So I have now been with the research team for just over a week , having joined them to look into Elephant parasite transmission in the Delta. I’ve already fallen in love with the area, the wildlife and the people. I am looking at parasites in wild elephants, the Abu herd and in as many grazers as I can get samples from (so lots of poo collecting!) to try and get idea of factors affecting parasite burden, and to see if elephants and other grazers may be sharing the same parasites. There is a lovely new (air conditioned!!) lab at Abu camp, where I can use microscope to look through my samples, and already I am getting some very interesting results.
I am joining Kate and Danielle on their drives, giving me an opportunity to collect samples. Most of the animals so far have been fairly obliging in their sample donations (except for the zebra, who, it appears, never go to the toilet). It is rather like an extended treasure hunt. Collecting samples from the Abu herd is an absolute pleasure, aided by the presence of Wrona, the 1 month old elephant calf. She is very playful, and even at her young age, she is able to push me straight over! It is very amusing to be walking with such a big and beautiful herd to the sound of the mahouts shouting ‘poo Abu, poo ’ (it is uncanny how often the herd actually respond to these requests, it appears that they will do anything for their mahouts!!).
A couple of days ago, we saw a group of banded mongooses and their new born offspring. We managed to get a close look at the babies, before the mums responded to their offspring’s (amazingly loud) calling, by picking up the babies in their mouths and scampering off. Unbelievably cute. We also had an encounter with baby bush babies the to other night around the dinner table. Two small black objects made a dive to the ground from a tree and on closer inspection, it was clear they were very young and tiny baby bushbabies (I must admit, they did look a bit like baby rats). Kate put them in tissue and offered them to mum, she was so brave she almost got them out of Kate’s hands! They were then put on the roof where they were collected, and we have our fingers crossed that the mum chooses a less precarious tree for her offspring!
But its not only cute animals that end up at our diner table, we are also joined by occasional hyena, who gives the impression that if you weren’t careful, would take the meat right off your plates. We also had the pleasure of being visited by a snake, who dropped out of a tree into our eating area. Needless to say, following a brief period of chaos, we continued our lunch with our feet on our chairs.
Anyway, my first week here has been brilliant and I very much look forward to the rest of my time here!!!!
By: Lydia Baines
