Kenya: 4274 animals and learning from each other

Group 1 left on Friday and group 2 is about to arrive in a few hours.

We had a wonderful last evening with group 1 on Thursday, watching the International Space Station (ISS) crossing the night sky – a moving star high above us. Eric took a great picture he promised to share with everyone. Some of us went out for the group’s very last night drive and were rewarded with elephant sightings.

Earlier in the week, our survey days were spent with more foot & vehicle transect work and observations from Kileleoni hill, the highest point in the Mara. The remaining camera traps were ‘serviced’ (batteries and SD cards exchanged).

One highlight during the last few days of grop 1 was the Environmental Educational Day on Wednesday. It was great fun organising, meeting, hosting and training nineteen students from the secondary school of Emarti, a village in the neighbourhood. The programme, developed by the team during a planning session the day before, included a game drive in the morning, lunch at MTC, as well as an introduction to Enonkishu conservancy by Rebekah, head ranger Dapash and ranger Albert. You would guess that everyone within the local community knows what Enonkishu is and what the rangers do, but this is far from true. Expeditioner Julia explained the classroom set-up, our work and equipment before Susanne showed some of the best camera trap pictures and videos. Jan and Maria then introduced the students to their learning task. We were all touched by their interest and enthusiasm and I guess the students will remember our efforts at being teachers for a while to come. All in all it was a very rewarding day and a learning experience for all of us.

During our final review meeting on Thursday afternoon, Rebekah provided a summary of the work and the data that have been collected so far. The numbers are impressive:

• overall the teams spend 115 hours in the field, or expressed differently, 377 person hours of wildlife surveys
• 679 observations were recorded in the datasheets and into the computer
• 4274 animals were recorded during the transect work and observation point counts
• 10 camera traps – minus the one that was destroyed by hyaenas – produced hundreds of pictures and videos, some of which show more elusive nocturnal wildlife (leopard, hyaena, bat-eared fox, etc.) and provide proof of their presence in the conservancy

A full summary of metrics collated by Rebekah is this:

Thank you goup 1! You did a great job out there in the field. Thanks for being the trailblazers on this inaugural expedition to the beautiful Mara ecosystem. We learnt a lot from your feedback and experience during the last couple of weeks, which will help us prepare & streamline the tasks for the next teams to come. Scientist Rebekah is still in heaven; the amount of data you have  collected her path to cloud 9.  The rangers say a big thank you to all of you for your generous donations of time, equipment and enthusiasm. And last but not least, I would like to thank you again for your commitment, patience and hard work and for rising to the challenge.

Safe travels back home or onwards. I hope we meet again. And welcome group 2. We’re ready and waiting.