Back in Canada

We have arrived safe and sound back in Victoria. It's good to be home!

This will pretty much wrap up our African blog, although I would like to get up a video from Madagascar now that I have decent bandwidth and some time for putting something together. Look for that video here shortly I hope. Thanks for following along (all 3 of you!), and the best way to keep in touch now will be through www.mattpope.net.

Last Post from Africa

Our time in Nairobi is now coming to a close, and we fly out tonight at 11:15pm, putting us back in Canada on Friday night. It's been an incredible 6 months here in Africa for us, and we know that we're bound to return someday soon.

We said goodbye to all of our colleagues and friends here on campus today. We will really miss the international setting here, and all of the interesting people that we got to know over the past few months. We have gained excellent experience through the research we've done here, and our safari's and adventures in Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar have been some of the best trips of my life.

We're a bit sad to leave, but excited to get home to Victoria. It's been a great learning experience here in east Africa, and we're ready to move onto the next chapter of our lives. For me, I will be working in Dr Terry Pearson's lab at the University of Victoria full time on breast cancer diagnostics. We'll be working on getting an exciting new technology up and running in his lab, and I'm very excited to be moving into human disease research -- and also back to protein science -- for a bit. For Jessica, she will be studying up for the MCATs when we get back, working the odd shift at her brothers restaurant, and will probably be involved with the sexual health clinic that she volunteered with last summer. Both of us will be working on getting into our respective graduate programs which may see us studying & researching abroad in the not-too-distant future.

To all of our friends and colleagues here in Nairobi: thanks so much for all of your help and hospitality over the past 6 months! We've felt very much at home here, and are forever grateful for all of the friendliness. If anyone is coming to visit the west coast of Canada, please don't hesitate to contact me so that we can meet up in the great white north!

For those in Canada, we'll see you all soon!

Africa 2006-2007: Matt's Final Thoughts

This is adapted from an article I wrote for the newsletter of the project that I'm working for, so it's not really in my usual voice but it summarizes my thoughts, and was easy to copy and paste into a post (and perhaps illustrates the reasons I did poorly in English class):

When planning this working-trip back in Canada, the choice of Nairobi was at the top of the list. I had spent two months in Namibia and Botswana in 2003, and had been looking to get to back to the continent ever since. Jessica and I first and foremost wanted to get some wet-lab experience in Africa, and we knew that we needed to be in a major center for research in order to maximize our job prospects. In Kenya we would have no major difficulties with a language barrier, and east Africa would offer us some of the best opportunities for wildlife viewing in the world. The recent travel advisories issued by the Canadian government warning against travel to Nairobi – known to many travelers as “Nairobbery” – were somewhat concerning, but as with many big cities we knew it was just a matter of avoiding specific areas of the city at specific times. Once we got over the mental hurdle of committing to Nairobi, ILRI was a top choice for me since I was already involved with research on cell surface antigens of African trypanosomes.

Upon arriving at ILRI we were blown away at how nice the campus was, and how good the lab facilities were. Looking at the aerial view of the campus on Google Earth back in Canada I could see that it was beautiful, but the detail wasn’t quite sufficient to resolve the tennis courts, pool, volleyball court, rock climbing wall, and the other luxurious amenities!

At ILRI I was involved with the Shockmouse, Paramouse, Bigmouse, and C57lite projects. Not only did the projects have cool names, but through them I learned a great deal and got experience that I never could have hoped for back home. I found that one of the greatest things about working on trypanotolerance whilst in Africa is the heightened feeling of relevance and urgency for the work that we’re doing. Jessica and I had many opportunities to travel through the rural regions of Kenya in the beat-up ‘92 Suzuki 4x4 that we bought shortly after arrival in Nairobi, where it was easy to see firsthand just how vital livestock is to the people here.

