I have just returned from a 2-week trip to Kenya.
The trip was sponsored by Earthwtach, an international conservation organisation. The invertebrate conservation project which I am currently working for is funded by Earthwatch. Earthwatch has a capacity-bulding programme through which they send peopel to other Earthwatch projects to see how they do their reserach. Through this programme, myself and a colleague of mine, Patsy Birkett, were selected to got o Kenya. In Kenya we worked on two projects:
1. Grev's Zebra Conservation: populations of the endangered Grevy's Zebra are in decline, and this project is monitoring populations and behaviour of the zebras to try an determine what factors could be reponsible for decline of the populations.
2. 'Carnivores in Conflict': This project aims to collecte data to help reduce the impacts which wild carnivores are having on the livestock of local communities in the Samburu district.

So we were very involved with the community directly which was great for getting to know the Samburu people: they really must be one of the few cultures wtill living a very traditional lifestyle: very un-touched by westernisation etc. Will try and post some photos soon.

Being in Samburu also meants seeing soe spectacular wildife and birds: Gerenuk (long-necked Impalas), reticulated giraffes etc.

Very Cool!

Will continue the Kenya Report some other time...and try and post some photos