tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91384611466504653182024-03-08T03:22:14.152-08:00Big Sam's TravelsA blog to keep people up to date on the stuff and 'ting that I get up to on my travels.Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-4337033969739010682011-08-12T02:04:00.000-07:002011-08-12T02:34:35.256-07:00Hello all,
<br />
<br />sorry for the massive gap in posts. I've been crazy busy. This has turned from a job and more into a lifestyle/cause.
<br />
<br />There is a lot to tell.
<br />
<br />So I have gone from just doing the land management plans to keep the donors happy to being invited to be potentially involved in a 4 million euro project sorting out the Ramsar wetlands nearby. As I got on well with the council members I was working with I got invited to a Ramsar meeting. I expected a small room with half a dozen people. As it turned out it was a large conference room with delegates from all potential stakeholder groups. Within 2 minutes I was asked to talk about my interests in the area so I gave a quick impromptue speech. Then we were given a2 paper and told to basically pitch why our stakeholder group should get funding (ours was research). So with half an hour prep I gave a speech on how reseach forms the basis of everything, how if you don't know what the current situation is you can't make accurate decisions, if you don't know what happens once you implement a management strategy you have no idea if it works or not and how essentially long term planning has to include research. I then went to the pub with the french ramsar guy who said it looked very promising for us. If we get funding that would mean we could do a ton of interesting stuff that might actually save this corridor.
<br />
<br />One of the reasons that this has turned into more of an adventure than a job is that the corridor here will either be saved or destroyed in 2 years and it would quite nice to see it not destroyed. Also the poaching in this area is quite hectic and if a wildlife managed area gets set up and works then the selous would be greatly protected from this side indefinately. If it does not then its all buggered.
<br />
<br />mmmmmm crazy stuff
<br />
<br />any way love to all and I'll post again soon
<br />Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-48660972569411399132011-07-02T11:17:00.000-07:002011-07-02T11:20:26.164-07:00just got back from pub, had chicken for supper which was very exciting as its the first bit of meat ive had in weeks. also I remembered something blogworthy, I found a dead green mamba, an intensly poisonous snake, and so I skinned it, naturally.<br /><br />its currently being eaten by ants in my banda, im not really sure what i can do to preserve it.Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-69063730411702915082011-07-02T04:49:00.000-07:002011-07-02T05:16:30.748-07:00busy busyso still running about doing land management stuff.lots of not particularly interesting meetings. there are exciting bits though when I'm asked to give advice.<br /><br />I managed to find some time to play some football yesterday although as it turns out the Tanzanians don't really understand football. They play with goals 2 foot wide and they don't really try to score, they just pass the ball between each other. theres all the normal running around looking excited but theres no point, they aren't trying to go in any direction or achieve anything just pass it between them. They have two teams but I think thats more of a formality.I played for about half an hour before getting mindnumbingly bored and leaving. It's literally football without the interesting bits, which is saying something.<br /><br />anyway leave some comments people<br /><br />samSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-31738362766190777072011-06-30T10:36:00.001-07:002011-06-30T10:50:43.293-07:00Land management crazySo I have spent the last few days doing land management stuff. Tis exceedingly tough, I spent 7 hours today in a council meeting. I have also been butting up against one of the africans on the team I'm working with who is an utter moron. anyway I'm learning a massive amount about african negotiation. As it turns out one of the other guys is great so I've been working with him.<br /><br />Also I got an article published! http://www.travel-wonders.com/2011/06/volunteer-wildlife-conservation.html<br /><br />Pretty happy with that :D<br /><br />So the volunteers and my girlfriend turn up on tuesday, exciting stuff.I'm going to go and get them from the nearish town of Ifakara. It will almost count as a day off. I realised the other day that I have had half a day off since early May. One of the downsides of being the "big boss" is that everyone saves up all their problems for you to solve.<br /><br />we have chickens which I have just about managed to get to stay in camp. Touch wood. for some reason their presence or absence has a huge effect on my stress levels.<br /><br />I realised that I had reached some level of aclimatisation the other night, I saw a tarantula when I was brushing my teeth and I spat toothpaste at it until it fucked off. It looked a bit peeved. But minty.<br /><br />I also discovered that they sell the same kind of palm sap beer that they sell in the Comoros which is epic news. Its stonger here which is kind of a scary idea. It reminds me of good times though.<br /><br />I'm also negotiating a deal with a local teak company to survey their nontimber woodlands which looks like a really fun project. lots of walking about in forests catching birds and things.