Bill Toone, a conservation program specialist for CRES, helped implement a teacher training program in Kenya. In blogs, he shares his experience as he works with Dan Rubenstein, a Princeton University scientist, and Louise Bradshaw, the St. Louis Zoo's education director, to inspire the next generation of Kenyans to work for wildlife conservation. Read Bill's previous blog, Kenya: Rain and Termites.

The teachers were ready go. Nearly two hours were spent on introductions and welcomes before launching into a coffee break, pre-course evaluation, and, finally, lectures. We wrapped up the day's classroom portion at 1 p.m. and broke for lunch. At 3 p.m., we began the most insane " game drive" ever. In three hours Dan hoped to do a bird and mammal survey in two different habitats spanning miles. We raced over rocky, washed out dirt roads in dilapidated sport utility vehicles that had seen better days. With three vehicles carrying eight or more people each, it was often painful! Nonetheless, we had a remarkably successful trip with numerous bird, mammal, and grass species identified. Tomorrow in class we will compare and contrast our numbers to determine alpha, beta, and gamma diversity in the local habitats. A great exercise"”should have taken all day to have it go so well.

Again, we were completely exhausted by dinnertime and went directly to bed. Again, the hippos came to visit, but due to the rains of the previous day, the river level was high and the hippos saw no reason to leave. Early morning, in the river just outside the tent, five hippos lolled, burped, and grunted all through the morning. Vervet monkeys sat in the trees watching, and it was pretty difficult to head off for another morning of class!

Bill Toone is a conservation program specialist for Conservation Education/CRES.

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