Nebraska to Namibia: from Sandhills to sand dunes

And back to Nebraska...

2009-12-23T04:52:00.002-06:00

Home again. A blizzard closing in from Kansas and Colorado. Friends and family. Too much to do before Christmas. Realizing how far it really is between Namibia and Nebraska. No really good way to close out this blog.

Maybe a toss backward to some favorite blogs of the year. A year in review:

January: Kelly's report on shopping
February: Larkin locked in the men's room
March: We tackle our first camping trip with the Bates family
April: We visit Uapii's farm (also Tristan's story)
May: Larkin blogs about wildlife ownership in Namibia and Tristan saves a ship full of sailors
June: Nebraskans visit and some insights on nature from Namibians
July: Polytechnic students eat our classroom exercise, Mom and Dad Powell visit, and we have fun at the Zambian border
August: a bit about poaching, Namibia comes apart at the seams, and Larkin is passed over in the early 'weeding out' phase of the Mr. Polytechnic competition
September: birds in the house, Kelly's pre-school kids, WIS Sports Day (Tristan's blog), and baseball
October: Larkin's brother, Noel, visits
November: We braai a turkey and Larkin is investigated by the Sewage Board
December: We look at one last sunset in Namibia

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that
goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living."
--Miriam Beard
Thanks for traveling with us this year. It's been a pleasure.

Out of Africa: culture shocks and more problems with pants

2009-12-17T09:55:00.004-06:00

We made it safely to London, and Tristan's first 'wish' for his return the northern hemisphere came true. McDonald's in Victoria Square Station in central London. A year without fast food. Wow, those fries tasted good!

We started noticing some odd little cultural things as we walked through the Frankfurt airport. One of those over-the-top jewelry stores was right next to the gate where we disembarked from our plane from Namibia. I turned to Kelly and noted that this was quite different than buying jewelry from Himba's. Quite a little culture shock to our system.

Waited for a train for London's Underground on an above-ground platform in the snow and wind on the way to the hotel. Temps hovering at about -2C. It was 38C in Windhoek on the day we left.

For those of you who remember Tristan's problem with his pants on the way to Namibia last December, you will have to laugh along with this 'pants update'. When we went to claim our luggage today, in London, Tristan's bag was nowhere to be seen. This time, it was not Dad's fault. Blame British Airways, I guess. But, once again, Tristan is living on one pair of pants for a day or so in London. One pair of everything, actually. His bag is supposed to be delivered to our hotel tomorrow.

Last Namibian sunset

2009-12-15T13:40:00.005-06:00

The house is clean. Car ("Poly") has been returned. Bags are packed. Good-bye's are said. Family is still talking to one another.

We are away from Windhoek on a local farm near the airport, spending our last night in Namibia. Still shaking our heads that this is over.

The last sunset did not let us down. A great farewell display from a country that has been a pleasure to explore.

Hunting with Orion

2009-12-13T07:38:00.003-06:00

It was a nice surprise to see Orion when we arrived in Namibia,
Although the image of the hunter plunging headlong with his sword into the night sky was odd.
A world upside-down.

But, regardless of angle, we had a friend in this new land.
A sun-loving celestial body who had joined us on our journey from frigid North America for more southerly pursuits.

Only in the southern hemisphere does Orion promise warmth and long days.
And he was true to his word.
Until, one night, we searched and realized we’d been left alone. No hunter to guard our night skies.

Winter. Planning evenings around when we could use the space heater or how long we could stand cold tile on our feet until escaping into piles of blankets.
A warm bed. A long winter with unfriendly stars.
Orion was hiding behind the sun and even the sun is shy during winter.

Last week, we looked up and realized our friend had returned.
The hunter had found us, and with him came warmth, rain, and longer days.

But we were like the houseguest who stops by to break your morning and then tells you she must leave because she has something much more important to do than to talk to you.
Orion was back. A reminder to us that we had to leave.
To apologize while walking backwards.

To travel north long after the birds have gone south.
To find ourselves in darkness and cold again.

But, still, with Orion.
Our connection between grassland and bushveld.
A messenger between worlds.

And so, we will sit in the cold and we will dream of summer.
We will dream of hunting with Orion.

--L. Powell, Otjiwarongo, Namibia

"Beneath the Sand": your invitation to our photo show

2009-12-12T22:47:00.013-06:00

If you have nowhere else to be on Friday, January 22, 2010, consider stopping by Hardin Hall on UNL's East Campus from 3:00-4:30 pm.

Our family has thought a lot about how to share our year with our family and friends. We've taken 13,500 photos during the year. Each of us (Larkin, Kelly, and Tristan) has really enjoyed being behind the lens at one time or another, and Namibia is a wonderful place to capture imagery.

So, the Powell Family Photo Show was born as one way to share our experiences and the stories behind the photos. We call it "Beneath the Sand: a photojourney of our year in Namibia."

You're invited. Stop by. Seventy-two of our best photos (in large-format) and some of Larkin's writing will be on display in Hardin Hall's Second Floor Lobby. We'll also have some of our other interesting 'finds' from the year (probably a basket or two). Some Namibian games for kids. And, a bit of refreshment. Maybe some mopane worms...

The photos will remain on display during 22-29 January 2010. Here's a little video teaser to tempt you (click play button).

Photo credits. Tristan: cheetah cub; Kelly: roller, meerkat, Himbas, and lion.

If you are a glutton for punishment...

2009-12-11T10:46:00.002-06:00

...you can bookmark my new blog, designed for everyday use in environs away from (but potentially including, again, someday) Namibia.

It's called A Land Ethic and will include: "Ideas, information, and discussions regarding conservation and wildlife management in the Great Plains and beyond."

Sorry, "Nebraska to Namibia". Kind of feels like I'm about to go behind the chicken house and put my old dog down. Didn't mean it that way...you did your job. Over 8500 hits as of today, an average of over 60 per day. Not too shabby for a blog from Nebraska written by some guy with just enough time on his hands to be dangerous.

Only a few posts left until NTN becomes a time capsule. Hope you have enjoyed the ride.

How big is Africa?

2009-12-11T08:43:00.003-06:00

One of my high school friends, Chris, works quite a bit in Africa. Recently, he posted this graphic on his facebook page. In the thieving, sharing spirit of the world wide web, I've grabbed it to post here (it does have the original source listed). Interesting, eh?

Another 'neighborhood product' from southern Iowa, Amy, did a Fulbright stint in Malawi earlier this year. She has a great post and follow-up about people confused about where the "capital of Africa" is... The general point is that Americans don't know much about Africa. Now, be honest and admit it...when we told you we were coming to Namibia, you didn't know where it was did you? Well, until a few years ago, neither did we.

Well, after a year in Namibia, we probably don't know all there is to know about Namibia, much less the rest of Africa. But, we do know that Africa is not a country. And, now you know how big Africa is.

It is not a bad idea to learn more about Africa. China is investing strongly in many African countries as there are raw materials to be had. Namibia, for example, is bound to become one of the largest uranium exporters in the near future. There are many interesting books about the current "neocolonialism" or re-colonization of Africa. A fellow blogger in Namibia this year, Amanda, has a couple of good blogs (here and here) about people and NGO's coming to Africa. In fact, I commented on the topic myself, once. The future of Africa is up for grabs, it appears. Stay tuned.

Little dots on a map

2009-12-11T08:09:00.004-06:00

Kelly had a great idea earlier this year. We started putting dots on a highway map of Namibia to show where we had stayed the night or visited. Pink dots for night stays and yellow dots for visits or tourist stops during the day.

We had three groups visit us in Namibia, so those trips added to the dots. Some dots had little "L"'s or "T"'s on them to show that was a place that Larkin or Tristan stayed the night without the rest of us.

Not including our house in Windhoek or our initial hotel in Windhoek, we have stayed at 37 different places in Namibia during the year. Eight of those are "Larkin only" (mostly communal conservancy research and Polytechnic excursions with students) and one is a "Tristan only" site (his school excursion).

In addition to these 37 lodges/camps/farms/guest farms, our map has 29 yellow dots indicating major stops to visit some kind of tourist site or other destination. This does not count all of the tourist destinations in Windhoek or nearby.

The gaps in our map (no dots) are the Kalahari in southeastern Namibia, the far northwest region of Namibia up near Angola, the area around Fish River Canyon in the far south, and the area in far eastern Namibia, below the Caprivi. We made it to Zambia and Botswana, but not South Africa. You have to leave some for next time, right?!

We had a goal, when we came to Namibia, of seeing the country. I designed my research to get us away from Windhoek and out around this diverse country. Kelly set an aggressive budget agenda to save money for traveling. I think we met our goal! I doubt we can say we've stayed in that many places or seen that many destinations in our home state of Nebraska!

One last trip, and now...let the packing begin

2009-12-09T22:01:00.004-06:00

After Tristan's last day of School, we had time to squeeze in one last trip together. Larkin is finishing some interviews with commercial farmers, so we headed up to an area north of Windhoek, near Otjiwarongo.

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We spent a night with the Beckers, a husband and wife that we met in a cafe in Otjiwarongo during a trip with Larkin's brother. They invited us to come by their farm, as Peter had spent time in Nebraska in the 1970's....even on East Campus at UNL (where Larkin works). We had a great time on their farm. They are members and officers in the Kalkveld Conservancy, so we worked an interview in during our stay.

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We then visited the Waterberg plateau, where Larkin had spent time with his students during the past year. We stayed at the guest farm of the president of the Waterberg Conservancy, and also completed another interview.

Then, it was off to Kamanjab to deliver 51 copies of the CD we created for the Kamanjab Combined School Choir. A whirlwind trip through a country that is starting to 'green up' after new spring rains (photo above is of a rainstorm on the plains near Otjiwarongo). Lots of calves in cattle yards and young kudu, oryx, and impala. Spring has arrived in Namibia. Our photos of the trip are on the Picasa site.
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Now, the packing begins in earnest.

With a little time and some scissors...

2009-12-09T21:37:00.003-06:00

First, the legalese.... Tristan has given permission for his likeness to be used in this blog, so long as we don't make too much fun of him. So, we will try to not cross any ethical lines....
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This story happened while Dad was at the CCF Training Course last week, and Mom was helping Tristan get ready for school. For a bit of background, Tristan has been growing his hair longer, and longer this year. Evidently, it had reach the point where his bangs were in his eyes.

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So, the decision was clear. It was time to get the bangs cut. So, while Mom was not watching, he went to the mirror with a pair of scissors and chopped off his bangs. Almost down to the roots. Then, he put a cap on and went to school. Mom noticed nothing.
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When Mom picks Tristan up from school later that day, his hat is not on, and Mom thinks he has been attacked by some band of thieves during school. When Dad comes home from his trip, a giggling group meets him at the front door and the photo shows all:

Perhaps the most ironic part of the story is that we had our final haircuts scheduled for the next day with Sonja, our wonderful hairdresser from South Africa. So, she worked her magic, and with a little spiking and hair gel, Tristan is as good as new.

Parenting lessons to be drawn from this experience:

1. If Tristan offers to cut your hair, don't take him up on it. Although the bangs were cut fairly straight. Maybe with practice.

2. Just because you make it through almost 12 years without a hair cutting incident does not mean it will never happen.

3. Always make sure you stay in good terms with your hairdresser, just in case you need them in an emergency.

Cheetah Conservation Fund: International Training Course

2009-12-09T14:34:00.004-06:00

During the first week in December, I was asked to come provide some instruction at the Cheetah Conservation Fund's International Training Course. The CCF holds a month-long course for biologists/managers from around African and in Iran...biologists who will benefit from learning about management of predators, especially.

I provided some material on mark-recapture analyses and also a lecture on decision-making in natural resources. I've enjoyed my interactions with CCF and its staff this year. There are some exciting plans about working together on various projects in the future, including a goal of having graduate students from Namibia coming to UNL to do their MS or PhD degrees.

Here is a photo journal of my 2-day stay at CCF.

The road into CCF. The Waterberg Plateau is in the background. I arrived in the evening, and it was like a nature drive on the way to CCF.

A warthog stops long enough for me to take his photo on the way to CCF.

The full moon rises over the Waterberg Plateau.

So, I'm sitting in my room, preparing my mark-recapture lecture, and I hear a rustling at my window. Turns out it is inside my room, on the window. A little gecko. Little reminders you are in Namibia and not Nebraska.

The participants in the mark-recapture theory lecture (my lecture) got to go out and experience capture of cheetahs for real. We set this cheetah trap near a 'play tree' using the tree as the bait...the cheetahs want to go sit on the tree. Here, the students shovel sand and grass inside the trap to hide the wires and trip-treadle on the bottom.

Our group (half of the students) with our trap, ready to catch a cheetah. There were students from 7-8 African countries and Iran.

Another mark-recapture technique. The students set digital trail cameras to capture photos of cheetahs. The CCF's research staff then use unique patterns of spots to identify the wild cheetahs on the photos. I am helping them analyze this data set.

One last drive around the CCF "Big Field" before I leave. Some hartebeest bid me farewell.

Exit stage left

2009-12-09T13:36:00.003-06:00

It is just simply unbelievable that a year has past, and we are almost ready to board the plane and start the journey home. What a year, indeed.

This past Friday, I had my exit interview with Polytechnic's Rector, Dr. Tjama Tjivikua. The Rector and his office have done an extraordinary job to provide a smooth year for us, and it was a good conversation about the year and future plans.

If you want to read the details of my professional year in Namibia, you can see my final report (a PDF file) to Polytechnic of Namibia by clicking here.

Thanks to everyone at the Polytechnic for their assistance! In the photo below: the Rector, some guy from Nebraska, Ms. Neaveara Olivier (International Relations), and the Polytechnic's Director of Rectorate Affairs. They presented me a copy of The Atlas of Namibia.

One big reason to stay in Namibia

2009-12-09T13:15:00.003-06:00

I know everyone wants us to come home. But, really, can you blame us for wanting to stay in Namibia? Here are two photos, taken on the same day. Where would you rather be? Shoveling snow or enjoying a cool swim near the Waterberg plateau?

Thanks to Joel, our friend and housesitter, for ruining our day with his photo of our house back in Lincoln after their lil' blizzard. But, interesting to compare to a photo we took almost exactly a year ago.

Thanksgiving in Namibia

2009-11-29T02:25:00.003-06:00

For those wondering how the holidays are celebrated in Namibia, here's a list of what is happening at Thanksgiving time:

We celebrated on Thanksgiving Day by going out to eat with our Fulbright friends, the Bates family. No turkey on the menu, and we realized it might be our last time at the Portuguese place that we've frequented in the past. So, we all ordered things we'd been looking at but hadn't ordered before. Larkin's monster beef kabob skewer was good. Kelly's grilled meat with beans and rice was nice. Reid wasn't sure what to make of his traditional dish that he ordered. When it arrived, it was garnished with a raw egg. Not in the description on the menu.

The Windhoek holiday craft sale was in full swing last week. It reminded Kelly of the annual St. Mark's craft sale in Lincoln. Many local folks have craft businesses as a way to have some additional income, and Christmas was in the air.

There is no Black Friday shopping day here. But, Kelly got a taste of Black Friday parking lot stand-stills when she delivered Tristan to a birthday party on Saturday. It was election day, and the party was held next to a polling place. And, next to a grocery store. It was the day after pay day. So, the election and pay-day combined to stop traffic in all directions.

Turkey is not a typical thing to find in grocery stores here. We heard that the Spar, an up-scale local grocery, might have them. After searching for several minutes, we asked at the meat counter. They had them, but they were in the back. And, the only option was a 3-kg (about 6 pounds) turkey. But, nice birds.

When Larkin was down south at Farm Namtib last week, he told his hosts that we were hosting a holiday dinner. They asked if we needed a turkey. Turns out these enterprising farmers, on the edge of the Namib Desert, raise a small flock of turkeys. So, just when we thought there might be no turkeys available in Namibia, we had turkeys running out our ears.

We had the Nature Conservation department over to the house for Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday. The turkeys were cooked on the braai, and we added the braai 'doors' to make an oven. We compared two methods of cooking the turkeys. A favorite local method for cooking a chicken is to insert a 'tall boy' beverage can in the bird, so it roasts standing up with moisture delivered internally. One of Larkin's colleagues has taken this method to the extreme by welding a 'frame' to hold the can on the braai. We borrowed it. It turns out that the turkey's legs are a little longer than a chicken's, so the turkey appears to be relaxing as it grills, with the legs pulled out to the sides. We also tried the traditional roasting pan. We put a dutch oven with water beneath the birds to provide moisture and cook them with indirect heat (a suggestion from a turkey griller in the US...thanks, Brenda). The braai reached a fairly constant temperature of about 190 degrees F, and we cooked them for about 3.5 hours. The winner: tall boy. Hands down the fastest to the finish line. But, the turkeys were cooked well using both methods. Not quite as moist as the turkey bag/oven method, but quite nice.

