Monday, August 10th.
Saturday was my birthday.
Hey world: I’m 29 years old!
My friend P. helped me organize a goat. Some rangers showed up with the goat still alive, and I took pictures of them when they killed it, skinned it and quartered it. It was so interesting. I had thought that after seeing the whole thing live I would want to turn vegetarian, but I didn’t. In fact I wasn’t even upset or grossed out. I even petted the goat and tried to comfort it prior to its untimely death.
I thought the guy leaning on the goat was just holding it down, getting ready to cut its throat, until I heard a muffled cry, and realized they were doing it the Maasai way: suffocation. They do it this way to save the blood so that the blood doesn’t spill and go to waste. It takes longer, that is my only regret. Afterwards they cut the skin and expertly pushed between the skin and the body, and it pretty much came right off. I was mesmerized.
We had a party and made half the goat on the BBQ, called Nyama Choma, and the other half into a stew. Fridah baked me three cakes, we had really good sound system playing Kenyan music, almost 3 crates of beer, wine, soda, perfect weather as usual. After singing happy birthday to me, I had to cut the cake for everyone. One of my friends spoon fed me a piece, I spoon fed my neighbour Sam, he spoon fed someone else, and on it went. Then out of nowhere they appeared with a big bucket of water and some towels… obviously it got dumped over my head – a tradition for the “bath day”. Apparently someone felt inspired to dump a bottle of beer on my head also. After changing, we all made a train and danced around the camp, ending in a circle. Then I had to go in the centre and take turns dancing with every single person one on one. Finally after all the ceremonies were finished we all just danced and partied in my field until the sun went down.
I feel so lucky to have had the chance to be here in Kenya, making friends and seeing so much. Having a birthday party was literally the icing on the cake!
Saving Beauty
August 5th, 6:28 AM
Today I am going to take pictures of the team attempting to rescue a blind rhino, Jamili, who fell down into a steep, 25 metre ravine.
A couple days ago literally, we captured Jamili’s photo for his update, and talked to S. the ranger who takes care of Jamili. (The rangers patroll certain blocks of the conservancy on foot to make sure none are in danger, as they are an endangered species. They often get to know the rhino in their block quite well, and sometimes have watched over them since they were born.) The rangers give me information for the rhino updates saying things like “Jamili is now 3.4 years of age and is in good health; He is very close to his mother and follows her everywhere…”
S told us that Jamili’s mother Nashami, recently gave birth to her second calf. Following the rhino tradition, Nashami chased Jamili away on his own so that she could nurse her new arrival. Almost instantly, however, S noticed that Jamili’s behaviour away from his mother was out of the ordinary, and communicated to the radio room that he suspected Jamili might be visually impaired.
Jamili taken a couple of days before the accident.
Right, Nashami standing guard in front of her firstborn son.
The very same day Jamili fell down into a steep, 25-metre deep ravine. Miraculously alive but trapped, Lewa personnel spent the next 24 hours devising a plan, cutting a path in the edge of the narrow gorge, and then assembling as many hands as they could muster.
(Where Jamili fell down from)
Together with the head of security John Palmeri, the head of wildlife Richard Moller, and Lewa’s former CEO Ian Craig, our highly qualified vet Dr. Chege rallied together the Capture Team, rangers, guards, and anyone else who could spare the morning. The Capture Team has extensive experience in translocating wild animals. Other volunteers included staff members from the accounts and marketing department, visiting consultants from the US, and local people from the nearby community. Together we were able to rescue Jamili from the depths of the crevasse and he has now been successfully translocated to the nearby Ol Pejeta Conservancy for further monitoring.
Getting Jamili out of the ravine was an ordeal. After discussing and planning, the vet ran everyone through their instructions and a practice session of how they would be working to help Jamili to the top of the cliff.
Then Dr. Chege went down to where Jamili was and darted him with a tranquilizer. Once asleep the team covered the rhino’s eyes with a cool, wet towel, and worked to strap him up from behind, putting ropes on his legs to help him inch forward. Once ready, the vet then administered a small dose of the reversal drug to help Jamili wake up. We waited… Nothing happened. They decided to give him a bit more. Only 5 ml at a time, because once he woke up fully there was no going back…
It worked. Jamili was drowsy but with pushing support from behind and pulling support from above, he took a few steps before he slumped back down, needing a rest. After a few minutes another small dose was given, and a few more steps were taken. Another dose. Another few steps. It was a slow process. The sun was getting high in the sky and everyone was saturated in the fine, red, dusty soil kicked up with every step. On and on it went like this until Jamili was finally on a landing that was flat enough for his moving crate to descend.
