and runs with thick cement flooring, large metal interior and
exterior doors, and doubled chain link wiring. The reason for
the overkill construction would become apparent later.
Twice a day for the first week we ventured outside the
station with the senior rangers and trainees and ran short
trails with the dogs, showing the trainees how the dogs
worked. We required an armed ranger to run with the trail
layer and one to run with the dog team to watch for
dangerous animals that might be hiding in the tall grass.
The trailing conditions for the dogs were great: moist,
lush grasslands as far as the eye could see. The hounds
worked trails through the chest-high vegetation at full
speed, making it difficult to keep in step with them.
Compared to our sure-footed Kenyan friends, who ran trails
in sandals or flat-soled tennis shoes, we were slow and
clumsy in the bush for the first week. Running for any
distance in the chest-high grass was like running in water
for us. Our feet caught on dead underbrush and sticky vines.
We tripped over termite mounds, hidden rocks, and
elephant dung, and fell waist deep into warthog holes.
Grasshoppers the size of hummingbirds landed on our
clothing and stuck like glue as we tried to brush them off.
Huge army ants marched across the ground in long, thick,
black trails.
At the end of each day, our muscles ached from running.
