January 28th, 2010 – Day 9

I am still learning all of the names of the animals. I have been informed it should take about 3 months. Great. Just in the Pumphouse gang alone there are about 69 baboons, depending on which sub-groups there are. After I learn Pumphouse I will start to learn the others. This means I may be able to know in excess of 200 baboons by the time I get back.
I finally got in contact with Andrew Lees. He is over on the other side of Kenya in Busia. We are planning to meet up sometime in the future. So far we want to whitewater raft down the Nile in Uganda, go to a marathon in Rwanda and climb Mt. Kenya. We will see if those aspirations ever fruit.
I never realized how much I rely on other people coming out here. I have always been a fairly independent person, but realizing that I won’t see family or friends for a year is somewhat terrifying. The people that are here now either had prior baboon experience, had already lived in Nanyuki before and did not have any boyfriends or girlfriends. I’m sure that would make it much easier to adjust to life here.
I’m not sure how many showers in buckets, chlorine treated water, and cactus needles in my leg I can take. I still have 5 ½ weeks left to make up my mind if I want to stay here or not. I am feeling it may be quicker to figure that out.
There are also several new photos up on Facebook. I won’t be able to upload them to my website until a little bit later, but they will eventually make it.

01 28 2010 Patrick Murray

January 24th, 2010 – Day 5

It has been an interesting journey getting here. It took a total time of about 3 days (almost exactly) to make it here. I was almost a 6 hour drive from Nairobi to Chololo (the name of our camp). I didn’t see one white person the entire way. I sure got a lot of looks from people. The drivers are the worst I have ever seen. There is only 1 rule for driving here: if you get stopped by the police you bribe them. That’s it.
The camp that I am at is very rustic. There are a few solar panels for power, outhouses for toilets, a bucket for a shower and no fridge. It will take a little while to get used to that. There is one good thing though- everyone eats lots of pasta since it is so easy to keep, yum! Within the first 5 days there I have seen: Elephants, Giraffe, Grant’s Gazelles, Dick Dicks, Gerenuks, Baboons, Rock Hyrax, Weavers and countless cattle, goats and sheep.
I have started to work with the local Massai villagers. Yesterday we went to a boarding school and played cricket with all of the kids. It’s a great way to bring the community together. Soon I will start teaching the conservation club. Dr. Strum (the director) wants us to focus on charcoal burning and sand removal from the area.
As for the Baboons themselves, they are very interesting. I never realized how close we would be getting to them. We walk only feet away from them. The little ones are especially curious with us. They like to play peek-a-boo with us. The other day I was sitting down near the group while they were retesting and a large adult male walked right next to me and sat down only about 2 feet away; close enough that I could reach out and touch them. If they are fighting they may be close to us, but make sure to keep several feet of distance. It was a little scary at first but I am getting used to it.
The days are long and tiring. There are two baboon watch shifts, 6:30am to 12:30 and 12:30 to 6:30pm. My group that I will be studying, The Pumphouse Gang, is the furthest away. It takes about 45min by Piki (dirt bike) to reach them. That means I have to leave around 5:45 or 6am to get there. After you get done you then need to come back to the camp and put all of your notes into paperwork and the computer. Lots of work.
As for pictures, there aren’t many yet. It will be hard to upload them as well, but they are coming. I swear!

01 24 2010 Patrick Murray

In Zurich

It has been long getting to Zurich. The 11 hour plane ride from LAX to Munich then another hour from Munich to Zurich was killer. I ended up getting one of the small hotel rooms inside the airport to get a little sleep and take a shower, but sleep is not coming easily. It is also -2C outside here in Zurich, and flying the little plane hoppers means that you have to walk outside to get to the plane. Can’t wait to get to the much warmer weather of Kenya.

It is now 5:30am and I am up. In about 2 hours I will be leaving here to go hop on another plane to take a 8 hour ride down to Nairobi.

01 18 2010 Patrick Murray

69 days until I leave for Africa

It is just over two months until I leave for Africa. Over the past several months I have been gathering articles that I need while I am over there. I didn’t think it would be as expensive to buy everything as it has been (but it has been fun!) I have been talking to a few women who are currently at the UNBP Project and they seem like they will be a fun group of people to be living with for a year.

As for work I only have a month and a half left until I leave. It will be an interesting several weeks. Also some more DJ sets will be coming soon!

11 09 2009 Patrick Murray

Photo albums now up!

All of my photography albums are now up. I hope I will be able to update them with new photos from Africa while I am over there. We will see.

08 20 2009 Patrick Murray

DJ Sets now up!

Several of my recent DJ sets are now up online. Click on “music” to the left to access it!

08 12 2009 Patrick Murray

New Website

Welcome to my new website. Over the next little bit I will putting content into it. It will also serve as contact to the outside world when I am in Africa a little bit. Stay tuned for more!

07 02 2009 Patrick Murray