September 4, 2000
Camp I First Days
Camp I
Gadafawa
4:35 am

More than an hour before dawn. The only sounds are the rustling of tents and people in their sleeping bags. Not a single insect calls. Long before sun rise the light that comes from the stars and the waxing moon make everything look blue.

Team member Chris asleep at dawn.

A few short hours ago Dino woke up the entire camp barking at someone who had gotten up to go to the bathroom. Except for interruptions from our ferocious guard dog, nighttime is peaceful and cool. Almost too cool. Yesterday the temperature, which had reached 126°F during the day, dropped to 55°F in the middle of the night.

Guide at Camp I, the team in the background

It is Field Day 5 and we are in full swing. During our three weeks of whirlwind prospecting of this area in 1997 we recorded 72 sites and excavated a number of them, including Suchomimus, and a partial skeleton of a 600 toothed plant eater we are calling "Nigersaurus".
Our Goals from Camp I are the following:

• Relocate key sites that preserve Nigersaurus and a 50 foot long crocodile named "Sarchosuchus"
• Re-prospect areas we found to be very rich in 1997
• Prospect new areas-especially with an eye on finding areas that preserve microfossils and the possibility of finding mammal teeth.

Jaw of Sarcosuchus with teeth

REVISITING OLD SITES:

We spent the first days here trying to locate sites we marked in 1997. Despite having longitude and latitude points for each of the sites, we have only been able to relocate a handful of them. Shifting sands have transformed the landscape to the point where even if we're standing within 100 meters of a site, we can't find it! We even tried digging randomly, hoping to run into something that had been covered by sand - the complete opposite of how paleontologists normally prospect. No luck.

After two days of trying to locate a Nigersaurus site partially excavated in 1997, we called Jeff Wilson at the University of Michigan to check our GPS points. Jeff gave us some new information and the team will go out again tomorrow with the new information. Because the dunes are constantly shifting, although old sites have been covered up, new ones are being revealed. And so, just in the process of trying to locate our old sites, we are already finding new ones.

Paul Sereno brushes off the skeleton of a Sarcosuchus

One of the sites we were able to relocate includes two gigantic crocodile skulls facing each other snout to snout. One of the crocodiles is a juvenile and one is an adult. We will begin excavating them this morning and get as far as we can with the limited plaster we have on hand. The National Geographic Film crew is particularly interested in developing the story of the giant crocodiles so, if nothing else, we have skulls to work on.

CAMP LIFE

We are operating solely with what we put into storage in 1997 - two tents, some tools, a half dozen cots, some kitchen equipment (luckily including a stove) and two buckets of plaster. We were able to purchase enough food for people for about a week in Agadez - pasta, rice, tomato paste, vinegar and oil, as well as some produce: potatoes, onions and grapefruit. Melons haven't come into season yet the truck strike has not only affected us, Agadez is low on everything from eggs to soda. Not only is the team still working without their personal equipment, our ability to work at full capacity is limited by plaster, and the fact that we are still missing a part of our team.

The good news is that the cargo finally reached Niamey, cleared customs, and, as of Sunday, was on its way to Agadez. Once in Agadez, Eric, Greg and Rud will off load the two containers (including the crates containing the skeleton of Suchomimus), and make their way to Camp 1 accompanied by a truck carrying 15,000 liters of water. - we can hardly wait! We've gotten very strict about water use. All together our bidons (water containers) can hold about 510 liters. We use (without plastering) about 110 liters a day for drinking cooking and minimal washing. Basins are put out for hand and face washing - no showers allowed. We also are recycling whatever water we can and using funnels so we don't waste water by spilling any of it. We have already had to make one run to Agadez to get more water. We are keeping our fingers crossed they will show up in camp the day after tomorrow - certainly before our water runs out. It will be tight.

Gabrielle Lyon
Team Member, 2000 Expedition to Niger.