<br /><br />anyway I must go now, boss duties call.<br /><br />love to allSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-16949457600545946412011-06-22T12:33:00.000-07:002011-06-22T12:42:06.971-07:00broken carSo I am learning a lot about how to fix cars.<br />the coolong fan on the waterpump broke loose and battered the radiator. we got a tow to the nearest village where we welded the thing back on and repaired the radiator using tea to block up the tears.no joke. i have spent today doing some serious barganing to get new(ish) parts. unfortunately i missed the last ferry back so im in ifikara tonight.<br /><br />oh also a headless snake slithered into my room the other day. turns out its a legless skink that has no eyes, nose and a mouth thats invisible. its literally like a snake with two tails. bloody wierd. oh also i had a tarantula under my bed, that was awesome. i moved him on. he looked peeved.<br /><br />I also ran a three day camp in the forest with all the staff which was fun. Its very strange being called boss all the time. the tanzanians are very heirarcical, which as I was the boss of their previous boss means they take it quite seriously.I'll see if i can stick up photos tomoz. bed time now though<br /><br />love to allSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-37548840953302247622011-06-16T08:57:00.000-07:002011-06-16T09:03:35.885-07:00Igota!So I have arrived on the camp in Igota that is to be my home for the next few months. 40km north are the forest covered Udzungwa mountains and 30km south are the forest covered mountains of the Selous game reserve. In between is the Kilombero river and a patchwork of farms, swamps and forests. To get here in fact I had to cross the river via a ferry. The ferry in this case being a kind of truck on stilts that drives across the river bed carrying cars, lorries etc. The river itself is only about 30m wide at that point but crossing on the ferry is somewhat amazing. The camp itself is all made of teak and is very nice. There is high grass in between all the bandas (huts) that means that each hut is in its own clearing and the camp is full of animals. There is for example a lizard that looks very komodo dragon like that is about 4 foot long living behind my banda (i have named him puff). There are also a large number of birds, insects, lizards etc. Something that is a bit of a hazard here is army ants. A column missed my banda by about 6 foot which is very handy as the only thing I would have been able to do to if they had decided to invade my banda would have been to move to another one. As it was I had great fun feeding them cockroaches and slapped mosquitoes.<br /><br />Rather dramatically on my first night a lion and her cubs walked into the village and unfortunately got shot. I went to see the bodies in the morning and discovered that the mother had a snare around her foot that had made her lame. Unable to hunt she had then moved onto easier prey, in this case humans and dogs. As there was a crowd gathered wondering who the hell I was I decided that this was the time to introduce myself and gave a short speech in Swahili as to who I am and why I am here. I also told them all the reason for the lion coming into the village and I’m hoping to use the incident as an education program. The relationships pretty clear really, use snares for poaching and you risk making a lion lame, which means they will come after you. To further that I managed today to persuade the game guards of the area to permanently lend me the skulls of the mother and cub so today I spent my afternoon picking rotting flesh off two lion skulls. One of the funniest parts of this job is putting the phrase “today I got paid to” in front of any activity I do.<br /><br />So next week I will meet the rest of the chairmen of the villages I will be working with and I will tell the council that I want to start work the following week. The work that I will be doing will be basically driving around on the back of a bunch of jeeps tracking where all the habitat uses are. This will give the council a good map of what is actually going on in their land, allowing them to accurately manage it.<br /><br />Also at this point I should mention the kids. There are tons of them. And they are on camp most of the time, pottering about and innocently getting in the way. They are very sweet and also very numerous. <br /><br />ok will post again soon, love to allSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-18383795943731455062011-06-06T00:20:00.000-07:002011-06-06T00:23:26.316-07:00darI'm in Dar again, hectic as hell. nice though. I plan on finding the beach today and I got a good tip about a fruit market which I am intending to check out. I had pizza and indian chicken yesterday, both of which were epic. for the next few days however I am doing admin which is going to be terrible. especially as I need to get a total of 125 passport photos printed for all the volunteers...<br /><br />still nice to be getting paid to be in africa thoughSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-71369347109227319092011-06-02T06:56:00.000-07:002011-06-02T07:12:51.894-07:00so Tanzania then!Hey everybody!<br /><br />so the next bit of travelling has begun, I've arrived in Tanzania. I arrived two weeks ago actually but its been a bit busy. So I got into Dar es Salaam, the capital on friday at about 5am. Dar is pretty nuts, the same as any large African city to be honest. The pavements and roads blur into each other, the cars drive where ever they can fit overtaking and undertaking at any opportunity. There are people lining every street pedalling wares that vary from torches that project Obamas face on walls to BBQ'd cassava.