Bundles of boots, motor cycle helmets and rain jackets for our survey team. Each person takes a bundle, which gives them vital supplies they need during the duration of the survey work.

Some of the most coolest colleagues that I’ve ever worked with - heading out for a research trip on the border of Congo and Central African Republic.

Team lunch - not everyone loves the soft cassava paste that makes up much of the Congolese diet in rural villages, but I’ve always loved the food on research trips... Maybe it’s the memories that come with it (and the nuclear-ly awesome hot sauce).

Morning coffee made with local beans. Often, people flavor the boiled water with a local herb that tastes like lemon grass, which gives a cool new dimension to the taste.

I saw a beautiful carving of a pregnant woman by this home. My colleague Jean Bosco (second from the right) asked them to tell us the story of the statuette, which he’s holding in this photo. She’s actually a water container. While many traditional water containers have now been replaced by plastic jerry cans, this family keeps their “little water lady” and were graciously delighted to let us meet her.

“To-go” food can be extremely scarce while doing field work. We stopped at a market halfway through a 8 hour drive and were lucky to find rice dough wrapped in banana leaves.

In one field site, we found this little “restaurant” (a woman kind enough to cook for us). She made some of the most delicious Congolese food I’ve ever had.

Our wonderful team collating and sorting the community maps at the end of the project

The unexpected side of research…I realized our community maps had gotten hopelessly wrinkled in transit (first time i’ve used an iron in ten years).

In one village, the team and I watched mesmerized as this child climbed a papaya tree with no supporting branches or ropes. When he got to the top, he got his papaya and we got a happy thumbs-up from this skilled climber.

These local kids adopted us while we were doing work with pastoralist groups in northern Congo. They asked for a photo of our junior research team:)

A colleague at a local NGO writes monthly statistics on the wall. In places without electricity, people rely on shared, written records to keep track of their operations