking the right amount. On first line defense for AIDS there are 2 drugs you must take in the morning and 3 at night, and so if they aren't taking the right amount, then she counsels them and explains why it is so important. In addition, each time a new patient comes in she has to make sure they know what HIV is, what AIDS is, what a CD4 count is, etc before they are allowed to start the pills. She says that it can be very challenging as some of the patients know virtually nothing about it.

She just sent me these fantastic photos, and I thought that they deserved a post! In December, they are coming up to Nairobi, and the 4 of us are trucking down to Tanzania for a grand adventure! We are very much looking forward to it!

Video!!

Finally I have sussed out a method for uploading large files in our bandwidth-challenged location!! I wish I had a more exciting video to post, but I haven't been working on anything since I discovered that uploading may be a problem. Anyhow, this is a video I made when we first got here, and it mainly shows where we are living:



Hope you enjoy!

(note: I just noticed that the "YouTube" logo obscures some of the text. If you click anywhere on the video, it will open up a new window with the same video playing on the YouTube website and the logo will be gone)

Jess's First Day on the Job!

Hi Everyone!

Well well well! I hope everyone is doing well! I am doing great! I just started my first day of work in the lab today. I won't go too into the scientific details but my work has to do with goats rather than cows like Matty's working on!

There's a type of goat that is somewhat resistant to a certain nematode parasite. People have since crossed this goat with another species of goat that is larger and yields more product. So my job is to correlate resistance and size to mix and see which mixed breed yields the most product and is most resistant to the nematode! Fascinating isn't it? Haha, I'm sure you are all just nodding your heads in agreement! But trust me, all the lab work I'm doing is very relevant to my field and it's great just getting my 'feet wet' so to speak, you know?
But, alas, before I work on that project, (which I think will be my very own) I'm training with two people who are working on the phylogenetics of chickens! The importance of this is to observe the evolution of the chickens throughout Africa and compare that with chicken samples all over the world. Very important today with avian flu going around! Very tedious too! I worked on over 200 samples today! It was very tiring since I'm not used to sitting over a bench all day working! But I think I'll get used to it!

So, in short that's my account of what I'll be doing. I haven't given up hope yet with finding STD research work, but, as I said before it's kind of hard starting anything without being able to get into town. So I'll be phoning around once we sort out our car business. And, of course, I'll be looking into doing some work at a sexual health clinic of some sort as well...ahhh...getting busy already! Excellent! Talk to you all soon and take care!

Things are going well!

Jess & I are now feeling acclimatized to our new surroundings, and things here are going great. The campus where we are living is incredible; it is an oasis of manicured lawns, incredible flora, huge pastures (for the cows), and all the amenities (restaurant, bar, squash, tennis, pool, etc). Not what we were expecting! The odd bit is that we are absolutely surrounded by some of the more extreme shanty towns that I've encountered in my travels. It's a strange dichotomy. The campus is surrounded by large fences, and there are guards everywhere. Very strange, yet right now I'm sitting in my room (with internet hookup) with the patio door wide open, there's some people having a picnic on our front lawn, and I have to say that it is nice to feel safe.

I think I’ll use this opportunity to mention a little bit about the group that I’m working for here in Nairobi. ILRI (the International Livestock Research Institute) is a non-governmental organization which describes itself as working at “the crossroads of livestock and poverty.” Its mission is to “bring high-quality science and capacity-building to bear on poverty reduction and sustainable development for poor livestock keepers and their communities”. The group works in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean; and has partnerships and alliances with other organizations, national and international, in livestock research, training and information. Why livestock research for the poor? From the ILRI website:

“Farm animals are an ancient, vital and renewable natural resource. Throughout the developing world, they are means for hundreds of millions of people to escape absolute poverty. Livestock in developing countries contribute up to 80 percent of agricultural GDP; some 600 million rural poor people rely to a significant extent on livestock for their livelihoods.”

ILRI has five themes – or areas of focus – in order to address the severe constraints to livestock production in poor countries. My position here fits under theme 4: Biotechnology.

A bit of background: In Victoria I was spending one or two days a week in the lab of Dr. Terry Pearson. Terry’s lab does work on African trypanosomes, which are parasites that can cause trypanosomiasis. Trypanosomiasis has two main forms: 1) human trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness) and 2) animal trypanosomiasis (often called ‘nagana’ in vertebrate animals). The primary focus in Terry’s lab is on the cell surface molecules of trypanosomes, with a principal goal of providing information about several trypanosome antigens which may potentially be used to devise diagnostic tests for African sleeping sickness.

The work that I will be doing here is somewhat related, but more to do with the host-pathogen interaction that occurs during trypanosomal infection. In addition there is more of a focus on what is occurring on the genetic level. I’ll also be looking primarily at the animal form of trypanosomiasis, which accounts for why I’m at a livestock institute!

The first project that I’ve been assigned to is an investigation into the role of endotoxins in pathology following T. congolense infection in mice and cattle. In plain English, does the infected host (mice or cow) have bacterial toxins in its blood following trypanosome infection, and what effect does this have on the host-pathogen interaction and the infection itself?

Well, I’ve probably lost about 90% of readers by now, so I think I’ll move away from the science and back to how things are going with Jess & I!

The setup here is very good for meeting lots of people -- locals, and visiting scientists alike -- since everything here is self-contained (i.e. a lot of the people live on the campus so it almost has a 'resort' feel to it). The scientists are from all over; I haven't met two from the same country yet. The lab I work in has about 8 people, headed up by an immunogeneticist out of the University of Liverpool.