<br /><br />I stayed in the very concrete YMCA. functional and certainly not the worst place I have stayed. I managed to make a local friend, one of the things that I have learnt to do is to differentiate between people who want to speak to you for your money and people who want to speak to you because you are likely to be interesting. the latter is often great fun and almost always very useful. Via this new friend, TicaTaca, I managed to get some sandals at a local price rather than a mazungu price and I located a decent bar/eatery. I phoned people, wrote stuff down, battled with officials and generally worked all day. It was very strangely like coming home. I rather like being in African cities now.<br /><br />So then I headed off to Mafia Island. This is a little island off the coast, about half an hours flight away. I have spent the last two weeks rebuilding the camp out here basically. I managed to get a couple of dives in too, I swam with a turtle which was very exciting. I finished building a Banda yesterday, which is a local house. I am currently eminating exceedingly large amounts of pride over that one.<br /><br />So I am going to stay here until Sunday and then I will head back over to Dar. there I will sort out a bunch of stuff before heading off to the Kilombero valley where I will start my real work, sorting out a management plan.Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-71450420549467902472010-08-30T15:45:00.000-07:002010-08-30T15:46:13.377-07:00Hi everybody<br />I realised that quite a lot more people have been reading this than I realised so I'm going to do a couple of updates. I'll do a cultural "things I saw" one and then I'll do a results one, showing what I found. They will have to wait a week however as I am in mid writeup!Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-54816515309861698292010-06-28T12:11:00.000-07:002010-06-28T13:05:36.821-07:00Update time!<br />its been quite a time of late!<br />I have had some hard and interesting transects and some heavy nights.<br />last week I went to the mangroves, which was fun! I ate a load of a fruit there that is endemic to that region of anjouan... as I understand it, its only found on an area about the size of brighton and thats its entire world range, which is a shame because its delicious.<br />I saw turtle shells there as well, quite strange.<br />I also managed to get eaten alive by fleas of some sort from a matress there, yuck!<br />one side effect of this career is that there is a really large range of things that have bitten and stung me. <br />I got stung by a baby portugese man of war the other day!<br />tingly!<br />or if it wasnt one of those it certainly looked like one<br /><br />I had a mega climb the other day, over a km in height climbed and about 15km in distance. was tough. then I ran down it in teh dark. I realised half way down that I now descend hills at almost the same speed as the anjouanese, which is saying something, which is nice because it means at some point I have learnt to keep up.<br />and climbing through a forest high up on a mountain in gale force winds and fog in the dark is something that is quite unlike anything else I have done.<br /><br />I got hammered after that, and the next day as it was the malagash anniversary of independance.<br />it is the anjouanese day of independance on monday, though i doubt they will get pissed. there will probably just be lots of men in white robes swaying to repetative shite music while the women arent allowed in.<br />having said that, I could see living here for a longer time would not be to bad, iots been very nice here. I only have 2 more weeks on the island now as Im going to go explore moheli and grand comoros after that and then return home, where I shall begin frantically analysing and writing up. I so far have a 68 in my coursework, which means as they only give marks in 65,68,72 type slots if I get a 72 then I get a distinction overall which would be nice. <br /><br />today was a bit of a failure, lots of lateness and punctures culminated in me not doing a transect. the only one ive lost to logistics though which i think isnt too bad. ive lost quite a few to weather and politics though.<br />ive gotten good data though. looks like ill be able to do an accurate description of the habitat choices of the species, a population estimate and a distribution map, so all good stuff. ive gotten about 180 owl recordings over something like 140 points<br />I saw the gps earlier and when its been on I have climber 15 kilometers and walked 125, though I have done much more than that in total because its only on when im doing a transect :p not to bad I think!<br /><br />I only have 5ish transects left to do now and i have two weeks to do them in, which is very nice. shocking that ive gotten it all done in some ways. <br /><br />ok thats all for now, i need to send an important email, love to allSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-18199895502138754352010-06-18T06:28:00.000-07:002010-06-18T07:09:00.978-07:00hullo again<br />thanks for all the comments! appreciated.replying to them can be hard because the computers are so slow but they are appreciated.<br /><br />I just got back from a knackering set of transects. Thoroughly enjoying the fact its my weekend now. I plan to get hammered and watch the football.