Days 40-54 - FRTE course in Moka!

Hello everyone!!  These past two weeks have been awesome...and a little stressful at times...but just like my post from the Caldera expedition, it might be a bit jumbled...I will try my best to keep it followable!

So once we got to the wildlife center in Moka, Jake was already there and we kind of just got acclimated and set up our stuff in the tents and what not.  They went over all of the rules and guidelines for our two weeks there...basically just not to be dumb, that there was only power from 5:30-11:15 every night, how the tropical ecology course will be run and we had to go over our plans for conducting our research (this part was fun)!

We basically started conducting our research that next day and what I did was almost exactly like how we did the surveying on the Caldera expedition, except this was at night since the galagos are nocturnal.  They are seriously so adorable and I am bummed because I wish I would've seen more, but on several nights we encountered hunters on our trails and so once that happens, the disrupt the trails and any animals that were around, have run away...so they force us to stop...which sucks for my paper.  But hunting is a major issue on the island and the fact that these lands are a reserve and the one hunter was carrying and Erythrotis with him just shows how much the hunting laws are not enforced on the island.  Anyways, I had 6 different transects I surveyed...4 trails, the road, and up at the cascades.  The trail that was the best for seeing the little guys was San Joaquin...actually this one galago we saw jumped on this branch and it just sat there for a good 3 minutes and it kept turning around and looking at us and making its "pew pew" call...it was SO CUTE!  I loved them.  The guide I had that went out with me every night was Fermine and he was very knowledgeable...he knew all of the plants, all of the dofferent sounds...I could just tell he had been working hard over the years learning everything for the students he has helped and for the BBPP!  He was just the sweetest man and I am really glad that I got to meet him.

Sarah, Prospero, Antonio and I with Fermine! Not sure where Reed was for this one.

Sarah's project was working with the birds and Reed with chameleons.  I have some cool pictures of the birds Sarah caught I put on here!  The tropical ecology class was kind of hard memorizing all of the plants and the birds, but Fermine was a big help...he would walk around with us and quiz us on what the plants were.  Jake is really into birding and some nights before Reed and I would go out to collect to our data he would catch fruit bats.  They are actually really cute and have faces like puppy dogs!!  Jake let us touch the patagium, or thin membrane of the wings, of the one bat..it is actually really soft feeling!  He then showed us how you let them go...you put them on your stomach and let them get their footing and then fly away...he used me as the guinea pig for the first little guy!

I have also uploaded the draft of my poster we had to submit for the field research course, so hopefully you guys can see the type of stuff I did and what I actually studied about their habitat preferences!  It is the draft because I have yet to receive the certain galago pictures from Jake that I want to use...but you all will get the just of it!

What a baby face this fruit bat has!

One of Sarah's birds she caught.

Beautiful, right? 

Galago pic!  This is either Thomas's or Demidoff's galago.

Allen's galago.

The rough draft of my research poster.

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Moka itself was great!! Well...minus the rash I obtained from some plant I rubbed against not knowing I was allergic to it...otherwise, it was so much fun!  The climate is way better than in Moka...it reminded me of Spring days back home.  I didn't wake up covered in sweat!!  Plus all of the people were just so friendly, which in Malabo they kind of snub you off.  Working with the kids was awesome...on the second or third day we were in the small town, the French Cultural Center was throwing this little dance event for the students at the school and so they asked us to go with.  There was also this Spanish woman, Almudena, who was visting Moka and so she joined us.  It was so fun getting to dance with the kids and seeing them have fun!

On another day, we hiked up this class from the French school in Malabo to see Lago Biao...which is a crater lake in Moka and so it is purely rain water...which was so, so beautiful.  The kids struggled a little going uphill for 4 km, but nonetheless it was fun and they loved the view at the top.

Lastly and probably my favorite day was when these two girls who were at the school when they had the dancing event just came to the Wildlife Center and started chatting with me.  They were two sisters and they were asking me where I was from, what I was studying there, why I came to Africa, all sorts of things like that.  Then at one point the younger girl says "we love white people hair...can we braid yours?" Of course I said yes, I couldn't say no!  I mean, it hurt really badly since they are used to braiding coarser hair, but I was still glad that I let them because they had a lot of fun.  Then I showed them the various animal skeletons and pictures we have in the center.  I was so happy they came by because it also helped me practice my Spanish since they didn't speak any English!

