Our view from our campsite in the Olare Orak Conservancy
The Maasai Mara has, in fact, been a much easier place to conduct research. We didn’t receive any rains while camping in the Mara, but they must have received a few hard rains in the past few weeks as things were very green. Staying at the Olare Orak Conservancy, we had our choice of animals that we wanted to sample. It was almost as if the migration had already occurred, as thousands of animals filled the open plains. But, these were all the Loita plains resident wildebeest that we were observing and sampling, not the Serengeti migratory population. It’s unclear why the Loita plains wildebeest are all in this area at this time.
We visited sites in the Olare Orak, Motorogi, Mara North, and Naboisho Conservancies. All very nice and full of wildlife. Plenty of wildlife including buffalo, elephant, impala, zebra, eland, small rhino (i.e., warthog), among many others. Zebra, hyena, wildebeest, and elephant all in our campsite at night.
Now on to Nairobi National Park to finish up all field work before starting the laboratory analysis.
gnu2move 
Are the National Parks there as amazing as they are here! You must be in your glory in the midst of all those animals….or is it just another day at work at this point? 🙂
To be honest, I find the parks in the US much nicer. One of the reasons simply being that you can get out and go for a hike or a run. Here, unfortunately, you cannot do that as you are more or less locked in a vehicle all day. To me, that just ruins the experience right there. In some of the conservancies, however, like those surrounding the Maasai Mara National Reserve, that is changing. They offer guided game walks and stuff like that. Plus, these areas have a wider diversity of habitats than the Reserve does, which is more interesting than a flat grassland plain.
Thank you updating your blog. I have enjoyed the stories, it brings back many memories from 2011. Glad to hear that at least some of the collars have been retrieved, even if not in the best sharp. I still have one in my classroom that I need to get back to CSU. Please give Sauna my best.