Hi everyone!
We are Amy Bennett and Millicent Wanjiku and are both lucky enough to be interning with Save the Elephants for the month of July. Amy is from Liverpool, England and studies Natural Sciences at Cambridge University and Millicent is from Kikuyu and recently graduated from Kenyatta University with a degree in Environmental Science.
I (Amy) arrived at camp on Tuesday morning and quickly discovered just how cheeky vervet monkeys are. They have learnt how to undo the velcro at the tent entrance so that every time the tent was empty they raided it! Thankfully they only managed to chew on a tube of toothpaste but did seem to enjoy moving lots of things around in the tent. One of the camp guards was stationed outside as protection and the next morning I moved to a different tent, closer to the main building, which I would be sharing with Millicent. Millicent got to camp on Wednesday night and by Thursday morning we were both settled in.
Life in camp has been very interesting so far and everyday brings something new to do. There is a great variety of wildlife in and around camp, from the birds who visit the breakfast table hoping for some crusts to the little Klipspringer who you can feed by hand. At supper one night, Millicent spotted something sitting behind the table and terrified Amy who was sitting with her back to the bush. It turned out to be a Genet cat who makes regular appearances and seems to really like pasta. Life is never dull with these friends around!
We have been kept busy as we have been helping Lucy in her work on Elephants and Bees, doing some data analysis as well as a 4 page summary of her findings.
We hope to keep you updated, blogging twice a week for the rest of July.