Saturday, February 24, 2007

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:

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

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.

Monday, February 12, 2007

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!!!

Sunday, February 04, 2007

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: