Blogs from Maputo, Southern, Mozambique, Africa - page 5

So, we've spent the best part of four days over Christmas in the Mozambican capital, Maputo. Maputo comes closer than anywhere else we've visited to the lazy Western stereotype of the African city: dusty, litter-strewn, pot-holed streets choked with black clouds of pollution from cars that should have been consigned to the scrapheap years ago; the better, older buildings quietly decaying while the newer ones, where most of the people live, are mostly ramshackle single storey affairs that look like they wouldn't survive a sharp gust of wind. As Mozambique, unlike everywhere else we've visited, is not a former British colony but rather was occupied by the Portuguese, Portuguese is very much the dominant language, and English is generally limited. We set off to see the sights of the city at 10am one morning. Once we ... read more

So I don't have any time to make an entry today, but here are a bunch of photos. I got my site assignment, and I am going to be living in the Zambezia province, close to the capital city. Although I cannot say the exact city on this blog, I'm sure that my mother or father could tell anyone interested enough to call them. We are done with training a week from tomorrow and I just passed my final language test, so I am good to go. We swear in next Friday in Maputo, and then we are all off to our new sites. Next chance I get I will include more details. I still miss everyone, more later.... read more

So this entry was actually hang written the night before I am posting this, so if you still feel like my quality of writing sucks, I guess I have no excuses this time. It is hard to believe that it has been 3 weeks since I last had access to a computer and internet. This is one of the many things that was a daily part of my life back in the states that I really have not missed at all here. One this that does not fall under this category is a big, juicy, Arby´s roast beef sandwich. Although this was not exactly part of my daily life, I think that I miss this more than anything else in the states (those who really are close to me understand that they always have come second ... read more

am actually in Maputo for the evening as we move back to the Wildlife College. It was an 17 hour drive from Machipanda to Maputo driving I believe 1400 kilometers. The research turned out really well with a lot of data to interpret upon arrival home. The use of the ground penetrating radar for observing below ground biomass has not been developed very thoroughly for practical applications. The research Abi, Dintwe, a Botswanan forester, the lead investigator Kelly Kaylor and I have been working with the Noggin 1000 to attempt to take strides forward in being able to map the carbon distribution of root structures. This is a really cool device that shows parabolas that represent the relative size of belog ground structures down to a depth of a meter or more. There were two ... read more

So, leaving Mozambique… Leaving the "Beek", I've remembered a few things I've forgotten to share. When S. and I went to Inhaca last week, I had gotten a letter in my room advising me to secure all valuables on my bed. I couldn't figure out what valuables as I had everything with me - phone, laptop, wallet, etc. Anyway, since the letter was signed by three people, and heavily underlined, I figured I'd better comply. So I promptly locked my passport, etc. in the safe in my room, even though I felt like that made me more of a target. But whatever, so when Spencer and I get to the airport last weekend for our flight, he pulls out his passport. I'm like, aaagh… I locked it in the safe. But we decide to wing it ... read more