<br /><br />very strange thing happened to me today, i left my tent in teh back of a taxi without realising it and then later when i got a taxi again, it just so happened that I got the sameone by accident.whenwe stopped they calmly handed me my tent. there must be a good few hundred taxis in this area...<br />very strange<br /><br />I also have a good story about a taxi, and old religous man and two enormously obese ladies but that will have to be told in person.<br /><br />I managed to get lost in the woods in the dark last night for about an hour, we were wandering around following this stream. it was not a major problem as its hard to get lost on the island in teh day, we would only have to have waited till light but it was a bit iffy. the feeling of being lost is really not helped by the WHUM WHUM WHUM of giant bats flying past your head I have to say. they make quite a creepy leathery noise.<br /><br />my transect last night in general was a hard one actually, I climbed the best part of a kilometer in height, which is a long way let me tell you, we got lost and then when we camped it was the largest storm ive ever camped in. I was quite scared the top of the tent was going to blow away.<br /><br />a feature of this islandis that there are few places on it that are truely flat, and even then its not for long. so when your halfway up a mountain, and all around it are many more mountains, with valleys, rivers, patches of forest and a plethora of paths, half of which just peter out after having taken you down miles, its bloody easy to get lost, especially when you are doing all this in the dark.<br /><br />Its funny the things that I have gotten used to. for example tonite I shall be having kebabs. I shall buy these at the side of a road I know, its not really a road thatcars go down but the taxi drivers here can get their cars through things you would not expect a car to ever fit down.and then they will somehow find the space to pass another oncoming taxi. anyway this road is a kinda pedestrian area and there is this little bit off to oneside, where there are a bunch of breeze blocks with cardboard on. There are a ton of side alleys, in fact most of the area is side alley here. many of them have become tunnels as storeys get added to houses, causing to meet the house opposite.house here are never built in one go. you just add another storey or room or door when you have the money. anyway there this half blind guy runs a bbq every night, selling roast bananas, kebabs and the sorry excuse for chicken that they sell here which is imported from brazil.<br /><br />I shall then be going onto a bar, which is a kinda courtyard of palmleaf shacks where I will be watching the football in the owners bedroom, where he has a tv. then ill head round the back where my friends who run the place will be and I shall get hammered on coconut booze. the bit round back that we will get hammered in is a little patchof mud surrounded by three walled palm shacks that serve as bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom. there are chickens and cats all over the place. there will probably be old dvds of bob marley or westlife playing in a surreal touch. then I will hope to catch a lift on someones bike or ill walk back. the path back goes through about a mile of a palm hut area known as moronsi back to the stone building area. there Ill cross a bridge that passes over a river of rubbish that will likely be on fire and being eaten by cows, mostlikely at the same time. no joke. and the cows are the healthiest looking I have ever seen. with any luck ill sleep through the religous nutters shouting off the rooftops for the morning prayers.<br /><br />oh and i had owls flying over me last night, was cool.<br /><br />love to all <br />samSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-15463684192033260732010-06-13T23:32:00.000-07:002010-06-13T23:53:32.979-07:00Hi all<br />I was booked to go to the arse end of nowhere today, which involves a massive journey and lots of climing just to get to the tiny village, however it appears there is rain so i am going elsewhere!<br />I cant tell you how glad i am of this.<br />especially as I am going to the mangroves instead!<br />this is wonderfull for two reasons, one I have not worked in mangroves before, despite wanting to and two they are flat. the are fucking flat oh dear god they are flat. I never want to see another mountain again. <br />on the upside I have gotten a lot better at climbing mountains. I reclimbed the first one I climbed when i got here and it was unrecognisable! last time I left at 3 and got back at 11, this time I left at about 4.30 due to my colleague being late and got back at 9.30 in time to watch the world cup! and i did twice as many points! admittadly the speedy return may have been partially due to the fact that we ran back down the mountain so I could watch the football! It was a massive success on that one in fact as I thought that the football started at 8:30 so i was hoping to catch the end but I got back literally as the players walked onto the pitch! wonderfull.<br /><br />The people who live in the house I have been living in co$e back this week, so I will no longer have the house to myself. I will have some company however so that will be exceedingly nice.<br /><br />anyhoo much love<br />samSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-11011669787833763322010-06-13T08:48:00.000-07:002010-06-13T08:53:57.795-07:00Hi<br />tis sunday and a lil late so Im just gonna do a quick one.