Warriorbern on the Move

The tuna presentation yesterday afternoon was well presented and very interesting. I was really glad that I attended. It was interesting that, according to the study on which the presentation was based, the countries in the western Indian Ocean are benefiting from the fishery to the same degree as the global standards. That is quite encouraging. Today's meeting was sort of the main event where all the budgets and work plans for the year ahead were passed. The meeting chair, from Mauritius, is such a character and he had us all laughing at his crazy jokes and statements. It definitely made the day go quicker. The important bit in this paragraph though is that the budget was passed - that means I got the money for my project! That means more travel next year :-) The last event for me on this trip is the official signing of an agreement between the two big western Indian Ocean projects. I'm just going for the free drinks LOL! My transfer to the airport in the mornin...

Today was a mostly free day for all the participants who did not need training on the procurement procedures for SWIOFP. We do have a presentation on tuna fisheries at 16:30 but other than that the day has been our own. After my morning run and breakfast I set off up the hill to the Maputo Natural History Museum. This is a very old museum established in 1911 making it 100 years old. I think that most of the exhibits were, however, also set up in 1911. The stuffed animals were quite moth-eaten and many had lost most of their colouration but they were also quite amusing. Some of the animals had the most bizarre expressions on their faces. The entrance fee was only around R15 so I wasn't complaining at all. There were two things in the museum that I would definitely have paid more that R15 to see. The first was the coelacanth and the second was the progressive development of an elephant embryo from the1st month to the 22nd month of gestation. It was in all a good way to spend so...

Not too much of interest has been happening lately. These meetings just seem to go on and on and on …. On Saturday evening Paula picked me up from the hotel to go out for dinner. We went to the Costa del Sol restaurant and I had a good meal of Portuguese steak and chips. She said that its standard had dropped but since I hadn’t been there before I wasn’t concerned. After dinner we rode around the city looking for a place to have a drink and listen to some music. We didn’t have any luck though because all the places were closed. This past weekend was a long weekend and it seemed that the city had been deserted! Eventually we went to a place called Dolce Vita Café and had a cocktail and a beer there. We were joined by one of Paula’s colleagues and the three of us had a good time together. I returned to the hotel just after midnight and fell into bed. The next morning I went for a walk with a little trepidation hoping that the pervert from Saturday morning wasn’t around. I needn’t have ...

I don't think I will be blogging every day because not much is happening, just meeting, meeting, meeting :-) but I will share from time to time. Yesterday morning I got up early and went for a really good run along the waterfront. I had been concerned that it might be too quiet and hence a little unsafe but the reality was that there were plenty of other runners and walkers out and plenty of traffic passing by so I didn't feel uncomfortable at all. At breakfast, I discovered that my wonderful friend Kizzie was here and he said to me: "I didn't know you were going to be here until I saw that you were giving a presentation." Well that was news to me! My boss had requested a presentation spot for me but we had heard nothing from the meeting coordinators about whether a slot had been allocated or not. I had sort of put together a presentation just in case but it needed some tweaking before being given. Fortunately my slot was for today and not yesterday so I listened...

It is quite ironic that I find myself in Mozambique since this year's WIOFish workshop for Mozambique was actually held in Durban and I didn't expect to come here. Not that I mind though, I like Maputo. Sure it is a bit grubby and a bit dilapidated but it still feels like a vibrant place. The journey here was uneventful and even on the pleasant side. I managed to get on a direct flight from Durban to Maputo so cut out about 4 hours travelling time by not going via Johannesburg. It also meant flying on a small plane with only 14 other passengers. These propeller driven planes are my favourite: take-offs and landings don't feel quite so hectic although the weather made for a bumpy descent into Maputo but it wasn't too bad. It was raining when we arrived in Maputo and only 20 degrees. Pick-ups from the airport to the hotel had not been arranged but I just shared a taxi with two other meeting attendees so it didn't cost too much. On Friday last week I had checked with...