Perhaps one of the greatest aspects of working here at ILRI was the people that I got to work and interact with every day. I was surprised – and very happy – to find that at the bench I was working primarily with local Kenyans. There’s no better to way to learn about a culture than to interact with the locals on a regular basis; you learn and experience things that most tourists visiting a country will never have the chance to appreciate. On top of the rich experience with locals, there are visiting scientists from all around the globe working at the facility, which makes for an incredibly diverse experience. At any given dinner out with friends there are often up to ten countries represented, usually from up to five different continents. This diversity is something which I particularly enjoyed while at ILRI, and one of the things I’ll miss the most when I return to Canada.

Life in Nairobi has been not without its drawbacks. In the time that we’ve been here two colleagues have had their vehicles carjacked or stolen by thugs, we’ve been bribed twice by local police, and an astounding number of western tourists have been killed in either car accidents or carjackings no more than 15 km away. Night time excursions for dinner or entertainment have to be weighed against the probability of carjackings, which spike every now and again, and are often made in convoy for safety reasons. These facts produce a certain amount of unease when outside the compound, which for a new visitor can take a while to get used to.

Outside of Nairobi things become much safer – aside from the highways – and I would say that 99% percent of the Kenya’s natural treasures lie outside of its capital city. During our six months here we’ve been on self-guided safaris to several of Kenya’s national parks, and we’ve enjoyed them tremendously. We’ve had incredible encounters with white rhinos along the shores of Lake Nakuru, we’ve marveled at massive groups of elephants in the shadow of Kilimanjaro in Amboseli national park, seen the rare black serval cat in the high plateau of the Aberdares, and watched the sunset on the gorge of Hell’s Gate national park. We’ve also made trips down to Tanzania and to Madagascar; both of which were incredible experiences.

Overall, the experience I’ve had in Kenya these six months has certainly exceeded my expectations, both professionally and personally. There are some unfortunate truths about life in Nairobi, but the cons are made up for by the pros. I’ve met incredible people, seen incredible wildlife and geography, and have no doubt that I will return one day soon.

-Matt Pope

Photos from Madagascar

Homeward Bound

Our last week in Nairobi.

I'm pretty excited to come home now. It's like hitting the home stretch when you get down to a week before you have to go home!! Things at ILRI seem to be the same. Our hostel room is looking better than it ever has before thanks to some of the accommodations we stayed at in Madagascar!

Speaking of which...Madagascar was wonderful! Kind of a mixed barrel of highs and lows but overall an incredible experience. Our trip began with Matt and I watching the weather report the night before, as previously mentioned by Matt in another post, and Madagascar was to be hit by a cyclone. Seeing as Matt filled you in on the fun bits of that trip I'll wait until I get home to add to the story!

However, the rest of the trip went a lot more smoothly. From the port city of Taomasina (previously known as Tamatave), we caught a boat down the scenic Canal des Panagalanes to a beautiful hide-a-way called the Bush House. The only down side to it was the mosquitoes. I did persevere though and Matt and I ended up spending a fun-filled morning with some lemurs at a private reserve really close to where we stayed. We got to feed them, pet them, and of course they jumped on our backs and shoulders (as seen in the picture). It was pretty crazy considering they were still considered wild animals and we NEVER feed the animals at home! But, when in Rome, right? Plus, it was an isolated incident...we didn't get to feed the lemurs at the other park...I think it was just that this one was private...

So, from there we went back to Taomasina and left for Ile Ste Marie. An island where I finally had my lobster...a whole one for 6 dollars US. It was CRAZY! And delicious. I think I must have had seafood every single day while in Madagascar. Heaven. Anyways, Matt and I pretty much just chilled everyday on the island until we had to head back to Tana...not a very pretty compared to the island...but hey, what can you do? I feel so hard done by...just kidding!

Well, I'm sure I could tell you a lot more but I think I'll wait until I come home in a WEEK'S TIME!! WOO HOO!!!!

