Kakamega

Alright. So here it is. I am in Kenya. That's in Africa, on the east side, with the equator running right through the middle of it. That makes it hot. As in "It's hot as Africa in here" or "It's hot like equatorial Africa in here." Wherever you are when people are saying that, they are just exaggerating.

So, why am I here? Not a bad question. Something about monkeys. I will not bore you with the science of it all on this first post (I will, however, in future posts, as there is only so much "ahh, the beauty and grandeur of the African rain forest" you can stand).

I am not sure how this blog thing works, and the internet connection I am currently tethered to seems fragile at best. However, I will attempt to post some pictures and tell fanciful tales of my life here. Here (do you have your map out? Have you found Kenya? Good.), by the way, is Kakamega Forest. It is in western Kenya, only a few hundred kilometers from Lake Victoria. It is a remnant of the enormous central African rain forest that once spread across the continent.

This is technically my first field season of my PhD (for any of you not keeping up). I am researching the vocal communication of blue monkeys, meaning I spend a lot of time staring up into trees and pointing a microphone and some increasingly suspicious primates. They have an uncanny nack of shutting up entirely when I press record and then bursting into a torrent of song and dance as soon as I turn my back. Cheeky monkeys, as they say.

The forest is lovely, my accommodations are basic yet comfortable, and I take my malaria propholaxis religiously. Life is simple - I get up in the dark, stumble around a bit bumping into things, strap on the absurd panoply of gear I take with me into the forest each day, and stomp off. I then track monkeys, find monkeys, and record monkeys until sunset. Then I collapse and wonder why I didn't go into some sane profession like professional figure skater instead.

But the forest is lovely, the monkeys are patient, and things move along.
I will try to post some pictures now. If this collapses all service in western Kenya, you will at least know I tried.


However, all seems to be going reasonably well.