It is tradition at Namibian parties to bring your own meat. Even though we told folks that we were supplying hartebeest stroganoff, mashed potatoes, and turkey, our friends came laden with more protein. After the turkeys were cleared, sheep steaks and boerwors (sausage) were cooked up by respective braai-ers. We will miss the depth of the grilling custom that we've experienced in Namibia. It really is an art form, and worthy of copying the actual physical braai area, as well as spirit of gathering to socialize and enjoy an evening together.
The rainy season has begun, in sporadic fashion. Late afternoon thunderstorms or showers are becoming more frequent.
Windhoekers are preparing for the annual exodus to the coast, as temperatures rise. The whole town pretty much closes down as people move to their second homes or holiday rental homes at the coast. Kelly's preschool closes this next week, Tristan's school is out on Dec. 4 (no more baseball), Kelly's women's club had its last meeting until January, and many of Larkin's fellow lecturers are making plans for moving to the coast now that exams are over.
We have much for which to be thankful. A great year. Now, off to pack.

The effects of trophy hunting on neighbors

2009-11-25T11:21:00.003-06:00

Today, I visited the Seeis (pronounced "sea ice") Commercial Conservancy east of the Windhoek International Airport. I was at the farm of one of the leadership committee, where (ironically) I had hunted warthog earlier this year with our friends from Nebraska.

Commercial conservancies are groups of private landowners who come together in some form of agreement to share resources. The agreements vary, but often professional hunters can access land of various owners, and there are some projects funded by conservancies (wildlife research or marketing campaigns to encourage tourists to come stay at farms on the conservancy).

During my questions about how the conservancy was structured and what kinds of activities the conservancy offered, the wife offered an interesting perspective on the effects that trophy hunting has had on their neighborhood. I'll try to paraphrase her thoughts.

"Before trophy hunting began," she started, "we were all cattle farmers. We got together to braai, to talk, to socialize. Now, many of our neighbors have become professional hunters [a licensed status that enables you to guide hunts] and they are making lots of money from trophy hunting. It is quick money, and good money."

"But," she continued, "we never see them any more. They are always busy with their hunts. Every day of the week. We have trouble even scheduling one meeting a year for our conservancy, and even then some people don't show up. Cattle farmers had flexibility in their schedule. These trophy hunters do not."

"And," she said, "they don't really need us neighbors anymore. First of all, when things are going well, you don't need your neighbors as much. Things are going well for them. They are making lots of money. So, they don't need us. And, second, they have guests around all of the time. When we were all cattle farmers, we would get together just to talk to someone, because it's lonely on the farm. But, now they have hunting guests almost every day of the year, and they are tired of talking. So, we don't see them. It has ruined our neighborhood."

I have to say that I never thought of the social consequences of trophy hunting on neighbors in Namibia. Interesting, eh? This is why you go interview people....you can't make this stuff up.

On the edge of the Namib

2009-11-25T11:17:00.002-06:00

Days of dust.
Dry days.
A cloud, and a smile.
Cattle. Counting the ribs as a countdown to death.
Crowding waterpoints.
An endless valley to search for good grasses.
A valley reminding every cow
It should have been born a goat or an oryx or a springbok.
Like a rabbit from a hat
Springbok pull greenness from dry grass that cattle pass.
And, then the springbok are gone.
Scrambling under fences
Away from cattle and goats.
Secreting to camps of pale green
Hidden where farmers don’t go.
The scent of rain, and springbok herds move.
Green grass will greet them.
Cattle watch behind fences as the horizon
Steals the clouds.
Dry days.
Good years, every so often.
A reason to stay.
A reason to push through droughts.
Years for growth and building
While there is money.
And then, without grass
The money goes away.
Survival.
Dry days.
Rocks make feet stronger
But shoes wear out faster.
Droughts make good neighbors
Who wait for rain together.
Bad years build stamina, character
And every drink of water tastes sweeter.
Miles from electricity
The stars tell bedtime stories.
The Namib makes men strong and smart
And makes smiles rare.
Lonely valleys build strong towns.
No churches but hotels
With big lawns and shade trees
And Saturday night dances.
Dry days.
Life on the edge.
Together.

L. Powell, in Helmeringhausen

Spending time in big, dry spaces

2009-11-25T10:48:00.004-06:00

Last weekend, I ran down south to the Helmeringhausen area to interview some farmers about their commercial conservancy and private nature reserve. It's about 6-8 hours south of Windhoek and in the driest area of Namibia. Annual rainfall is 70-100mm, which is 3-4 inches.

You can't go through a space like this without having some admiration for the people who live there, and try to bang out a living on rocks and a little bit of grass.

Some photos from my trip are up on our Picasa site.

During the trip, I realized that Namibia, in general, makes you simultaneously want to quickly leave but also go back to examine what you just saw. It's a feeling we've had many times this year. Repulsion, but curiousity. Fear, but comfort. Anger, but contentment.

Here's how that feeling manifested itself for me on the way home from my trip south...

The Road to Maltahöhe *

Racing. My truck flies over stones.
Airborne as we come out of rainwashed ravines.
Towards Maltahöhe.

Uphill. All the way we climb
Through the wash plains of the plateau to the southeast.
The book says when Gondwana broke up and South America
Moved away from Africa
The edge of the continent lifted.
Free of Argentina. Free of Brazil.
Lighter. Floating on magma.
Then, the rains, eons of rains. And winds, eons of winds
Carved this lip, this newly freed land.
Now, plateaus make stairsteps toward the ocean
And rivers of rocks run to meet the sea.

Counting. I keep track of the years as I drive.
Layers in the plateau.
Ocean, desert, ocean.
Sand, limestone, sand.
Climbing. we pass through millions of years, surely,
As the road rises.
Towards Maltahöhe.

Contemplating. Why am I racing?
Isn’t this country to explore?
But, the rivers of rocks and carved stone suggest
What can happen if you stand still in this country.
The wind and the rain.
I listen to the rocks of the plateau and the wind gusting on my truck.
Still speeding
Towards Maltahöhe.

Aha, I say, as I see him.
I knew it, the rocks told the truth.
A farmer fixing the fence.
Living here on gravel plains beneath the plateau.
His forearms scarred like the cliffs, perhaps Acacia trees or barbed wire?
His face furrowed and tanned like sandstone. The sun and the wind.
His hands gnarled like a twisting, dead tree, grasping wire. Pushing posts through rock.
His leg misshapen like the valley. Perhaps a run-in with a leopard or a fall from horseback?
Look what this valley can do to a man.
I wave and push faster.
Towards Maltahöhe.

Escaping. I reach the town.
Atop the plateau.
Away from wind and rocks.
The streets are teaming with more farmers
Bartering for fencing and supplies.
Limping, twisted, slowed. The entire lot marked by the land.
I slow to watch.

Understanding. It is their way.
To push back against the wind and the rain.
To try to tame the veld.
To argue with Nature.
To stand in the middle of endless time.
To know your fate will be decided by the elements.
To shout at the cliffs.
Scarred, moved, and beaten.
A record of a life lived.
Really lived.
A life recorded on forearms, hands, and faces.

Envious. I want to go back
And drive slowly.
To stop and fix fence.
To stand under the plateau in the wind.
To live.
To live on the road to Maltahöhe.

L. Powell, near Maltahöhe

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* "höhe" means "hill" in Afrikaans. Maltahöhe is literally "Malta's Hill", evidently named by an early Afrikaaner who had a wife named Malta.

Buying the election

2009-11-20T17:21:00.002-06:00

All kinds of fun stories leading up the election on Nov. 27 and 28th. When your political party holds power, and wants to keep it, it seems like nothing stands in the way of making a few 'gifts' before the election.

1. Several Polytechnic students report that the SWAPO government has paid their student grants in full (usually half) and added money to cover transport and books. I must say that I noticed a marked improvement in the fashion sense of many students after these funds were distributed. Some clothing stores made out fairly well in the deal. But, ask any student who they are voting for (now), and there is usually no hesitation!

2. The Namibian newspaper has been slowly tracking a story of special student bursaries (study grants) provided to students in Namibia by the Chinese government to study in China. One of my Ecology II students dropped out of class during the first month of the semester and is one of the lucky awardees. Turns out that the awards were given to children of influential SWAPO leaders. Read more about it in the New York Times, as part of their series on how China is buying influence around the world.

3. Article in The Namibian newspaper today about gifts of Toyota double-cap pickups given to each traditional tribal chief in Namibia (48 of them!). There is a wonderful photo of a line of white pick-up trucks waiting for their new owners who are milling around like kids in a candy store. They are gifts from the SWAPO party. No, wait. They are gifts from the taxpayers of Namibia...each was purchased with taxpayer money. If the chief cannot drive himself, the government provides a driver for him, too. What a deal!

It is no wonder that when a watch-group presented their world corruption ratings this week, Namibia ranks as a highly corrupt country (56th most corrupt out of 180 rated countries; New Zealand and Denmark were the least corrupt). So, Namibia is not the worst, but still corrupt.

It's hard to imagine the little corrupt things that plague society getting cleaned up if these large blatant acts of corruption are front page news. Just for the record, Polytechnic lecturers did not receive Toyota trucks. Yet.

Christmas in November

2009-11-20T17:02:00.003-06:00

Windhoek closes down in December, as everyone heads to the coast. Schools are out in the first week of December. For this reason, Christmas plays have to be presented in November. The tinsel is already hanging over streets, in parks, and in supermarkets.

This evening, we attended the Future Professor Pre-Primary School's graduation and Christmas play. Kelly's class of 16 students had 12 graduate...they will attend Year One in primary school next year. It was a happy night for parents and students.

The cutest part of the evening was when Teacher Sussie had the graduates explain what they wanted to be when they grow up. There were three answers from the 12 students. "I want be a doctor so I can save people." "I want to be a policeman so I can reduce crime in Namibia." "I want to be a singer so I can make people happy." 8 doctors, 3 policeman, and 1 singer. Maybe that is about the right proportion for society, eh?! They had obviously practiced their answers, as they were very emphatic and crisp answers.

For the Christmas play, the students all had memorized a line to shout into the microphone to describe the first Christmas, and they sang 6-7 songs.

Here are some really bad mobile phone videos of the somewhat chaotic, but enthusiastic and heartfelt renditions of some favorites.

Merry Christmas to everyone from Namibia!!!

Signs around Windhoek

2009-11-19T15:02:00.002-06:00

It's a slow week for news from Windhoek, so we're stretching a bit for a new blog posting. Just a couple of signs that we've spotted in town.

It has been interesting to view advertising in Namibia. I wouldn't say that advertising has reached its full potential here, and there are lots of quasi-lousy attempts. Witness, the Namibia Tourism Board's problems with getting their message across (previous blog here): "Tourism unravels you [sic] spiritual wellbeing!"

First, from a church in Eros part of town:

OK, but survival beats mortality as a way of living, right?! Maybe you have to be a wildlife biologist who studies survival to grin at this one...

And, from a business in the Northern Industrial Zone:

Just in case you wondered where the chickens and fish were meeting, er, meating. What does a "meated" chicken look like, anyway? Especially when it's been meated by a fish...?

Katutura tour: Uapii-style

2009-11-15T15:11:00.009-06:00

Our year in Namibia is beginning to wind down, so one would think we've explored just about everything we could have in the past 11 months. Think again.

Katutura is a 'township' in Windhoek where the black population was moved in the early 1960's under the apartheid program. It is a Herero word, meaning "The place you don't want to live," which should give you an idea of the history of Windhoek.

Katutura is on the north end of Windhoek. We haven't ignored Katutura. We've driven through it, we've visited Uapii (the Polytechnic agriculture student, the "Cattleman from Kunene" who has served as our tour guide extraordinaire this year), Kelly has volunteered at a couple children's centers, Kelly's visited women's craft centers, Larkin has dropped Polytechnic students off near their homes after field trips. But, we haven't explored it. We hadn't had a chance to see how people live.

Today, we did.

Uapii had invited us on a Katutura tour. He heads back to the family farm in the northwest portion of Namibia tomorrow, and he wanted to give us a personal tour of his surroundings in Katutura. While he attends Polytechnic, he lives with his cousin who is an administrator at Bank Windhoek. They have a wonderfully nice home in Katutura.

We started the day by picking up Aaron Price, a UNL graduate who is finishing up a 6-month internship with World Wildlife Fund in Windhoek. Aaron has had the "Uapii Tour" a couple of times before, and highly recommended it.

We have placed a good-sized series of photos with lots more description and stories on the Picasa photo site, but here is a condensed version of the day, with some photos. Things you won't see here, but will see on the photo site: sheep heads, lion heads, cow heads, SWAPO Tristan, and Herero Kelly,

We visited several markets. It was a Sunday, and early afternoon, so many people were lined up to get their lunch from people selling cooked meat (mostly beef). This is one of my favorite salespersons, creating a SWAPO-colored item while she waits for customers.

Uapii also showed us a local park, where many students were studying for exams. This park is called the UN Plaza, and (as you might guess) was created with funds from the UN.

We also had a chance to explore some back-roads in the 'informal settlements' of Katutura. While most of the homes in Katutura are small, cement-block homes with running water and toilets, the informal settlements really take you into a different world. As Uapii said when we entered the area, "Now you are in Africa!" The settlements consist of plots of land with tin shacks. There are communal toilets and communal drinking water points.

Although it is easy for a tourist to look upon these conditions in wonder, one must remember that the majority of Namibians live in very similar conditions on the communal conservancies, where their homes (similar sized and shaped) are made of trees and mud/dung. That is, the house does not have to be big to be a home. One cannot help noticing that the area is very clean and mostly orderly. Most people who live in the informal settlements have arrived from the north, looking for work, and work as security guards, gardeners, or house cleaners for less than US$15/day (many far less than that...security guard minimum wage is US$0.50/hour).

We stopped and talked to one group, and as often happens, Kelly ended up holding a baby.

We ended the tour back at Uapii's cousin's home, where they had prepared a meal of lamb, boerwors (sausage), green salad, sweet pap (corn porridge), and ice cream. A wonderful way to end the day. We sat around the TV trying to understand a cricket match on their cable TV. You have to go to the Picasa photo site to see what they convinced Kelly to do.

It was a great day, and we're thankful for friends like Uapii who have shown us 'their' Namibia. Travel safely, cattleman!

Future Professor Debutante Ball

2009-11-07T06:06:00.005-06:00

Kelly has been helping at a local preschool called Future Professor Pre-Primary. She is the "English" teacher, and helps with their ABC's and special topics each week.

To raise funds, the School held the annual Debutante Ball. We were invited to come join the festivities.

We drove into the parking lot of a local hall to the chorus of "Teacher Kelly, Teacher Kelly, Teacher Kelly." The evening was 'formal' and the students were dressed in wonderful satin gowns and little tuxedos or suits. It was really amazing, as the students come from families that span the spectrum of economic status. The School has a sliding scale for payment, so some students don't pay anything to come. There are children of gardeners and housekeepers, and there are children of more middle-class families.

"Image" is very important for Future Professor, as they compete with other Pre-Primary schools for students. We were asked to join a lady from Germany to help hand out prizes during the evening, as the School wanted to show the parents that they had connections with American and German teachers. Likewise, the school has recently seen a large increase in students, mostly (the teachers report) because of a gift from last year's Fulbright family, the Conroy's. They shipped many books and educational materials to the school. Those books and materials are now displayed prominently so that prospective parents can see them when they visit.

Back to the Ball, however! The students had practiced dances for the program, and a Master of Ceremonies had been hired (we think it was a local radio personality). A band consisting of a drummer, saxophone player, guitarist, bassist, and a keyboarder provided music which, oddly, had a Cajun sound to it.

It was a great evening. There are more photos on the Picasa photo site, but here are a couple of the students.

It is easy to be blinded by daily examples of inequities of social status in Namibia. But, a common bond that ignores these inequities is the desire of parents to provide the best they can for their children. Here, for one night, satin covered everyone, and the students could live a dream.

A Debutante Ball. Who would have guessed?

Do you have your riot insurance?

2009-11-07T00:08:00.004-06:00

Namibian elections are now less than a month away, and there are billboards everywhere. Well, yes, there are political billboards, but there are also riot insurance billboards.

Even in Namibia, insurance companies are experts at finding the weak spot in your confidence.

First, just so parents and other loved ones don't get freaked out....there is very little chance of any riot happening over the Namibian elections. The newspapers do report a few incidents of voter intimidation by SWAPO each day. There seem to be more than enough reasons to vote against SWAPO, but the competition is not well-organized. It is fairly certain that the SWAPO party will win the election, and all will remain as normal. In fact, SWAPO's motto for the election seems to be: "if you vote for us, everything will remain the same." Not sure that is good for economics and long-term prosperity, but in terms of general peace in the country, it's good.

But, it is Afria, and African elections can create chaos. So, the insurance companies have a good product. Riot insurance.

In addition to the billboards around town, there has been an advertisement in the newspaper every day. Yesterday's ad is at right.

Kelly has been having fun watching the different wording on the signs: "What if 'free-and-fair' turns into a 'free-for-all'?"

