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DISPATCH 02: Vehicle
repairs made and fossils found
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Mr. Were the mechanic has been working hard
on getting more of the vehicles on the road but had a close call with a carpet
viper this moving when he moved a stone from in front of
a wheel so he could remove the
fuel tank to fix the holes with Steel Epoxy. Fortunately he
heard it rubbing its scales together and so he was alerted
just in time. This noise is why that particular snake is
sometimes called a saw scale viper. So for the moment KYE
has hole in the fuel tank repaired with Steel Epoxy…
The fossil prospecting has got off to a good start with
several interesting finds including a partial humerus of a
bird and many teeth and mandible pieces of Theropithecus
brumpti which is a large grass eating baboon that lived
here 3 million years ago. They also found a Dinothere,
an early browse eating elephant, which will need collecting
before the end of the season as it looks as though it might
be in fairly good condition. The team has been prospecting
in an area close to the camp but that has not yet been
resurveyed since the 1970s. This close proximity to the
Koobi Fora base camp allows us to continue with mending
vehicles and servicing equipment with good access to water
and communications for the first week or so. Louise
meanwhile did another flight across the lake to the town
called Lodwar to the west where we had arranged to collect
the National Museum representatives of the field crew,
Robert, Steven and Justus.
A pile of flat tyres has accumulated and so these were
repaired one afternoon which is no easy task. A 12 ply tyre
from a land rover requires a certain determination and skill
to get into it to remove the inner tube, identify and patch
up the hole. With the abundance of thorns in this area
punctures are common.
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