Miss you all,

Jessica

Return from Madagascar

Since our last post things in Madagascar only got better (and hotter), and all in all we had a great time. I've posted some pictures above, and will have a Madagascar gallery up soon (the internet here seems a bit wonky right now) on our photo site.

We're now safe and sound back in Kenya and have a week here before we return to Canada. Unfortunately there were 3 Canadian tourists killed in the Nyeri district of Kenya today in a car accident -- something that is way too common here in Kenya. Unfortunately with unsafe roads, even more unsafe lorries, very corrupt police, and a severe lack of highway upkeep, these sorts of things seem destined to continue happening here in Kenya.

We're very excited to get back to Canada, and are continuously debating where we will be eating our first meal when we get back and what things we miss the most back home. Looking forward to seeing the people back in Victoria very soon, and our other Canadian friends and family hopefully soon thereafter!

Alive and Well in Madagascar!

Sorry for the spelling here... this is a very non-qwerty keyboard Im typing on...

So, things are going pretty well here in Madagascar, and already this trip has been very much unlike any Ive been on before. It has thus far been a trip of extremes to say the least. We arrived just in time for one of the biggest ass-kickings this island has received from a cyclone in about 14 years - perfect! The rains were absolutely torrential, and incredibly high winds too. We weathered the cyclone quite well in a little thatched hut on high ground at a semi-lodge type place along a river in lemur-country. The cyclone flooded the roads about 10 feet deep surrounding us for 3 days or so in which we were stuck. In addition to that there were massive mudslides/landslides all over which made things more interesting. In the presence of all the carnage we still managed to get some incredible sightings of the largest lemurs on the island -- the "Indris" -- as well as chameleons, boas, geckos, and other interesting creatures.

After things had settled down following the cyclone we headed for the coast skirting endless landslides and flipped semis on the ravaged roads. It took us about 6 hours by "taxi brouse" (bush-taxis -- as good as they sound) to get to where we are now. The weather has improved greately in the wake of the massive storm, and we now find ourselves in insanely hot weather with loads of sunshine. The humidity and temperature here feel a bit like if you were in a pressure cooker steaming at an even 40 degrees C. Its the hottest weather Ive ever experienced so far (worse than Peninsular Malaysia or Borneo, even the bottom of the rift valley right on the equator in the summer time feels like a winters day comparatively) and you basically sweat what feels like youre entire body weight each and every day.

Other than the weather things here are absolutely beautiful however, and the people and sights are incredible. Tomorrow were off to boat down a canal on the east coast here, and then were off to a tropical island on Friday.

Off to Madagascar!

We're off to Madagascar! We'll be back in Kenya in two weeks time for about 6 days before we return to Victoria on April 6th. We are super-excited for the Madagascar trip, and hope that we'll be able to post stories/photos while we're gone.

Things here have been so busy that we haven't had time to post about our weekend adventure a few days ago to Amboseli National Park. It was with two of our good university friends (Chris Newcombe and Chelsea McCullough), and was one of our best safaris to date by far. It can best be summed up with this photo:




The park is in the shadow of Mt Kilimanjaro (pictured), and is an incredible spot to find elephants, wildebeest, hippos, tonnes of antelope, giraffe, jackals, and loads more. We were luck enough to spot all of these animals, and had absolutely incredible encounters with huge herds of elephants.

Anyhow, going to Madagascar has been a dream of mine since I was about 12 (it was the boardgame "Risk" which started it off, in which Madagascar is a useful region to control when trying to take over the world), and for Jessica a good 10 years now. We wish we had more time, but two weeks will have to do; hopefully we can return later on in life for a bit longer.

In Madagascar they speak Malagasy & French, and so I've been trying to recall my pitiful knowledge of the French language over the past few days. I think we should be able to get by fairly well, and I am truly looking forward to this adventure more than any I can think of in the recent past....