Then, yesterday at my final exam for Ecology II, I noticed about 5% of the student body wearing red t-shirts with the following logo:

"Would you be insured if I destroyed your stuff?"

From an advertising campaign perspective, I'm sure it is a success. If you want cheap advertising in Namibia, make some t-shirts and give them away free to students. They will wear almost anything. Even a t-shirt that suggests they might loot your house.

Funny, I wouldn't have guessed that about my students in Ecology II. Maybe I should go buy some insurance.

The lunch lady and the Sewage Board

2009-11-06T08:14:00.003-06:00

Several people, especially folks writing 'newsy' stories about our year here, have asked me what my daily routine is like. Perhaps they wonder if we start the day by walking a mile to get our water. Or, maybe they wonder if we have to collect firewood to cook our meal. Unfortunately, neither of these are correct. Our life in Namibia is very similar to our lives in Nebraska.

But, there are some little differences. Just little things, too mundane to report to these folks interviewing us. But, funny enough to report here. Here are two little things that I will miss about my daily life in Namibia:

1. The lunch lady.
Almost every day, I walk downstairs to a little kiosk outside the office building, and I buy my lunch. The same young lady waits on me every day. And, every day I order a hamburger, a coke, and a package of Simba chips (like Ruffles chips, except my favorite flavor is 'chutney' over here ). The amusing part of this daily adventure is that the price is NEVER the same. Usually, it is either 19, 20, 20.50, 22, or 24 Namibian dollars. She uses a calculator to add up the three items. Perhaps Simba chips fluctuate like gold on the world market? Perhaps she just makes up the prices? But, it is really fun to guess whether it's going to be high or low. And, if I only have a 20-dollar bill, it's a question of whether I really have enough to buy my lunch.

Today, I added a large bottled water and a BarOne candy bar to my standard order (exams are over, and I'm celebrating). I was ready to pay 35 dollars. It cost 23 dollars...JACKPOT!

I'll miss this daily 'lottery'.

2. My office phone and the Sewage Board
As a temporary lecturer, my office phone number is largely unknown to anyone at Polytechnic. So, no one calls me to talk to me. They just come to my office. If the phone rings, it is usually someone calling for the person who used to have my number, or just a wrong number.

In addition, Polytechnic has no voice mail. So, that is a bonus! I may have to adopt that policy when I go back to UNL! But, it doesn't matter at Polytechnic, as no one calls me, anyway.

Today was special. Within a 15-minute time period, I received three phone calls. They were looking for "Mr. Bayes", "Mr. Mosuto", and "Mrs. Chikango", and each had been given my number by the switch board. Nope, wrong number. Sorry. No, I don't know how to forward your call. Haven't been trained in call-forwarding.

A few minutes passed and then, I got The Call.

"Hello," the lady said. "I'm calling from the Sewage Board."

Well, that's a new one, I thought. Why is the Sewage Board calling me?

"I'm calling to check your number," she stated. "What is your name?"

Now, in Namibia, when someone asks your name, they are probably about ready to sell you something. Like the little macalani palm nuts that people carve your name on. Or, in this case, perhaps some sewage?! So, I was on-guard.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"I'm at the Sewage Board. I have to check your number."

Well, my office does have a funky smell sometimes, but I thought it was mostly because of the bats in the attic.

"Ma'am, what is the Sewage Board...?" We went back and forth like this for about 2-3 minutes. I was refusing to give her my name, and she was demanding to know my name.

Finally, she said, slowly, "Sir, I'm calling from the Polytechnic Switch Board." Ah, 'suh-witch board'...'switch board.'

And, just like that, I felt pretty stupid. I'll miss feeling stupid, and I'll miss adventures with my office phone.

Trick or treating with the US Embassy

2009-10-31T13:33:00.004-05:00

We've enjoyed several functions sponsored by the US Embassy this year. Trick or treating house-to-house is a little hard in Windhoek, given the burglar bars and barking dogs in front of every house. So, the Embassy employees set up a Halloween function as a substitute.

We started at one home, where kids arrived in costume (and some adults). After the activities (see photos below), we left to drive to several other Embassy employees' houses. Kind of like a progressive dinner, but trick-or-treating. At a couple of the houses, the candy was handed out through the locked burglar bars, which was a little odd. But, everyone enjoyed the activity. The Embassy surely went to a lot of work to organize it.

Some photos below. More on the Picasa site.

Tristan spotted his costume in a local store.

Musical chairs to the tune of "Monster Mash".

Gwen and Annie (our fellow Fulbrighter family, the Bates') do some trick-or-treating at one of the Embassy homes. Burglar bars are still burglar bars, even if they've got cobwebs, eh?!

Happy birthday, Tristan!

2009-10-31T05:01:00.005-05:00

Tristan turned 12 on Oct. 23, and his party was today (Halloween). Tristan asked to have a paintball party at a local paintball center.

The teams, suited up.

He invited several friends, and Dad even got in on the action to make the teams even.

It was our first time to play paintball, and I'm guessing it won't be the last. Quite a fun way to spend a couple hours. Everyone started with 100 balls, and the first game went fairly quickly as we learned you have to conserve ammo! We reloaded between games.

Tristan after the second game. An unconfirmed source states that it was his father who shot him in the face. This cannot be confirmed by official sources.

During breaks between games, we had a Halloween cake. More photos on the Picasa site. Kudos for Kelly for venturing into the arena with a mask on to get the action photos.

Trick or treat

2009-10-30T10:52:00.006-05:00

There is a Halloween sub-culture in Namibia. It's a holiday that most people know about, and a few celebrate the "American holiday."

Kelly convinced me to come along with her to the Future Professor Pre-Primary (preschool) where she's been working. Teacher Suzy was beside herself when Kelly told her that I taught at Polytechnic. "Students," she whispered. "You are Future Professors, and here we have a real professor!" Hmmm...debatable.

Kelly worked with the kids on their ABC's, and then it was time to have some Halloween fun. Kelly had brought stick-on mustaches for everyone, as well as some masks. The kids just had a blast. They started calling each other "Grandma" and "Grandpa" because of the mustaches.

Happy Halloween from Namibia!

Day of reckoning

2009-10-26T16:14:00.003-05:00

Today was 'semester marks' day at Polytechnic. It is the day that lecturers have to turn in semester marks for courses. It marks the end of the lecture portion of the semester. Yes, Spring Semester is over.

November is examination month, and a student has to have a 50% mark in the class thus far to sit for the final exam. So, today, students were running around to see which courses they were going to be able to write final exams.

It is not a common occurrence to fail the semester marks. One colleague had 10 students out of 26 fail his semester marks. Another had 6 students of 20 fail. One of my fellow lecturers told me that her first-year instructors 'curved' the semester marks so that 50% of the class members failed. Hmm...talk about artificial selection!

When a student takes the final exam, they have to achieve at least a 40% to pass the course. So, you can have a 90% on the semester marks, but if you don't get a 40% on the final exam, you don't pass. I think that is correct...it's very complicated, and I'm not sure I really do understand.

I'm not sure how to describe the mood of the students today. Failing a course is not the end of the world for them...they can take it again next year. So, there was this odd atmosphere of students running around to check lecturer's doors. No one acting really mad if they failed. Most probably expected it. It was kind of like learning you didn't win the lottery. Oh, well. Next time.

I'm happy to report that no one failed Ecology II. Yet. We'll see how the final exam goes.

Ring around the sun

2009-10-24T05:14:00.003-05:00

On Wednesday, October 21, 2009, Windhoek witnessed an interesting solar event...a halo around the sun. Kelly was at her preschool, and the kids went outside to look at the "rainbow circle". Students at Polytechnic were pointing at the sky.

I've seen rings around the moon, but never a ring around the sun. The photo at right is from The Namibian, which confirmed that the halo is produced by ice crystals in high cirrus clouds, which refract sunlight to form a rainbow.

That was the scientific explanation.

However, the paper also reported that the Nama people of southern Namibia held a belief that such a ring around the sun predicted the death of an important leader. Ironically, Wednesday was the day before the funeral of Rev. Hendrick Witbooi. Rev. Witbooi (1934-2009) was an important figure in Namibia's independence movement, and shared his name with the Captain Hendrick Witbooi (1825-1905), who is featured on all Namibian paper currency.

Putting fire back on the veld

2009-10-24T01:18:00.003-05:00

Namibia and Nebraska have many things in common, and one is that the use of fire on grasslands has been greatly diminished in the past 100 years. The effects of fire suppression in Nebraska result in cedar tree infestations. In Namibia, there is concern that bush encroachment (acacia trees) may be enhanced when fires do not happen, and seedlings survive in mass numbers.

My colleague at Polytechnic of Namibia, Dave Joubert, is studying the effect of fire on seedlings. He invited me to come out to his study plot this week to help with pre-fire preparations and the prescribed burn. Photos of both experiences are on the Picasa photo site.

It is always a thrill (in fearful and fun ways) to watch a patch of grass burn. And, it's interesting to think about landscape dynamics that have been changed as humans have learned to control fire. The veld (rangeland) is a product of the dynamics that shape it, and the removal of an important dynamic, like fire, should have consequences. The results of Dave's study should be of interest to farmers in Namibia who are looking for ways to increase grass on their farms (by decreasing bush).

Back in Nebraska, my graduate student, January Frost, and I have had a paper accepted for publication in the journal Restoration Ecology. It details the effects of cedar encroachment on bird communities along the Niobrara River in northern Nebraska. This type of research (effects of bush encroachment on bird communities) has yet to be done in Namibia. It might be a reason to return!

Even the French are having problems...where are the hunters?

2009-10-20T13:46:00.003-05:00

In the midst of the current battles on health care in the US (yes, we have CNN and BBC), it is perhaps a little heart-warming to find out that there is something that even the French haven't figured out. No, not health insurance. Hunter recruitment.

Today, The Namibian newspaper reported that the average age of French hunters is 54 (click here for the same story at Yahoo News). The US is facing similar declines in hunters and fisherpeople, which threatens funding of conservation. Hunters and fisherfolks pay considerable amounts of money through their licenses and other purchases which not only support conservation, but directly provide the budgets for state wildlife agencies. Agencies are now engaged in hunter recruitment campaigns to avoid laying off staff and cutting programs. On the educational side, my UNL colleagues and I have started to participate in a national program designed to expose our wildlife students to hunting.

It is interesting to consider why The Namibian printed this article about French hunters. Approximately 3% of Namibia's GNP comes from foreign hunters (including many French). If you doubt this, take a look (below) at the number of horns being processed during one week by one taxidermy shop in Windhoek! If the number of hunters declines in the US and in Europe, Namibia's ecotourism industry (the hunting portion, at least) can plan on a similarly-paced decline.

Essentially, the message appears to be that if you are considering investing in hunting-based tourism, you might want to reconsider.

It will be interesting to come back to Namibia in 25 years to see how hunter-based tourism plays out. It is an industry (from the hunter's assistants to lodge workers to the taxidermy workers) that is supported by the current low wages paid to uneducated assistants. Liability insurance is also a minor component of business expenses, at the present time. The hunting industry in Namiba could face hard times if (1) the number of hunters shrinks (as projected), (2) worker wages increase as Namibia becomes more developed, and (3) if liability insurance becomes more expensive here.

Stay tuned.

Why you should always befriend agronomists...

2009-10-18T14:55:00.003-05:00

In a previous posting, we showed a photo of one of the strangest animals we'd seen in Namibia--spotted at the Windhoek Show. The photo is re-posted here.

In the caption for the photo, we noted that "this breed of goats" was very unusual because of the thick tail, and that we were not sure of the breed's name.

It turns out to be a very interesting breed of goat. So interesting, in fact, that it is really a sheep.

I learned this information from our good friend Uapii, tonight, who tactfully shared with me that I had misidentified it on the blog. He's a good man, that Uapii. I think it may have been difficult to tell a big guy who grew up on a farm that he can't tell a sheep from a goat.

The breed is a Damara Sheep, and the breed has been around southern African since 200-400 AD. It's also called a 'fat-tailed' sheep, which is pretty descriptive. It's an indigenous breed to southern Africa.

Thanks for the correction Uapii. I have to say that the conversation at our social gathering, following Uapii's correction was stimulating. Lots of educated people trying to decide how one tells a sheep from a goat. The best answer: sheep have curly horns...

Uapii noted that every species of goat in Africa has a tail shorter than your hand. If it has a long tail, it's a sheep. So, now I know. This is why it is good to have agronomist friends, like Uapii.

I still think it looks more like a dog with horns.

The Kamanjab Combined School Choir CD project

2009-10-15T03:47:00.005-05:00

During our trip with Larkin's brother, Noel, we stayed at the Kamanjab Rest Camp. We had stayed there previously during our hunt with the Pegg's and Hygnstrom's from Nebraska, and enjoyed the managers of the camp.

We received a special treat on this trip, as the manager arranged for the local school choir to come sing at the camp. The camp was full with 2 buses of Europeans in tents. Petra, the manager, has developed a relationship with the choir to help gather funds for the school. They come sing, and Petra passes the hat. The money goes for copy machines, blackboards, paper, and other equipment--the kind of things that we take for granted in the US. Every school has these things, right? Well, not here.

The students in the choir are middle school and high school students. They are from farms and communal conservancies around Kamanjab, and they stay in the hostel (dorms) at the school. So, they don't see their families for most of the semester. They go through a lot just to get an education. Their parents sell firewood or goats or butter just to raise the money for their school uniforms--for many of their families, school uniform purchases are the only item for which they need money.

They are incredible musicians. We were fortunate to think ahead, and we brought the video camera to their performance to film a couple songs. They were so good, I just let the camera roll, and we recorded 25 songs (they don't want to stop singing...!) before I ran out of tape. It was a beautiful 1.5 hours under the stars, listening to their voices. The choir is conducted by 3-4 student conductors--as far as I could tell, there is no 'music teacher'--just the school's Headmaster heading up the activity. You can play the video below to hear one of their songs.

When we arrived home from our trip, it didn't take long to splice the video tape to digital form, and then transform the digital video clips to audio files. PhiHat Recording Studio* was born. We have created a CD with 25 tracks--some of the most beautiful music we've heard this year. All live. All from the heart. Drums. Quiet songs. Rhythmic songs. Stomping feet. Even some dogs barking in the background on one song...

In true African fashion, the CD is now on its way through a messenger service (Petra's husband, Petrus owns a service garage and has a shuttle to bring spare auto parts to Kamanjab from Windhoek) to Kamanjab, where I've asked the students to identify the songs by name. And, they'll come up with a name for their CD. We'll get some group photos, and make a great-looking CD to sell at the local lodges around Kamanjab. Voices raising money for their school.

Petra reported via email yesterday that when she told the Headmaster about the idea for the project, she collapsed and cried with joy. "You've made our dreams come true," Petra said. Well, it is a dream to be able to share an evening with such a talented group of students. It feels good to be involved in a project that can help others, even if just a little bit.

But, the fund raising doesn't have to stop at the lodges around Kamanjab! If you like the video clip below and want to experience about 50 minutes of wonderful Namibian music, you can reserve a copy. To find out more details, just send us an email (larkinpowell at gmail.com) and we'll get back to you with more details when it is ready to distribute. We're donating the CD materials. The money goes straight to the school. It will probably sell for about US$10, with additional for shipping by airmail to arrive in the US by Christmas!

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*PhiHat is after the Greek symbol 'phi', which is used to represent survival estimates in the wildlife literature. A little 'carrot' or 'hat' over the symbol specifies that it is an estimate from a sample.

Sacred fires

2009-10-15T01:52:00.003-05:00

Sacred fires

Each morning, the eldest in the village adds wood to the sacred fire. A fire that never goes out. Their offering of scarce firewood makes the fire the center of society. A fire that connects the family to their ancestors. They gather around the fire to pray to their ancestors for guidance. They gather to grieve and to celebrate. The fire smolders through the night as the stars in the sky above mirror the collective fires across the landscape. Thousands of fires. Billions of stars.

Five hundred years ago a little bushman climbed a kopje and spent the evening scratching the outline of a giraffe on the sandstone. When he was finished, he laid down on the warm rock and watched stars fall in the sky. As the moon rose, his fire died and he fell asleep.

Two thousand years ago a group of bushmen gathered under a rock and began to paint. Maybe they were describing a dream or recording a great hunt. As they ate their evening meal, the sun set over the Brandberg. The smoke from their fire made black streaks on the rocks. The Milky Way swirled above them.

Four to five million years ago the climate changed in southern Africa. Forests disappeared, and grasslands expanded. Paleontologists tell us that this is the event that spawned the incredible diversity of antelope. Grassland expansion may have also responsible for the dramatic evolutionary event which resulted in several species of hominids, standing erect to efficiently carry food across the plains. We can imagine an evening somewhere in an African grassland when a group of Australopithecus afarensis sat watching a group of Australopithecus africanus pass over the crest of a nearby hill. Both groups spent the night under the stars. Both groups used the full moon to find food.

