Paul: Theropod metatarsal three.
Chris: Site 93
Hans: I have 9, 7, 14
Paul: I have 9,7, 18
Chris: Yeah, that's right. That's what I have.
Paul: What is site 93?
Chris: I have it as Gabe's croc pre-max site.

People sip on night-air-chilled bottled juices, a treat from the last run into Agadez. They're not very good, but we take what we can get.

Team member Chris poses with his axe

Paul: What's at that site?
Chris: There's the premax, the angular, surangular.
Hans: There's an articular

Names of the crocodile skull bones preserved at site 93 roll off their tongues easily as they review their orange field books. Paul, Hans and Chris are cataloguing the sites logged yesterday; making sure site numbers correspond with GPS points, marking recorded points on the map, and double-checking with each other to ensure everyone has the same information. Also, because we've split the team for prospecting the last few days, this morning's meeting is a chance for everyone to catch up on what's been going on - and what has been discovered.

Paul logging coordinates with his GPS

Breakfast is ready by six, and everyone gathers at 6:30 for the breakfast meeting. It's a chance to go over the day's work, sort out equipment and raise any issues about the camp.

This morning people take notes about the sites, or write in their journals as they eat breakfast: two day old bread with peach jam, grapefruit, and coffee donated by National Geographic  (Natty-G as we call them). The "real" coffee (brewed with a funnel and paper towel directly into people's cups) is a welcome treat after many days of instant Nescafe.

"The Bathroom"

A few people are washing up at the washing station. We have two basins for dishes (wash and rinse) and two basins for people (one for face and hands, one for bodies). We're down to 50 liters of water and have already agreed not to wash dishes after this morning. A damp towel does the trick for morning face washing until the water truck arrives. The bathroom, as usual, consists of a shovel, a roll of paper towels, and a private walk over one of the dunes.

People are acclimating well to the 120F (average) temperature and to our long days: up with the sun at six, out by 7am and back after sunset, around 6:30pm. To keep camp running smoothly, a few people have specific responsibilities: Dave is the breakfast meister, up and clanking the hot water pot while most people are still snuggled in their sleeping bags; Allison is lunch chief; and Jack is "Chef d'leau" - in charge of water. Paul is responsible for burning garbage each morning; Hans and Chris make sure the trucks are equipped with collecting supplies and I am chef of cuisine and supplies. I keep an eye on how much we have, what we should use when, and who's cooking. We cook dinners in pairs on a rotating schedule - someone who knows how to cook is paired with someone who doesn't know how to cook. Everyone is responsible for washing their own dishes.

Even though we are short on everything from tools to plaster to sugar to blankets, discoveries are happening at a furious pace. The first five days have been remarkable - multiple sites preserving evidence of the strange, 600-toothed dinosaur we call "Nigersaurus," evidence of a brand-new theropod (carnivorous dinosaur),  and a series of great new sites preserving evidence of a 40-foot long crocodile. Paul is planning to write an update on the discoveries shortly.

Hardly a week into the field season - without our full gear or team, and already we are doing site work - excavations - but also prospecting (looking for fossils). In my memories of the desert, I had forgotten, somehow, about the wind. It's unrelentless, constant. Sometimes it is low and cool and gentle; sometimes it is high and carries sand, whipping your eyes and ankles; sometimes it's low and carries a thin sheet of dust, running close to the sand.  Most of the time it is just whooshing by,  flapping clothing, hair, hat strings.

A member of the NGS film crew had pitched his tent
without using sand spikes

Soon we will head out for the field. One team, led by Hans Larsson to continue work on a crocodile site that preserves not only skulls of an adult and a juvenile crocodile, but also a string of vertebrae and a series of perfectly preserved scutes (hard, bony plates along the back and under the skin of ancient  - and living - crocodiles). The bones are now diving into a hillside and the crew anticipates moving a lot of rock today.

Paul, I and Mike will return to the site of a brand-new theropod (carnivorous dinosaur) and explore what's preserved.

1:55pm
Camp 1
Gadafawa
Lunch break

Yes, an amazing first few days filled with discoveries. But now, in the full heat of the day, people are preoccupied with water. Jack, Dave, Allison and I sit in the shade of the kitchen tent. I am shaking one of the 20-liter jerry cans so we can hear the water sloshing around inside.

Allison: What color is your pool?
Dave: Blue and very cold.
Jack: Mine is a creek. I'm splashing. (I shake the jug back and forth). Now I'm on the swing rope and I'm jumping in.

Gabe: Wait! Hear Jack jumping in? (I give the jerry can a hard jolt so it makes a big splashing sound).

All of the crew is in the shade on our plastic white lawn chairs or sitting in the trucks with the doors open. Allison's legs are lined with sweat and Dave's got a week of beard grown in. His white T-shirt with the arms cut off (a very popular style with this year's team) is stiff and grey and is rolling up at the edges. Jack is still wearing his "Guns and Roses" t-shirt, 'the most stylish one in camp,' he claims.

We are consuming between 100-110 liters of water a day and have already made one run into Agadez to resupply camp. Now we await the arrival of not just our cargo, but also the huge water truck. We've been betting it would come today based on a conversation with Eric. But it is after noon and no sign of it yet. People are starting to get nervous and we have already made a plan to go to Agadez first thing in the morning if the truck doesn't arrive tonight.

Jack is our water boy and he's doing a very thorough job - with some pressure these last few days. He makes sure the water is purified, and keeps track of how much we're using and how much we have. It's a trial by fire.

Everyone hopes the big water truck will come today..

Gabrielle Lyon
Team Member, 2000 Expedition to Niger.