Tsavo expedition

Hey everybody,
Yesterday we got back from our expedition to Tsavo West National Park. It was lots of fun. There aren't nearly as many animals there as there were in any of the Tanzania parks, but the scenery and geology was stunning. One day we took a hike up into the Chyulu Hills, which are part of a neighboring national park, and the view was spectacular. At one point we saw a pack of about thirty wild dogs, which are extremely rare. That was very exciting. We also visited and had a guest lecture in the black rhino sanctuary in Tsavo, though we didn't see any rhinos. Erica, our SAM from Tanzania, had called it the unicorn sanctuary because it's just about equally as likely of seeing a unicorn as seeing a rhino there. Another day we visited a lodge with an incredible view of the sanctuary, and I got to swim and relax in the sun again. I love those lodges. I'm also getting better at identifying birds that we see. It's a fun little hobby that I've picked up. Other exciting things we saw included greater kudu, waterbuck, an angry elephant maybe twenty feet from my face, and copulating baboons.
A while ago, we visited Amboseli National Park, which is famous for its swamps that provide critical water resources for animals during the dry season. We've hit the wet season so there weren't many animals there either. We did see some cool elephants though. One of them was very aggressive and rambunctious. It was trumpeting and twirling in the road and charged after one of our land cruisers. Those creatures can get very scary when they're unhappy.
Today was a non-program day, and we went on a hike near the town of Loitokitok down a gorge to a waterfall, where we ate lunch. Then we visited a place where they have testing and counseling for HIV and AIDS. We heard from a couple women about how the support group helped them realize that life continues on even with AIDS. It was pretty cool. We also met a group of trainees for the peace corps who were about our age. It was strange to see another group of Americans and speak normal American English to them. I think it freaked us out a little bit, honestly.
We have a big exam coming up on Sunday. I say it's big because it's only an hour and a half and it makes up for 10% of our Wildlife Ecology class and 20% of both our management and policy classes. This means it's dense and will be graded hard. I'm starting to feel some stress for that. After exams, though, we'll get started on our Directed Research (DR) projects. That will be lots of hard work, but I think we're all ready for it.
I'll try to post more regularly after the test. Until next time!
-Devin