Today, we look at the stars around our campfire, and they seem to suck the breath from our hearts into the heavens to mix with the souls who have viewed the skies before us. Eyes glistening, reflecting some inner satisfaction.

Maybe satisfaction comes from feeling closer to the stars. From having stripped away all that doesn’t matter. Now there is less between you and the sky.

Maybe the feeling is realization of how small we are in the space of history. A realization that sacredness has a vast history on the African plains. We share whatever is sacred, whatever makes us whole, with these bushmen and Australopithecus.

Gravity works slowly on thoughts sent starwards. But gravity is gravity, and as you stare at the skies, the weight of previous celestial conversations pulls images into your memory.

Eons of star gazers. Souls bare. All under a well-watched sky. A sky full of sacred fires.

Good night.

--L. Powell
After many conversations with many people about the stars and sacred fires in Namibia

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

2009-10-14T17:30:00.005-05:00

We've enjoyed spending the past couple weeks with Larkin's brother, Noel. He arrived from Boston, MA in time to take advantage of Tristan's October Break from school, and Larkin managed to get a break from teaching. So, we took off to Etosha, northwest Namibia (Kamanjab and Brandberg), and the coast. It was a great time.

Noel seemed to bring us luck at every turn. More lions than we have ever seen in Etosha. Singers at several of our evening meals. Pretty good success catching fish on the coast.

We've got the story of the trip posted in photo-form with captions on the Picasa site...feel free to link over and enjoy!

We ended this trip with the sober realization that Noel was the last of the three groups of family/friends to visit us in Namibia. It is always nice to see familiar faces, and we enjoyed sharing experiences with everyone. But, the year is winding down. Next year's Fulbrighters are starting to contact us with questions about their year in Namibia. Time to pack our bags!

Elections 2009

2009-09-26T17:32:00.004-05:00

Namibia holds elections every 5 years. In early November, the country will vote for the president and other positions. The current president is running on the SWAPO ticket for re-election, and odds favor his second term.
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The former President and Founder of the Nation, Sam Nujoma, did not do SWAPO any favors this week, in terms of public relations, when he gave a wandering speech that called on Namibians to prepare to go to war (Mr. Nujoma led the fight for Independence, so may be getting a bit bored with peace) to stop the British and American influence that seems to be directed at Zimbabwe (Mugabe, who is ruining that country, is a friend of Namibia and vice-versa). Mr. Nujoma suggested that Namibians be prepared to smack British and American citizens on the head with hammers (literally what he said...) if they stood in the way of Namibians getting what they need.

So, we've been very accommodating at traffic lights and grocery store queues this week...

An interesting facet of elections in Namibia--residents have to register to vote each and every time there is an election. So, the country is no in the middle of a massive 'Get Out and Register' campaign. We chuckled when we received the mass-marketing cell phone text messages reminding us to go register. It was especially funny when Tristan received his message. For a moment, he thought it actually might be possible to vote--pretty cool!

The Registration process involves (as any process in southern African should) 5 tables, and a long queue. In case you want to go Register, here's a poster showing the process.

Some Namibian music

2009-09-26T17:19:00.002-05:00

When we last frequented our favorite eating establishment in Windhoek, Joe's Beerhouse, a musical group also happened by. We've seen them a few other places in town, and recently bought a CD of their music. Here's some short video clips, with apologies for the people walking past the mobile phone 'camera'. It was a buffet, and it was a good one--so lots of traffic to and fro during the free concert.

State Fair! The Windhoek Show

2009-09-26T14:53:00.007-05:00

Word spread rapidly the week that the Windhoek Show was starting this weekend. We weren't exactly sure what a "Show" was. It turned out to be the Namibian version of the Iowa State Fair. Maybe actually a bit more towards the Nebraska State Fair end of the spectrum (sorry Nebraska...).

The Windhoek Show was a mix of livestock shows/exhibits, farm machinery, and displays by local businesses--everything from t-shirt salesmen to the kitchen appliance folks selling knives and apple corers.

We spent about 5 hours walking around the fair and saw the whole thing. It was a great day. We can report that "food on a stick" has not reached Namibia, unless you count shish-kabobs. No deep fried, chocolate covered Twinkies-on-a-stick, though.

It was fun to run into several people that we knew. Small country, and the country was having fun at the show. More photos on our Picasa photo site--lots of interesting exhibits and a fun midway ride that Tristan convinced me to go on!

Just inside the entry gate. It cost about US$10 for our family to enter.

Had to put this photo is for all of our "GREEN" friends back in the Midwest! Nothing runs like a Deere, even in Namibia. See the Picasa site for some other brands, though.

The livestock barns were fun to explore. This breed of goats (which we never actually got a name for) has to be one of the oddest animals we'd seen. Look at the tail. It looks like a dog tail.

Meeting under a tree

2009-09-25T17:01:00.002-05:00

During the week at CCF (see previous post), Polytechnic students in Nature Conservation were engaged in a conflict resolution exercise--based on a real-world human/wildlife conflict. Namibia is full of such conflicts...elephants killing people, elephants destroying crops, predators killing livestock, etc.

When asked about how to solve a problem presented to students--in which two people were engaged in an argument relating to the conflict--one of the students, Atti, replied: "The two people should just meet under a tree. That is how we solve our problems here."

Sounds good to me. Perfectly good use of a shade tree.

The range pole comes to Namibia

2009-09-25T16:15:00.004-05:00

I spent the last week with 2 fellow lecturers from Polytechnic and several students in the 4th-year Bachelors of Technology program in Nature Conservation. The students gathered from across Namibia to spend the week at the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), near Otjiwarongo (3 hours north of Windhoek). 4th-year students take their program via distance, and this is the time to get together for practical, field experiences.

There are photos on our Picasa site that detail the week. We did several types of surveys, learned from professionals at the CCF, and did hands-on analysis of data collected in the field. It was a great learning experience.

One of my contributions to the week was to introduce a method of measuring 'standing stock' or biomass of grassland habitats. For almost 40 years, range and wildlife ecologists in the Great Plains have used a range pole, or visual obstruction pole, or Robel pole (named after one of the first people to publish a paper using the method). The general idea is to see how much of the pole cannot be seen at the bottom. The more that is obstructed from view, the more grass there is. With proper calibrating, a person can estimate biomass from quick measurements with the pole.

Namibian range ecologists usually calculate biomass by physically clipping 10's or 100's of little plots and finding the dry weight. It is very precise, but takes a long time to do all the clipping! A quick internet search by yours truly found no use of the range pole in Africa. So, the Polytechnic students may have been the first people in Africa to use the range pole. After all the things I've learned from my colleagues and students, it was nice to show them something new.

Teaching in Namibia: the other list

2009-09-19T09:38:00.003-05:00

You are rewarding a teacher poorly if you remain always a pupil.
--Friedrich Nietzsche

I think if you talk to any teacher, they will tell you about a teacher or teachers who inspired them to enter the academic profession. And, by the time you go from kindergarten to a graduate degree, you have a lot of examples to learn from. It has been a most rewarding experience to interact with my colleagues at Polytechnic this year. Just more people to watch and learn from.

My teaching colleagues in Namibia do an excellent job and they work very hard. My previous post shares some things that have enhanced my understanding of education. This post is harder to write...as it is about the things that I will be satisfied to leave behind. Perhaps I shall put a positive spin on the list--these are things that I have learned to appreciate about teaching in the US. The list reinforces my appreciation for my Namibian colleagues, as they are working in a system that is not always built to enhance their efforts.

Flexibility of course schedule:
My courses in the US are designed around units that provide material to meet course objectives. Each unit ends with a test or group project assignment. The dates for the tests and projects are up to me as I design the course. At Polytechnic, as in most of southern Africa, test dates are prescribed before the semester starts and you must fit your teaching around the dates given to you.

Autonomy of faculty:
In Nebraska, my course is designed to fit into a curriculum. But, when the course is taught, I design the course, I teach the course, and I assess the students. In southern Africa, there is a history of corruption in the educational system--so, the method that has been developed to address corruption is the Moderator System. Each course has a lecturer who teaches the course, and there is also an outside Moderator assigned to the course. At Polytechnic, these are often professors from South Africa or professionals with expertise who live in Windhoek and work for the Ministries or other businesses. The final exam has to be written one month before the end of the course, and the exam is submitted, with the Memo (the list of acceptable answers to the questions), to the Moderator. Now, the moderator has never set foot in the classroom, and often is unaware of any goals of the course or the curriculum. But, they must approve the final exam. When the exams are marked, they are also sent to the moderator, who may disagree with the number of marks given to a student for a particular answer. This, of course, would make most of my colleagues in Nebraska resign in protest. But, it is an interesting lesson about the effects of culture and politics on education. It is all designed to combat corruption.

Advanced planning:
I received my teaching assignments at Polytechnic about 1-2 weeks before the semester started. It happens that way for every lecturer every year. Most people have a good idea what they will be teaching, but there are surprises. It makes for grumpy people and prevents any kind of advanced preparation for the course. In contrast, my department at University of Nebraska just sent out the first draft of the teaching schedule for Summer session 2010 (about 8-9 months in advance). Sometimes we groan about the advanced planning, but I can attest that the opposite system should not be desired!

Choosing the ink of my choice:
A colleague at University of Dubuque once told me that red ink has a harsh effect on students, and they will not learn as well from their mistakes as they would if you use green ink. Although my colleagues at Polytechnic think that shows how we pamper students in the States, I like the option to use whatever color of ink I want to mark/grade papers/exams. Polytechic's rules are: red is for the lecturer to mark (and only red), green is for the moderator to make their marks and comments. You never use blue or black ink to mark papers (it kind of makes sense because students write in those colors). But, it is outlawed. Polytechnic also has a rule about signing contracts in black ink. I signed a little contract for my distance course using blue ink, and it was sent back to me.

Flexibility of assessment methods:
The rigor that I reported about in my last post has one drawback. Lecturers love to give tests that assess individuals. Some are interested in other methods of assessment, and I've worked with some to develop problem-based cases in their courses. My courses in Nebraska often include one or two group projects that are graded. Group work is discouraged here, because "it's hard to know who did the work". It is true that the bane of group work for a teacher is that it is hard to do individual assessment. But, to teach problem solving and critical thinking, and to prepare students for the real work (where they will work in groups and the boss doesn't care who did the work--just that it got done), group work seems to be important--in my book, at least. Every course at Polytechnic (and U. Namibia) is required to have a final exam, where students sit for 3 hours and write the exam 'paper'. There is no option to use a term paper, a group project, or other means of assessment. I think this will change in the future, as there are glimmers of hope among lecturers who want more flexibility. But, the exam/test system is really ingrained in the culture here.

Students who have textbooks and other resources:
The biggest problem with teaching in southern Africa is that many students can't afford to purchase the prescribed text. Each course has one, but no one really expects the students to purchase the text. Instead, lecturers often prepare a study guide that condense the textbook (or in some cases actually contains copied pages from the textbook...), and the study guide is sold to the students. Some can't even afford that. So, a lecturer always has to remember that the students really haven't read the chapter before coming to class...and never will. It really makes the quality of the lecturer critically important, doesn't it? They are the only resource for many of the students.

Virus free computers:
I had no idea how good the virus protection systems in the US were, until my first week teaching at Polytechnic. I took a powerpoint presentation to the computer in the classroom, and loaded it for a lecture. Students asked after the lecture if they could copy it, which is a common way to share the information (remember, no text books). Well, because that process had happened before, when I took my memory stick back to my UNL laptop, alarm bells went ringing....I had about 8 viruses just from that one incident. I had a student come by my office this week, and she wanted to print out her assignment for another course--she couldn't afford the printing fees to print it elsewhere. So, I took her memory stick and stuck in in my computer. Ding, ding, ding. At least 25 viruses were detected. Students who have access to computers at home do not have additional money to purchase Norton Protection! Polytechnic faculty often have their computers crash because of viruses, and there is an office on campus where students can stop to 'clean' their memory sticks before bringing them to class or to a lecturer's office. When I arrived at Polytechnic, the school was using a free, share-ware virus protection system. They've since upgraded it. But, wow.

Finality of the semester's end:
This one may seem strange. But, the system in place throughout much of southern Africa allows a student to take a final exam 4 times. But, you can only take it once each semester. So, it is possible for a student to be re-taking a final exam two years after the course ended. It works like this...the final mark (percentage--no A's B's or C's here) is a combination of the semester marks and the final exam mark. But, you can't pass a course without passing the final exam. So much for our UNL students who flunk the final but still pass because they've done well during the semester. At Polytechnic, you would have failed the course. You come back for 'second chance' exam at the end of next semester. Now, this exam will be 'similar' to the first exam, because it was written by the same professor who taught your course and gave you the first exam. In fact, lecturers have to submit BOTH exams (the first and second-chance) at the same time to the moderator. But, the crazy thing is what happens after the second-chance exam. Let's say you flunk that one, too. Well, someone else may be teaching the course the next year, so that person will write your third- or fourth-chance exams. It is possible that the person will cover completely different material in the course! And, the student doesn't attend the course--they only show up for the final exam. Not only does this seem quite odd from an educational perspective, but it makes it very hard for the Registrar to record all these grades. It makes it hard to interpret an academic transcript. And, it makes it hard for lecturers who have to remember whether they have a student from a previous year coming to take the exam. The nice thing for the University is that students pay Exam Fees. So, by failing the students, the University can make more exam fees...

I hope these topics provide a glimpse into a different system of education. It's a system in transition from a system built to prevent corruption. And, it has its roots in an English system of examinations. My experiences at Polytechnic have been eye-opening in many ways, and I've learned a lot by participating in the department. I've learned that I had many assumptions about how education 'had to be'. Perhaps some of my methods have rubbed off on my colleagues and vice versa. It's the only way to move forward, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Teaching in Namibia: things I've enjoyed

2009-09-19T06:30:00.002-05:00

My Fulbright fellowship is a lecture/research fellowship, which means I've been teaching just as much as I would have been back in Huskerland. It has been an interesting experience to say the least. While my Ecology II students were taking a test on Friday, I made a list of thing that I've enjoyed about teaching in Namibia---and a second list (coming soon) of things that I now appreciate about teaching in Nebraska.

So, things I've enjoyed in Namibia:

The Memo and Tutorial Letter:
When a lecturer gives a test in Namibia, there are two versions--the "test paper" that the students get and the "memo" that the teacher keeps. The "memo" contains the answers to the test, with explanations of how answers are derived. The memo is used to mark the test, and in the case of Final Exams, the memo has to be approved by an outside "moderator" (see my next post about the problems related to this). When the test (or even some large assignments) are given back to the students, they receive a "tutorial letter," which explains in detail the information on the "memo." The nice thing about the "tutorial letter" is that it provides a good opportunity for learning and feedback. Sometimes in Nebraska, I'm guilty of turning back an exam and then starting the next lecture without really talking much about the exam. At Polytechnic, it is common to take an entire hour to go through the test and discuss the tutorial letter--so students get the written and oral feedback on the test.

Rigor:
There is no grade inflation in Namibia. Students are happy to receive anything higher than a 50%, which is the "pass" level. This has taken me a long time to get used to. When I first arrived, I felt sorry for the students. But, there is something to be said for a bit more rigor than perhaps I instill back in Nebraska. Students should know that there are high expectations for receiving B's and A's. It will be interesting to see how I transition back to UNL; I'm guessing my classes will receive lower grades than they used to.

Powerpoint is Evil:
Most professors in the US have adapted to Bill Gates' marvelous invention: Powerpoint. Lectures are now glossy presentations, scripted lists, and contain a TON of content, because it is so easy to go quickly through it--no writing on the blackboard anymore. In Namibia, there are usually not powerpoint projectors to use, and if they do exist they are not reliable (in fact, even overhead projectors often not in working order). So, I've been doing a lot more blackboard work--like when I started teaching at Univ. of Dubuque. The bottomline: you concentrate on covering less material in more depth, you have more discussions with students, the lectures are more 'free form', and I have really enjoyed being in the classroom here. Powerpoint is evil, and has probably done more to ruin education in the US than anything I can think of. I will stop using it when I go home. Maybe.

Distance Learning Done Right:
Students in Nature Conservation at Polytechnic can graduate in three years with a National Diploma, after which most of them find jobs. To obtain a Bachelors degree, they have to take an additional year of courses...but because they are working around the country, the 4th Year is offered via distance. The format is great, and is a product of the lack of electronic mumbo-jumbo that we often try to use in the US to spice up distance courses. There are no video files to download; no one has an internet connection. There are no on-line chats between students; most students don't have a computer at home. The method used by Polytechnic is to bring all students together for a week at the beginning of the first semester--for lectures and introductions to the subjects by lecturers. Then, the students go away and rely on a textbook, study guide, and assignments. Usually there are 4 assignments, with one due every 2 months. On two occasions during the year, students come to campus for "Vacation School" which is held while on-campus students are on spring or fall break. And, an additional week of "Practical" is provided where students and lecturers spend the week doing field exercises. By the end of the year, the students have met 4-5 times with their teachers. I think it's Distance Learning done right--to accommodate students' needs. It's not Distance Learning done to accommodate 200+ students and bring in lots of tuition money (shame on us).

