In praise of Saskia

We first met Saskia last summer when she appeared out of the blue with hugs, cheese, and lots of treats from Burundi (our hearts can easily be won over with food, if that wasn't clear before now). She did her doctoral work on the crabs in the Lake, and she came along on our Mahale trip to document the research and take lots of *amazing* pictures. Here are a select few from our time in paradise. Thanks for everything, Saskia!

Vanessa and I get final instructions from Pete as we gear up to dive (hunt for snails).

This is one of the hippos that set up shop at our beach.

We were all looking a little worse for the wear, but we still amazingly have smiles on after some hellish transport back to Kigoma. This photo is taken at the infamous "Prison Bar" which is a few buildings down from our hotel. Yes, it really IS the prison...

The tragic end result of deforestation...

Can you spot Benja! He's up in the bow, spooning with strangers.

Primates ran amok in Mahale

First dive of the trip!

Saying goodbye! The gear on the beach is the stuff that came later on the big boat and is just a small portion of all the stuff we brought along. It's hard to travel light with this project...

"I'm on a boat and, it's going fast and..."

Ryan and Leslie get ready to do some underwater filming.

Cyanthopharyx. These guys are BEAUTIFUL and build elaborate sand nests.

We had some free time since our gear hadn't arrived. We took advantage of the opportunity and went on a chimp walk! We didn't see any this time, but the hike through the dense forest was welcome.

We definitely went through lots of air every day.

Village kids watch our arrival and departure.

The whole gang! Pete, Haruma, Magoti, Yvonne, Leslie, Ismael, Ryan, me, Vanessa, Benja, and Renalda

Red colobus monkey. Chimps eat them for dinner.

One night when we got done sampling, some chimps met us on the beach. One of the park staff grabbed us some masks (to protect the chimps from any of our gross diseases) and helped us track them through the forest. I like to think the wetsuit/bootie/PFD combo will catch on in chimp tracking circles.

Warthogs liked our camp as well.

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Lush, dense forest! I love it!

Hassan, the cook. Our Kigoma cook pales in comparison!

Nice water entry, Leslie!