2/10/2010

This morning we started our work on our first independent project. It started at 630 with breakfast, then into the field to set up our research sites. Graeme had already set up 11 sites, so between the 26 of us, we only had four left to do. It was early in the morning, and already it was getting so hot. We were all sweating buckets before 10 AM. Blugh. We each set up two sites, and then came back to camp. I was in Graeme’s truck, so we got to check out one more site before coming back. When we did come back, a bunch of us went into “town”, where we checked out the store. Lots of goodies. Then we looked at the river, where we watched a hippo bobbing up and down in the water. Just a normal day here at Kruger.
After lunch, I went off by myself (don’t worry, it is totally safe in the tourist camp during the day) so that I could mail a postcard and exchange some money. I ran into a nice couple from the states, and we chatted about why we were all here in the park. After money getting, I went back to town, running into Lindsay and Colin getting some sweet icey things. I of course got one as well. We were waiting for them to melt when some Afrikaner comes up to us and tells Colin to sit on the ice “for fertility.” Totally seriously. We all just died laughing.
That afternoon, we went back into the field to set up the rest of the traps and put bait in them. The rodent bait was a mixture of peanut butter and oats (although we are going to add honey to it tomorrow), and we stuck it up in the corner of the traps. We had to keep it away from the other students though, because it was delicious and we only had so much. The afternoon was much longer than the morning, as we had to set up a lot of traps, and we were baiting 8 sites (setting up 4). Once done, we had sun-downers at lake panic, and talked about our miserably hot days. It was Alan’s son’s birthday today, so we all stood up in the middle of dinner and sang happy birthday. After dinner, we talked about the next day, and had a good laugh at the silly things we are going to have to do to the mice to document their capture. Bed early-ish tonight, as we have to be leaving for the field by 6 tomorrow morning. Good lord. Words of the day: Yes = Ina; No = Uh-uh