The Turkana Basin Field School for Fall 2013 has begun! The students made their long journey to Kenya from New York and set off on a short safari into the Great Rift Valley to Lake Elementeita, Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha. We started at Lake Elementeita in the Rift Valley where we went for a [...]
One of the most challenging and interesting questions that has been pondered by scientists through the ages, from Aristotle to Darwin, through to the present day is where, when and how did we, humans, come about? This is a BIG question that perhaps almost everyone has asked at some point in our lives. [...]
The first module of the Turkana Basin Institute of Ecology is just coming to and end. We spent a couple of days this week learning about and exploring the aquatic habitat of the Turkwel River next to TBI. One of the amazing things was both how tough life can be in the [...]
Good Bugs and Bad Bugs One of the important topics that we have been exploring as part of the Ecology Module is the question of ‘ecosystem services’ and how biodiversity, basically wild species, contribute to human livelihoods. TBI is working with the community to address various issues, and one of these is [...]
Goats vs. Grasshoppers The two main herbivores present around the Turkana Basin Institute are goats and grasshoppers. The goats are obvious as you travel around – there are small groups of them moving about or resting in the shade of trees during the day. Grasshoppers are also common out here, though [...]
The TBI Field School Students visited the Kerio Delta this weekend. We visited the Kerio Delta as part of the Ecology module, looking at some of the different vegetation types and learning about some of the species that live in the deltas of Lake Turkana. One of the most important and beautiful groups of insects [...]
The Spring Field School has taken off at the Turkana Basin Institute at South Turkwel. Students have started exploring the ecology of the area. Understanding ecology involves an appreciation of the vegetation. Students have been conducting vegetation surveys to learn about the density, patterns and relationships between plants at TBI. We have been spending time [...]
The students have been studying Vertebrate Paleontology with Profs Rene Bobbe and Kyalo Manthi for the current module As part of this they recently made a timeline of the Earth's History using toilet paper. Here are some of the highlights from this fun exercise... [...]
Hello - we have had a couple of interesting visitors at TBI last night and this morning. Just as I was heading to bed, the students came to get me saying there was a snake in the mess hall. I went over and found this beautiful snake clinging to one of the table legs. This [...]
Yesterday Kenya and the world celebrated the life of Prof. Wangari Maathai, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning environmentalist who recently passed away.
After the visit to the Kerio Delta, closer to ‘home’ at TBI, we investigated the riverine ecology. This involved jumping into the river and getting wet. It wasn’t hard to convince everyone to do so in the middle of a hot sunny morning!
The Lake Turkana Basin, while being a hot and dry area, includes several river systems and the 6,000 km2 + lake Turkana. Three rivers feed into the lake: The Turwel, Kerio and Omo. The Omo, from the highlands of Ethiopia contributes about 90 % of the lakes’ waters. The Kerio River comes from the south, [...]
A few days ago we all took a trip to the Napedet Hills that lie southwest of TBI. The drive to the hills was partly across grass-covered plains. A rare and beautiful sight in the desert. The last time we climbed the hills in February earlier this year there wasn't a blade of grass to [...]
The rains that have brought out the flowers around TBI have also brought out a large number of insects. Like many of the plants, the insects are active and taking opportunity of the greenery to forage and breed. And like the plants they are all under intense pressure to complete their life-cycles. For insects this [...]
Professor Dino Martins introduces Field School students to some of the amazing plants, insects and other creatures around TBI.