Warriorbern on the Move

Wednesdays are supposed to be mini-weekends - well they used to be when I was in the air force! It was the day we would spend planning where to go out for a party and then Wednesday night we would go big and feel really rotten the next day at work. Wow that feels like eons ago and after today the last thing on my mind is finding a place to go for a few shots! Tomorrow night, however, is my last night in Maputo so a drink will definitely be in order come what may :-) For this workshop, we are bringing in the most relevant people to add and edit data, the people who actually work with the specific fisheries. Normally the national focal points of the project collect all the data before the workshops from everyone and they are responsible for entering it. But this a good idea because it increases the awareness about and exposure to the database to a much wider range of people and hopefully will increase the use of the database in the future. As I said it is a great idea and I am all for i...

It was a good start today and some very hard work was put in. At 3 pm we decided to call it quits and I quickly got into shorts, a T-shirt and some walking shoes and headed out to see a bit more of Maputo. This time I headed in the opposite direction to Sunday with the intention of going down to the waterfront. First up though, another  beautiful building. This is the Natural History Museum: I have never actually been inside this museum as every time I find myself outside its doors, it is closed and today was no different. Anyway I think the outside of it is pretty impressive so I am never disappointed about not getting inside. From there I walked along a beautiful tree-lined road until I came to the boom gates that block the roads around what I think is the president's residence. I had forgotten about this obstacle but did find a way around and in the process came across an open park with three peacocks wandering around as if they owned the place. I left the peacocks ...

I was wondering why today was such a quiet email day and at about midday it finally dawned on me that today is a public holiday in South Africa. So to all my South African family and friends, I hope that you had a really great day doing fun things. For me it was business as usual and a long day at that. Work began at 07:30 and initially it was just me and one other person. Unfortunately this person's English is VERY limited and it was a frustrating morning since I speak no Portuguese. I really do wish that I was one of those people who just soak up languages. Anyway Gilberto and I did manage to get through three fisheries this morning and then at lunchtime we were joined by Paula and the work really proceeded well. I was exhausted at the end of the day though and I think it will be early to bed for me tonight. Yesterday I mentioned that the hotel I am staying in is beginning to be a little run-down. Well when I came to have a shower last night the tap (one of those mixer taps) ca...

My one night at home was a welcome change from sterile hotel rooms but there was so much to do and before long my suitcase was packed again. I thought that I would be nervous flying this morning since I was flying with SA Airlink who have had a bit of a bad time recently with accidents and incidents but I was completely okay. Maybe 2010 is my year for having discarded my fear of flying completely but the real proof will be next month when I fly from Mauritius to Seychelles and back on Air Seychelles since it is thanks to Air Seychelles that I developed this ridiculous fear in the first place. What contributed to my enjoyment of the flight was that it was on another cute little turbo propelled aircraft, this time a Jetstream 41. It only takes 29 people and there were only 11 on-board making it really comfy. Take-off was to the north-east so we had a lovely view of Durban and I couldn't help thinking as we flew over uShaka Marine World that that was the closest I have been to m...

Here I am sitting at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi waiting for my flight to Johannesburg and I feel like something the cat dragged home this morning but more about that later. Yesterday I had a free day but I still got up early and went down to the beach to have my coffee. Once again it was gorgeous down there. The nicest thing though was being able to go back to bed and catch up on a bit of rest. Fortunately the hotel allowed me to keep my room until 2 pm so I could hang about there all day until an hour before leaving for the airport. Although my flight was only due for departure at 18:50, I decided to try and get on an earlier flight and the only way to do this is to go to the airport early and just take a chance. This time though it was not to be. Kenya Airways dad decided to combine all the afternoon and evening flights from Mombasa to Nairobi into one flight on a Boeing 767 and this flight was due to leave at 18:45. Amazingly, despite only one flight being operate...

The hotel cats had their own party last night and the caterwauling went on and on and on! Today they are all lying around with smug expressions on their little faces and they look exhausted. Of course everyone else is exhausted too from not being able to sleep through their noise. Despite the disturbed night I still managed to get up early and went to the beach.. This time I took a cup of coffee and dug my feet into the sand - pure bliss! What is it about sitting on the beach and listening to the waves that soothes the soul. I was again the first one there and I sat still for long enough so that the ghost crabs were fooled into thinking they had their beach back to themselves. There was also a pair of African pied wagtails chasing and catching the little ghost crabs. It was great to watch and once again a really good start to the day. As I said I would yesterday, I went to work a little later this morning and was pleasantly surprised when I got there to discover that I ...

I woke up at 5am today got showered and dressed and went down to the beach to await the sunrise and it was worth the wait. It was so peaceful down there. Initially it was just me, my friendly tom cat from last night and the security guard at the beach but as the sky got lighter so more people arrived, everyone immersed in his or her own thoughts. And the best part of all was that it was too early for the harassing beach boys! It was such a good start to the day and I will be there again tomorrow but with one difference ... I will take some coffee along. Work was supposed to start at 8am today but at 8am I was the only one at the offices and these were still locked. It was pleasant enough standing out on the balcony watching the monkeys playing in the trees next to the KMFRI building. One of the KMFRI employees decided that I shouldn't have to wait outside and he went and fetched the key to open up. Of course then I felt obliged to go inside and start working...

