Today after class we had a goat-slaughtering in the woods. Once again I felt like I was watching a scene from gladiator as my classmates gathered around with huge smiles on their faces and twinkles in their eyes as they got ready to take videos and pictures of a cute goat breathing its last breath. I was expecting them to start foaming at the mouth and break out into a riot when our teacher told us to wait for our fellow classmates to join up with the rest of the group. I tried to look at it as a cultural experience, but at the very last minute, when they were tying it down so it could not escape and approaching it with a sharp knife with the sun glinting off of it, I decided that I could not handle seeing a poor, defenseless goat die. I did come back afterwards to examine the four-chambered stomach, as that was part of the lecture. Some may think I am a weenie, but I still think I’m pretty ok.
February 18, 2009
Today we went on another trip to Amboseli National Park. On the way over my professor told an excellent story about how he was once in a supermarket in Idaho (he went to Idaho for college) buying a bag of M&Ms, his favorite candy, when he noticed a little girl who was crying hysterically and pointing at him. He went up to mother and asked her if everything was ok and she said that her daughter had never seen a man with his skin color before and was scared. He then began to explain to the little girl why his skin color was different from her skin color. He asked her if her mother had a garden and she said “Yes.” He then asked her which flowers in that garden are her favorite colors. She responded, “The red, yellow, and pink flowers.” He then explained to her that God is a gardener like her mother and that we are his flowers…we’re all different colors.
While we were waiting to get clearance to enter the park, I saw a lizard! He was all different colors and kind of metallic. Not everyone in my car was quite as excited as I was, but they just don’t know how cool reptiles really are:)
Once we got into the park, we split off into 5 groups and headed to different sectors of the park to begin our project for my Wildlife Management class. For the project we went out for about 4 hours to take a sample survey of all of the large mammals (well any mammal…dik-dik and up) within 500 meters on both sides of the road…so basically I got to count really cool mammals ALL DAY! My group was by Lake Amboseli but since the rainy season hasn’t begun, it was bone dry. We did however have a few smaller swamps that were populated with all sorts of animals that had come to get their daily drink and graze on…so many zebra, wildebeest, and gazelles.
When we were heading back to meet the rest of the group for lunch we drove through this abandoned large. It was really eerie! Windows were broken, weeds were growing everywhere, and monkeys and baboons were running around. One of the girls in my car starting humming the theme song to Jurassic Park as we were driving through the lodge. No joke…if I had seen a T-Rex run by and snatched up a goat, I would not have been surprised.
After lunch we had a lecture on a hill facing Mt. Kili. I couldn’t believe I was actually having class with Mt. Kili behind my professor. We even had a little visitor during lecture. A trouble-making vervet monkey came up to one of my classmates and wrestled her for her Tupperware that still had scraps in it. Fortunately my classmate won and got to keep her Tupperware for further expeditions.
We finished the day by doing a couple more hours of game driving…without counting :) As my group was staring at a couple of hippos just chillin’ in a swamp (with the little bird friends on their backs), I looked over to my side of the car and saw...A BLACK MAMBA!!!!!
When we were about to leave the park we were passing a swamp by the front gate of Amboseli and noticed a lioness making her way to get a drink. You would not believe how fast the other animals split as she sauntered down to the watering hole. It was hilarious to see all of the wildebeest, zebra, giraffes, gazelles…giving her a wide berth of about 200m. We, the animals included, were all waiting to see what she would do. Then someone in my car noticed the lame cow laying on the ground…apparently the lioness noticed too. The cow started to struggle to get up as she made her way towards it and the lioness sprang into action. She made her way to the cow in a few quick leaps and pounced on its rear. I felt like I was watching a scene from gladiator because all of the people in my car were muttering under their breath, “Get it!” “Grab it by the throat!” “Kill the cow!” Meanwhile, I’m thinking, “Oh my gosh! I don’t know if I can handle this. I know it happens, but that poor cow.” Well the lioness sat there for a little bit and then walked away. I don’t know why she walked away…maybe she was waiting for the rest of her pride, maybe she didn’t like the crowd that was watching, or maybe she knew it was so weak she could wait. In the end, only the driver and I weren’t completely bummed that the lioness hadn’t ripped the poor cow to shreds.
While we were waiting to get clearance to enter the park, I saw a lizard! He was all different colors and kind of metallic. Not everyone in my car was quite as excited as I was, but they just don’t know how cool reptiles really are:)
Once we got into the park, we split off into 5 groups and headed to different sectors of the park to begin our project for my Wildlife Management class. For the project we went out for about 4 hours to take a sample survey of all of the large mammals (well any mammal…dik-dik and up) within 500 meters on both sides of the road…so basically I got to count really cool mammals ALL DAY! My group was by Lake Amboseli but since the rainy season hasn’t begun, it was bone dry. We did however have a few smaller swamps that were populated with all sorts of animals that had come to get their daily drink and graze on…so many zebra, wildebeest, and gazelles.
When we were heading back to meet the rest of the group for lunch we drove through this abandoned large. It was really eerie! Windows were broken, weeds were growing everywhere, and monkeys and baboons were running around. One of the girls in my car starting humming the theme song to Jurassic Park as we were driving through the lodge. No joke…if I had seen a T-Rex run by and snatched up a goat, I would not have been surprised.
After lunch we had a lecture on a hill facing Mt. Kili. I couldn’t believe I was actually having class with Mt. Kili behind my professor. We even had a little visitor during lecture. A trouble-making vervet monkey came up to one of my classmates and wrestled her for her Tupperware that still had scraps in it. Fortunately my classmate won and got to keep her Tupperware for further expeditions.
We finished the day by doing a couple more hours of game driving…without counting :) As my group was staring at a couple of hippos just chillin’ in a swamp (with the little bird friends on their backs), I looked over to my side of the car and saw...A BLACK MAMBA!!!!!
When we were about to leave the park we were passing a swamp by the front gate of Amboseli and noticed a lioness making her way to get a drink. You would not believe how fast the other animals split as she sauntered down to the watering hole. It was hilarious to see all of the wildebeest, zebra, giraffes, gazelles…giving her a wide berth of about 200m. We, the animals included, were all waiting to see what she would do. Then someone in my car noticed the lame cow laying on the ground…apparently the lioness noticed too. The cow started to struggle to get up as she made her way towards it and the lioness sprang into action. She made her way to the cow in a few quick leaps and pounced on its rear. I felt like I was watching a scene from gladiator because all of the people in my car were muttering under their breath, “Get it!” “Grab it by the throat!” “Kill the cow!” Meanwhile, I’m thinking, “Oh my gosh! I don’t know if I can handle this. I know it happens, but that poor cow.” Well the lioness sat there for a little bit and then walked away. I don’t know why she walked away…maybe she was waiting for the rest of her pride, maybe she didn’t like the crowd that was watching, or maybe she knew it was so weak she could wait. In the end, only the driver and I weren’t completely bummed that the lioness hadn’t ripped the poor cow to shreds.
Did you get a picture of the lizard?
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