The people on this expedition left Kansas on July 2. They will be away for a month. The place they will be working is called Mahenge, in the Singida District. Not many people live here, so it took the scientists a long time to get there.

First they flew to England, and then to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. This is a big city, and they had to get permits to do research from the Tanzanian officials.

They also had to get together all the equipment they needed. It would be a more than 600km drive across wild and remote country to get to Singida.

Check on the map to see how they travelled from Dar es Salaam on the coast, inland to Dodoma, then to Singida and finally to Mahenge.

The camp itself is a long way from any towns or villages, and there are still wild animals there. A few years ago, when people were camping there, they heard lions every night, but they didn't ever see any in the daytime.

This photo of a lioness resting was taken in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania.

Before leaving Dar es Salaam, they had to buy all their food, and get together tents, and other equipment. They had to hire a cook, and drivers, as well as buying two Land Rovers to take them to the camp site, with all their equipment. Cars or trucks would be no good because the roads are too rough.

This is a dhow sailing on the coast by Dar es Salaam.

This is the group, ready to leave the Natural History Museum in Dar es Salaam on 13 July.

Seated in front (L to R): Gregg Gunnell, Ferdinand Mizambwa, Frank Kikwa (driver), Gregory Mkude (driver).

Standing (L to R): Metteio Macarios (cook), Kent Newman, Beth Kowalski, Jason Head, Pat Herendeen, Charles Msuya.

(Dr Bonnie Jacobs, who leads the expedition, took the photo)

On the 13th, they left at 8.30am, and drove through areas covered with coconut palms and bananas. Then the scenery changed to Acacia woodland, and Baobab (which look like trees stuck in the ground upside down). They even saw baboons! The road was very busy, and climbed high as it went inland.

One of the Land Rovers broke the rear axle, so they had to go very slowly. They didn't get to the city of Dodoma until 9.30 at night. And when they got there, the same Rover broke its front axle!

Unfortunately, all the hotels were full, so they had to sleep in a conference room, and then arrange for the Rover to be fixed.

This photo was taken of the mountains as they drove along.

On the 16th, they left Dodoma at 6 in the morning to drive to Singida. They had to meet officials there to get letters giving permission to go on to Mahenge. They had only been travelling for 3hrs when the problem Rover lost a wheel. So some of the party stayed to fix it while the others went on.

At 6pm the main group arrived at the hotel to meet the officials. During the drive they had passed children selling softdrink bottles full of honey to people passing by!

While waiting for the other Land Rover to arrive, they bought the last of their supplies, such as large water barrels, kerosene for the lanterns, and charcoal for cooking. The fresh fruit and vegetables would be picked up as they left on the 17th for the camp site.