On Safari
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.swiofp.net - if anyone is interested). The problem with these launches is that the bar was closed until all the formalities were over - not great when all everyone wanted was to quench their thirsts after a long day. So there was a lot of quiet grumbling going on and lots of longing looks at the bar.
Eventually all the formalities were over and the bar was opened to everyone's delight. I don't know why these functions are called cocktail evenings when there is never a cocktail in sight. The choice on offer was wine, beer or cool drink so I went for beer. The choice there was Safari, Kilimanjaro or Tusker so Safari it was. We were also given some really nice snacks. I spent the evening chatting to my friend Mira from Mauritius and Christophe (who I met on Sunday at the airport). Christophe lives in Paris so him and Mira kept on breaking into French and I was quite impressed that I was able to follow the conversation - seems like those French lessons are paying off. After what seemed like a reasonable time though, I made my excuses and headed off to bed for some well needed sleep.
This morning I woke up to sunshine. The rain has gone now and the sunrise was really beautiful. I got up and went for a walk on the beach and went to look at the fishing boats coming in from their night's fishing.
On the work front, today is just budget discussions. We have moved to a new meeting room and left the ASCLME people to their own devices in the room we were all in yesterday. Each component of the SWIOFP (there are 5 components) has to provide an overview of the activities that they have undertaken over the last year and what their plans are for next year with the associated costs. It is interesting to watch the various personalities involved and see what certain people think is important enough to raise as being unreasonable expenditure.
After today's session, I have volunteered to show the newly appointed ship logistic coordinator the Nansis database so that she can see if it will be useful for the capture of the information collected by the fisheries observers who will be deployed on fishing vessels over the next 3 years. It gives me a nice warm fuzzy feeling to be looking at the Nansis database again reminding me of that fantastic month I spent on the RV Dr Fridtjof Nansen and the wonderful friends I made during that time.
Take care everyone!
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.swiofp.net - if anyone is interested). The problem with these launches is that the bar was closed until all the formalities were over - not great when all everyone wanted was to quench their thirsts after a long day. So there was a lot of quiet grumbling going on and lots of longing looks at the bar.
Eventually all the formalities were over and the bar was opened to everyone's delight. I don't know why these functions are called cocktail evenings when there is never a cocktail in sight. The choice on offer was wine, beer or cool drink so I went for beer. The choice there was Safari, Kilimanjaro or Tusker so Safari it was. We were also given some really nice snacks. I spent the evening chatting to my friend Mira from Mauritius and Christophe (who I met on Sunday at the airport). Christophe lives in Paris so him and Mira kept on breaking into French and I was quite impressed that I was able to follow the conversation - seems like those French lessons are paying off. After what seemed like a reasonable time though, I made my excuses and headed off to bed for some well needed sleep.
This morning I woke up to sunshine. The rain has gone now and the sunrise was really beautiful. I got up and went for a walk on the beach and went to look at the fishing boats coming in from their night's fishing.
The sunrise seen from my balcony.
The block with my room - the one with the curtain drawn back.
The beach entrance to the hotel.
Dhow fishers heading out to the reef to go fishing.
Net fishers returning from spending the night out fishing.
On the work front, today is just budget discussions. We have moved to a new meeting room and left the ASCLME people to their own devices in the room we were all in yesterday. Each component of the SWIOFP (there are 5 components) has to provide an overview of the activities that they have undertaken over the last year and what their plans are for next year with the associated costs. It is interesting to watch the various personalities involved and see what certain people think is important enough to raise as being unreasonable expenditure.
Today's venue - the empty seat in the foreground is mine.
After today's session, I have volunteered to show the newly appointed ship logistic coordinator the Nansis database so that she can see if it will be useful for the capture of the information collected by the fisheries observers who will be deployed on fishing vessels over the next 3 years. It gives me a nice warm fuzzy feeling to be looking at the Nansis database again reminding me of that fantastic month I spent on the RV Dr Fridtjof Nansen and the wonderful friends I made during that time.
Take care everyone!
PS: Thank you to everyone for the comments and to Glenda and Roger - I am really looking forward to May next year!
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