Some New Photos

We don't seem to be taking as many photos lately, perhaps because we haven't been on as many adventures as we had in the fall since we're saving up for Madagascar, but here are some of the shots that made the cut to our online album:

2007 Africa - Spring Misc

2007 Africa - Amboseli

Hells Gate National Park: In the Dry and in the Wet

A few weeks back we returned to Hell's Gate National Park with our friend Jamie. It was right after the "short rain" season here in Kenya, and we definitely noticed a difference in terms of how much green things were in comparison with the first time we went. I've just been going through some photos and realized that I have a shot from the exact same location taken in the dry season and in the wet. The difference is startling. Have a look (click to enlarge):

Before the wet season (October, 2006)

After the wet season (February 2007):

Last Day of Work, Hippos, and Carnivore!

YES!!

It has finally come. My last day of work. I never thought it would happen! Things are wrapping up here at ILRI and I have to say that I feel somewhat...indifferent. My project had hit a few obstacles in the last week and I am leaving the project unfinished. However, I'm preparing a parting package for whoever will be taking over and I'm hoping that it's everything they will need to carry on! I have to say I felt both frustrated and stressed that things didn't turn out perfectly with all my experiments but alas, thus is science, no? I've definitely learned a tremendous amount and come back with excellent experiences in the lab which is all I could really hope for! So, cheers to that!

On a happier note, Chris and Chelsea (Matty's uni friends) have been visiting with us for the last couple of days! So yesterday we went back to Lake Naivasha and decided to go on a boat tour! There were hippos GALORE!! I have to say that I was very enthusiastic about this because before I left for Africa I had chosen the hippopotamus as my official mascot! I think they're really fascinating because they can be one of the most VICIOUS animals and are herbivores. How weird is that? Anyways, the day was rounded out with a beautiful lunch at Drifters, a coffee under the Acacias at the country club as well as a walk around the grounds. It was a good day.

Tonight we have planned a dinner at Carnivore. It's a "nyama choma" restaurant. Nyama Choma in Kenya is pretty much the equivalent of different barbecued meats. Carnivore is kind of a swanky version of "nyama choma" and on top of the regular beef, chicken, pork, and lamb there are more exotic meats like ostrich, crocodile, and camel. It's going to be wonderfully delicious! Needless to say, being the food lover that I am, I'm thoroughly excited! Then tomorrow, the whole company plan to visit Amboselli to visit the African savannah before Chris and Chelsea return home on Monday. Phew. It's going to be great!!

Alright, time to get back to work but I'll post soon about Amboselli!!

Jessica

PS 4 days left until Madagsacar! WOO HOO!

Flight to Madagascar is Booked!

We have booked our tickets, and fly to Madagascar in less than two weeks! We are super-excited to go, not only because of the uniqueness of the flora & fauna to be found there, but also for it's incredible geographical features. Because of its long isolation from neighboring continents some ecologists refer to Madagascar as the "eighth continent". It's the fourth largest island in the world, and has numerous species which can be found nowhere else in the world.

The next two weeks for us will be quite busy. My sister & fiance are returning to Nairobi after volunteering in Uganda for the past two months tonight, and will fly back to Canada on Sunday. Next Tuesday two of my good friends from university, Chris Newcombe and Chelsea McCullough, will be arriving in Nairobi. They have also just finished up volunteering in Uganda, and are currently in Rwanda penetrating the "impenetrable forest". While they're here we hope to get in as much adventure as we can, but so far our plans are undecided. On top of the visits, Jessica & I will be wrapping up the projects we are involved in here at ILRI.

