Warriorbern on the Move

Day 2 of the GeoNetwork training started off with an introduction to what spatial data are and what file formats these are stored in. It was very tedious because it is old news for me but since only 5 people in the group had used GIS before it was important to explain to everyone else how these things work. Once this aspect was complete we moved back onto the functionalities of the system and we finished the day at 5pm. This week is so easy compared to last week but very different too. The group on the left side of the room The group on the right side of the room James explaining data files to everyone The regional component coordinator and I hatched a plan to go for drinks last night to a really local pub where tourists never go. So we invited everyone along and amazingly we ended up with a group of 10. I think the boredom at the hotel has finally got to everyone! We all trooped off at 7pm and met up at the hotel next to the pub and then marched off to the pub. It was drinks ...

Phase 2 of the trip started today. As said previously this is a training course on a metadata system called GeoNetwork. It is not a particularly tricky system unless the user is unfamiliar with metadata or geographic information - unfortunately, quite a number in the group are unfamiliar with both so it is slow going. The morning session was just an introduction to GeoNetwork providing information on when and how it was developed, what its functions are and what international metadata standards are used. There seemed to be a problem with the server and so we ended up having to do a local installation of it on our laptops rather than just using the online version. We would have done this anyway so that everyone understood how it works but just did it sooner than expected. The installation was fine for most but those using Windows Vista and browsers other than Internet Explorer experienced some problems. After lunch we were let loose on the program and had to create a complete metada...

The trip to Tsavo National Park started with a two hour bus ride (only 100km) that had me thinking back to other bus rides in Tanzania a good decade ago. Although this time I wasn't in a bus which had its body skew on the chassis and the road was not potholed but the journey did involve a lot of hair-raising overtaking. Eventually I put my ipod on and decide to let whatever was to happen, happen without stressing about it. The journey involved a convenient pit stop at a curio stall where we were given more than enough time to use the facilities and browse in the shop - I don't think that anyone bought anything so they lucked out on our group. The group, by the way, consisted of 14 medical students from Sweden on a training course about third world health care systems (like me they had the weekend off), 2 young Kenyan woman whose father had been given a voucher for the safari and set his daughters in his place, and me. About 10 minutes after the leaving the curio shop we arriv...

I started the morning off with a real blonde moment! Walked out the door to go to the pool and let the door swing closed behind me. Just one problem though ... I had left the room key inside and it is a Yale lock! So there I was in my swimming costume locked out of my room. Fortunately it was 6am and there were not too many people about in reception where I had to go to get some assistance. After about ten minutes the spare key was tracked down and they let me in to get my key and I could go swimming. I felt like a real idiot though. Work today was a continuation of yesterday's uploading data files. The programmer spent his time last night sorting out the software so that we could access it again. It was a very frustrating exercise once again because the program is very fussy about all sorts of things but the main problem really is my own unfamiliarity with how it works. Once I had it figured out though it was very easy but getting to that point took forever and quite a lot of sw...

When I woke up this morning the ocean looked like a lake and the air was so still. It was really beautiful. Later the wind came up and this was a relief after the heat of the last few days. At lunchtime it even looked like we could get a bit of rain but the clouds just passed by. It is supposed to be the rainy season at the moment but the drought is persisting. This morning's session was set aside so that those component coordinators who had not completed their data formatting could do so before we started on the uploading process. All my tables were complete so I spent the morning doing all sorts of other work and the morning seemed to drag on forever. After lunch though we started to learn how to work with the data server and how we have to import our tables. We were then set loose on the server to play around with our data and to figure out how it all worked. The server, however, did not stand up to our efforts and eventually refused to do anything. Fortunately the program...

So like the complete nerd that I am I spent Tuesday night finishing off my catch tables instead of going for a drink in the hotel bar. It was time well spent though and yesterday morning I could just finish off the table structure and then concentrate on sorting out the species codes that we will be using. The French contingent decided that they wanted to go to the old part of Mombasa after work to look around so our work day ended at 17:30 for a change. By the time we got back to the hotel and dropped off laptops, etc. it was already dark but we went anyway. We were seven in total with me being the only non-French speaker. I thought that it would be a very long evening of not understanding anything that was said but in the end it was a pleasant evening and I have added some more French words to my very limited vocabulary. We walked down the main road of Mombasa and ended up at Fort Jesus which was unfortunately closed for a private function but it was nice seeing it at night. From t...

Today started off well when I snuck into the swimming pool before opening time for a quick few laps. Definitely going to do that again tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, etc. until someone chases me out. At the work session we spent the day reformatting endless amounts of data to ensure that we all conform with each other and that the data entry into the system will be as smooth as possible. It has been exhausting and I personally have now stopped work while everyone else is still busy. Our days were supposed to end at 17:30 but yesterday we left at 18:15 and it is now 18:05 and there seems no end in sight. I'm not overly concerned about getting my work done in time since I really just have the catch table to finish and it is about half way there and will be complete tomorrow. No exciting photos today, just two from this mornings work session.

One last trip for the year and I'm sure it is going to be good as I have an excellent little side trip planned for the weekend. After three weeks of rain, the sun finally came out in Durban on the day I left! Something so wrong about that! The flight to Jo'burg was uneventful and I arrived to find my friends, Jo and Diets, waiting for me to meet up for lunch. It was so good seeing them and I spent a little more time with them than I probably should have and by the time I got through security and immigration, I had to dash to get to my boarding gate. Got there just in time but it was well worth seeing Jo and Diets again so I don't mind the run at all. Jo'burg to Nairobi was a bit bumpy in the middle but my anxiety over flying seems to have dissipated somewhat so I was not worried about the turbulence. We arrived in Nairobi 10 minutes early but there was another plane in the regular bay so we had to park miles away from the terminal and hotfoot it across. I made a mad das...