Essay Exams:
Sorry, UNL students. I'll be going back to essay exams when I return. All tests and exams in Nature Conservation at Polytechnic are essay form. They kind of laughed when I asked if they ever use multiple choice. Essays are more rigorous (see above point on Rigor) and they really show who has learned the material well. The down-side is that they take time to mark for the teacher. Thus, I have joined the majority of faculty in the States who do not give essay exams anymore. They take time, but faculty at Polytechnic will take an afternoon and close their door to mark assignments or tests--it's not something they do at home during family time. It is expected that lecturers will be unavailable for chunks of time to get assignments marked. That idea is something I'll take the time back in Nebraska. It will mean some other things don't get done, but I think it will be worth it.

Respect for Professors:
I have never been called anything in the classroom here, besides "Prof," "Doctor," or "Sir." No one has ever called me "Powell" or asked if they could call me "Larkin". I like having students being comfortable with me, but I certainly have enjoyed being in a culture where respect is paramount--and it goes beyond the salutations. This is the same culture that we found in Georgia (USA), where students would almost always use "sir" or "ma'am".

Extra Pay for Extra Work:
Polytechnic asks a lot of their lecturers. They teach at least two courses a semester, mentor student research, and help with distance courses. The 'moderator' system also requires them to spend a lot of time marking other lecturer's assignments (each exam gets marked by the lecturer and the moderator). But, they are paid for the extra work. They are paid for moderating (about US$1/student/exam), and they receive about US$2/student/assignment to mark assignments for distance courses. It's not a lot, but the symbolic gesture of paying something for the extra work sure beats the pants off of the system that I'm used to--where you just suck it up and get on with the extra work.

It's been an interesting ride. These are some things that I've enjoyed, and it was a nice surprise to be treated to some unexpected learning experiences. Stay tuned for the 'other' list.

Windhoek Scatter Rally 2009

2009-09-13T08:42:00.007-05:00

Today marked the first annual Windhoek Scatter Rally. Kelly has joined the International Women's Association of Namibia, and the club held a family activity this morning.

We met at 10H30 in a parking lot downtown. Nine teams. Each family was given a binder and water. Rules: no breaking speeding laws, be nice, have fun, and be back by 13H30. Much like The Amazing Race. Pretty much the same as a Treasure Hunt. And, we were off.

Binders open. Wow. Lots of questions.

"How many meteorites can be seen in the Post Street Mall?" "Who is the old man with the gun overlooking the park?" "How many white stripes are on top of the Trade Center?" "What do you call a group of rhinos?" "Take a photo with a Himba." "Take a photo of a member of your team catching a train." "Take a photo with a giraffe." "What is the date of manufacture of Engine 134A?" "Who is the sculptor of the kudu statue on Independence Ave?" "What movie is showing on Screen 3 of the Mall Theaters?" "How many elephants can you see from the gate of the President's palace?" "Find the tackiest souvenir you can find for N$10 or less (with receipt)." "Find an empty bottle of a beverage brewed in Windhoek since 1920." "How much is the game viewing Land Rover at the Land Rover dealership?" "What is the price for one night's stay in the Presidential Suite in the Kalahari Sands Hotel?"

Three hours to scour the town. Three hours to prove we knew something about Windhoek. Three hours until we could eat lunch at Joe's Beerhouse!

We ended up coming in 1 point away from third place. Pretty good, we thought.

Photo with a Himba. Check. Had to buy a bracelet first.

Photo of Dad catching a train. Check. Near Windhoek Train Station.

Photo of Mom/Dad with giraffe. Check. They didn't say 'a live giraffe.'

Photo of Mom/Dad with elephant. Check. Craft Center. Get back in the car...10 minutes to get back to Joe's!

By the way, it's a 'crash' of rhinos. And there are 29.5 meteorites on display in the Post Street Mall (I know--how can you have 'half' a meteorite?). The Land Rover is only N$490,000 (7.8:1 exchange rate $N:$US at the moment). And, one night in the Presidential Suite is N$6000. And the Sunday lunch buffet at Joe's Beerhouse is a carnivore's delight. Just wonderful. Thanks for asking.

Don’t you wish you had one of these?

2009-09-13T03:00:00.003-05:00

For the past 3-4 weeks, a little bird has been making the rounds of our kitchen floor every morning. We keep the door open almost constantly, and it seems that our buddy likes combing the floor for crumbs and such. We've named him Freddy Freeloader.

Today, we nabbed him on tape. With apologies to Dr. Seuss, we offer the following.

Don't you wish you had one of these?

From the far reaches of Windhoek
On the banks of the Meeter
Comes a small bird, a trim bird
Called the Seedonfloor Eater.

The Seedonfloor Eater
Is a Kitchen Floor Cleaner.
It nests in a hole
Of a tree called a Squeener.

An Eater can go months
Without eating a thing.
But once it finds a new floor
The dinner bell rings.

An Eater will clean up
A floor for you quickly.
It flies in and finds crumbs
It’s really quite nifty.

Not everyone’s kitchen
Can satisfy an Eater.
It takes crumbs that are too big
For mice or mosquiters.

If your kitchen needs cleaning,
Then try calling an Eater.
They come to the sound
Of trumpets and beaters.

Just beat your big beater
And trump your big trumpet.
If you play loud he may come
If you offer a crumpet.

The Seedonfloor Eater
Is such a rare bird.
If you get one just stand there.
Don’t utter a word.

For the Seedonfloor Eater
Is a valuable addition
To the housecleaning efforts
In any subdivision.

So if your name’s Johnny
Or Suzie or Peter.
I know you will want to get
A Seedonfloor Eater.

They want to help...

2009-09-12T09:35:00.004-05:00

The Fulbright program is funding our trip to Namibia this year. As we've noted before, it is a US taxpayer-funded program developed by Senator Fulbright after WWII.

Fulbright is billed as an 'international exchange of scholars' which confuses some folks. There have been people who have asked me, "So, who is coming from Namibia to take your position in Nebraska while you are in Namibia?" Well, it's not that specific--it's an exchange program on a global scale, with faculty and students from the US scattering around the globe, while faculty and students from around the globe can also apply to come to study in the US. But, it's not a pairwise exchange of people, position-for-position.

On Wednesday of this past week, I had an opportunity to help interview Namibians who had applied to come to the US to get a Masters degree. The interviews were held at the American Cultural Center, and I was invited by the State Department's new Director of the ACC in Windhoek. We were also joined by a Namibian who lectures at University of Namibia--an alumni of the program who studied for his PhD in the US through the program.

The 7 interviewees were bright, talented representatives of Namibia. Each person we interviewed made a good case for "why should I be sent to the US to study?" We had a person employed in the banking industry who wanted to study forensic accounting and come back to help the government fight financial corruption. We had a pharmacist who wanted to study medicinal chemistry and come back to help found a pharmaceutical company to develop drugs in Namibia. We had a person involved in after-school education programs who wanted to study educational management so she could come back to change Namibia's education system. We had a math teacher who wanted to get a MS in mathematics education so he could come back and improve mathematics education pedagogy in Namibia. We had a person involved with HIV/AIDS treatment who wanted to study epidemiology and come back to help treatment programs aimed at those most affected by AIDS. A current fisheries manager wanted to study coastal management and come back to help protect Namibia's coastline from development.

Wow.

Decisions...decisions. Who to choose?

Which person has the most potential to effect change in their home country of Namibia? I mean, Namibia needs EVERYTHING these people were selling.

Education. It is a powerful force for change. It is a powerful tool to fight poverty, disease, corruption, and other plagues that keep developing countries from 'making it.'

I think sometimes I have taken education for granted, which may be a little odd for a professor to admit! It was a sobering experience to hear people explain why they were so desperate to learn. It was just as sobering to realize how strongly these applicants felt about the opportunity to improve their country.

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country." JFK.

Namibia is having elections this November. Past leaders have been, mostly, revolutionary figures who were very good at inspiring people and leading the armed uprising for independence. The country is slowly making a transition from leaders who were, essentially, army generals to politicians who are good at making decisions for the good of the country. It is not clear if this next election will advance the transition much.

But, it is clear to me that a new generation of Namibians is preparing itself for leadership. Namibia's future should be a fun show to watch.

A Namibian Preschool Experience

2009-09-10T11:06:00.008-05:00

Future Professor School Song

Namibian National Anthem

I had to share these videos I took a few weeks ago of a preschool class singing not only their school song but also the Namibian National Anthem. They are very proud to be able to share their Namibian songs with me. I am attempting to carry on something of a "Fulbright Tradition" of helping the teachers at the Future Professor preschool once a week. Two previous Fulbright spouses, Janet and then Joy, volunteered at this school before me. I am not an official preschool teacher but I try to sing some songs, play games, and read stories to the children and we work on colors, shapes, numbers, and letters. This preschool caters to lower income families - many of them are newly arrived in Windhoek from rural areas/villages and some of the children do not speak English very well yet and need to learn English before entering the regular school system. The teachers at the preschool love to have Americans come read to and interact with the children so they can experience "English" from a native English speaker. Teacher Sussy (Susie) is in the background and instructs them to hold their heads up high while singing.

This preschool is actually in "half" of a house - the house and yard have been divided with walls - and they have two classrooms (in the two bedrooms) plus a main room with a playground in the front yard. The teachers are very dedicated and allow the children to attend when funds are short and the families are not able to pay. Some months the teachers have even gone without getting paid. They hope to increase the number of students and have enough paying students to cover the cost of those who have trouble paying the fee.

Just this week there were three new students in this class - triplets!! - two girls and a boy who just moved here from Angola (just north of Namibia) and don't speak a word of English yet. They speak only Portuguese (Angola was a colony of Portugal) but one of the other students in the class is also from Angola and she is able to translate some of the lesson for them. The teachers say it won't be very long before they will start to speak English - especially on the playground where the fun game this week was racing tires - the kids enjoy rolling old tires down the hill in the front yard when they aren't on the playground equipment.

The next few weeks will be great fun for me as we have moved into animal themes. This week was reptiles and amphibians. I read a book about snakes and all the students talked about how dangerous snakes are - here in Namibia most snakes can kill you in less than 3 minutes! They had seen pictures of people touching snakes and holding them around their necks and did not think that was very smart. I had to explain that in other parts of the world there are snakes that are not poisonous and some people even keep them as pets (while also stressing that they should never EVER touch a snake here in Namibia - yikes!)

Coming into the preschool always is a great experience as the kids hug you and greet you with "Good morning Teacher Kelly!" The students and teachers often ask about Teacher Joy and Teacher Janet as they are greatly missed here at this little school.

A few moments at our bird feeder

2009-09-08T15:23:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago, we started feeding the birds in our side yard. It is wintertime (well, at least it was until yestereday--and it now summertime hot!), and the Powell's usually keep a feeder stocked during winter at home. No cardinals or snow draped over the feeder here in Windhoek, but there are some nifty birds.

Today, I stuck the video camera out on the feeder surface to see if the birds would let me film them. I didn't capture video of the 15-20 doves that sometimes visit at the same time, but the video here shows some of our diversity during a nice, quiet morning at the feeder. Dogs barking and kids across the road at school in the background from time to time.

Towards the end, something scares all the birds away. You'll have to see what appeared in our yard. Shocker...

Rear ended

2009-09-05T14:31:00.004-05:00

We've been security-conscious ever since we arrived in Namibia. It is an understatement to say that we will be very happy to be back to our house in Lincoln with no bars on windows, no gates, and no electric fence or barbed wire between us an our neighbors.

Today, I was waiting for a couple cars to pass in the parking lot at our grocery, before I walked across the lot to our car. I felt a slight pressure on my wallet, and immediately feared the worst. Here was the moment I'd been waiting for all year. A pickpocket?

I whirled around, and was somewhat relieved to find out that I was actually about to be run over by a small truck. A gentleman was trying to back out of his parking spot. He could see me, and evidently I wasn't moving fast enough for him. So, he decided to back up and nudge me a bit with his truck to encourage me to move out of the way. Well, life is interesting isn't it? At least he didn't want my wallet.

I think I know where he lives. I'm thinking about going to 'TP' his barbed wire fence tonight.

On a more positive note, we had a great morning at Tristan's school. Today (Saturday) was Sports Day at Windhoek International School (WIS). Not required. But, I think most of the school showed up. A house vs. house competition for kids in some fun sporting events. The atmosphere was competitive, but fun. Everyone tried their best. They encouraged parents to get involved in several events, too.

The house concept is a good one. It's similar to the house system at Hogwarts School in Harry Potter, where students of all ages are grouped across years into 'houses'. During the year, if you get a detention, your house loses points. If you do something good, a teacher can award 'house points' as well. The houses at WIS are called the Lions, Cheetahs, and Leopards, appropriately. Tristan is a Leopard, and it was fun to see him interacting with older students in tug-of-wars, as well as helping younger Leopards and cheering for them in competitions.

I wonder if a 'house' system would be an effective way to build comradery among students in a Fisheries and Wildlife undergraduate program at UNL? Freshmen could be divided in Pronghorns, Prairie-chickens, and Bull Snakes.

Here's a toss to Tristan's blog, where he explains the day--you can also see a video summary we did of all the fun.

Spring training...batter up!

2009-09-02T09:38:00.003-05:00

Now that spring is in the air, what does that mean? Yeah, flowers. But, more importantly...baseball! Time for Spring Training!

Today was the first day back on the diamond for the Windhoek International School's baseball team. Although we don't have a mascot, we have a team--thanks to previous Fulbrighter's Steve and Joy who used their connections with a Little League in Michigan to get about 30 baseball gloves, several bats, and a bucket full of balls sent to Windhoek last year. Last semester saw baseball take on huge popularity among students at WIS, many of whom had never played baseball. For others, it's a chance to play one of their favorite games and feel a piece of the good ol' USA far from home. We had 22 players sign up today.

Steve and Joy also started another good tradition--an invitation to older boys from the Orlindi ophanage to come join us on Wednesday's for practice. We've continued the tradition this semester. When I stopped to pick up the 7 boys today, they raced to put on the shirts that Steve gave them last year.

Our coaching team consists of Fellow Fulbrighter Reid, Kelly and me. Based on today's experience, Gwen may become a designated nurse to tend to line drive/human interactions. It is a team effort, as Reid's family only has one car, and we only have one car. Somehow, we managed to get both families to practice along with the 7 Orlindi boys. Reid has to leave a bit early to teach a class at IUM, so it is a good juggling act to get everyone home, as well.

Here are some photos from today's practice. Play ball!

One of the students from WIS. His smile says, "That was the first hit of my life!"

Kelly pitches. Larkin takes photo while missing the chance to tell the batter to get his elbows up.

The boys from Orlindi in their baseball shirts from Michigan. They miss Mr. Steve, so we took this photo to show him.

A fine Spring Day

2009-09-01T03:57:00.004-05:00

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Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!

--Chief Sitting Bull, Sioux Leader

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We didn't realize it until The Namibian newspaper informed us this morning, but September 1st is "Spring Day" in Namibia. As we have previously blogged, spring is indeed in the air.*

I thought I'd post some photos of flowers on trees, shrubs, and other plants in our yard, which have just started blooming in the past week. Our yard is fairly minimal with regards to blooming plants--there are large trees in our neighborhood with massive yellow blossoms. Other trees look ready to burst at any moment.

Happy Spring Day, NTN readers!

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*accordingly, our 'winter time' comes to an end this weekend. We will 'spring forward' an hour, so we will be 7 hours different than Central Time in the US. We'll now be Greenwich Mean Time + 2.

As trees in Spring produce a new ring of tissue, so does every poet put forth a fresh outlay of stuff at the same season. --Wilfred Owen, WWI War Poet/Soldier from England

Break open a cherry tree and there are no flowers, but the spring breeze brings forth myriad blossoms. --Ikkyu Sojun, Japanese poet and Zen Master

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. -- Anne Bradstreet, American poet (1600s)

For every person who has ever lived there has come, at last, a spring he will never see. Glory then in the springs that are yours. --Pam Brown (absolutely no idea who she is)

Don't forget it's daylight savings time. You spring forward, then you fall back. It's like Robert Downey Jr. getting out of bed. --David Letterman, comedian/talk show host

Coming to Africa for the right reasons

2009-08-28T11:38:00.003-05:00

If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.

--Mark Twain

Earlier this week, I was contacted by a person in my College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR) back at UNL. She wanted to write a story about our trip and how it will influence my teaching back in Nebraska. She started with this question, "For what purpose did you go to Namibia?"

Funny, that's what our parents asked us last year. "Um, why are you going?"

I'm sure I wrote something back to my CASNR contact that was somewhat meaningful, but I've been thinking about it recently. Just why did we come? I'm not going to create a figure (!), but I'm guessing that as homesickness starts to increase, the need to justify your existence on the opposite side of the globe increases exponentially.