Battlecat has been sold, and we have been prepping it for the transfer to the new owner by fixing up the radiator and muffler (the Kenyan roads rattled the exhaust manifold loose once again). The "bad gas" problems seem to have been resolved.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Update on Galdessa the Elephant

Sad news about our adopted elephant Galdessa from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust:

"Washed down the flooded Galana River, tossed around against rocks as he was carried by the raging torrent, eventually ending up in the Generator House of Galdessa Camp on the Galana River in Tsavo East National Park, having lost his elephant loved ones when just 6 weeks old, little “Galdessa”arrived in the Nursery in November 2006, battered, bruised, grief-stricken and a prime candidate for the dreaded pneumonia and internal injuries exacerbated by teething his first molars, which invariably pose a problem for infant African elephants. From the start, he had never thrived and was obviously in pain. Having suffered four bouts of diarrheoa treated by administering the usual Sulphadimidine, he appeared to recover slightly after bout No. 4., but soon the tell-tale signs were back – stools that were too copious, although of the correct consistency, apathy, reluctance to feed and generally “off-colour”. Yet, he was still taking his milk, albeit slowly, until 6 a.m. on the 23rd February 2007, when the Keeper reported blood in the stool. Four large boluses of Sulphadiazide were administered orally, rolled into a soft ball and inserted down his throat; another two inserted up the rectum, and a drip inserted into an ear vein, but two hours later, before the Vet could even reach him, he breathed his last and died.

As usual, there were tears from every member of his human family who had grown to love him deeply, in the 4 months that they had cared for him, fed him three hourly throughout the day and night, and been by his side at all times, even through the hours of darkness, caressing him, encouraging him and trying to will his recovery. Perhaps there are those that think that after having lost so many baby elephants over the years, we at the Trust should have learned to accept tragedy more stalwartly, but, sadly, it never does become easier. Each little elephant is an individual and a character, just as are human children – each is unique, with just one thing in common – the tragedy of losing their beloved elephant family and ending up an orphan. Each one is loved dearly and treasured by us all who work tirelessly to offer every orphan another chance and a quality of life in wild terms when grown.

We know that there will be people all over the world who will be shedding tears for little Gladessa, and there is just one word we can say to console them – the Swahili word “Poleh” (which means Sorry). He, like others who have left for somewhere in the great somewhere before him, will remain in our memory and our hearts forever. Rest in Peace baby Galdessa, and at least you died surrounded by two legged loved ones, who loved you as their own."

Poor little Galdessa! He would have died a long time ago if it wasn't for the David Sheldrick Trust, so we're not too sad (well, maybe Jessica is a bit more sad than I am). The center has notified us that we will automatically transfer our fostering across to Galdessa's little friend 'Lempaute'. Here is a photo of the two of them:

Bad Gas in Nairobi

It wasn't the beans...

Our faithful steed, Battlecat, has not been so faithful over the last two months. In fact, we have renamed it "Cringer" (those of you who grew up with late 1980s cartoons will understand this reference). It started out back in January when the clutch had to be replaced. Shortly after the clutch was fixed the Kenyan roads rattled our muffler off and the complete exhaust system had to be replaced. Fortunately, big fixes such as these are significantly cheaper than they are back home, but one does have to worry about the quality of the repair. We're lucky that we have a fairly reputable mechanic here who usually gets the job done -- and if they don't quite get it done, we can bring it back in for completion at no extra cost. This would be a pain back home, but hey, this is Africa. The clutch repair went great, the muffler repair is still pending (the Kenyan roads have since rattled our new exhaust manifold loose twice), but now we have a new problem. A big dirty problem. About a month ago we filled up at a gas station that wasn't a Shell or BP. It was a gas station that looked quite reputable, but boy were we wrong.

A few days after the fill-up the engine starting hesitating -- jumpy as it accelerated -- and backfiring regularly. Locals would duck, no doubt fearful of gunfire, as we drove by. We brought the car in to our mechanic who discovered water in the fuel filter and informed us that we must have got bad gas. This was a new concept to me that I really should have been more aware of. Call me a naive Canadian. An Australian colleague was quite familiar with the problem, and refered to it as "Kangaroo Gas". Anyhow, the mechanic cleaned out the carburetor, changed the filters, and sent us on our way.

