Bittersweet changes

It's that time of year, we've just had our first major personnel changes at CABS. Sam and Megan Cole have returned to the states and Megan Best has joined Laura and I in the field! 

One of the last pictures of our team. 

Congratulations to Sam, who is just starting her Ph.D. under Joan Silk at ASU! So, she'll be back out here with the baboons eventually (maybe even next summer? wink wink). In the meantime, good luck with classes and settling into grad student life! 

Megan Cole has returned to Michigan for now, but will be applying to grad school this fall. Now it's time to buckle down on GRE studies and prep for the same transition to graduate life. Best of luck! 

We miss you guys, but we are excited to introduce Megan Best:

Megan Best is a recent grad form ASU with a dual degree in biological sciences and anthropology. She likes monkeys, chameleons, browsing imgur (I'm not sure what that is.....), climbing, and capoiera. She's hilarious and, so far, a fantastic fit in our team. Her adventures are just beginning, so stay tuned for more! 

Back at the Watamu house

On the full moon we went down to the beach at sunset to enjoy the moonlit beach:

 

 Our last morning at the house Clay and I took a walk on the beach just after sunrise and discovered tidal pools with all sorts of marine life in them. We saw urchins, serpent stars, crabs of all sizes and even a couple eels!

 

 

The pools were so neat we went back to house to round up everyone else so they could see them before the tides came in: 

 

This was the perfect way to end the vacation, we enjoyed our morning and lazed around the house the rest of the day. The next day we were off to Nairobi and the rest of the family returned to the states. It was the best vacation of all time, filled with animals, adventures, and family. 

Thank you all for coming out to visit, I miss you and love you dearly!! 

Butterflies and Ruins

Late one afternoon we visited the complex that holds both the Kipepo Butterfly House and the Gedi Ruins.

We started in the butterfly house where we learned about the local business of capturing and breeding many of the local species for export. This is a good, apparently sustainable, source of income for locals. The building itself was beautiful and the butterflies were gorgeous!

 

The Gedi Ruins are neatly nestled in forest a few kilometers inland from Watamu. We had a wonderful guide through the ruins who gave us the history of the Swahili people who built these incredible structures back in 13^th or 14^th century. Among the structures are a palace, a mosque, and numerous stone houses. Many of the houses had their own wells and even some bathrooms with drains and toilets.

Kara invites us into 'her' palace

  

 

 

The city is thought to have been abandoned in the 16^th century, now the only inhabitants are these overly friendly Sykes monkeys!