Group 3 have arrived in the Mara, and with them – the rain! The past few weeks have been hot and dry with siestas becoming a necessity in the midday sun. The grass had become yellow and scorched from the heat and the plains were beginning to turn to dustbowls. We are excited to witness the transformation of this habitat and the changes in animal behaviour that go along with this. This change in the weather has happened in line with annual expectations, which is a blessing in these challenging and changing times for our planet, where disruption to weather patterns is the new norm.
We have been busy since arriving at base on Sunday with 4×4 driving, scientific equipment, navigation and project methodologies on the training agenda. The driver training and practice transects gave our new citizen scientists a taste of the local area and wildlife and there is a great buzz of excitement around camp at the moment. Everyone is eager to get out into the field and put these newly learned skills into practice.
Today saw our second expedition birthday, Isabelle has been demanding that we make elephants and lions appear, but this seems to be beyond even the Biosphere Expeditions and Wild Hub teams! We celebrated with a team dinner followed by birthday cake, this time the German contingent made up for the disappointment of last week with a rousing rendition of “Zum Geburtstag viel Glück” and the French delegation delighted us with “Joyeux Anniversare”. We finished the day with a screening of The Elephant Queen, a fitting end to the day with a poignant reminder of the importance of the stability of wet and dry seasons.
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