I swear that if I ever study abroad or work abroad again, I want to do something that involves helping the kids...whether it be teaching, with healthcare, or even just some sort of daycare.

Dancing at the preschool!

Almudena dancing with one of the students!

View of Pico Biao.

Students hiking to Lago Biao.

Lago Biao.

Fermine at Lago Biao..so adorable!

Hair braiding session.

She loved taking pictures on my computer.

Since our group was so small, Jake got to take us up to the Cascades for a night and to do some of our research up there, which they haven't been able to do in past semesters!  I mean, I could only survey a total of 3 km on the trail because it hadn't been cut recently, but it was still so beautiful.  On the hike up, there were cows and horses just grazing on the path...it was so cool!! And a bit scary because they were huge...even though they were harmless.  But once we got to the area for camping...wowzer...the waterfalls were seriously magnificent.  Jake and I were saying how that place would also be an awesome spot for a zip line...it would be a good way for Moka to make some money!!

At the beginning of the trip, I was really nervous about using the machetes for cutting everything because the porters have told me some gruesome stories about injuries...but after Sarah needed some help, we both got good pretty good at using them...look out jungle!

Me standing by the Cascades!

Hey Prospero!

Fermine and Sarah.

Using the machete! 

Camp at the Cascades.

The last few days we were there, Mark, Olivia (I mentioned them earlier on my blog) and Aurora (the intern living with them for a few months) came to Moka for a visit.  Besides all of us students being really stressed out writing our reports and posters, it was cool seeing different faces! Plus they have a dog, Runner, who is so crazy, but adorable!!  On the last night, Mark grilled some meat and I made a cake to celebrate Reed's birthday a little early!  Peanut butter cake with chocolate icing...yum!!  It was also awesome that they came because I started talking with Mark about helping him at the sports complex coaching the national swim team on weekends...I have been wanting to volunteer somehow with the kids here, so I am really excited!! I hope it works out!  I am also going to talk with Carmen, our Spanish teacher, about volunteering at the middle school she works at if possible some days before we have class.

Then this morning we packed up all of our stuff and said goodbye.  But before leaving, Aurora went with Fermine to cute down some sugar cane...I have never had sugar cane before!! It was delicious! You have to cut off the outside and you don't actually eat it...you just chew on it and it tastes really sweet...mmm I will have to try and get some from Semu market!  You On the drive back to Malabo we stopped at Riaba Playa (the beach in Riaba) which is a black sand beach.  There weren't many people and it was really quaint...but then a bus full of students from UNGE came.  I mean it was funny because then they started arm wrestling with Mark, Jake and David! haha

The new church they built in Moka.

Rayna, a PHD candidate that was on the expedition, left her boots for me in Moka since I was surveying at night.

The lab in the student building at the wildlife center.

The shower we used..nice concrete slab with three walls.

Sugar Cane.

Arm wrestling on the beach.

Some other things I forgot to mention were that Karrim, (I am not sure if I am spelling that correctly) a man from Syria who lives in Moka and is really good friends with everyone from BBPP, came over a lot and would drive us to the mirador before dinner to hangout.  The mirador was a lookout over Moka...it was so beautiful up there!! He came to Riaba Playa with us, as well.  Another thing was that these women from town would come and cook for us every night and then eat dinner with us...my favorite lady was Mama Rosa because she would also make us bread for breakfast.  We called it Mama Rosa Bubi bread...because she is from the Bubi tribe...and boy was it delicious!! It had this distinct flavor and was just so much more dense than the bread in Malabo...you know these Guineans are all about eating the carbs! haha  

View of Moka from the mirador. Boy was it peaceful up there.

Sunset at the mirador.

View of the wildlife center from the mirador! 

Sunset at the mirador again.

I don't want to gross people out too much, but I had to throw some pictures of my rash in!

I loved Moka, but Moka clearly didn't like me.

Well, I think I have mentioned everything I wanted to!! If I think of anything else I will post it on other days!!  Overall, the trip to Moka was awesome and I gained so much hands on experience....I loved it!!  After all, the field research was the whole reason why I came to Africa in the first place.

Hasta luego,

Lindsey