In one week we were back with the exact same problem. This time he told us that in addition to the water, there was also dirt (DIRT!) in the bad fuel that we got. He said that the fuel probably came from the bottom of the reservoir from the gas station. Another free cleaning and filter change, and we were on our way. The car worked great for about 100 km, but soon it was back to coughing and sputtering and frightening the locals. Yesterday we took it back to the mechanic where the gas tank and fuel line are being completely removed for cleaning.

So, in the end I suppose it was a valuable lesson to be learned. While in East Africa, only fill up at internationally recognized gas stations such as "Shell", "Caltex", or "BP".

* * *

Not too much else to report on from here in Nairobi. Jessica & I have a bit more than 2 weeks until we depart on our "end-of-trip trip". We are still hoping to go to Madagascar, but right now it is depending on how much money we get for our car when we sell it. We've posted ads, and received calls to view it, but as mentioned above it's not quite ready for viewing yet.

We still haven't heard anything about the proposal yet, so continue to keep your fingers crossed for us. I will post once we find out if we got the 'yay' or 'nay'. I have a great backup job lined up if the proposal falls through, so either way the summer should be a great one.

The situation here in Nairobi has gotten much worse with regards to crime recently (I'll save the horror stories for you when I get back): one reason why Jessica & I are definitely looking forward to getting home. We really feel very lucky that we ended up at ILRI however; not just because of the great work experience we're getting here, but also because of how safe the site is.

Hope everyone is doing well! Only 6 weeks until we see those of you in Victoria.

Back from Mexico and back to work!

Hello everyone!

I want to start off my post with saying how good it was to see everyone in Mexico!! Congratulations Kirsten and Jason! It feels really good to have a sister now!! I can scarce believe it! I'm also really excited to come home and see everyone that I missed in Mexico...I wish all of you had been there! But Matt and I have set the date for our return so will be seeing you folks soon! So everybody mark your calendars for APRIL 7th so you can give Matt and I a proper welcome! HA HA!!

As most of you know, I also went to London on the way back to Nairobi! That was super fun thanks to my friend, Kara! She met me there and we had some good shopping and pub times in the UK. I think I spent too much. No surprise there!

Things are back to normal here in Nairobi. I am continuing my research that I was doing before on Cattle genetic diversity and will hopefully be doing that only over the next 4 weeks. I was really worried about finishing my project on time but now it seems as though it will be okay as Joel, a fellow lab technician, will be teaching me how to use a robot for all my experiments! YAY!! No more tedious micropipetting for hours on end! WOOHOO!!!

Not surprisingly, Nairobi is still the same...a little crazy, a little crowded, etc etc. It was really good to get out of the city this weekend though when Matt's friend, Jamie, came to visit. We went back to Hell's Gate and dined at the Naivasha Country Club where we had coffee, lamb, chicken, salads and other tasty treats under the Acacia trees. Very posh! It was great welcoming Jamie to Nairobi and feeding off her enthusiasm over Africa! It seems to me that after you stay in a place for a period of time, it loses some of the magic you felt about it when you first arrived. But, when someone comes and visits certain things you've grown accustomed to become new again! Like, the crazy crowded markets on the side of the road, the VERY NOISY preaching over loud speakers on Sunday (Saturday and any other random day people feel like broadcasting their feelings and beliefs on a loud phone), not to mention, the insane driving conditions complete with large potholes and mad matatu drivers! Trust me, very UNLIKE anything in Canada!

Anyways, I think our next trip will be with more of Matt's friends, Chris and Chelsea, if they decide to visit. We're hoping to either go to Masaai Mara or some other equivalent park! Then...off to Madagsacar (I hope)!

See you all soon!!!

Matt's New Site Launch

While Jessica is off to Mexico, I decided to "nerd out" this weekend and redesign my main website that houses my online resume and photo galleries from my guiding days. The site was starting to look a little old and had some clumsy navigation. In it's new form it's much more simplistic, and has a bit more of a "web 2.0" feel. The photo galleries are all in Flash now and have a much different feel to them.