The hill was so steep that the tractor couldn’t haul Jamili’s crate down, so more ropes and more manpower was needed. Still, Lewa’s working party didn’t give up. We had come this far. Finally Jamili was positioned in front of the crate and the ropes were removed from around his tired, battered body. Dr. Chege gave him the final dose and as the rhino fully awakened he was guided into the box, and the door shut quick before he could let us all know how he was feeling. The tractor hauled Jamili up the remainder of the hill, with a jogging procession of rangers placing round bars underneath for it to roll on.
From there it went very smoothly and you could tell they had experience with this sort of thing. Once up, Jamili was carted onto the Ol Pejeta Truck and finally ready to go. The Capture Team headed off to see Jamili to his new home and the rest of us, covered in dust, sweaty, tired, unused to the hard fieldwork yet feeling triumphant, wandered back to our vehicles.
Today I am going to take pictures of the team attempting to rescue a blind rhino, Jamili, who fell down into a steep, 25 metre ravine.
A couple days ago literally, we captured Jamili’s photo for his update, and talked to S. the ranger who takes care of Jamili. (The rangers patroll certain blocks of the conservancy on foot to make sure none are in danger, as they are an endangered species. They often get to know the rhino in their block quite well, and sometimes have watched over them since they were born.) The rangers give me information for the rhino updates saying things like “Jamili is now 3.4 years of age and is in good health; He is very close to his mother and follows her everywhere…”
S told us that Jamili’s mother Nashami, recently gave birth to her second calf. Following the rhino tradition, Nashami chased Jamili away on his own so that she could nurse her new arrival. Almost instantly, however, S noticed that Jamili’s behaviour away from his mother was out of the ordinary, and communicated to the radio room that he suspected Jamili might be visually impaired.
Jamili taken a couple of days before the accident.
Right, Nashami standing guard in front of her firstborn son.
The very same day Jamili fell down into a steep, 25-metre deep ravine. Miraculously alive but trapped, Lewa personnel spent the next 24 hours devising a plan, cutting a path in the edge of the narrow gorge, and then assembling as many hands as they could muster.
(Where Jamili fell down from)
Together with the head of security John Palmeri, the head of wildlife Richard Moller, and Lewa’s former CEO Ian Craig, our highly qualified vet Dr. Chege rallied together the Capture Team, rangers, guards, and anyone else who could spare the morning. The Capture Team has extensive experience in translocating wild animals. Other volunteers included staff members from the accounts and marketing department, visiting consultants from the US, and local people from the nearby community. Together we were able to rescue Jamili from the depths of the crevasse and he has now been successfully translocated to the nearby Ol Pejeta Conservancy for further monitoring.
Getting Jamili out of the ravine was an ordeal. After discussing and planning, the vet ran everyone through their instructions and a practice session of how they would be working to help Jamili to the top of the cliff.
Then Dr. Chege went down to where Jamili was and darted him with a tranquilizer. Once asleep the team covered the rhino’s eyes with a cool, wet towel, and worked to strap him up from behind, putting ropes on his legs to help him inch forward. Once ready, the vet then administered a small dose of the reversal drug to help Jamili wake up. We waited… Nothing happened. They decided to give him a bit more. Only 5 ml at a time, because once he woke up fully there was no going back…
It worked. Jamili was drowsy but with pushing support from behind and pulling support from above, he took a few steps before he slumped back down, needing a rest. After a few minutes another small dose was given, and a few more steps were taken. Another dose. Another few steps. It was a slow process. The sun was getting high in the sky and everyone was saturated in the fine, red, dusty soil kicked up with every step. On and on it went like this until Jamili was finally on a landing that was flat enough for his moving crate to descend.
The hill was so steep that the tractor couldn’t haul Jamili’s crate down, so more ropes and more manpower was needed. Still, Lewa’s working party didn’t give up. We had come this far. Finally Jamili was positioned in front of the crate and the ropes were removed from around his tired, battered body. Dr. Chege gave him the final dose and as the rhino fully awakened he was guided into the box, and the door shut quick before he could let us all know how he was feeling. The tractor hauled Jamili up the remainder of the hill, with a jogging procession of rangers placing round bars underneath for it to roll on.
From there it went very smoothly and you could tell they had experience with this sort of thing. Once up, Jamili was carted onto the Ol Pejeta Truck and finally ready to go. The Capture Team headed off to see Jamili to his new home and the rest of us, covered in dust, sweaty, tired, unused to the hard fieldwork yet feeling triumphant, wandered back to our vehicles.
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