Thursday, Feb. 9
Arusha, Tanzania
After arriving late last night,  I met up with elephant researcher Charles Foley this morning. I was happy to hand over the 50 pounds of batteries that I had brought for him. We spent the morning and early afternoon catching up and making preparations to leave for his field site in Tarangire National Park.

The countryside and the park are greener than when I was here in August—at the height of the dry season—but not as green as they ought to be. Although February is technically the end of the short rains, this year has seen little rainfall. This part of the country is almost in drought mode. Just another reminder of the seasonality of this ecosystem.

Friday, Feb. 10
After finally getting a full night’s sleep, Charles and I began our testing this morning using the new data-collection system we’ve implemented for this project.

Although data collection might sound boring, we were able to observe and census several elephant groups. We recorded new infants, a large group cooling off in a mud wallow, and larger groups congregating in another area (50+ elephants one place). We were only slightly delayed by our first flat tire of the trip.

As a self-confessed gearhead, Charles is excited to test out the Toughbook I brought for him. It’s basically a rugged, dust/heat/moisture-proof computer that he’ll be able to take into the field to record data (rather than jotting notes on paper and wasting time entering data back at camp). We’re not sure if the Toughbook is elephant-proof, but hopefully we’ll never find out.

Saturday, Feb. 11
On our last day in Tarangire, Charles and I spent time testing our data-collection and monitoring system—censusing more elephant groups (finding more new calves) and trying to make the system as user-friendly, simple, and comprehensive as possible.

Field testing the system highlighted some complications, proving once again that actually employing testing systems in real-world situations is a crucial  step.
  
Sunday, Feb. 12
Today, in nearby Arusha, Tanzania, Charles and I worked on an analysis of the demographic dataset in true Tanzanian fashion—after several hours studying the population’s growth rate, interbirth intervals and mortality rates, our office was hit with one of the rolling power outages common to this region of Arusha.

With low batteries in the laptop, we began a quest to find some juice. Tanzania is dependent on hydroelectric power and the recent droughts have meant that the entire country is suffering from shortages; Arusha is subjected to planned daily outages to cope with the situation.  

After failing to find power in the Foley’s home and my guest, we sat in the car and powered our laptops with a hookup to the car battery—a reliable, if unusual, power source.
 
Monday, Feb. 13
Today Charles and I spent time discussing the preliminary results of the elephant-population dynamics model we’ve developed. The model projects elephant numbers based on variation in rainfall and elephant density. We spent most of the day discussing the interaction between elephant density, rainfall, and reproduction (a key part of the model, which influences much of the results).

After a lot of hard thinking about these issues, we finished our day with a fun task—naming the 50 new calves in the population. Our tongues wet  with a beer, we are pleased to introduce Ethiopia, Cilantro, Abba, El Diablo, Nellie (the Ellie) and others. A fun task, for sure, but names are important to our dataset.

Tuesday, Feb. 14
Today Charles and I drove to Arusha National Park to visit with Lincoln Park Zoo Director Kevin Bell and his safari group. After a pleasant lunch, Charles and I described our collaboration on the Tarangire Elephant Project and answered questions about elephant ecology and conservation. Then we all took a drive around the park.

Arusha National Park encompasses Mount Meru, a dormant volcano, and includes a beautiful forest, crater lakes full of flamingos, and interesting woodland/grassland areas. We saw lots of giraffe, red duikers, a hyena, and many other common mammal and bird species.
 
Wednesday, Feb. 15
It’s my final day in Arusha (my final day devoted to elephants). Charles and I are working with Linus, the Tanzanian student Lincoln Park Zoo is funding to take over the elephant-monitoring aspects of the project. There is a lot to organize before I head off. We are trying to get data-collection sheets organized, as Linus will have a lot to learn.

There is not only learning about the park itself, but also learning to drive off-road and around the animals so as not to spook them, how to recognize about 500 different elephants, and how to collect data on them appropriately. Not a small task! When he is working at full speed it should be great, because he will be devoted full-time to elephant monitoring.