The Project Office

Is there a Doctor in the House?

It takes the local legend, Dr Noah Sitati, just a few seconds and steps to get to work each morning.

Dr Noah Sitati rents an office-cum-house from the GTZ - the German Government's foreign aid agency - who also live and work just down the slope from him. The view, it has to be said, is spectacular: out and over the rolling TransMara countryside - a constant view of the land in which he is deeply involved. 

Outside Noah's office sits an elephant skull which belonged to a mother elephant involved in a local, and unfortunate, conflict situation. A grim reminder to all those who visit of the challenges faced by the project.

Inside, and aside from his living quarters, well, there's a small coffee table and a few chairs for those few visiting guests who make it all the way out here. There's also the inevitable piles and piles of paper which one always associates with a person of learning.

A minimalist office
Noah has a small laptop computer, and that's about it.

No phone.

No printer.

And all his electricity comes from a battery charged by some solar panels on his roof. "If it has been a cloudy day, I have very little electricity, so I get to go to bed early." he says, bursting out into that rogue of a laugh.

And to get his email, he has to drive a couple of hours to find a computer that is connected to the rest of the world. However, GTZ allow Noah to use their phone for receiving incoming calls or for people to leave messages.

Dreaming of being in touch

He's hoping that with the next and possibly final phase of his project, then he might get a satellite connection for his email - he even dreams of a printer. But for a man who needs to tell the world about his findings and results, his need for an outside line to the world is greater.

His beliefs are costing him dear
Noah is a man who firmly believes in what he does.

Despite the fact he has his Doctorate, and was awarded a 1st prize at Cambridge, Dr Sitati is currently working for a stipend - a student's research wage.

He perhaps gets no end of grief from his long suffering wife and children. They have had to make do back home in northern Kenya, while Noah pursues his passion and belief in in helping both the local people and the elephants to live together in something akin to harmony.

Again, he's hoping that with the next phase, and with increased support from WWF's African Elephant Programme, his wage might rise and the wife's understandable ire may fall... but no matter what, he's in it for the duration.

Noah isn't the type to give up.