<br />been crayfishing, ive been eating them for about 3 days now we caught so many!<br /><br />Im off to a village in the mountains until probably thursday tomoz.<br />its all going well, getting good data. Im feeling intensely lazy atm. all I want to do is chill and watch tv.<br />Perhaps tomoz I will have more energy.<br /><br />The habitat of the island is baisically plantations at lower levels or anywhere easy to get to, turning into degraded forest and finally pristine forest depending on how much of a hassle it is to get there.<br />we normally climb 600 metres or so in about 2 kilometers. steep<br />ocassionally we climb faster than that. one bit we climbed 500 metres in 500 metres. was insane.<br /><br />ok too tired for this kinda thing more on thursday if i can get online<br />lve to all<br />samSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-59491762482058985742010-06-10T10:40:00.000-07:002010-06-10T10:49:30.666-07:00Hi all<br />sorry about the delayed update, there have been rolling blackouts and connection problems.<br /><br />It has been much of the same really, lots of mountain climbing in the dark.<br />I have however seen lemurs!<br />a troop of them came to inspect me when we were in teh forest, very cool little creatures. they make the strangest noises. I al very happy to have seen lemurs in the wild, they are damn cool.<br />I also did a transect along a river where I caught a meal load of big crayfish and contemplated catching some of the many eels that we saw. given i was doing all the fishing with my bare (bear?) hands I decided that was a bad idea.<br /><br />I spent last week in a village up in the mountains, its about an hours climb from the nearest road. it was interesting. All the huts were mud grass and various leaves.<br /><br />I have also seen a large number of hermit crabs.for no apparant reason our transect last night was covered in them. Huge ones too. if you startle them they have a whole bunch of escape techniques, from balling up and rolling down the hill to dropping their shells and running off with their soft bodies in tow!<br /><br />other than that im just pottering really, either climbing or sleeping and watching random dvds.<br /><br />love to all hope you are well!<br />samSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-22540555753788725412010-05-30T10:34:00.000-07:002010-05-30T11:17:20.986-07:00Sunday today. i have been chilling for the last couple of days mostly. today I went on an explore to take some photos. i had reasonable success.<br />I then got distracted by some bloke for qbout two hours. one of the problems of talking to people a lot is that occassionally you end up getting sidetracked by people who turn out to be nutters.<br /><br />I am off to the field from tomorrow until next saturday. we are going to a village miles away from the nearest road up in the hills. its going to be all kinds of knackering.<br /><br />Its strange, i have been off since tuesday afternoon just chilling for various reasons and I felt that I had recovered on about friday but now I feel even more tired.<br />hoping that doing the exercise of a week of transects willperk me up. and kill me again likely as not.<br /><br />I have been thinking about doing a little bit of travelling after i have my data. it is fraustrating that I am this close to madagascar but dont really have the time to go there. I plan to go to moheli at some point, one of the other islands of the comoros, and see turtles laying their eggs. they also have a marine reserve so i want to go see that.<br />I think I might go to moheli about 10 days before my flight, see that a bit and then move onto grand comore wjhen I have seen the things I want to see and see some stuff there. madagascar will have to wait.<br /><br />Im getting some great photos out here. i went to gget some of people today, as you have to chat them up a bit first. its easiest if they have a kid cos then i can make them laugh by getting my hair out.<br /><br />the thing ive been trying to capture is the haphazard building approach<br />like 4 storey buildings which reach the other side of the street, have the steps on the outside and have palmleaf huts on the outside. they build buildings over a series of years here, building a new bit when they have the money, meaning that there are loads of empty shells of buildings. there are a lot of ruins as well, many in the center of the town, just big piles of rubble.<br /><br />Ive been reading harry potter.<br />loving the escapism, i always get wonderfully transported by harry potter.<br /><br />anyway nothing much exciting has happened, i have just been relaxing. next week is going to be tough I think.<br /><br />much love to allSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-35055968200768615902010-05-26T08:54:00.000-07:002010-05-26T09:40:21.344-07:00Hi everyone. Loads of people seem to be reading this, im flattered! thankees.<br />So<br />I got back yesterday from the highest mountain on the island. it was knackering,i climbed over a kilometre up, and some of it twice and all of it in the dark.<br />oh and I saw an owl! little more than a sillouette but I saw one.<br /><br />I still cantget over the coconut crabthough, it was HUGE.<br /><br />I have been at home recoveringthe last couple of days, part of what Ihave been doing is waging war on the kitchen cockroaches. they are fucking abhorrant. I have discovered that if the get intothe sink they cantget out so I have been using that and boiling water as one of my main weapons.