Since we have arrived here, we have had quite a few happy surprises. First was that our accommodations exceeded our expectations greatly, and that their cost was being covered by the project that I’m working for. Second, was that instead of just being a lowly intern, I will actually be under contract with ILRI as a “visiting scientist”, which I would assume entails greater responsibilities and should be even better experience than I anticipated. Third, after meeting one of the evolutionary biologists here it appears that Jessica may have a job working in the parisitology lab as well (I’ll let her tell you about it – she had her first day today). Above all, we have been overwhelmed with the warmth and friendliness of everyone we have met – especially the locals that we have encountered on campus, and also in our ventures into Nairobi, and the surrounding area.

Did I mention the desk they gave me has a view of Mt. Kilimanjaro on a clear day?

Anyway, our goal (other than brushing up on a lot of biochemistry!) for the next week is to get a car. I will be posting about it once we find our new steed. I’m hoping for a Toyota or Mitsubishi 4x4, but our vehicle budget is not huge, and we may have to settle for something a little smaller here or older.

I still haven't managed to post video yet unfortunately. The connection here is somewhat faster than dial-up, but not as fast as broadband. My video uploads will get to 60% and then just stall out. Looking into other ways of tranferring files, and hopefully with have something sussed out soon!

First shots from where we're living!

(note: This post was supposed to be our first video from africa, but unfortunately I haven't quite managed to be able to upload video yet -- hopefully I'll be able to sort it out by next week!)

We have safely arrived in Nairobi, and spent our first day getting aquainted with our new surroundings! We will be staying at the ILRI campus, where Matt is going to be working for the next several months.

The campus is west of central Nairobi, and -- as we are discovering -- is a lush tropical paradise! The lodging that they have put us up in is fantastic. There are tennis & squash courts, a swimming pool, a soccer field, and a bar and restaurant all on the grounds! There are also lots of security guards, and fences surrounding the entire complex, which is nice because Nairobi can be a little sketchy after dark.

We definitely didn't expect this place to be so nice, and we definitely didn't anticipate the lodging that we now find ourselves in! Here are some shots of our new abode:



Last night was a great night. We had drinks & dinner with my boss and his wife, and met all sorts of people that I've been emailing over the past 4 months. Over several glasses of Tusker (the beer of Kenya), it was a sort of tour of who's-who in the Kenyan scientific community.

Video will hopefully be coming shortly!

Jambo Sana!!

So! Matt and I are finally meeting scientists from all over the world! We met a Korean fellow named Lee, a few people from London and some good ol' home grown Canadians tonight! Very exciting. I put out the word that I was looking for work and people seemed to take to me so that was exciting. Will have to wait until Monday to find out if I can get anything here though! I am very excited and Matt and I are going into Nairobi tomorrow on a 'matatu' for some essentials. I believe I will be able to operate a phone tomorrow as it turns out my phone is a tri-band and is picking up signal here.

In terms of scenery, everything is beautiful! The weather couldn't be better and the foliage that surrounds us is so different from anything I've seen! Lots of flowering trees opposed to our cone producing evergreens! The only thing I'm not really used to the shanty slums but I think that I will get used to it. Anyways, I will keep in touch...I miss everyone very much!! Write soon!

London for a day

We ran into a bit of a hassle this morning when British Airways managed to screw up our flight to Nairobi, and they ended up having to re-book it for us for tomorrow morning instead. Oh well, these things happen, and we decided to make the best of it by spending the day in London and checking out some of the sites.

I've been through London a few times before, but I've never bothered to see the sites really. Jess was a good tour guide as she's been through most of the city before. This is just a short video, but it's got a few shots from around town, and -- some might say -- a particularly relevant soundtrack! If you can pick out the relevance, be sure to post a comment below (and no, it has nothing to do with weddings!).



We ended the night by taking in a show; none other than Jessica's favorite "Chicago". We were lucky to get tickets (we were told) because this was the big ticket show of the week as Ashlee Simpson was playing the role of "Roxy". Needless to say, the female 12-16 demographic was present in large numbers. It was a great show however, and old Ashlee pulled off the performance fairly well (or at least she did from the perspective of the Guiness and Strongbow enhanced glasses that I watched the show through).

Anyhow.... next post from Nairobi assuming that tomorrows flight goes as planned!

Clips from the eastcoast

Here's a short video with some shots and clips from my moms place in Sydenham. Sorry about the cheese factor -- I'm still learning and playing around with the video software. Enjoy!

Jessica's First Post

Jambo Everyone!

So...this is it! My last night in Canada! Tomorrow Matt and I leave for London where we will stay the night and then to Africa! I can't believe that the time has finally come. It feels that the time went by both quickly and slowly. I'm feeling very excited but a little nervous as I don't know what to expect; and I'm feeling a little sad because I already miss everyone back home! However, I will continue on because I know that Matt and I are in for a real adventure!

It was very nice to visit everyone before we left. It was also especially nice to visit Montreal (my very first time!), home of the famous Montreal smoked beef sandwich! YUM! Teddy and Sylvie were very generous and hospitible and it was nice to see them before we left (thanks for everything by the way!)! It was also great to see my friend Kristin who also lives in Montreal! A short visit, but worth all the Montreal traffic headache! Next on our journey was Matt's mommy's cabin in Sydenham! So beautiful to see the trees turning beautiful golds and reds! It was truly relaxing at Nancy's cabin and I thank her so much for the wonderful surroundings and chance to just sit around, relax, read and drink tea (no seriously, those were my jobs 'to do' while I was there!!)...oh! And not to mention, the scrumptious turkey dinner we had the night before leaving!

Anyways, I will leave you now and I promise to keep you all updated on my African journey! Hopefully I will be up to a lot of things like safaris and volunteering! I will let you all know what we're up to and I look forward to seeing a lot of you come January for Jason and Kirsten's wedding!!

Signing off now.... Jessica