Earlier last week Dr. Fortelius took the students down to the basement to look at the many specimens that have been collected over the year and to do some group tasks. TBI has an ever growing faunal collection with an amazing number of different East African species, which is great for comparative studies with fossils. Task [...]
Yesterday, the students learned about the history of life on Earth from the formation of the first micro organisms in the oceans, to the emergence of the first plants, dinosaurs and mammals. Their task for the afternoon was to use their newly acquired knowledge to reconstruct a large scale timeline of the Earth's history using [...]
As the Winter Olympics get well under-way in Russia, the TBI students have also embraced the sporting spirit and have organized their very own Olympic games here in Turkana. As with many great ideas, the students had this inspirational moment sitting around the dinner table one warm Turkana evening... And then the great idea turned [...]
The next morning the students woke up at dawn, and after a simple breakfast, they set out for a long hike along the Nawata river bed and up the hills to the waterhole in the southern end of Lothagam. On the way, Abdi took the students to see a handaxe he had found the previous [...]
On Thursday, Dr. Feibel and guest professor Dr. Bob Raynolds, took the students on a geology camping trip to Lothagam, situated a few kilometres south of the Institute. Dr. Raynolds looking at the stratigraphy of a sandbar in the Turkwel River. Lothagam is an important site for geologists, palaeontologists, anthropologists and archaeologists because [...]
On Sunday after breakfast, the Field School students climbed into the lorry for a 20 minute ride. Their destination: The Nakwaperit Primary School where they had been invited to play a fun and friendly football match against the local students. After hearing about the defeat of the previous field school in a match during the [...]
It's Thrusday of the first week of the Geology module. So far, the students have learnt about the Geological History of the Turkana Basin, as well as some of the basics of Geology, from the principles of sedimentation to the classification and formation of different types of rocks and minerals. The first field trip of [...]
To mark the end of the week and the beginning of the Geology module Dr. Martins, joined by geology professor Dr. Craig Feibel, took the students on a boat trip to Central Island. This is the middle island of Lake Turkana, which houses three spectacular crater lakes - Flamingo Lake, Crocodile Lake, and Tilapia Lake. [...]