This is only the second time out of ALL the many times that I have stayed in Mombasa and do not have an ocean view and it pretty much sucks! I'm just going to have to get up early tomorrow morning, throw some clothes on and get to the beach to watch the sunrise and ease my withdrawal symptoms. I mean really there is no other reason to be in the city than for the spectacular sunrises :-) I laughed at my taxi driver this morning because he said that I should demand to pay only half price to stay at the hotel because I only spend the nights here - I like his way of thinking but very much doubt that the Voyager Management would see it the same way. There were some unwanted guests at the hotel for breakfast today, and I have a really huge grin on my face as I post a photo of one of them ... Jo, you had to know that there would be eventually be retaliation for your translation of the word "woes" when describing me :-) There were mixed fortunes today at work with two thirds...

Finally back to work today. It was another slow start with the main contact person only pitching up at work at 09:45 and work did not get under way until sometime after eleven. So once again I spent a Monday morning taking deep breaths and counting to ten. Once things did start though it seemed to go really well. I need to do some validation tonight but I'm sure everything will be okay. Hopefully they will finish the updates early because if we have a day spare there is a plan to go on a field excursion to Shimoni to see some of the fishing activities about which we collect information. That should be interesting - well to me anyway :-) On a positive note, I got back to the hotel this evening and had 20 minutes for a quick swim - such a pleasant end to the day! The photo below is part of the view from KMFRI of the old part of Mombasa. I'm not sure if you can make it out properly but on the very left of the photo is Fort Jesus of which I posted photos on the blog in December. ...

I took advantage of a completely free day and got up slowly this morning. Eventually I got my act together and went for a huge English breakfast - well as English a breakfast as I can have without bacon, pork sausages, baked beans and eggs. Okay maybe it was closer to a Continental breakfast with the addition of beef sausages and roast potatoes! It was really good but I felt like I should go and lie on a rock in the sun to digest everything. Instead I settled for a long walk on the beach. Initially it was frustrating being on the beach in front of the hotels as the "beach boys" were quite insistent that I go on their boat to see the reef. Once I got beyond the hotels though I was pretty much alone on the beach and had a very enjoyable time poking around in the rock pools, laughing at the crabs defending their territories and watching the yellow-billed storks and grey herons fishing. Eventually though the heat pushed me off the beach. The next excursion was to the Nakumatt ...

My last full day in Zanzibar was spent as a sort-of tourist. I've done all the regular tourist things in Zanzibar so just spent the morning roaming around through the alleyways of Stonetown trying to see if I could get lost :-) I remember the first time in Zanzibar when I felt some anxiety about getting lost in the warren of buildings. This time I was armed with a friend's cellphone number so if I really did get lost I could phone to be rescued. It turns out that it is a little more difficult to actually get lost that I originally thought and I had a really enjoyable morning exploring the alleys, avoiding all the touts trying to sell trinkets and tours and looking at all the old buildings.   I ended up at the market and made the mistake at going into the fish section to see what was for sale. The smell was beyond description and I was very hard-pressed not to present the seller with my breakfast. I don't think I have every smelt anything that bad! I decided that sinc...

Last night I eventually made my way to the night market. This is a food market held every night in the Forodhani Gardens on the waterfront. This area was under development for a very long time and was only opened again towards the end of last year. It is aimed specifically at the tourists and provides local cuisine at really affordable prices. I didn't stay long there, just long enough to eat a samoosa and a chapati. The biggest irritation about the place is the constant harassment by people trying to sell you food, tours or anything else you might be willing to part with cash for all while you are trying to eat in peace. Other than that though the atmosphere is really nice. So here are a few photos that I took while there. Just a general view of the market. The palace that overlooks the gardens. The waterfront along which I walk every day to go to work.  Another part of the gardens. A mangy cat begging for food. The work part of my trip is now over. We managed to ge...

My heart sank last night as the electricity went off again and all the generators started up. The thought going through my head was how on earth could we afford another day like Monday with an on and off power and Internet supply. The problem was apparently Tanzania-wide though and not just a failing of the supply to Zanzibar and by 10 pm the normal supply was restored. Of course this didn't mean that our problems ended there ... The Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS), where we are working, had decided to change their Internet service provider to a new one and chose today to make the change. This is not good news when the database you are using is only available online! So we had about 30 minutes from our start time until the connection to the old provider was terminated and then there was nothing while the server is reconfigured for the new provider and the account is activted. This left us unable to work at all. Fortunately the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WI...

Yesterday's work session ended when the power generator was switched off at 16:30 and I returned to my hotel room ... my new hotel room. I have been moved to a front room that looks out over an empty piece of land and the ocean. It is a vast improvement on my previous room ... ... the best thing about this room is that it gets a sea breeze coming in the windows in the evening. It was still 35 degrees in the room at seven 'o clock last night though even with the breeze. I love the bed too it is huge and really high off the ground so no tokoloshe can get me :-) Not sure what I did to deserve the upgrade but I'm definitely not complaining! The biggest news in Zanzibar today is that the electricity supply was restored last night and there were a few celebrations going on around the hotel. It was wonderful not hearing all the generators running and I could switch on the air conditioner and get some relief from the heat ALL night. Obviously the generator at IMS was not supply...