The trip from Jo'Burg to Arusha was uneventful - except that on my flight from Dar es Salaam to Arusha, I had the plane all to myself. That doesn't happen too often anymore. Too bad there was too many clouds to see Mount Kilimanjaro (the highest mountain in Africa, at 5896 m), my next goal. Kilimanjaro After spending a couple of days in Arusha just relaxing, I met the group of climbers who would be going up Kili with me. There were six Americans (a family of five and a single woman) and four Brits (two Welsh, two English). The interesting [View Full Entry]

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After Chobe, some of us crossed into Zimbabwe to experience a lion walk. This was incredible. The African Lion Environmental Research Trust raises lions from cubs, teaches them how to hunt, and then releases them into a large area (10,000 acres) where these lions will form prides and raise their own cubs. These new cubs, who do not see or come into contact with humans, will then be relocated in areas in Africa. Why are they doing this? In the last 20 years 80 percent of Africa's lions have disappeared. And the situation is just getting worse. As part of raising [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in blogging. Turns out there's not a lot of computer cafe's in campsite and safari lodges. And where there is one, they are invariably slow as molasses. I'm in Tanzania right now, getting ready to climb Kilimanjaro (wish me luck) and this internet is not that fast either. Or reliable (the power keeps cutting out). So, you're going to get a rush entry for the next few, and hopefully I can expand on it after I get home (in less than 3 weeks - wow, has time flown by!) After Swakopmund we went to Cape [View Full Entry]

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Well, we crossed over to Zambia after visiting the Falls and met up with the truck and the rest of the group. We would be in Livingstone for two days, and then the group would separate. Some would be continuing with the truck (called "Norris" for "Truck Norris") up to Nairobi, others would be ending their trip in Livingstone, and a few (including me) would be heading back down to Jo'burg joining a new truck. Our time in Zambia was very cool. I spent it rafting down the Zambezi. The rafting season had only opened up six days before, so I [View Full Entry]

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Well, it's the anniversary of D-Day everyone, so take a moment to thank the vets from 1944! On a more light-hearted note, having an awesome time on my overland tour. If you've been keeping up, I met my group on May 30th, and we loaded the truck up on May 31. There are 19 of us on the tour: beside me and the guide (from Zimbabwe) and the driver (from Kenya), we've got two Canadians, eight English, two Scots, five Aussies, and one Israeli. A good international mix. The truck is truly a beast, and would act like one before the [View Full Entry]

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So, I’ve been in Cape Town now for nine days, and have only got the first week at BV blogged. Clearly, I need to write a little less. The rest of the five weeks followed a similar pattern - diving in the morning, workshops in the afternoon, teaching English to the Malagasy EcoGuides (although I didn’t do much of that), and learning Malagasy as well. Generally, afternoons had some kind of maintenance, chores or other duties, but some time to relax too. What I’ll do instead of giving such a detailed week by week description is just talk about the highlights [View Full Entry]

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April 16 - 22 The highlights this week included an overnight trip to a small village up north by pirogue. While there, we would wait for the low tide at night and collect the sea cucumbers which were maturing in a pen, count and weigh them. It was another beautiful day (all told, there’d only be maybe three brief showers, after that first bad rainstorm at night, during the six weeks) and we arrived just before sundown. Kat and Anita, along with Angelo, the BV staffer whose project it was, cooked a great fish and rice dinner, and then we [View Full Entry]

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April 23 - 29 Well, this week would be great and sad all at the same time. First off, the weather started to go sideways a bit. Strong winds for three consecutive days caused dives to be cancelled, and then whole extra days off because the viz was so poor. Not great - only so many days to pass my fish test, and time was running out. Also this week there was an exorcism in the village. It seems that a young woman was possessed by an ancestor (she was speaking in tongues, including English, although she didn’t speak English [View Full Entry]

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April 30 - May 7 Well, not too much in highlights for this week. The weather got better at the start of the week, and I quickly passed my fish test and got on to do the science that I had come to do. Fish belts, fish belts and more fish belts. It was great - if a little tiring. I didn't feel much like reaching out to people, and I was sick again - not as badly, but felt weak for most of the week. As well, more sadness. Howard left near the end of the week. He's off [View Full Entry]

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May 8 - 15 Well, the rest of this week (or rather, the last four days as we left BV on the 12th) was also science. Dives during the day, and data entry on the computer at night. And we got everything we needed to do for the expedition done, with a day to spare! I was feeling better for most of this week, but then, on the last day of diving, I was ill again. I dove, but upchucked at the end. Ick. It was a shame too - the dive was fantastic, at a site that doesn't get [View Full Entry]

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