Warriorbern on the Move

We have finally finished this workshop! There is just one more sleep before I will be winging my way home. There was more training offered to the participants this morning so I used the time to prepare all the data that needs to be handed in for the South African section of the Atlas. At least now I can go home and forget about this activity until the middle of January and I can get on with other things. My little Swahili friend went home yesterday so I had to amuse myself after the workshop ended yesterday. It was nice to have her here to keep me entertained for the time she was around but I have reached the point in the book I am reading where it is difficult to put it down so I was very occupied. To end for today and this trip here are a few photos:   The tide was really far out at lunchtime today!   The view of the hotel from the beach My view of the ocean from under a palm umbrella

It seems that we have covered all the required work in a far shorter time than was anticipated so today has been used as a day to train all the participants on some basic Geographic Information System (GIS) functions. These are things I learnt a long time back and the day has therefore, one the one hand, felt like a supreme waste of time but, on the other hand, I have been productive doing other work. I have had one ear listening in though just in case there were any tips that I would find beneficial. Last night I took my young friend for a short walk on the beach. It was astounding that the little thing was not keen to touch the shells at first but eventually I had her collecting EVERY shell on the beach. Soon though she tired of that and insisted that we rather go and have a swim in the pool. So insistent that even I could understand her Swahili! On our way back to the hotel we had to face the barrage of local guys on the beach but it was refreshing to not be the focus of their

After the meeting finished yesterday I retired to the pool and there I met Nimo's little daughter. We spent a wonderful two hours playing in the pool. Of course after that I was exhausted - 4 year old kids have far too much energy! The sun was still out when I got there and in that late afternoon sun I got a little bit sun burnt! I don't know how anyone survives in the pool through the heat of the day and yet they are there all day. After the swim I joined some of the other meeting participants for a beer on the lawn next to the beach. It really is the nicest place to sit because the breeze off the ocean is so cool. After drinks we headed off to dinner which was just a small variation on lunch: potatoes, rice, ugali (pap or phutu for South Africans), a spinach type vegetable and meat. The meat last night was oxtail stew and I was quite amused when the Italian consultant asked me, with a look of disgust on his face, if it was really the tail of the cow. He decided to give

I have received some remarks that I do not always say what it is I am doing so today,s blog will give just a brief idea about that. For the past five years I have been involved in a regional project called the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Project which very basically was formulated to investigate the fisheries of our region and better understand the dynamics of the fisheries and the species that are caught. Now we are approaching the end of the project and we want to see as much of the fisheries and species information graphically on maps. This will give managers and scientists a better understanding of the regional distributions of the fisheries involved and how the species are connected across all the borders. The workshop I am at now aims at setting the basis on how these maps will be collated into an atlas. We are discussing things like was base information should be included (depths, sea surface temperatures, national boundaries in the ocean, etc), which fisheries shoul

Unexpectedly, I find myself doing one last trip for 2012 and returning to Mombasa, Kenya for the forth time this year. It is not the worst place to be visiting but it really is a bit of a mission to get here. Essentially Mombasa is about four and and half hour flight from Durban if there was a direct flight but yesterday it took me fourteen and a half hours to get here! My day started with a flight from Durban to Johannesburg which was delayed due to an excess (!) of birds on the runway. The question begs to be asked: What is an acceptable number of birds? Anyway we sat in the plane (Airbus A320) at the end of the runway while the airport officials chased the birds off the runway with a small vehicle. Eventually we were underway and the flight to Johannesburg was unusually smooth and the time spent on the birds was made up during the flight so we arrived at the original scheduled time. I had a two and a half hour wait between flights so I sauntered across from the domestic to

Very unexpectedly I find myself back in Mombasa! My colleague who was supposed to attend the working party in which I am now a participant, took ill and at the last minute I was asked to step in. Fortunately I was available to travel and Mombasa is definitely not the worst place in the world to visit. The only thing that drives me crazy is the lack of direct flights. From Durban to Mombasa on a direct flight would be around four and half hours but because I had to use three flights going via Johannesburg and Nairobi the day's journey took thirteen and a half hours! There was one great benefit of flying through Johannesburg though and that was being able to meet up with my friends, Jo and Diets, for a good brunch and chat. It certainly was the best way to pass the stopover time and provide a nice distraction from the second flight which I was dreading. My reason for not looking forward to flight number 2 was because it was on one of the grand old dames of Kenya Airways'

At the end of yesterday's work session we had a nice little surprise. It was the Ship Logistic Coordinator's birthday and the hotel made her a cake which was delivered to the meeting room along with a customised birthday song. It was the last thing she expected and we all appreciated the cake. Teresa with her cake After work I met up with my good friend Kizzie for a long catch-up session over a beer, olives and peanuts. We only had one beer because the price was pretty outrageous at Rs180 (R50/$5.90) for a small beer. Luckily neither of us are huge drinkers so the one drink sufficed. The bar where Kizzie and I had our drinks Today is my last day in the meeting as tomorrow I will be returning home. The session today was for reviewing recommendations for the project and also a continuation of the budget discussions. Nothing too exciting actually. So today's blog is really short and I leave you with two photos: The view I wish I had The view I do ha

