Sema! I'm in a place called the Kakamega Forest in western Kenya. More specifically, I'm living in the Isecheno forest station, amidst the homes of several forest rangers. My and my team's homes (pictured left) are nestled towards the back of the station on the forest edge and we receive regular visits from the local fauna (i.e. lots of monkeys).

What? Why? When? I'm here for the next 11 months straight to collect data for my PhD dissertation - a drop in the time-bucket in the grand scheme of things but a hefty time to be away from friends, family (e.g. fast-growing niece and nephews), and Netflix. Thankfully, I have some of the best friends in the world and they sent me here with a stash of encouraging letters for every month that I'm away (!!).  

The academic area that I work in comes with several names: behavioral ecology, behavioral biology, primatology, evolutionary anthropology, evolutionary psychology, etc., etc. My dissertation is about the benefits of social relationships, particularly those that occur during development. My study species is ... the blue monkey! No, no, isolating myself in East Africa is not a part of my experiment and the monkeys are actually grey. I do try to stay integrated in the local community and the monkeys are, nevertheless, very cool! You can see my buddy "Bike" (a 6 year-old teenager) pictured here on the left.

I arrived here via JFK-Heathrow-Nairobi at the beginning of the month, getting time to visit good friends along the way in Nairobi (hoping to catch London friends on another trip). All my belongings arrived unscathed! This was a great relief. Equipment for myself and three research assistants and copious amounts of sample tubes made for lots of precious cargo.

The atmosphere at camp is friendly and laid back - we currently have a great team of ex-pat American grad students, undergraduates, and assistants here for the summer (left: out at dinner at a field assistant's home). Most will leave at the end of July, fellow PhD student Maressa will be here until October, and Lauren the field manager and myself will be here until next May. Our good vibes are a huge answer to prayer! Working and living alongside the same people with limited space and means to maintain hygiene (…for extended periods of time) can make for a delicate situation to say the least.

Month #1 has been all about getting things settled and moving. My main agenda for June and July has been to train my data ninjas (aka field assistants) to flex their data ninja skillz (aka to collect data). Since my arrival at camp on June 5th, the daily schedule from 7:30 - 5:00 Mon - Fri has revolved around said ninja training. More exciting posts to come on what that entails! You can see us pictured at right, practicing our form. 

Stay tuned for the latest stories from the forest, including but not limited to... a showcase of data ninja and monkey profiles, clever how-to's for limited means of hygiene, a tell-all exposé on 'what the heck is data collection?', and more about why relationships are good for you. Please comment with any suggestions and/or requests for posts! Keep in touch.

Lots of love,

Nicole