I'm still ironing out a few bugs, and so far I've only tested the site in Firefox. Let me know if you have any trouble seeing the galleries (especially IE users), and if you notice any bugs.

Click below to see the new site:

¡Ay, caramba!

Off to Mexico...

Very excited! Will be leaving in approximately 32 hours. I've been a little busy lately trying to sort everything out before leaving. There's been a couple of hiccoughs at work so things were definitely a little hectic. Alas, I am now looking forward to Jason and Kirsten's wedding in Mexico. After, I will be spending a couple of days in London with Kara and then back to Nairobi! What a little jet setter I've become! Who knew?

Other than work things have been going well in Nairobi. Our life here is definitely settled now and wouldn't you believe it? It actually feels like we live here! I have to say we're much more spoiled than I thought we would be! Good food, clean place to live and...TV! Haha, even though Ive tried to resist I can't help but watch all the goodies...Grey's Anatomy, Prison Break, 24, Lost...it's all here...only one season behind! Ripped illegal DVD's are pretty easy to come by here though so it's pretty easy to catch up!

Anyhow, just thought I'd give a brief update. I'm sorry I haven't been as diligent as Matt has been about the blog but it seems like I've been here for so long that it doesn't really seem like there's a whole lot of new to report! Things are going extremely well though and I look forward to coming back here and doing more Sexual Education workshops and finishing up my work at the lab! I'm also looking forward to Matt and my year end trip when I return...has everyone figured out where we might be going?

Well, off to my farewell dinner I'm having with Matt tonight...we're going to try out a new Japanese restaurant we heard of...hopefully it's good!

See you all soon!

Jess

Working hard

A mad scramble to write up the proposal for the grant mentioned in the last post made for an incredibly busy week for me. It was an interesting process that I learned a great from as we had about 5 people contributing to it from 3 different continents. Keeping the draft synchronized could have been very difficult, but was made easy by using Google Docs. It is now almost finally almost done, and just awaiting a few signatures before we submit.

I was glad to see that my ploy to get more comments in the last post was somewhat successful! We now have only about 8 weeks before we depart, and here is yet another clue for those of you that haven't figured it out quite yet:


Jessica will soon be off to Mexico for her brothers wedding for two weeks -- I will let her blog about it, but I know that she can't wait. I wish I could go too, but a Nairobi-Cancun return flight is a bit pricey at the moment! In the meantime we don't have too much planned since we are basically saving up for our upcoming big trip. We'll probably go on another small safari pretty soon, and we are leaning towards one of two parks down towards the Tanzanian border: Amboseli or Masai Mara. We'll keep you posted...

Happy New Years!

Christmas & New Years were good to us, and now we're back to work in what we're calling "Phase 3" of our African trip. We will only be here in Nairobi for another two months or so, and then we'll be spending a month or so traveling before returning to Canada somewhere around mid-April.

The holidays were great, and we had good times with Jenn & Paul on our return to the Aberdares, our trip to Tanzania, and lounging around the house playing cards and drinking holiday concoctions.

In late December we were somewhat annoyed to discover that Housing had made a mistake here at ILRI which would necessitate our moving from the house back into the hostel. We put up quite a fight, but in the end nothing could be done. The guy in charge of Housing felt pretty bad about the whole affair, and ended up hooking us up with the one of the nicest rooms in the hostel. It is much nicer than our previous room here, and in addition to having our own balcony and a queen size bed (we used to have to push two singles together), the room has a killer view:

It's much brighter than our house was too, so all in all things are pretty good in our new abode.

Things at work for me are going quite well. Without nixing myself for talking about it too much, a team I'm part of has just advanced to the final stage of a competition for a fairly significant governmental grant. We find out in mid-Febuary if we get it, and if we do it'll have a huge impact on what I will be up to for the next 3 years. I'm crossing my fingers...

In other news, we have finally decided where we will be going for our end-of-trip trip (that's not a typo). Here is a big clue:


Can you guess?? Post your answer in the comments if you know...