Back in Ethiopia: A New Year, new Filoha

On September 11th we celebrated the Ethiopian New Year, it's now officially 2006!  For those of you who didn't know, the Ethiopian calendar runs differently than the Gregorian calendar that we use in the US. There are 13 months, 12 of which are exactly 30 days. And we're all 7 years younger while we are there (I must say, it's nice to be 23 again!).

Anyway, with the New Year in Ethiopia always comes the close of the rainy season. This means we still get to enjoy the lush greenery left by the rains, but no longer have to live like drenched cats in our tents anymore and the sun comes out to brighten our lives. The area is absolutely breathtaking:

As with any good New Year, we have some changes going on at Filoha. First, Sam Patterson has joined the team! Sam, yet another member of our University of Michigan alumni group at Filoha, came out in August and settled in quite quickly. She brought with her some mad problem-solving skills, a hilariously dry sense of humor, and huge passion for primates. So lucky to have another rockstar! 

We also got a new scout (here on the left). Esmale is a happy addition to the Filoha Family!

We've also seen some changes in baboon behavior - these baboons (not ours) have taken to sleeping on towers like this one far away from cliffs. It doesn't look comfortable, but it's pretty safe from lions and leopards! 

Our little baby warthogs are getting all grown up, here the kids are putting on their own muddy sunblock. What big kids!

Despite the large number of snakes we've seen this year, this is the largest live snake we have come across. This guy was over 2m long and happy to get out of our way when we drove by it on the road.  

This very handsome waterbuck has been hanging around Filoha for about a month now. He is the most majestic old guy we've seen in the area.

To celebrate New Year's  and my leaving for Kenya we went for a special dinner to the Awash Falls Lodge across the way. Before a delicious feast we went for a stroll down to the actual falls, it was gorgeous! 

We hadn't seen the baboons in a while, but of course they showed up right next to the road on my way out of Filoha. This was my last peek at them for the next 2 months: 

I'm going to miss my Filoha baboon, and non-baboon, buddies while I'm here in Kenya, 

but I'll be back there soon! 

A note from Nairobi

Apologies for not writing earlier, I arrived in Nairobi on September 18th from Ethiopia and planned on posting an update about Ethiopia before getting into the new Kenya project details. The first couple of days were non-stop running errands. Eric Vaughn, the first of the research assistants to arrive here, flew in on the evening of the 20th. That night we video chatted with his parents and girlfriend about his arrival and our plans for our time in Nairobi, they were so happy to see he was safe and sound and ready to start his first adventure in Africa.

The next day, as you likely know, the horribly tragic Westgate mall attack began across town. Eric and I were out at a different mall near our hotel getting some supplies and spoiling ourselves with frozen yogurt. Of course, the last thing we said to his family was we were taking it easy on Saturday, we were just going to the mall. We were completely safe the entire time, but it caused a little stress back stateside (sorry!). Once we realized what was going on (the incident was originally reported as a bank robbery gone bad) we bunked down in our hotel and watched with the rest of the world as the Westgate attack dragged on for more than 3 full days. All the locals around us just kept shaking their heads and telling us this was not right, not in Nairobi, this doesn't happen here. Several apologized to us because we were experiencing this in their country, they were embarrassed.

As seems to be the new response to terrorist attacks, the Kenyan people have risen up together, stronger and more united than they were before. They are grieving for those that were lost, but are making every effort to improve security across the country and return to normal schedules.

While Kenya continues to recover, we are also trying to restore Eric's African experience and get back to the business of baboon behavior. After some working days figuring out the logistics of a research project in Kenya,  we celebrated Eric's 23rd birthday in style. Apparently I was not feeding him enough protein since his arrival, so I made sure he got more than his share of protein on his day. We went to the famous restaurant Carnivore where we (but mostly he) was served beef, goat, lamb, chicken, ostrich, and even crocodile! This definitely brought a smile to his face:

Although meat-wise I only ate the chicken and tasted the ostrich (a lot like steak, if I remember correctly) and the crocodile (like chewy, slightly fishy chicken), we both partook in the African-inspired cocktails to celebrate his 23 years :)

That night we were joined by the second assistant, Laura Pena, who smiled bravely as she arrived in Nairobi just 3 days after the end of the Westgate siege. Still a little jet-lagged, Laura has already proven to be an excellent addition to our team. We have discovered that she and I share a lot of guilty pleasures (gin and tonics, SVU and more!) and she's already joining in on all of our fun here - we are really happy she came out.

So far both of these guys have been great additions to my own Kenyan experience. For a little fun amongst all the work we went to the Nairobi National Park Safari Walk (like a zoo). It was a great time and, of course, the main attraction for this crew was the the troop of baboons walking all over the raised viewing platforms. I can't wait to get out of Nairobi and show these guys our baboons up at Laikipia!