Camp Life

So I’ve been getting a lot of questions about what camp life is like and here is the blog post to satiate them.

The car that we use here in the Mara is an amazing little treat. Her name is “Holly” and she can be a bit temperamental at times. However, she has been completely outfitted with some amazing decals.


Here’s our always-refreshing shower. I say always refreshing because no matter what time of day you decide to shower, you always end up with a little bit of cold water.


To make up for this, I usually try to exercise before jumping in. Because we aren’t really allowed to be outside of our camp on foot (for fears of being eaten/stampeded/tusked; see first post), I’ve had to make due with what we have. This means I usually rock out with my iPod and run in place on a trampoline. I know I must look like a 90’s housewife sweatin’ with the oldies, but you can’t beat this view.


Our kitchen is usually stocked well with fresh fruits and vegetables. The mangoes and plantains (bananas) here seem to never go out of season. We occasionally have meat and chicken, but when we do it’s always amazing. We eat quite the variety of meals as well; from pasta to lentils, goat to curry, with great soups and salads in between.


We’re taken really good care of here by our local staff. Philomen (left) and Jorgi (right) help us around camp with a multitude of tasks. Philomen is our amazing cook that we were somehow able to snag away from a local safari lodge, and Jorgi acts as our daytime and nighttime “Askari.” He helps to ward away animals that try to break into camp and steal our delicious leftovers.


All of our electricity for the entire camp comes from solar panels like this. This one panel here powers all of our electrical needs (charging phones/computers, lights around camp etc.). Pretty soon we’ll be getting another one. Who knows what we’ll be able to do with all this clean, renewable power!?


This is our mess tent where we eat all of our meals, with the lab tent in the background. We keep all of our samples and other lab-ish things in the lab tent. Because we have no refrigeration, we use a sweet liquid nitrogen tank to preserve genetic samples. Every time I open it and see the steam come out I can’t help but feel like a mad scientist.


Obviously, everyone wants to know where I sleep. Because nothing in camp is allowed to be permanent, we stay in canvas tents like these. They are surprisingly comfortable and spacious.




Luckily, we always have great cell-phone reception.


I hope this helps to put some at ease on our living situation. Although we’re living in the “bush” we do still have plenty of creature comforts. But you can never get too comfortable and it seems that just when you’re about to, the bush sends something your way. Like this following tale.

Sorry Mom, I know this story will freak you out a tad. Feel free to stop reading this blog post now.

Just yesterday I was sitting in my tent working on this very blog post when I hear something “pawing” at my tent. It was the middle of the day so I thought nothing of it. A lion or hyena wouldn’t be that close to people during the day. I look out my window and see a mongoose staring at me making its alarm call (which I now know what it sounds like). Sitting in my tent and not being able to see what it was alarming me of, I unzipped my tent to take a look outside.

Greeting me was a black mamba snake, clearly one of the most venomous and dangerous snakes in all of Africa (and possibly the world?). In pure shock, I jumped back in my tent and made sure the zippers were closed tightly. Obviously, everything is ok now. But thanks to the bush, I am a little more cautious and aware of my steps (probably a good thing in the long run, even if it only prevents me from stepping in a present left by some large mammal).

PS: I did shave my head.