After a fun but intense week, the Ecology module draws to an end with the student project presentations. In this session the students were honoured by the presence of a surprise guest - Dr. Richard Leakey. Carolina, Erica, Lauren, Abdi, Sarah and Janina give their presentations. Everyone did a fantastic job. Here are some [...]
For the past week the students have been working extremely hard collecting data for their research projects. Angela, Carolina, Janina, Kailie, Lauren, Robyn and Tiffany are in the Vectors Team, where they are exploring various themes surrounding malaria and mosquitoes, from the use of counterfeit drugs to the conditions that influence mosquito larvae survivability. [...]
Over the weekend the students got the opportunity to explore further afield with two trips South of TBI. On Saturday morning, after an hour's drive through the arid landscape and villages with smiling, waving children, the students arrived at the lush Kerio Delta. Setting off... Turkana children waving as we pass through [...]
We're now reaching the end of the first week of the field school and the students have been having a great time! They have also been working very hard, planning and writing their research proposals for the Ecology module. There are two main themes for this semester - Mosquitoes and Malaria; and the use Doum [...]
After a lecture on malaria, mosquitoes, and other common diseases and their carriers, the students headed down to the river for a practical on the identification of mosquito larvae and pupae. We were joined by a National Geographic film crew and the students were very excited. Female mosquitos lay their eggs in water, where they [...]
On Monday the Field School kicked-off with an introductory lecture on ecology and evolution given by Dr. Dino Martins. For the next two weeks the students will be learning about the flora, fauna and ecology of the Turkana Basin region, from the life cycles of different insect species and the diseases they can transmit, to [...]
One of the major focuses of the Archaeology module in the Turkana Basin is the use of stone tools in pre-historical times. Oldowan and Acheulean stone tool technologies were collectively prevalent for millions of years; Now it was time for our modern day students to try their hand at reliving their ancient ancestors´ ways of [...]
For the second week of the archaeology module the students set off every morning to do some fieldwork at Ayangiyeng. On the first day the students did a surface survey of the area in transects and practised using the Total Station. During the survey they came across many stone tools, especially microliths, as well as [...]