(note at top in my maternal grandmotherıs handwriting:  Residents of Seranera)

January 29, 1975

Dear Momma & Daddy--

Here is a letter Iıve had promised a long time -- no news, just gossip about the SRI 
residents -- the scientists that is.  For some reason this letter is hard to start writing.

There are 3 houses here originally built by A&M, all alike, and a bit isolated from the rest of 
the Institute.  We 3 families are all relatively new also, 8/9 of us are Maericans, and we tend 
to watch out for each other and are closer to each other than to the remainder of the fmailies 
here.

One of the 3 families is that of Dr. Sam MacNaughten of Syracuse University.  Sam is a 
well-known plant ecologist (has written a textbook on ecology).  He, his wife Margaret and 
their children Sean (10) and Erin (6) have been here about 6 months and will be here 
another 6 months working on the grasses of the Serengeti.  Sam got his Phd from U. of 
Texas while Joe & I were undergraduates so they seem almost like homefolks.  They are 
originally from Missouri via short periods in Texas, Oregon, & California.  Erin is 
Stephanieıs constant companion while Sean is Joeıs boy scout troop.  They spend alot of 
time collecting insects, skinning birds, carving with their Swiss Army knive, etc.  Steph and 
Erin spend hours playing ³Letıs Pretend² featuring fairies and cheetahs.  Margaret and I 
spend hours gossiping, solving all the worldıs problems, etc.

David and Jannette Bygott livenext to us.  They are both Drs. from Cambridge University in 
primate behavior.  David did his field work at Gombe Station on baboons, I think.  They 
arenıt currently working on monkeys or chimps or anything similar however, but on lions!  
They are the 3rd in a series of scientists studying lions, beginning with George Schaller 
(who wrote the book youıve got of ours). Jannette is a Californian by birth and David is 
English.  They are both very nice, marvelous with childern, very artistic, and very clever all-
around.  They are the worst sort of people, however, to have naything to do with an 
automobile.  They have to drive around almost entirely at night, following their lions over all 
sorts of terrain so they are constantly getting stuck in mud, or holes.  They have turned their 
landrover over by falling into a 4 feet or so deep hole and then proceeded to sleep in it while 
it was on its side because they were surrounded by curious lions all night.  They are sort of 
typical of SRI people of the past, about whom you hear really wild stories.

George and Lory Frame are another pair of Americans.  George has a bad case of East 
African fever, would probably be very happy if he never left Kenya or Tanzania.  I think he 
started out in the Peace Corp over here in about 1964 and has been here most of the time 
ever since.  East African fever usually doesnıt affect Americans nearly as much as 
Europeans, especially the English.  Probably because Western U.S. is alot like E. Africa (or 
maybe we are just smart enough to realize our skin color doesnıt make it very likely we 
could stay here indefinitely anyway).  Meanwhile back to the Frames -- they are making a 
study of cheetah and wild dog which he hopes to eventually turn into a Phd dissertation. 
They have written quite a few magazine articles (mostly for children, I think).  As with 
everybody else around here they seem to be about 28-32 years old.

Tjabko Jager (pronounced Jabco Yager) is a Dutch soil scientist married to the doctor.  
They are both very tall, thin people with dry senses of humor.  Maierlaine (no way I can 
spell it correctly, heck, I canıt even pronounce it correctly) has gotten her license to practice 
medicine in Tanzania and is shortly going to work for 4 months in a hospital to the East of 
the park.  After she finishes that stint, she is going to open up a clinic for the personnel of 
the institute.  She is quite artistic but she canıt find enough to keep her occupied wihtout 
using her medical training.  Rumor has it he isnıt much of a scientist and mainly out to 
enjoy East Africa but they are both pleasant to be with, socially.

Dirk and Annette Kruelen are also a Dutch couple are really characters in the SRI tradition.  
To start with, they have been here _5_ years studying wildebeest. (They are due to go home 
by April1, of _this_ year, everyone keeps reminding them). Dirk is a lovely, soft-spoken 
fellow with a marvelous Dutch accent to his English, a well-liked fellow all-around.  His 
wife is unbelievable however.  Brusque, precise, all-knowing, and quite positive that neither 
SRI nor any of the scientists could get along without her directives -- all that, plus 3 foot 
long blond pigtails.  She runs the community deep freeze, even deciding who should have 
keys to it (the A&M houses sneaked a key to Nairobi and had duplicates made!).  She is so 
cheap financially that she sells things to new residents that old residents gave her when they 
left.  On and on -- there must be hundreds of Annette stories.

Well, that covers most of the families here -- will finish the rest up in the next letter, as well 
as the batchelors.  We are off tomorrow to Nairobi to pick up the A&M Toyota and do alot 
of shopping.  By the time you receive this, we will have at least tried to call you from there.

Much love,
Jan, Joe & Stephanie