If you can't answer the question for yourself, sometimes it helps to look at other people. Why did they come to Namibia? To Africa? Namibia has lots of tourists, so an inquisitive person can build up quite a sample size while doing some people-watching.

I made a list of the people from outside Namibia that I enjoy meeting. Most student backpackers. Seedy characters who look like they live out of their LandRover. Ranchers from the States. Ladies from Sweden who stop every 5 km on the road to take photos.

Then, I made a list of the people who, uh, rub me the wrong way. Tourists outfitted with the latest LL Bean safari wear. Tourists who won't talk to Namibians on the street. Hunters who come only to put more mounts on their wall. Tourists who come to add one more country to their "Africa List". Some of the tourists who are here on mission trips. Mostly people who you would label as "Tourist" with a capital "T". People who come to Africa to change other people.

So, what is the difference between the two lists. Tourism isn't bad. Hunting isn't bad. And, mission trips don't have to be bad (although I think you have to work very hard to come on a mission trip that really helps people). But, I think it is the attitude with which one goes about those activities.

I think the right reason to come to Africa is not to learn about people and their cultures here. The right reason is not to come to Africa to learn about the animals over here. The right reason is not to come to Africa to help people. You can do all of these things along the way, but it is not the reason to come. Coming to change people is definitely not the reason to come.

The best reason to come, I think, is to learn about yourself.

My advice if you are coming to Africa: plan time for introspection or self-evaluation, or self-awareness. If you don't, you will have dogs looking at you, telling you to "Go Home."

Spend some time sitting on the beach. Spend some time sitting on top of a koppie as you are hunting. Spend some time talking to a farmer. Spend some time being uncomfortable on a city street. Spend some time looking at yourself in the mirror.

Think about your reactions to Africa. Because you will have reactions.

Africa is a great mirror for a person's soul. Maybe it is because humans evolved in Africa. Maybe it is because Africa has a way of making a person very uncomfortable and very comfortable very quickly and very simultaneously. Maybe it is because there are wide open spaces. Maybe it is because of crowded cities.

I guess if I really have to be honest, I came to Namibia to hold the cat by the tail.
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A bit about poaching in Namibia

2009-08-27T06:15:00.009-05:00

I've been collecting photos relating to poaching of wildlife and livestock in Namibia. I'll let the photos do the talking for the most part. Although poaching has declined in Namibia over the last 20-30 years, with the establishment of communal conservancies (this trend according to publications released by WWF), it has not disappeared. Namibia has the highest rating (worst) as gauged by the Gini index, which measures economic disparity, or inequality, in countries. It measures the 'gap' between those who have wealth and those who are poor. As long as the gap remains in place, poaching will be a way for the have-not's to get what they need from the have's in Namibia.

Poaching of livestock is a problem near population centers in Namibia. Many commercial farmers hire anti-poaching units to patrol their lands. This is one potential benefit of commercial conservancies--collaboration on hiring and coordinating these units across several farms. Some farmers install anti-poaching watch towers like the one in the photo above (my photo, near Outjo). These are placed near roads, where people often stop and quickly take cattle or other livestock from farms in the night.

The Namibian newspaper reported, recently, on a wave of livestock thefts on commercial farms near the airport, east of Windhoek. We visited one of these farms for a meat hunt, and while we were on the farm, their radio network for the Namatanga Conservancy was ablaze with traffic regarding sightings of cars that were suspected in recent thefts.
It is hard to prosecute poaching. Our hosts during the meat hunt described a person caught standing over a warthog on their farm during the last year. He was arrested, but declared innocent during his trial, because he claimed he had found the animal dead.

The photo (from The Namibian), above shows a calf that was found wandering a farm with a spear still stuck in its head. It was the victim of an attempted poaching--the farmers in the article noted that spears were one of the most common weapons used to kill animals, which are usually butchered on the site. This calf survived, but lost an eye. An accompanying photo showed the spear removed; it had a 7-8-inch blade, and hard to imagine how it did not kill the animal.

From a wildlife perspective, I took the above photo with my mobile phone at Etosha National Park, in their research office. It is a display of confiscated weapons used to poach wildlife on Etosha--many very recently. A variety of native snares and bows-and-arrows are shown. But, the amazing parts of the exhibit, to me, were the two homemade guns. The gun at right looks like an AK47, but is actually just wood carved to look like the AK47. I guess if you are a poacher, you want to look like a credible poacher?! On the top of the wood is a small metal tube in which a 0.22-caliber bullet is inserted. I really couldn't tell what kept the casing in place when it was fired.

The gun in the middle is a shotgun, constructed in similar fashion. A tube on top of a wooden stock in which a shotgun shell is inserted. In this case, the tube was a made from the leg of a school desk. The display noted that the gun had worked at least once to kill an oryx at close range in the National Park.

Landscape economics and ecotourism

2009-08-27T03:04:00.009-05:00

The most powerful argument of all for saving open space is economics; in most states, tourism is the number two industry.

--Jim Fowler (Wild Kingdom, Mutual of Omaha)

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Namibia is an interesting case study in tourism. Ecotourism, to be exact. One day in class, I used the word, "ecotourism." One of my students, Francois, asked me, "Prof, can you explain to me the difference between tourism and ecotourism?"

His was an interesting question. I realized, suddenly, that Namibia's tourism 'slate' is 99% filled by ecotourism activities (tourism to enjoy nature). My students were unaware that any other form of tourism existed. However, I shared with them that the FIFA World Cup in South Africa next year was an example of 'tourism'. That made sense.

I want be clear that I am in no fashion an expert in ecotourism. But because tourism in Namibia drives much of the conservation efforts in the country, I have been thinking about ecotourism a bit. The level of tourism here is really 'saturated' in terms of the landscape being filled with guest farms, lodges, tour activities and the like. One might wonder, "How do all of these tourism ventures stay viable?" Well, at least I wondered.

The more I thought, the more I realized the answer seems to be a function of the landscape. I consider myself a landscape ecologist--studying ecology at landscape-levels. I wondered if there was a field of 'landscape economics'? Turns out I didn't invent the phrase. There is a field. Although, it is very new. There was a conference in 2009--the first international conference in Landscape Economics. For a nice little paper that summarizes the challenges of thinking about economics of landscapes, you can go here.

So, I've been developing a conceptual model to explain why tourism ventures in Namibia are viable and why there are fewer tourism ventures in the Great Plains, compared to Namibia. My first attempt at it appears here in graphic form.

The basic idea of this graph is that a viable tourism attraction depends on two things: (1) having some inherent quality or "draw" to your attraction (cool stuff to see, quality lodging, etc.), and (2) being close to other tourism attractions. Tourists normally plan trips that combine stops at multiple sites. They look for places along their route where they can stop. If you want to have a lodge in the Great Plains, it helps to be close to the Black Hills. In Namibia, it helps to be close to Etosha National Park. Essentially, it helps to be close to anything (a lake, a historical site, etc.) that already draws people. But, if you are far from other attractions, you can still be viable--you just have to have a bigger draw. As an example, the sandhill cranes draw people to Nebraska ever year in high numbers; it's not close to other tourism destinations. But, it is a unique attraction.

And, my thought is that there are some thresholds in distance from other sites. If you are within an hour from another site, you can have a fairly benign attraction and still gather people who will be willing to drive. Beyond an hour, I think people start to demand higher quality to make the drive. And, at about 3 hours, the requirement really sky-rockets. People need a reason to make the trip to see your attraction. To the point where you have to have something that is a regional tourist attraction to attract people from 4-5 hours away. Sandhill cranes.

This all creates a need to think about tourism from a landscape level in the Great Plains. The landscape matters--from several perspectives. Where are places where tourism might be able to be used to sustain profits on ranches? I've got some ideas on that. More on that later...

You will notice there are two lines on the figure: one for the USA and one for Namibia. This is also a hypothesis on my part. When several ranchers from the Great Plains visited Namibia earlier this year, they made some interesting observations about the two countries and tourism. First, labor is much cheaper in Namibia. It is possible to employ farm workers or general laborers for about US$12-15/day with no requirements for workman's comp, health insurance, or fancy staff lounges. When you are building a lodge, or when you need to employ a staff to serve guests, it takes less output in Namibia. Couple that with the fact that Namibian ecotourism facilities do not pay much for liability insurance (if anything, in some cases), while their counterparts in the USA can pay up to 10% of their expenses for liability insurance. So, the end result is that it takes less income to be viable in Namibia as a tourism facility--because you have lower costs. So, the 'viability line' is lower for Namibia.

What does this all explain? Well, in Namibia, tourism has two things going for it at the moment. The relatively low output costs and interesting destinations have resulted in many viable tourism centers being established. And, that has created a landscape that now is ripe to support other tourism establishments--it is hard to find a place in Namibia that is more than 2 hours from another tourism location.

For Namibia, it also points a warning for the tourism industry. As human rights issues are dealt with, salaries of workers will rise. Eventually, I would guess that liability insurance costs will catch up with Namibian tourist facilities as well (sadly, perhaps). So, the tourism industry in Namibia (in my opinion) should brace itself to deal with these issues in coming years. My prediction would be that Namibia will not have the landscape dotted with small tourist facilities in 25 years that it has now. The facilities will be fewer and larger as the line on the graph creeps up to meet the USA's line.

And, I think this perhaps provides some guidelines for folks interested in ecotourism and conservation in the Great Plains. My prediction would be that successful ventures should initially be targeted towards areas that are close to existing tourism destinations.
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P.S. I never thought I would quote Jim Fowler. More later on the argument that he and Aldo Leopold might have if they ever met. This ecotourism/conservation thing is not simple. Some would argue that a landscape saturated with tourism is a landscape that is not 'wild'.

Sweet redemption

2009-08-26T09:01:00.006-05:00

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It is his capacity for self-improvement* and self-redemption which most distinguishes man from the mere brute.

--AUNG SAN SUU KYI, Freedom from Fear

*Made lemon bars today. They were not burnt. Thanks for the oven thermometer, Mom. For previous failure, click here. Who needs that thermostat, anyway? Thanks for the recipe, Brenda V.
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Chilly, dry winter

2009-08-25T10:46:00.003-05:00

The good news these days in Windhoek is that it appears to be getting warmer. In fact, we haven't used the space heater in our bedroom for almost 2 weeks, now. Spring is on the way!

During late July and early August, we definitely had some cold nights. Houses in Windhoek do not have central heating, and ours doesn't have a fireplace (some do). So, when it gets down in the high 30's or low 40's (F) at night, the house is pretty cold. Then, during the day, the house (made of cement) stays nice and cold. That works well in the summer, but it is a bad trait for a house in winter.

People planning trips to Namibia during the winter months (late May, June, July, August) should bring wool socks, sweaters, and slippers for those cold tile floors.

I thought some of you might be interested in a rainfall comparison between Nebraska and Namibia. Namibia actually has different types of seasons than Nebraska--it's not just opposite timing. There is dry summer, wet summer, and dry winter. Our skin has been cracking recently with the lack of humidity and cold temps that keep air moisture low. We haven't seen rain (or even clouds, really) since sometime in May. As the graph suggests, it will be a couple more months until real rain arrives.

I made this graph a few months ago to show colleagues at Polytechnic how Nebraska's rainfall compared to Namibia. For those unfamiliar with Nebraska geography, Chadron is out west with rainfall of about 250mm per year. Lincoln is in the east part of the state, with rainfall about 750mm per year. Windhoek gets 300-400mm per year (and all of that in about 3.5 months), and Namibia also has a gradient of rainfall--very similar to Nebraska in fact.

The Powell family is welcoming the sun as it starts making its daily rounds a bit closer to the south pole. Bring it on!

When you have time to think too much

2009-08-21T09:01:00.008-05:00

Short Timer

The dog

looks at me and wags its tail.

Ribs showing.

He lets me scratch between the ticks on his ears.

He leans on my knee.

Drooling.

His look seems to tell me:

Go Home.

--L. Powell, near Ervee, Namibia

Babel Babble

The room echoes conversations,

and they pour into my corner of the lapa.

They are in love and on vacation.

He is alone and shouts at the football match on TV.

They are workers and have many stories.

She is cooking, and calls to her husband, the bar tender.

The words slide around chairs.

Behind the bar.

Under the stove.

Slippery words, like greased eels.

They are there and then quickly gone.

Disappearing beyond my reach.

Like trying to sort a pile of bolts into bins by size,

I struggle to find places to put the words.

My mind grasps at syllables.

Maybe the lovers need to find red shoes tomorrow? Probably not.

Perhaps Mr. Lonely thinks the goal tender is sick? I'm not sure.

The workers both hurt their thumbs today? My best guess.

Did she just run out of salt? Surely not.

I think of the story of the blind men and the elephant.

I'm only touching the tail of these conversations.

Does anyone speak English?

--L. Powell, near Kamanjab, Namibia

When I met his mother

I could guess

You do the work of two men.

I could guess
The cows come when you call them to milking.

I could guess

Bad years have outnumbered the good.

I could guess

You let your grandbabies eat first.

I could guess

Your door is always open.

I could guess

That you only cry at funerals.

I could guess

That you miss him.

I could guess.

But your hands told me.

--L. Powell, on the #Khoadi //Hoas conservancy

Namibia: come apart at the seams

2009-08-21T08:25:00.007-05:00

In today's Namibian newspaper, the Namibian Tourism Board placed a large advertisement to congratulate the Right Honourable Prime Minister Nahas Angula on his 66th birthday. It is very common for companies to place ads in the paper wishing "Happy Birthday" to politicians. I guess if you want to receive tenders (contracts) in the coming year from the government, it pays to grease their palms. When President Pohamba recently had his birthday, there was an entire separate 20-page section of the paper filled with ads and small articles about the President.

Many of the ads have misspellings, as English is the official language but only spoken at home by 2% of the population.

Anyway, the Namibian Tourism Board's ad has a wonderful photo of the Prime Minister, placed on a background of a red sand dune and a quiver tree--both symbols of Namibia tourism. It is a beautiful ad. But, the header of the ad, above the birthday wish, reads:

"Tourism unravels you [sic] spiritual wellbeing"

Unravels?! This now explains the reason for the poor service at Namibia Wildlife Resorts. And, it makes one think of other possible slogans for Namibia's tourist industry:

1. Namibia: for those who think they've got life by the tail
2. Namibia: come here to fall apart
3. Namibia: no better place for your nervous breakdown
4. Namibia: get lost in our deserts and you'll never find your way home
5. Namibia: we can destroy all of your self esteem
6. Namibia: a land of broken hearts
7. Namibia: you arrive whole and leave unravelled
8. Namibia: an insurmountable challenge around every corner
9. Namibia: come for the scenery, stay for the psychological treatment
10. Namibia: if France didn't break you, we can

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One smart criminal

2009-08-21T00:20:00.004-05:00

The Namibian newspaper publishes good news, but often the stories are fun to read. Here's my account, paraphrasing from a story this past week.

A recent robbery went awry when police broke up the in-progress burglary. Six suspects fled, and one poor guy was easier to follow. The police chased him past several stores, where he stole a jacket to hide his identity. Unfortunately, he was seen and as it got dark, the jacket turned out to have reflective stripes which made it even easier to follow him.

He next ducked into a big pipe to hide from police, which turned out to be a sewer pipe. He crawled deep inside, and could go no further. He spent 2-3 hours sitting in human waste, until 3 poor policemen drew the short straws and went in after him. He was arrested without further incident. The newspaper reported, "On-lookers described a foul odor eminating from the suspect." I'll bet.

I wonder if Namibian jails have showers?

Dust and mud

2009-08-20T13:06:00.011-05:00

Dust covers Africa
until the rains come.
Men with white feet.
Ladies in blue dresses with a light hem.
Children run as the elephants cover shattered trees with a layer of grey.
A donkey shakes and sends clouds into a clear sky.
Rains wash the leaves, and the tree is green again.
White feet turn red.
The donkey's fur is caked near its tail.
The elephants leave and
the dresses are smeared with the past.

--L. Powell, in Kamanjab, Namibia

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I just returned from spending another week on a communal conservancy in northwest Namibia. More photos are on the Picasa site.

World peace...through 70 cups of chili

2009-08-12T08:28:00.008-05:00

The Fulbright Commission aims to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason, and a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship.

—Senator J. William Fulbright

I have to admit that when I heard I'd been granted a Fulbright Scholar fellowship, I was pretty happy. It is one of the foremost awards given to academic types; although, to be fair, I am guessing the competition was a little less fierce to come to Namibia. But, one never knows and the end result is the same, so I won't ask too many questions. Fulbright administrators are quick to point out that 48 former Fulbrighters are Nobel Prize winners--more than any other academic program. So, this is just the beginning, I am sure...!

My happy mental state was set back a bit when I attended the Fulbright orientation program in Washington DC in June 2008 (I applied in August 2007, was accepted in March 2008 for the award which is in place for the entirety of 2009...it's a long process). The orientation made it clear several times that the large-picture goal of the program was to effect world peace, as shown by the quote, above, from Senator Fulbright who started this taxpayer funded program after WWII. OK, so this isn't just a vacation....we have to bring peace to the world before we come home? Hmmm...