Yesterday at lunchtime, I was informed that my presentation would most likely be moved to the that afternoon instead of this morning. Luckily I am quite used to this happening so was fine with the change and my presentation was ready to go. In the question time after my presentation I received some really fantastic feedback from some of the international players in marine science on the benefit and usefulness that they see WIOFish can provide. One of the French delegates gave me a bit of a hard time but he does this every year so it was nothing new. Anyway it was good to get the presentation out of the way and now I can just relax. At the end of the work day a few of us decided to go out of the hotel for dinner. The dinner at the hotel is $60 per person which is $10 more than the daily per diem paid to everyone to cover the dinner expenses. Since I have been to Flic en Flac before (a few times) I was asked to suggested a restaurant. I picked Chez Pepe where I had dined previously

Here I am back in Mauritius for the third time this year and from the comparative luxury of my hotel room this time to previous visits I would say the third time is indeed the charm. The trip started with a very early morning getting up at 4 am to get dressed, feed the animals and make the journey to King Shaka International Airport. Unfortunately I had to fly via Johannesburg as there are no direct flights to Mauritius from Durban on Saturdays. The first flight was okay with just a bit of turbulence coming in to land in Johannesburg due to a moderate headwind. I had a bit of time to spare in Johannesburg so checked out the electronics duty-free shop before making my way to my boarding gate. Just an aside, if you believe that the duty-free shops (in Johannesburg) are cheaper than normal shops then you are sadly mistaken! While I was waiting at the boarding gate I came across one of the French participants of the meeting I am attending. It was a nice distraction to chat to him w

Yesterday was the last day of the working party and it was a fairly easy day. For the most part it was a discussion of recommendations made over the first two days. The work day finished with some endless discussions about the semantics of various paragraphs in the report that will be submitted to the Scientific Committee. A tedious task but one that is very necessary to avoid any future problems. The working party hard at work I was invited to have dinner outside the hotel with the participants from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). Earlier in the day I had some discussions with one of the guys about where to go and we decided on a steak restaurant. This decision was, however, vetoed by one of the older guys who wanted to go to the Tamarind Restaurant. The Tamarind is probably the most expensive restaurant in Mombasa and is a seafood restaurant. I wasn't overly keen but had to go along with the plan. I nipped back to my room quickly to collect

When I woke up this morning the wind was blowing madly and it is still blowing like crazy this evening. When today's work session ended I planned on going for a walk along the beach. Then I went outside and saw that it would just be a sandblasting session so I changed my mind and settled down with my Kindle to read until dinner time. Talking of food I am not overly fond of what is being served here for lunch and dinner. I wanted to have a carbohydrate free week but the food selection for these meals for Monday, yesterday and today has been: rice, potatoes, yams, ugali (pap or phutu for South African readers), spinach and a meat dish. At least it is a short trip! I thought today I would share some photos of my living quarters so here they are:   The sleeping area is nice and  spacious   The bathroom could due with some renovations. The blue tiles were at some time painted olive green but the paint is now peeling off giving a really shabby appearance. The gardens

Why is it that when you have to run to get to a boarding gate before it closes that the boarding gate is located at the opposite end of the terminal to where you are? I made my way to the airport early enough yesterday to be in good time for my flight but when I checked my suitcase in I was told that my flight had been cancelled. This flight was the first of three connecting flights so it was important that I get a flight that would allow me to get onto the second flight. The only way for this to happen was for me to get onto the flight that was almost ready to leave. I was given my boarding pass and told to run! As I got to the gate, the ground staff commented that I was the last passenger. This has only happened to me once before on a flight from Sydney to Johannesburg where the delay was due to a Qantas strike action of the ground staff. Anyway there were two benefits to getting on this flight: 1. I was bumped up to business class for that flight and 2. My suitcase got a priority

It has been a really relaxing weekend filled with going to the beach, reading and finally watching a carnival. The only downside was that the peace and quiet of Thursday and Friday have been shattered with endless parties that seemed start at lunch time on Saturday and went through the night until mid-morning today. While I don't mind the loud music at all, I do take exception to the yelling and shrieking laughter. I'm not really sure what they were up to last night. Initially it sounded like they were watching some form of sport and celebrating a goal or something - the music would get cranked up 10 more notches and the guys would scream madly. Eventually though I decided it couldn't be sport because it just went on way too long. There must have been some very sore heads today! So here follows some photos from the beach and the Flic and Flac Carnival which happened this afternoon.   The divers' departure point   A stretch of paradise   Some little fis