Random photos

Me and the entire gang at Katavi 

Olive sand snake 

Adult male blue headed tree agama - vicious bastard

Fledglings of a Singing Cisticola - sadly last week the cook saw them being eaten by a snake..

A Green Turaco

An awesomely cool praying mantis

Random pictures

Gombe - 10/10/11

Yesterday, me and 3 of the Research Assistants made the journey to Kigoma to go on a field trip to Gombe. Gombe is a pretty huge destination in the world of primatology. It’s the place where Jane Goodall studied chimps for 50 years so unlike the chimps where I work, the chimps at Gombe are very tolerant of humans. There’s only 1 way to get to Gombe from Kigoma and that’s by boat and if your poor like me your only option is the water taxi which costs about 2 quid. The journey is 3 hours long. The water taxis are huge! They are basically the only means of transport for the villages all along the coast of Lake Tanganika and they leave every day at noon. Needless to say they get completely rammed with people, chickens, goats, rice and just about anything else you can imagine. So for 3 hours we were crammed in shoulder to shoulder till we got to Gombe! A cool experience.

Me on the boat to Gombe

An early morning view of the town of Kigoma

A boat much like the one we were on to Gombe

Gombe itself was fantastic. The chimps are very habituated which means you can get pretty close to them. On a few occasions we had to get out of their way. On one occasion a dominant male charged another male. This other male had the great idea of running straight towards us! So low and behold we had a large, angry male chimp charging at us, luckily he passed me by about a foot or two but the guys weren’t so lucky. They had to quite literally dive out of the way, ive never seen them move so fast!

Me, Mlela and Msigwa of the beach of Lake Tanganika, Gombe

Jane Goodall and Anthony Collins' living room in Gombe

Olive baboons on the "Come Again" sign on the dock of Gombe

Mama chimp and baby chimp

Myself, Joffrey, Msigwa, Mlela and our  Guide

Mama chimp picking nose and baby chimps playing

Juvenile chimps

"Im a boy - see!"

Crocodile dundee in the shower (Gombe)

Deep in thought "is that my foot or my hand?"

Me with Chimps - Taken by my fantastic photographer Mlela. Believe it or not, this is the best picture he took and it doesnt even have my face in it!

 When I first came to Gombe I was introduced to a gentlemen called Anthony Collins. Anton, as it happens is the Director of baboon research at Gombe, which is the longest baboon research project in existence! He is also the acting director of Gombe itself whilst Jane is not there, needless to say an important man. He is also a fantastic host, he had us over to Jane’s house to have dinner and took great care of us. I was invited by Anton on our second night to go to the daily chimp meeting which, from a scientific perspective was very interesting. All the Gombe research assistants were also very interested to hear all about our camp.

Myself, Dr Anton, Mlela, Joffrey and Msigwa striking a pose on the beach of Gombe

All in all it was a great trip!

08/10/2011

Was reading my book back at camp after work today when I noticed a small bird mobbing something on the ground in the middle of camp. Turns out it was a snake so I rushed over, assessed the situation and subsequently grabbed it and put it in a bucket. After closing the bucket I looked went to the office to read the reptile book. Satisfied that it wasn’t poisonous I returned to handle him of which he was very receptive!

Me holding some kind of bush snake

Me grasping my snake..

02/10/11

Nearly caught a juvenile monitor lizard. Was nestled on the branch of a particularly branchy tree. After I climbed it I took a picture then went for the grab. My fingers found their mark on the right side of his belly but alas my thumb got its way barred by a twig and just like that he dropped into the river murky waters of the mini river below (they can hold their breath for 20 minutes so we didn’t hang around). Would have loved to have got a picture with it though!

Juvenile monitor in tree

07/10/11

Alfred escaped.

06/10/11

Caught what I think is a juvenile, male blue headed tree agama today. Made him a house, put him in it and called him Alfred.

Alfred

30/09/2011

Today myself and Busoti came across 3 poachers and their camp. It was frankly quite a disturbing experience. The poachers we encountered as they were exiting the forest before we found their camp. Between them they carried a sac of cooked meat (remnants of a porqupine and an Insha), cooking stuff and a 6 foot long gunpowder rifle. Very old, yet apparently still effective. After having very stern words with the poachers and threatening further action should they be seen in the forest again, we let them be on their way. Sadly we have no juristiction whatsoever so all threats we make are just bluffs. The poachers were not aggressive but stood there in a kind of sullen defiance with looks mildly resembling school kids caught inflicting graffiti on the toilet walls. After getting them to open all their bags, we photographed all their contents and took mugshots. After all this we let them go on their way after receiving false promises that they wont return.

The remains of an Insha

The gun, stolen from Capt'n jack sparrow..

10 minutes up the river we found the remains of their camp. It seems they’d been operating there for at least a week. Their were animal skins, entrails, legs and horns of animals littered all over the place and honestly speaking it smelt of death. It wont be a smell ill forget easily, it clung to me the rest of the day despite washing. We collected all these things, stoked their fire and burnt everything.

The remains of the animals

Later in the day we came across traps, more skins and a freshly dead insha. The insha we found in its entirety, it had a bullet wound on the left side of its abdomen which must not of killed it as it had not been collected by the poachers who shot it. More likely it ran off and died later from the wound. A sad sight. Alas that is not all, in my contract it states all skulls and heads be brought back to be buried to add to our collection of skulls. Sounds morbid, but very useful scientifically. So anyway, back to the insha.. I had my knife with me so the honour fell to me to collect its head. All ill say is that it was hard getting through he spine.

Me removing the head of a dead Insha

What a splendid day of death! 

A pretty bird (type of night jar) note long wing feathers

29/09/11

This morning I was woken up at 5:30 am because there was a puff adder about 30 meters from camp! Needless to say I was exceedingly pleased to be alerted to the presence of such an awesome animal! Ive been wanting to see one since ive been here but their camoflage and elusivness generally keeps them well hidden despite their wide distribution. They are Africa’s most dangerous snake for this exact reason. They are not the most venomous but they are responsible for more bites than any other venomous snake due to the fact the do not move if approached and when unwary feet step to close two puncture marks often follow. Their venom is not frequently deadly but often results in the loss of a limb for rural farmers who cant afford good footwear or medical care. 

Puff adder getting cosy with my flip flop