Yesterday, after a 6 hour drive, we finally arrived at KBC at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. This camp is so much different than Moyo Hill Camp. KBC makes Moyo look like a vacation resort. We only have guaranteed power from 6:30pm-11pm and a lot of the power is generated from solar panels. All of the buildings are semi permanent and communal. There are separate bathrooms and showers that everyone has to share, and there is only hot water in the evenings when we have guaranteed power. (I took a cold shower this morning and actually quite enjoyed it! It woke me up immediately and would be really nice after a very hot day in the sun.) The camp is at least 3 times as big as Moyo with a separate soccer field and volleyball court. We also share space with quite a lot of biodiversity. Within the camp are birds, yellow baboons, vervet monkeys, red spitting cobras, black mambas, green mambas, rats and mice. Elephants will occasionally break down the fence as well to browse within our borders. The wildlife is usually pretty harmless but the vervets love to cause mischief and there is one particularly large baboon who loves to break into bandas and the kitchen. I can’t wait to see an elephant inside the camp!

This morning, I woke up early to go for a run along the perimeter fence. I stepped out of my banda and had the breath knocked out of me by the sight of Kilimanjaro completely clear of clouds. Because of recent rain storms it is completely capped by snow and is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Yesterday, it was very cloudy so we were unable to see anything other than the base but this morning was incredible. Now I understand why students in the other group say that they cried on the last day, before the switch, watching the sun set behind the mountain. I could live here for years and never get used to this beauty. 

We had staff and course introductions today and we are all so excited to be doing our directed research here in Kenya. We will be doing research in the Amboseli-Tsavo Ecosystem in the shadow of Kili. This particular area has great issue with water use and availability. The ecosystem is usually supplied by water run off from Kili but because of increasing populations of people, there are more and more taps into the water source before it actually reaches the swamps of Amboseli and Tsavo. For this reason, the wildlife is suffering greatly. Drought is affecting even the hardiest of wildlife. I’m excited to research this problem and help the people of the area find sustainable ways to utilize water sources.

I’ll try to post some pictures ASAP!

Location: Kimana, Kenya