Perhaps it's appropriate--given the recent 64th anniversary of the bomb at Hiroshima--to be thankful our policy-makers still choose to spend our tax money on programs like Fulbright. But, that places a big burden on us Fulbright folks, right?

Well, I'm used to big burdens. I'm an ecologist and our environment is going to pot. That's on my shoulders, too. So, now I have world peace and climate change to fix? No problem--remember the adage, "Think globally and act locally"? I think that is still the answer.

This is all a long introduction to convince you, readers of NTN, that today's American Cowboy Chili booth at Polytechnic's International Cuisine Day was more than just a chili give-away. It was our first official act as ambassadors for the good ol' USA. The US Embassy does not host a booth at the Cuisine Day, which is dotted by booths from other Embassies in town. But, the US Cultural Center (part of the Embassy) was nice enough to provide us with a bunch of red-white-and-blue banners. We took it from there, with the help of our fellow Fulbrighters the Bates family, Polytechnic's English Language Fellow, Marsha, and our friend Uapii. We had to invite Uapii, because he's a nice guy and because he calls himself the "Kunene cattleman". We had to have one real cowboy at the booth...

We arrived early to set up and soon had the USA represented 'in the house'. Workers from other booths, who owned much more appropriate clothing to represent their country (what is the official uniform of the USA?) came by and were early samplers of our chili. Everyone loves a cowboy, we found out.

After the ceremony to start the Cuisine Day (Rector's speech, dance, karate demonstration, dance, speech), the flood gates opened and we were set upon by Polytechnic students looking for cheap food. We were providing a cup of chili, garnished with cheese and sour cream and 4-5 Doritos chips (cheese flavor--closest thing to tortilla chips we could find). Our price was initially N$10 (about US$1.20), but we quickly lowered it to N$5 to satisfy the students.

Then, the rush was on. We served over 4 gallons of chili in about 45 minutes--about 70 servings and were the first booth to run out of food. That either means we had the best food, or we were the least prepared with large quantities. Maybe a mixture of both.

We had several students, who we didn't know, come over and have their photo taken with us in front of the American flag. One lady brought her baby over for me to hold so she could take a photo of us. Turnabout is fair play, I suppose--we've been taking photos of Namibians all year. But, it felt good to hear good things said about our country.

One passerby, upon hearing we had sold out, commented that "I think it is ironic that the USA is a superpower, and yet today you have run out of chili."

Well, maybe the USA needs to run out of chili more often. Is that what Senator Fulbright meant?

Ecotourism makes you tired

2009-08-11T09:58:00.004-05:00

In the past few months, I've had the opportunity to participate in the trophy hunting and meat hunting sides of ecotourism...in addition to all of the photo safaris one could possibly desire. Namibia is simply a great place to enjoy the outdoors in any fashion.

I cannot explain what it is like to be in a country where there is such a constant 'rate' of tourism (tourists/day). It really becomes part of the culture, part of the infrastructure, part of the reality of living in Namibia. You see tourist vehicles all of the time. You encounter tourists all of the time. You can't eat out without sitting next to tourists. You can't walk in the mall without bumping into tourists. You can't drive on the street without seeing tourists swerving over to the left side of the road.

It is sometimes hard to remember that, as mid-term visitors to Namibia, our family transitions in-and-out of the 'tourist' world during our adventure. Sometimes, a person just gets really tired of tourists. Then, you remember you are one...

My good friend and colleague, Dr. Mark Pegg, compiled a short video that documents the trophy hunting exploits of yours truly. Enjoy. You can find me asleep on the couch.

Cast your vote now!

2009-08-10T13:05:00.005-05:00

This is Cultural Week at Polytechnic, with the theme, "Gather around the fire of culture." One highlight of the week will be the Fulbrighter's booth at International Cuisine Day, where we will be serving "American Cowboy Chili". There will be cultural dances and speeches; food will be served from about 15 cultural groups from Namibia and about 15 other nations. Today we raided the US Embassy's closet to find red-white-and-blue banners for our table.

There are no tests or assignments given this week to allow students to participate in the festival. The other main attraction of the week is the Mr. and Miss Polytechnic contest. The pageant concludes the week on Friday.

I thought you would like to see the contestants' photo as it was distributed to lecturers today, so that you can get in the queue to cast your vote!

March of the rhino

2009-08-10T12:53:00.007-05:00

Here's a short video of a black rhino coming to drink and eat in front of our blind on the Waterberg Plateau. It's unusual to see one during the day--they normally come to drink right after dark. Its ear notches are used to identify it as #27. The curved notches indicate it is a male.

The charge of Don Quixote

2009-08-10T11:44:00.003-05:00

Don Quixote: [about to attack the windmill] Ho, there, foul monster! Cease the knocking at thy craven knees and prepare to do battle!

Sancho Panza: [nearly simultaneously] Your Grace, I swear by my wife's little black moustache that's not a giant, it's only a... [with a yell, Don Quixote charges off]

--From the 1974 film version of Man of La Mancha

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Well, the giraffes look a bit like oblivious windmills, and this crazy roan looks a bit like Don Quixote. Mid-charge, he figures out he is tilting at something a bit bigger than he. This video is from our 48-hour waterhole count at Waterberg Plateau.

The parable of the python and the cigarette

2009-08-09T03:23:00.005-05:00

Another campfire story from a student on our Polytechnic excursion. This is from Christopher, who was explaining how it is often hard to tell people why you are asking for help. It's actually a thought-provoking story about real life. It is hard for us to explain why we need help, sometimes, isn't it?

There was a man who needed to build a house. He was gathering reeds in the river in a wooden canoe. He was doing well until a python fell into his boat.
He couldn't jump into the river, because the crocodiles would get him. So, he was stuck out on the tip of his canoe as the python came closer and closer.

The man saw his friend in a canoe down the river. He knew that he couldn't ask him to come save him from the python, because his friend would be scared of the python. His friend would never come save him.
So, he asked his friend to come give him a light for his cigarette. The friend came, and he quickly jumped onto his boat and was saved from the python.
.

Romance of language

2009-08-09T03:09:00.002-05:00

There are several Namibian pronunciations of animal names that make the animal somehow more majestic or mysterious or just generally 'cooler' than our English pronunciation. Here are some examples:

Olifant: Afrikaans word for elephant. Comes from term used in middle ages
before Afrikaans was developed as a language.

lee'-0-pahrd: instead of our "leh-perhd." You have to imagine someone softly telling a story about a leopard..."Then, I saw the lee-o-pahrd sneaking through the bush!"
boof'-a-loh: instead of our "buhf-a-loh."
rrrrhino: rolling r's in the Afrikaans language makes it really sound like a nasty beast.
orrryx: again, rolling the r's really makes the 'oryx' announcement get your heart pumping when the hunter's assistant calls out that he has spotted one.
li'on: not a change in pronunciation, but how the word is spoken. Pretend you have just spotted a lion under a tree. Use a hushed tone, draw the word out slowly, and say it like Harry Potter characters refer to "he who must not be named."
Oh-ster-ich: instead of "ah-ster-ich"
ay-land: instead of "eee-land" for eland.

The gospel according to Peter, Chapter II

2009-08-09T02:44:00.003-05:00

To follow up on the previous post (Chapter I), here is a longer story from our bus driver, Peter, to show the influence of the beliefs of ghosts in the Caprivi culture.

The story features the Tokoloshi, which is a dwarfish, mean spirit that is always out to do harm to people. Some of the group explained to me, later, that if you go into homes in northern Namibia, you will find the beds up on bricks. The purpose is to keep the Tokoloshi from getting into the bed and doing foul deeds.

Here is Peter's story, which he told as if it had happened to him [slight parental warning regarding a bit of violence toward the end of the story]:

I wanted to marry a girl, by my parents did not approve of her. They told me I should not marry her. Regardless, I decided to work up the courage to ask her parents if I could marry her. According to our tradition, I went to live with the girl and her parents for one year. I made houses of reeds for them, and I planted and harvested a mahangu [corn] field.
After the year was over, I decided to take the girl to be my wife, and her parents approved of me. We left to go to our new home. Her parents gave us a basket of mahangu and a goat.
The first day after we were at our new home, I was out in the woods with my brother-in-law. We found a hole in the ground, and there was a very short man standing next to it. My brother-in-law was scared and said it was the Tokoloshi, and he ran away. I was not scared, but soon I also decided he was the Tokoloshi, and I also ran. He followed me back to my house.
I went inside my house and realized that my wife could not see the Tokoloshi. I tried to explain what had happened, but she could not see. The short man grabbed a cup and plate from the table and dropped it on the floor. My wife thought I had thrown them on the floor. "No," I said. "It is the short man who followed me home."
The next day dawned, and my wife also saw the short man. She was frightened, and we decided to go to her parents house. As we left, the short man followed us.
"Take me with you," he demanded.
"No," we responded. "You cannot come."
"Well, at least take me back to the hole in the ground where you found me," he said. We agreed, and we took him to his hole on our donkey cart.
When we reached his hole, he demanded his share of our basket of mahangu. We were scared of him, so we gave him half of the mahangu.
"What about the goat?" the short man asked. So, we gave him the goat. He took his knife and killed it and cut it in half.
"Let's go," I told my wife.
"Wait," said the short man. "What about your wife?"
"You cannot have my wife," I replied. But, the short man grabbed my wife, took his knife, killed her and cut her in half.
I ran screaming through the woods to my parents house. When I got there I told my parents the story.
My parents led me to the next room. There was my wife, alive and whole. Also, the goat and the full basket of mahangu.
"We told you we did not approve of this woman," my parents told me. "Now, look what the ghosts are telling you. Take her home to her parents and leave her."
And, I did.

After the story, most of the students were aghast and Peter had to quickly explain the story didn't actually happen to him, but that the story had been told in his village. Several of the students were visibly shaken to be talking about the topic, and suggested we talk about something else. Others offered their support for the story, saying that they had also seen the Tokoloshi do mean things in their villages.

The gospel according to Peter, Chapter I

2009-08-09T02:18:00.004-05:00

During our recent excursion with Polytechnic students, we had several campfires. Several stories were shared, including some stories from our excitable bus driver, Peter. He is from northern portion of Namibia where cultures have a history of beliefs in spirits, use of witch doctors, and are fairly superstitious. The students refer to this area, laughingly, as "Kuvukiland." If someone expresses a superstition, another student might respond, "Well, yes, you are from Kuvukiland." Upon googling this term, I see it was used in the Mr. Bones movies (South African productions).

I should note that although many people in this region have become Christian, their beliefs are now a mix of theologies. My observation is that when push comes to shove, the majority tend to fall back to their traditional beliefs to make sense of life's happenings.

So, Peter started by sharing how people from northern Namibia do not steal (which is generally true). The reason relates not to their general good will towards their neighbor, but because of an intense belief that stealing will cause bad things to happen.

Accept these three stories from Peter:

1. We do not steal. If you steal a goat, and the guy comes to
ask you if you have seen the goat, you should just tell him, "I took your
goat." Because if you lie to him, he can witch you and that night the goat
(which you have eaten) inside of you will start talking. And you will
start to talk like a goat. Baaaaa-aaaaa!

2. If you steal a goat and want to go home by going around the
mountain, you will instead always come back to where you started. You
cannot go home.

3. If you are sick and a witch doctor comes, he will ask you for
money. He will witch the money and tell you to throw it away. So, if
someone finds the money on the ground and takes it, they will also take your
sickness away. Because of this, everyone* knows not to take money they find
lying on the ground!
*which of course makes me wonder if this cure ever works?! Maybe they depend on tourists to pick up the money?!

Thoughts from the blind

2009-08-08T16:34:00.005-05:00

During the recent excursion with Polytechnic students, we spent 48 hours in hides (blinds) counting wildlife. It was a great 48 hours, and we saw some neat sites (click here to go to Picasa photo site). But, we had 48 hours to sit and ponder the world as we waited for animals to come to the waterhole. Here are some thoughts that went through my mind:

Why is everything wrapped in noisy plastic?

What is it going to be like to be back in a place where you can't see giraffes?

I need a blind on a pond for my own use back home. Time to move to the country!

There is no substitute for a good chair.

I am fairly certain that I have never before looked into a buffalo's eyes at 25 m.

Giraffes are just odd animals.

I wonder if General Pershing ever contemplated using rhinos as a tactical weapon?

Is it possible that the moon is closer to the earth in Africa?

Duikers are the Rodney Dangerfield of the animal kingdom.

I would eat some ice cream if an ice cream truck came by.

If sand could be inexpensively shipped, Namibia would be a wealthy country.

Forty-eight hours is about as long as 2 days. Maybe longer. I don't have a calculator.

I would have to estimate that only 60% of elands that we are seeing have a well-balanced, matched set of horns. The rest seem to have odd pitched or twisted horns. Is there something in the water I'm drinking?

I would not have guessed that buffalo would be so skittish.

Large mammals are interesting. Why do I study birds?!

If an eland ever gets a mutation that keeps it from clicking when it walks, that trait should remain in the gene pool.

Maybe I should try not showering and wearing the same clothes for 2 days more often?

You know you're getting old when...

2009-08-08T11:31:00.005-05:00

This past week, I went on a week-long excursion with first-year Ecology II students at Polytechnic. We went to Etosha to watch animal behavior and conduct a road game count. Then, we went to the Waterberg Plateau for a 48-hour waterhole count from blinds (hides). We camped and students cooked the meals.

This morning, I was standing in line to wash my plate and cup before we left for Windhoek. One of the students, Cecilia, took them from me. I protested, asserting that I was capable of washing my own dishes.

"Prof, you are elderly and a man," she said. "You shouldn't be washing dishes."

"You'll have to tell my wife that," I replied.

"You wash dishes at home?"

"Well, when she cooks, I wash dishes, and when I cook she washes dishes," I explained.

"Good," she said. "I was afraid you were washing dishes all the time."

The ironic fact is that in a culture with fairly well-defined roles for men and women, Namibia appears to be advancing quickly to include women in positions in government. Our students in Nature Conservation are about 60-40 men/women, in what has been a traditionally male-dominated field. Many recently-hired Ministry of Environment and Tourism employees are women.

Now, about this 'elderly' thing...

Pardon me, are you going to use those beans...?

2009-07-30T10:40:00.004-05:00

"Hunger is a powerful incentive to introspection."
. Willa Cather, "The Burglar's Christmas," Home Monthly, Dec. 1896

Today was 'mark-recapture' theory day in my Ecology II course. First-year students, and a preparation for our trip to Waterberg where we'll be doing game counts and a mark-recapture exercise with small mammals. 'Mark-recapture' describes the process of capturing, marking, releasing, and recapturing animals to obtain data used to estimate population size. Animals can be marked with tags, paint, bands, etc.

The traditional way to explain the notion of sampling a population with mark-recapture is to use dried beans. Students take a handful of beans (unknown number) and count out 20 beans. The students use a marker to place a 'mark' on the beans. Then the 20 beans are thrown back in to the original handful, mixed up (like animals milling around) and another sample of 20 beans are selected. In this second sample, some proportion of beans will be marked (say, 30%). If 30% of that sample are marked, it infers that 30% of the entire population was marked the first time and you can estimate the population size. For those of you playing along at home, you should try it. The formula is: Total number of beans = (number marked first time*total number sampled second time)/number of second sample that are marked. It actually works best if you take bigger samples than 20--try 40 or 50 each time. Same reason biologists struggle to get large sample sizes--more precise estimates.

Today, the exercise started out a little differently. One of the students, Theofilus, asked me, "Sir, why are you wasting these beans?"

"I'm sacrificing them to teach you a lesson," I told him, winking. Did I mention I really like being called "Sir" by students?

"They taste like nuts," he said, as he munched on one of the dried, white kidney beans.

"I think you are supposed to cook them for a couple hours, Theofilus," I said. "And, be careful, you're causing mortality to your population before we even get started!"

The exercise went very well, as usual. But, when it was over, I didn't get any of the beans back.

Clean underwear and moving fast in the blogosphere

2009-07-29T00:53:00.005-05:00

I had two wonderful grandmothers, both of which offered advice which can be used to help live a good life. One of Grandma Griffith's pieces of wisdom: "Always wear clean underwear, because you never know when you're going to be in an accident."

Grandma Powell offered: "If you keep moving fast, no one will notice if you've spilled something on your shirt."

I guess the take-home message from combining these is that being dirty is OK as long as you keep moving fast and stay out of accidents.

This whole blogging thing is new to our family, and it's been a lot of fun to share with people around the world. I tend to really enjoy finding gadgets to add to the blog--all the little things that tell you the temperature in Windhoek or show a map of where people come from to the blog. The latter has been especially fun to watch, and it helps us know who has been here. It is also a little scary.

