Hello Turkwel!

On Saturday, we flew from Ileret to TBI-Turkwel campus on the west side of the lake. After settling down, we were treated to a lovely orientation of the campus by Acacia Leakey. For many years, researchers have been staying at the campus as it provides facilities for field expeditions, accommodation and modern laboratories for scientific analysis. The TBI field school students are privileged to have such facilities that will not only help them as students but also as future researchers.

The TBI crew at Lodwar Airport.
Photo credit: Medina Lubisia

Camels in Lodwar.
Photo credit: Keely Winter.

TBI-Turkwel’s location is in an arid environment with sand and inadequate rainfall throughout the year, thus forcing many of the communities around to practice pastoralism. Getting fresh fruits and vegetables is difficult in such a place. Hydroponics farming has proved prolific in the campus, it involves the growing of plants without using soil. There are various hydroponic gardens producing fruits and vegetables that are also supplied to the TBI-Ileret campus.

Some of the Vegetables in the TBI hydroponic garden.
Photo credit: Acacia Leakey.

Fresh Tomatoes!
Photo credit: Acacia Leakey.

The most interesting intellectual pursuit that scientists have been studying over time is tracing our evolutionary lineages. Human evolution represents the mosaic changes that have happened across space and over time, divergence from ape-like primates, from the apes and the African great apes. Turkana Basin is rich in deposits that have yielded many of the extinct ape-like primates, apes and many hominids. Our Human evolution module is instructed by Prof. Isaiah Nengo and Patricia Princehouse. The lectures have already started, students are busy with classes and lab exercises in the quest to understanding our evolutionary lineage.