<br />srsly, the fact that they have no bins here does not help things. though they have had a major river of rubbish burn the last couple of days.<br /><br />I realised today today that I have gotten used to being drenched in sweat. never thought id say that. <br />I hardly speak english here as well. I know one english speaker and I see her once a week tops for a couple of hours, so my french is getting a good workout.<br /><br />I am thoroughly enjoying the fact that there are about 10 white people on the entire island, it means that many people I meet either havent seen a white person or have only seen one or two, which makes me feel a bit like a victorian explorer.<br />and they certainly havent seen one with my hair which is fun.<br /><br />I have been visiting the malagash bar a bit more. I have been proclaimed a brother of the owner, which is nice cos it means i can sit out back where people are more interesting.also he insists on feeding me every time I go, so we sit in his mud hut (which has satelite tv) and eat and talk about deep philosophical questions.<br />I think he is one of the most generous human beings I have ever met. there are a kinda gang of young people who live in his little buisness (he brews all the coconut beer on site and on the same day its drunk) and most of them are orphans or people whos parents have been unable to look after them. Many of them have lived there since they werer children.<br />Its a bit humbling really.<br /><br />I intend to make some bread tomoz, thebread they have here is shite.<br />I need to find yeast however. in order to buy things here you have to know people or get lucky.<br /><br />Ive been largely living off the various pastry things that they sell at the side of the road here. they are very nice. they make this thing here, its kinda like a flapjack made with nuts and ginger. very tasty.<br /><br />anyhoo thats all I can think of for now<br />lots of love and thanks for readingSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-56905744653904699592010-05-23T01:37:00.000-07:002010-05-23T01:50:50.967-07:00So last night I went to a muslim dance thing.<br />I say went to, I mean got a bit sucked into.<br />They had closed off this street and put up party type decorations so I had kinda assumed it was a wedding. Id been casually invited when I walked past so i thought Id go have a look see.<br />I sat just down the road watching for about 10 mins before I got strongly invited in.<br />So, it consisted of many people, all in white gowns and those little hats sitting in four long lines. there was much singing and dancing, but in a kinda religuous "dance in the correct fashion" kinda way. oh and it was men only.<br />I got fairly quickly designated as honoured guest, they put flowers all over me, gave me a kinda scarf thing and one of their hats. there wwas quite a lot of kinda preaching and arabic singing. I was then informed by someone quietly that I was going to give a speech.<br />to about 1000 people or so.<br />So I was handed a very load mic and I told them who I was, where I was from and thanked them for their hospitality.<br />It seemed to go down well and one of their religous leaders stood up and thanked me, mostly for not being french I think.<br /><br />anyway then there was more singing and dancing, with people handing out dates and various snacks.<br />I met a number of priesty imam type figures. I have no idea what the sunnis call their religous leaders.<br /><br />good time had by all really. was very interesting stuff. and I am significantly more known now than I was before I suspect.<br /><br />love to all<br />Oh and Im climbing the highest mountain on teh island today.<br /><br />SamSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-83927115598291908252010-05-21T09:14:00.000-07:002010-05-21T09:36:36.204-07:00Hi everyone<br />So this morningI got back from a very fun transect. I was walking along a ridge that was one metre wide for about 3km. either side were almost sheer drops of 500m+ covered in forest trees. In some places there was literally a tiny 1m path with horizontal trees eitehr side.<br />The views were amazing. one my right was the worlds second largest volcanic crater, and it was HUGE. there are 3 or 4 villages inside it...<br />On my left there was a very cool looking village, in the middle of a plantation forest.the smoke rising off it with the islamic singing was really cool.<br /><br />I have this afternoon and tomorrow off and then Im staying at a lake halfway up the highest mountain on the island, Nztingui i think its called. Hopefully should be a ton of owls there.<br />Ive been getting great data except for a few cancelled morning transects due to waking up at three and the weather being shite.<br />I LOVE that most biological surveying of this sort cant be done in shit weather.<br />Waking up on a mountain summit at three to do more climbing sucks so if you wake up and the tent is being shaken by the wind its loverly to just go back to sleep.<br /><br />I spent a lot of yesterday talking about culture differences and sexism with my comorian colleague.interesting stuff, if a bit wierd. They aernt big on womens rights here to say the least.<br />Aparantly I should hide the fact that I can cook here.for a man to be seen cooking or doing any domestic chores is aparantly social suicide...<br /><br /><br />Sorry if my typing is a bit bad btw, I am typing on an ancient french/arabic keyboard and its not great.