Warriorbern on the Move

The last full day in Tanzania is underway. I really should have followed by boss' example and left today to go home but unlike him, I didn't book my own air tickets so I am here at the will of the project. It is a beautiful sunny day today, probably the nicest we have had so far and still we are stuck in a meeting room instead of being on the beach. The beach, however, might not be such a good idea. One of the participants went for a walk on the beach this morning and was mugged. I'm not sure why he was carrying his wallet with him but now he is no longer has it in his possession at all. I suppose before I talk about today though I should go back to last night. Our session was moved later to start at 20:30 because we only paused for dinner at 19:15! In the end the session only got underway at around 21:00. Just after ten pm I gave up and went to bed but apparently it only lasted until eleven pm. This morning was the start of a new meeting with some different participants

If I thought previous days had been long, I had no idea until today what a real long day was. Last night we finished work at 19:20 and it was amusing to see how fast the room cleared when we were released for the day. I believe some of the participants had a late night but I scurried off to my room for some soup and bread for dinner and on to bed. Today was my turn to speak and while I was prepared, I was still a bit nervous. My slot was for 10:15 but that time came and went lost in a huge discussion about the overall SWIOFP budget. We eventually got back to the agenda at 14:30 and I started the afternoon session off with my presentation. By that time I was really sick of waiting and my nerves had mostly disappeared and I just wanted it over. The presentation seemed well received.and the questions asked were very positive and even the person who I was expecting trouble from kept his mouth shut. Part of my presentation included the budget which I have put forward for the next two years

No I have not changed my plans for these few days although that would have been nice. Safari refers to the lager I was drinking last night. I really wanted to have an early night last night but almost as soon as I had posted the blog yesterday, I was handed an invitation to attend a cocktail function starting at 19:00. The work day finished at 18:20 so there was just enough time to return to my room to freshen up and then head downstairs for the function. What I failed to mention yesterday was that there are two big projects meeting here this week both funded by the World Bank. These are the Agulhas Somali Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project and, the one that funds my project, the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Project. Last night's function was used by both projects to launch various media. ASCLME showed us a short film aimed at government decision-makers to encourage them to sign intergovernmental treaties and SWIOFP showed everyone its new and improved website (www.swiof

There are many people who say to me that I am so lucky to get to travel all the time and please can they carry my bags or get in them or whatever but really these trips are not all the people think they are. Having said that, despite all the trials and tribulations of travel in southern and East Africa, I miss it when I don’t do it! The last four and a half months I have been cooling my heals in my office and the walls have gotten terribly boring. So now I have the opportunity to once again use my passport and spend 6 days in Tanzania. This is thanks to having to defend my project expenditure over the last 12 months and of course do a bit of begging for money for the next 2 years. Yesterday I got up at 04:45 to finalize my packing, sort out myself and be ready to leave home at 05:45 to get to the airport. Gone are the days of the 10 minute hop down to the airport and it its place is a 40 minute drive to the north of Durban to the new King Shaka International Airport. It is much furthe