Catch up!

Did you miss me? 

I've been a tad busy working a paper about Olive Baboons but it is finally complete and I once again have free time to share beautiful pictures of Tanzania with my adoring fans! ;)

I suppose I'll start with our traveling lecture from almost a week ago. We piled into the Land Rovers and drove over treacherous terrain and parked ourselves on the top of a rather abandoned hill called kili ma tembo, which means hill of Elephants. sadly there are no longer elephants living there but we did see a pretty chill Flap Necked Chameleon. He/She was rather distracting. 

Kili ma tembo aka our classroom

Distracting chameleon friend

 After elephant hill we visited rice and corn fields in Mto wa Mbu. Some local kids joined us for our lecture and tour. 

Cuties

A recent environmental policy field exercise took us to a small farming village. In small groups, we walked down the road with a translator and asked local farmers about struggles with erosion, water scarcity, and elephants. 

These kids were shy at first but lit up when I pulled out my camera!

More cuties

One of the best field exercises thus far was poop day. We walked 1.25 kilometers through Manyara Ranch identifying poop. Grazing is permitted in Manyara Ranch so cow, sheep, and goat poop was plentiful but we also found Thomson's Gazelle and wildebeest (my personal favorite!!)

We were rewarded for our efforts with amazing shots of Flamingos on Lake Manyara! 

We were accompanied by a Maasai guide, Daniel, who helped us identify poop. Sheep and goat poop is shockingly similar!

Perrin & Daniel

 Today we went back to the Manyara Ranch poop field but this time we identified grass. Who knew there were so many species of grass in the Savanna?

Being too excited about our grass data

Overall, I have been doing things I never imagined I would do in my entire life. I am constantly blessed by the opportunities I am presented with and the people I am surrounded by. 

Thank you all for supporting me! I hope you enjoy this sliver of my Tanzanian journey!