<br /><br />I think I am going to see if I can find something to eat now<br />Love to all and thanks for reading<br />SamSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-83503816355367485202010-05-19T07:55:00.000-07:002010-05-19T08:00:33.246-07:00just a quick one. did my first transect, monday to wed. the most physically demanding thing I have ever done by miles.<br />Hoping that the next one wont be to bad.<br />I also saw a coconut crab. it was the size of my head and on a mountain. I love that such a thing exists. srsly it was huge.<br /><br />I also got shouted et by le,urs again.<br />oh also the best thing happened. I was halfway up this mountain, covered in sweat and we found a stream with a pool to bath in. it was one of the best things ever I tell you.<br /><br />I also met the headman of a village.<br /><br />and saw a spider that was too big for me to be ok about.<br />love to all<br />SamSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-83340015652505108492010-05-15T08:26:00.000-07:002010-05-15T08:46:38.189-07:00I have been making preparations today for next week, lots of making marks on maps and worrying about experimental design. Fortunaterly there is nowhere on the island that can't be reached in under a few hours, due to it being widdy. you reach these places by using the single loop road that the island has.<br />I am still meeting many people, people still want to meet a muzunga. I was actually followed by a crowd of children the other day, till a couple of embarressed looking guys told them off :P very strange.<br />I have been reading books a lot here recently and just discovered a memory technique which works very well for my brain. It took me 3 minutes to learn pi to 28 digits. I feel like a superhero.<br />I feel there are lots of little things I should mention about Anjouan. Especially as taking photos will be hard as i think that would be a bit rude here.<br />Many of the women wear white mud on their face. I understand its to stop the suns effects on their skin, keeping them young and beautiful. And eternally muddy.<br /><br />everything has a known price here, for example a coke is 200 francs (40p) and a taxi ride is 300 francs (60p) and everything is exactly the same price wherever you go. There is no haggling and its the same price for white people. I had one guy slightly overcharge me for a cab fair but he looked so deeply embarrassed by what he was doing (charging me an extra 30p) that I was happy to give it to him!<br /><br />There are millions of ways of saying hello here, from all different languages and people like to kinda test you by firing two or three at you. They are very happy when you know them!<br /><br />there are cows and goats and chickens everywhere, seemingly without owners. I have seen a flock of goats very determinedly trotting down a road completely on their own quite a few times. They live off the rubbish, there is no rubbish disposal system here whatsoever. Despite this the seem extremely healthy, though the cats and chickens are all tiny. Mmmm The rubbish ends up in the dry or not so dry river beds, producing a river of rubbish. every now and again someone sets alight to it, presumably a form of disposal.<br /><br />Given the amount of plastic wrapping they get through, its a little shocking.<br /><br />anyhoo I'm off to memorise things<br />love to allSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-10709814597697827912010-05-12T13:26:00.000-07:002010-05-12T13:36:12.868-07:00SO today I walked up into the forest! It was fucking epic. I am so goddam tired. In height alone I climbed over a kilometre and then down again. in the dark. Also we got great data, which bodes really fucking well. goddam it was good. proper rainforest. fucking scary coming down in the dark though. also I trod on a giant snail, which was most upsetting as it looked like my pet snails (also giant african land snails). I say fireflies. They are every bit as magical as you can imagine and then some. I was sitting on the side of a very steep slope, the mountains rolling down below me, listening for owls and they were just flitting through the trees, eerie little lights looking very much like they didn't really belong outside of mythology. I am completely nackered but elated. and I shall do it all again tomoz.<br /><br />sleep now<br />SamSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-56573335852958436562010-05-11T13:16:00.000-07:002010-05-11T13:17:07.346-07:00started to arrange stuff today. Looks like im going to have a very exhausting schedule, climbing up mountains most days. Should be good. It chucked it down today. looks epic, there is mist all around the mountain tops and everything is very green, so you get these forests dissappearing into the mist, towering over the city. I tried to get some photos but ended up chatting to a guy named Bouba. Most of my walks and things get sidetracked by meeting people.<br />Tomorow I am going to climb my first mountain, we are doing a first test transect. I shall also be buying a sim card!<br />I think I will have a lie in as well. Woop!<br />I'm hoping to see the biggest bat species in the world too, a 2 metre wingspan!<br /><br />I love the lizards here, they live in peoples houses and appear to be territorial as they only appear individually and there is only one that goes onto our sitting room window. I say window, hole with gauze over it. Most houses here don't have glass in the windows, and ours is no exception. There is a baby one that lives in my room. Its about 4 cm long. They are both bright green.