A new monkey in the family!

February 20, 2006
There is something about being a tourist in a foreign country that
brings out the worst in people no matter what nationality they are.
There are ugly Americans, but there are also ugly Germans, Brits,
French, Italians, etc. However, something truly terrible happens
(adverse selection or some altered state of mind?) when you mix some
Italians with the prospect of seeing monkeys. Not all of the Italian
tourists, but a select few have rather obnoxious behaviour even for
tourists. Would you try to feed a monkey a lit cigarette? Would you
feed one chewing gum? How about hold a banana up to a wild monkey and
then yank it away at the last second (then repeat several times) …
and, of course, do this right next to the sign advising that you
should not feed the monkeys? We have seen all of these happen
(regularly) at Gede, and it only seems to be the Italian tourists that
enjoy this spectacle, even though, plenty of German and British
tourists (and a token few Americans) come through.

Monica took the morning off and decided to walk to Watamu along the
beach while Scott was at the ruins having an uneventful morning
watching the monkey eat Baobob flowers and sleep. Monica's Watamu walk
took much longer than she expected and the 2 hours of sun she received
left a nasty red sunburn over much of her body. At least the internet
was up at the café and she could check some email.

We witnessed the birth of a new little monkey today! What an amazing
finale to our day! I don't think many people are able to witness the
birth of a Sykes monkey, since they typically leave their group 2 days
beforehand and disappear until after they give birth. Instead, Zito
was very accommodating and began the birthing process at 5 and was
finished by 6, the time we usually leave to return to Mwamba. Here is
an excerpt from our field notes:
5:37 - Zito gives birth J face appeared in mother's bottom and 3
minutes later mom pulls out baby & holds J; gave birth while balancing
on a tree limb 20' above
5:46 - placenta out and mother eating it
6:10 - infant is holding onto mom without assistance
6:16 - eyes opening (starting to) ½ way - blinking
6:23 - UC [umbilical cord] finished (done with snacking … mmm)

Finally, Natalie, Nadia's friend visiting from the U.K., left today to
return. It looks like Nadia will be following in another 1-1/2 weeks.
It will be sad to lose a fellow monkey watcher, particularly such a
pro who has been here for 7 months. Also, chief monkey watcher Steffen
will be leaving in about a week for Kakamega. It will be strange with
half of our team gone, and we will need to make some major adjustments
since the transportation is leaving with them.
February 19, 2006
Today was fun for Scott, but decidedly terrible for Monica. Scott
slept in and studied Swahili when he woke up. After lunch he took a
matatu jamming with Nelly to Gede and walked in to meet Monica and
hear the whole horrible story of her morning. Dragging on only 2 hours
of sleep and slightly more alcohol than she should have had, the
morning was not fun, and the baking heat made it even less so. Despite
feeling terrible, it was a good monkey watching day with locating both
Putin's and Teddy's groups and observing Maurice's group cross the
southern fence.
February 18, 2006
Tonight was the first night we have really gone out together since we
arrived. The occasion was Natalie's impending departure from Kenya, so
we hopped into Nadia's car and off we went! We first stopped at
Pilipan, a very nice-looking European style bistro close to Mwamba
with a supposedly spectacular view of the sunset (though we arrived
much after the fact), decided the menu was good but expensive and kept
driving on to Malindi.

The first stop was La Bistro for dinner and drinks. Part restaurant
with an Arab décor and part gallery for a local artist (who
incidentally was commissioned to create many of the sculptures on
display at the museum at the Gede Ruins), we had a wonderful dinner.
Monica had pennette with ricotta cheese and ham (a sacrilege on
Saturday evening during prayers in a very Muslim town) and Scott had a
generous portion of tender nyama choma while Leslie had to wait until
we were all finished before her escargot was finished. Dessert was out
of the question, and we headed into Malindi for more drinks with some
Candians that Nadia had met a couple of months ago in Malindi. Their
friend Robert had gone to McGill but had made the decision a few
months before to move back to Nairobi and his other friends at the
table had decided to pay him a visit. Paul was volunteering at the
polytechnic in Gede trying to revamp their management, curricula, and
finances but had been bored for the past two months. He had uncovered
a fraud scheme by the manager, and it is being investigated by the
main office. This has kept him from doing anything until it is
resolved but at least it gives extra time to spend with friends and
see Kenya. They also gave us a glowing recommendation for Game
Trekkers safari (http://www.gametrekkers.com), which they said not
only accommodated them and suggested a great itinerary (much better
than the agent they had been working with). The good part is that it
is not a lodge safari but a camping safari (tents not lodges), though,
it is much more luxurious than we are used to (mattresses, etc.).
Also, the price they paid was quite reasonable US$600, though, they
warned us that we could pay twice that during tourist season in July.

We left Fermento to walk down the road to Club 28. Malindi is much
nicer at night: the dust is hidden by the darkness, the hawkers and
peddlers are inside, and the buildings are accented quite nicely by
exterior lights. Club 28 was okay. We sat on cushions while we
listened to an Italian football match (in Italian) when we arrived.
They started playing music (all 90's boy band music for some reason),
and we drank Smirnoff Ice. They changed to Craig David, Usher, etc.,
so we were happier. A round of shots let us see Nadia's party trick of
lighting her mouth on fire! Dancing in the disco part was
underwhelming though the music was marginally better than outside.
They couldn't seem to play anything with a dance speed, and there were
hardly any people in the room. Finally, at about 1am people started to
filter in and the music picked up. They played mostly western music
(including some good Crunk). The dance floor was lined with mirrors,
and several Kenyan girls were dancing in front of them, though, we
tried to avoid them … it's just weird to watch yourself dance. The
music was hit or miss, and we decided to move down to the Stardust.

Stardust was much more like a New York or Boston nightclub (with
prices to match, relatively: 500 KSh each, or $6, which is a lot here,
and we've learned that people rarely have change for a 500), complete
with the fog machine J and bouncers outside the door dressed in black
and carrying metal detector wands (though they were obviously just for
show). It was not quite as polished, of course (the big screen above
the dance floor was playing satellite TV of anti-smoking commercials
and then Little House on the Prairie followed by a football game while
the music was blasting … very odd). However, drinking at a club for
100 KSh ($1.30) a bottle is a welcome treat. We were at the club until
3 and finally were in bed by 4, which made for a rough morning for
Monica. Scott had his ½ day off the next morning.