Muga (thats quimeru, the local/tribal dialect in Meru for hello), just a swift one to fill you in on the weeks work before going to safari. Also to let you all know we have seen elephants!!

Monday and Tuesday were spent in the forest again, bonding with the sarge. We were clearing a big fire break of the vegetation, weeds etc that had grown in them. I rather enjoyed this work as it involved heavy machete work which is always fun. It was also very important for obvious reasons, enhanced by the fact that the forest suffered a fire a few years ago and so a part of the forest is still in a recovery period. So having proper, clear fire breaks are vital to the maintenance and sustainability of the forest.

On wednesday we went off on a cross forest trek to the opposite side in order to pick seedlings which can then be planted in the nursery. The walk was good because we got to see a different, grassier more sparse area of the forest. With the cattle, sheep and goats roaming everywhere it felt more like the savannah grasslands of Africa (not that I have ever been, but you know...). About halfway through the trek, we were diverted over the fence and into the forest undergrowth with a silent wave of excitement. We were told not to make any noise and to stay together, and as we got into the forest we reached a clearing and the guide started waving a little bit dementedly in the direction of the opposite side of the clearing, in the direction of a great big, brown, Elephant. There were maybe 4 or 5 of them altogether, chilling and having a munch. It was pretty cool seeing them totally wild, not in a game reserve and not used to human interest. A lot of us were happy we got to see them in this habitat before we went to safari, hopefully we can get nearer to them on safari however; I really want to high 5 one, they've got that 5th limb for a reason, and it aint for drinking. no one else has been cool enough to work out that its actually for high 5ing yet, so I am going to enlighten a species. After all the excitement, we continued on and got our seedlings and returned to the forestry base.

Thursday and friday (today) have been spent putting these seedlings into pots and watering them, with a bit of weeding and other general maintenance going on. We also got visited by some Baboons at the site today, so the list of cool animals we have seen has increased before we go to the safari.

Thats about all for now folks. More to come sometime next week. Keep it real. x