<br /><br />Also while I am rambling wildly, the dreams I am getting here are insane. I think its the heat, but srsly. In one the other night I went to the loo and gave birth to 40 crayfish. Scarily enough I thought it was real at the time...<br /><br />Oh yes and last night I was woken up by a cockroach trying to burrow into my ear. The most unpleasent wakening I have ever had.<br /><br />Thats all for now<br />Love to all<br />SamSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-1689934285677451982010-05-10T08:58:00.000-07:002010-05-10T09:15:53.604-07:00Monday week one<br />So I went into the office today. Exciting stuff, met all the people who work there, its quite a big project. Its all run by this guy Hugh, whos house I'm staying at. Very bright and generous man. I met the three local guys who I will be working with, all very friendly. The french is battering my brain about quite a bit, getting to grips with the accent is tricky. Also when people slip Comorian words into sentences that confuses the hell out of me. On wednesday and thursday we will do trial runs of the method, which should be good. then for four days a week for the next month or so I should be staying out at various places in the field getting data. Exciting stuff. The heat here is knackering still. I got home and slept for two hours. Also it gets dark at about 6:30, which I find strange as I associate summer conditions with late evenings. Prayers have just started, you can hear them calling from the mosques all over the town.<br />Lunch today was fish and fried green bananas with a sauce that tasted of pepper spray.<br />I have decided I do not like fried green bananas, although apparantly those were not good ones. Whilst the food here can be good, some of it is best eaten in the dark. Which as it turns out is where you eat it as most street food is sold in little palmleaf huts.<br /><br />anyhoo thats all for now<br />love to all.<br />pls comment!Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-83795810746855872662010-05-08T23:40:00.000-07:002010-05-08T23:57:16.963-07:003rd dayHad quite an eventfull day yesterday. I went for an explore in the morning and met many people. Everyone is very friendly. Especially as there aren't many Muzungus (white people) here so they all want to talk to one. I went to a beach and watched giant bats drinking sea water. not the biggest bats, these ones only(?) have a metre or so wingspan. We ate supper in a small palm leaf hut by the side of the road. Cassava, grated papaya and brussets which are basically kebabs. We then went onto a bar. It turns out that alcohol is not quite as prohibited as you might think. This may be partially due to the fact that law enforcment is nonexistant here. I don't think there is any form of it on the island in fact. Possible exception of two exceedingly bored looking guards outside the bank. So anyway this bar was made of palm leaves and the alcohol it sells is fermented palm oil. It tastes like motor oil. but its 1 euro a litre so what the hey. A strange thing about this country is that they don't produce much themselves, most things are imported. So the chicken for example comes from Brazil. I understand this is because its of such poor chemically treated quality that nowhere else will buy it, making it extremely cheap, cheaper in fact than trying to raise chickens here. The strange combination of imported and local goods means there are some strange price differences. The kebab meal I had cost around a euro I think including a coke (theres a tiny factory on the island and they recycle bottles so enthusiastically that you can't take coke bottles out of the shop, you have to drink it there). A half pint of beer in a can however costs 3 euros. and I saw a horn for a car that cost £60. As far as I can make out the deficit caused by the fact that they import everything and export nothing is made up for by the fact that they all go to France to earn money. Meaning that most families living here have a number of people in France sending back wages.<br />I'm going to see if UI can upload some photos shortly. We shall have to see if I can get that to work<br /><br />SamSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9138461146650465318.post-56887916889840765782010-05-07T10:59:00.000-07:002010-05-07T11:08:18.898-07:00I arrived in Matasmudu today.Its a village by the side of the sea. The mountains tower up above it and the sides are steep, so the city is a kind of strip betwixt sea and mountain. it has 12,000 inhabitants and is the capital of Anjouan. There is a medina and many mosques, mostly built by the arabs. I'll probably go for a proper explore tomoz. Its quite a strange place here, whilst it is definaterly Africa, people are slightly richer on average, despite the rubbish everywere and all the buildings being built out of breeze blocks, (some) people have dvd players and tvs. this is possibly because there is a strong french connection so many people go to work in france and send money back. There is also no crime. This is a combination of high levels of muslim belief and a small tight community. this means that if anything goes missing it can normally be located by asking around. In fact there are stories of things being stolen and after asking around the stuff has been recovered a couple of towns along. Anyhoo I'm going to go for an evening stroll.<br />love to all<br />SamSamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17430171658267239993noreply@blogger.com5