One of the FEEDJIT gadgets shows what city people come from to the site, and also which web page they were on before they visited the site if they followed a link to get here. Did they follow a link from Facebook, the School of Natural Resources, another blog? If people found the blog via a Google or Yahoo (or other) search engine, it also shows that information, and it shows what they searched for.

It's most common for people to be searching for "Namibia sand dunes" or "Nebraska Sandhills" before they stumble onto our site. The photo we took of Windhoek on our first day in town regularly gets hits from Google Image searches--appearing high in the list of images of Windhoek. We're fairly certain that people mostly go away disappointed when they find us through these searches, as we don't really have information about the Sandhills or Namibia's sand dunes--except that they are both fun places to visit.

From time to time, there are other interesting searches that propel people to our site.

"Aluminum windows windhoek" got someone to the site. I'm sure they were disappointed.

"Apple" was a recent search for someone in Mexico who came to our page. I wonder how deep in the search results that person was before he found our link? Maybe it was the apple cake recipe we posted before we left Lincoln?

"Windhoek dentists" also got someone to our site. I'm really not sure that we've used the word 'dentists' before, but now we have....uh oh! I guess we will now have people find us when they are interested in how to 'clean underwear'. It's all about key words and the luck of the search engine.

I guess the message is that, if you also blog, your blog is out there on the internet for the world to see. And, according to my grandmothers, you have two options. One: you can keep it clean so that everyone in the world will find it acceptable. Or, two: you can just keep moving quickly in case you make a mistake. Those who know me know that I really try hard on the first tip, but most often have to rely on the second to save me.

According to these 'tips for blogging', I'm over my word limit for this post. Happy blogging to fellow bloggers!

Meat hunt

2009-07-28T18:15:00.007-05:00

"No, I'm not a good shot, but I shoot often."
Teddy Roosevelt

Meat hunting in Namibia happens during June and July. Trophy hunting can occur virtually throughout the rest of the year, and each season is limited by quotas established for specific farms. But, the general population in Namibia can hunt animals for meat for two months during the winter.

We had a desire to stock the freezer with a bit of 'our own' meat, so I made arrangements with a local farmer to visit his farm and harvest a hartebeest. It was a fun hunt, and successful. Hartebeest are about the same size as white-tailed deer, and we ended up with about 65 pounds of meat. Meat hunting rates are significantly less than trophy hunting rates, and Kelly calculates that our hartebeest meat cost about US$3.50/pound. Still more than venison back home, where a hunting license costs about US$25 and public hunting areas do not charge for access. No such thing in Namibia, so paying a farmer for an animal is the only option.

The farmer went out with Tristan and I to help find the animal, and he led the stalking. When we came back with the hartebeest, the farm workers skinned and quartered it. I've decided this would be nice to have this service back in Nebraska after a tiring day of deer hunting!

Then, Kelly and Tristan and I spent the next morning boning and chopping up the meat into roasts and such. Family togetherness. It was a good experience to have, and it's nice to have a full freezer of local meat.

Because it was a meat hunt, and because we were successful at about dusk, we didn't take the traditional photo. Hartebeests are not a well-known animal and are a bit odd-looking. Tristan thinks they look like they were pieced together by Dr. Frankenstein. The photo here is one of Kelly's photos of hartebeest in Etosha.

Dune driving for daredevils: depicted by duplicating daguerrotype

2009-07-26T03:57:00.008-05:00

We need to catch up on our video postings...these videos below are from our trip in June with the Pegg's and Hygnstrom's, our friends from Nebraska. We took a dune tour, south of Walvis Bay with the Mola Mola tour company. Namibia is home to a one-of-a-kind natural phenomenon, where a desert runs into the ocean. The red dunes are large and have been used as the backdrop for many Hollywood movies, including '10,000 BC' recently. Our driver, Francois, made the trip memorable with his adventurous driving abilities. Our friend, Mark, had been on this trip before, but kept mum about the thrill ride we were about to encounter.

First, a video of a 'roaring dune'. Francois stopped at the brink of the dune face, and turned off the engine. He then let the vehicle slide down the face, with the brakes on. In the video you can see sand being pushed in front of the vehicle. Turn up your speakers, and listen for a roar that sounds, as Kelly suggests in the video, like an airplane going overhead. That is the roar of the dune. Why do dunes 'roar'? Well, you can read all about the physics of roaring dunes here, but the basic answer is that the roar comes from the synchronized vibrations of the loose sand as the avalanche occurs. Cool.

The second video is of our thrill ride in our 4x4 'roller coaster' on Slingshot Hill. Hang on and come along for the adventure.

Photos of this trip in June are archived on our Picasa photo site.

Why did the elephant cross the road? To appear on our video...

2009-07-26T03:43:00.003-05:00

During our trip with Mom and Dad Powell through the Caprivi and in Botswana, we often had to stop for elephants. Here is a video of a big group of bulls crossing the road in Botswana, south of Kasane.

In the video, Kelly mentions that the tusks are larger than the elephants we'd seen in Etosha. The reason is because Etosha elephants lack certain minerals that make their tusks softer. As the Etosha elephants use their tusks, the tusks wear down faster than the tusks of elephants in Botswana.

The video also shows the potential dangers of driving in Africa. Down the road a piece, we saw an elephant road-kill. See the Picasa album for that photo.

Vic Falls video

2009-07-26T03:26:00.003-05:00

Video of Victoria Falls during our visit with Mom and Dad in July. Check out the cool wardrobe required to view the Falls.

Elephant charge video

2009-07-26T03:18:00.003-05:00

Here is one of our favorite moments from a game drive in Mahango Game Park up in the Caprivi. Our driver, Chris, has learned to drive very well in reverse gear, which comes in handy when the elephant starts coming towards you. Click on the play button below.

180-day sweet corn

2009-07-25T08:14:00.003-05:00

When we arrived in Windhoek in January, it was mid-summer. By late January, we'd decided to plant a small garden. Sweet corn, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkin, and squash. It was a gamble--kind of like deciding to plant a garden in Nebraska during late July.

We reported in May (see blog here) that our garden had grown well. Unfortunately, about that time the sun had changed from directly overhead to quite a bit further north (shading the garden during most of the day) and it started getting cold. Not cold enough to kill the plants (we haven't had a hard frost, yet--but it gets close to freezing most nights)--just cold enough to really SLLLLOOOOOWWWWW it down. I call it the 'slow motion garden'. Our sweet corn was tasseling in May, but we just harvested it today. By my count, that is about 180 days from planting to harvesting. Most folks back home in Iowa planted their sweet corn in May and are now harvesting.

I may leave the corn stalks, to see how long they stay green. Maybe corn is a perennial plant in Namibia?!

Our tomatoes were set on the plants in May, and most are still green. Today, we brought them inside to set in the window--we've done the same with some others, and they ripened in the sunny window.

We had some pollination problems with the sweet corn, but it's still sweet corn. We ended up with about 5 cups of corn to use later--it's in the freezer. The tomatoes really produced well, and the peppers did OK, but they probably didn't deserve all the water we gave them. The squash and pumpkins shriveled up long ago with no fruit. But, our carrots did great--which makes sense because they are a cool-season crop. We'll have little baby-sized carrots to eat for weeks. Carrot/pineapple salad is a staple over here in Namibia, so I guess we are set to enjoy that.

In an odd way, it feels good to be 'in sync' with our friends and family back in the States. Harvesting our garden at about the same time. Except that we're wearing our coats while we do it!

Some really soft boots

2009-07-23T16:14:00.003-05:00

Namibia made international news this week, or at least got into a bit of an international incident, when two journalists trespassed during a fur seal cull on the coast. Namibia is one of 5 countries (Canada is the largest harvester) to harvest fur seals. The populations along the coast are large (the photo at right was taken at one of the large colonies--200,000--at Cape Cross earlier this year). An annual cull is conducted to manage the populations.

Although one doesn't need to read far in this blog to find that I support hunting as a management tool, it sounds like the process in Namibia needs to be refined if it is to continue sustainably. The cull is conducted with clubs. The cullers are supposed to stun the animals and then use a knife to kill them, but according to the Namibian newspaper, there is some evidence that the knife rarely gets used.

My colleagues at Polytechnic inform me that the Namibia Environment and Wildlife Society has tried to observe and make recommendations for the cull during the past 10 years, and they have been prevented from doing so. The cull is conducted by a company hired by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources in Namibia. As with any public agency, anywhere in the world, one would suspect that the process will have to adhere to ethical standards, or Namibia risks losing an industry of seal products. It doesn't sound like that much would be required to bring the cull into line with ethical standards, and one wonders why the cullers don't recognize that their own job security depends on staying in line.

Sealskin boots are very common in Namibia, and Tristan and I both own a pair. They are really soft and comfortable. Isn't life complicated?

Trip to Caprivi and Vic Falls

2009-07-19T13:05:00.028-05:00

The trip to the Caprivi and Vic Falls was something we'd looked forward to since we got here--and it marks the mid-point of our year in Namibia. Here is the blow-by-blow description of the 3000-km (2000+ mile) trip with Mom and Dad Powell. We'll make this a family participation blog, with descriptions of the various lodges that we stayed in during the trip.

For the more complete (100+...) photo story of the trip, you can go to our Picasa photo album. Thanks to African Adventure for the use of the map at right, which I've modified to show our route and yellow dots where we spent each night.

It was a tough decision to decide which part of Namibia to show Mom and Dad Powell, but we settled on a trip that would take us to one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World: Victoria Falls. We decided to visit the Zambia size of Vic Falls. Along the way, we stopped at Etosha National Park (Namibia), Namibia's Caprivi region (that little strip that stretches east of the rest of the country), and Chobe National Park (Botswana). We skirted the Okavango Delta in Botswana as well, before heading home to Windhoek. It was cold during the entire trip; it's winter in southern Africa, and it got very cold at night. It is hard to believe that tourist season here is during the coldest part of the year; lodges are mostly prepared for it, with extra blankets, but very few are equipped with heaters. Tourists are advised to bring lots of warm clothes--especially for evening and night wear (slippers, flannel PJ's, and warm jackets).

Day 1. We left Windhoek in our rented VW T5 Kombi, which was a great choice for a traveling vehicle. We stopped for lunch at the Etosha Garden Hotel in Outjo (we had stayed there previously with our friends from Nebraska; Kelly recommends the Austrian ice dessert at the Etosha Garden Hotel), and got to Etosha by mid-afternoon. We took a quick drive on the western side of Etosha's "pan" and spent quite a bit of time at the Okaukuejo water hole, which is inside the park. Staying in the park is the only way to view wildlife at night, and we enjoyed seeing a lion, some giraffe, elephants, and several black rhinos come to the waterhole that evening. We stayed in 'bush chalet' cabins at Okaukuejo; the mother of one of Tristan's friends at school was the interior designer for the cabins. Larkin: night-time waterhole viewing is great; my advice is to spend one night in the park and other nights outside to save money; Kelly: it's good to stay in the park at least one night to see the rhinos; kind of like going to Disney--there are benefits to staying in the park, but you pay for it...much less expensive to stay outside the park; Tristan: extra bed on floor for me was comfortable and warm; don't eat the cake at dinner.

Our room at Okaukuejo. Pretty nice digs.

Dad managed to get this black rhino's photo in the dark at the Okaukuejo waterhole.

Day 2: We drove through Etosha, taking photos as we encountered massive numbers of wildlife. Dad was adjusting to his new digital camera, and he got a baptism by fire this day: he went through a set of batteries in the Park! We exited the eastern gate with 14 minutes to spare (the park closes at sunset). We had to move quickly to get from Okaukuejo to the east gate in one day; so much to see. We saw a lion for the second time at the Salvadora water hole, and saw elephants at Rietfountein; We also enjoyed Olifantsbad and Twee Palms (giraffe heaven, evidently).

We spent the evening at Sachsenheim Guest Farm, just outside the east gate of Etosha. We learned that the owner's father had come from Germany to set up the farm and had 'ordered' a bride from Germany who came on a boat and arrived in Walvis Bay where they were married. Larkin: I had looked forward to showing Dad a real Namibian farm, and we enjoyed talking with the owner; Kelly: very clean and huge rooms; the pool looked like it would be fun when it was warm; neat family history of the farm; Tristan: very cold and we needed more blankets; food was very good.

Giraffe crowd the water hole at Twee Palms at Etosha, just before sunset.

Day 3: We headed for the Caprivi Strip, and went through Tsumeb and stopped at the Tsumeb Craft Center--a nice place where local people can be trained and then rent store fronts to sell their wares. The crafts were well-made and one lady was upset because the clouds were interfering with her solar ovens (she sells bread from the ovens and also the ovens). We followed the tar road through Grootfontein and Rundu before arriving at Divundu and the Ndhovu Lodge. As we drove up to Rundu, we started encountering the 80% of Namibia's population that lives in the north. This was a long driving day, about 600 km, and we drove past many farms, huts, and villages on our journey. Near the entrance to Ndhovu, we passed a tent village provided by Red Cross for this year's flood victims.

At Ndhovu, we stayed in large tents, which had a 'en suite' bathroom attached via a passageway from the tent. Hot water was provided by a fire-powered 'donkey' (a cast iron water heater with fire below to heat). The owner was a farmer from near Windhoek who had taken over the lodge about 5 years ago; the bottled water came from his farm. Larkin: one of my favorite places to stay; great location on the river and wonderful people; Kelly: beautiful with very personalized service; got to eat dinner with the owner or one of the guides; excellent food and we could hear hippos all night; they had an outlet in the bathroom (!); visiting when it was warmer would let you avoid having to take an open-air shower when it is cold enough to see your breath hanging in the air; Tristan: very nice, but at night the beds were freezing cold; I got to go fishing.

Tristan fishes on the banks of the Kavango River at Ndhovu Lodge, with elephants on the opposite shore. Days end tally of Tristan's catch: 2 trees and 2 logs. No fish, and thankfully no elephants.

Day 4: We stayed at Ndhovu and went on a game drive to Mahango Game Park, just a couple km's from our lodge. We all thought the game drive was probably the best 3 hours we spent on the trip--many new animals (both birds and mammals) now that we had gotten to a region of Namibia where the rainfall was over 700 mm/year (compare to 70mm per year down south and 300-400mm near Windhoek). Hippos, crocodiles, roan antelope, reed bucks, waddled cranes, and more. An elephant charged us during the game drive. Trees were changing too--we saw many baobob trees in Mahango, which is a place you shouldn't miss if you're traveling this way. Our guide told us the Legend of the Baobob: the tree grew so tall that God became angry with it and ripped it out of the ground and threw it back to earth upside down, so its roots were sticking up into the sky; so this is why it looks so odd. We also went on a sunset boat ride on the Kavango River.

At Ndhovu, we met Amanda, a WorldTeach volunteer from Rundu, who had hitched a ride to the lodge; we had been at the same security briefing with her back in January at the US Embassy in Windhoek! Her experiences (living in a smaller town without a car) had been very different than ours, and we enjoyed sharing stories of teaching and living in different places in Namibia. Amanda's blog is here, if you want to read about the challenges of secondary education in rural Namibia. She is currently raising money to bring her students to Windhoek to visit U. Namibia and Polytechnic--to encourage students to think about continuing in various fields of study. Larkin: Game Park was great and could be driven in 2WD vehicle; Kelly: great to be so close to Mahango park, and we got to see baobob trees; Tristan: hippos and baobobs were cool; wish we would have seen hippos on the boat ride.

Mom and Dad pose with the game drive vehicle and a baobob tree in Mahango Game Park.

Day 5: Only 200 km driving today, to arrive at Namushasha Lodge, near Kongola, on the Kwando River. We drove through the Bwabwata National Park (used to be called Caprivi Game Park). This park is non-existant at the moment. We saw no wildlife and there were no side roads or points of interest to explore--a work in progress and a park that has seen tremendous loss of wildlife during previous border wars, and (we have heard) has been largely ignored by Namibia to this point. It was a nice forested drive (some good examples of prescribed burning along the way), but not an exciting ride, for certain. We enjoyed an evening boat ride on the Kwando and saw hippos and a little croc. Our river guide, Alfred, was local, and he really whipped the boat up the winding channels and showed us how native Namibians used many of the river's plants and animals.

Namushasha is a larger lodge, and we dined with the other 40-50 guests in a large dining hall. Larkin: ; Kelly: luxurious and beautiful views from own balcony overlooking the river, but not as personalized; workers were nice, but we didn't get to know other guests; fun boat trip with a local guide; Tristan: I got my own cabin to myself; the man who took us on the boat drive told us a lot about wildlife and plants and how to use them.

Our guide, Alfred, shows us how the local people make a shade for their heads when they harvest reeds. I wonder how many times he's done this, and if he ever swears he'll never do it again?! Tristan thought it was a great hat. It's made of a water lilly and papyrus.

Day 6: We left Namushasha and stopped at a 'traditional village' near the lodge. It is a partnership between the lodge and the local communal conservancy--kind of a living history exhibit. A guide showed us various exhibits on traditional life, including snares and traps that were used to catch animals. See the Picasa photo site for some examples. We enjoyed some dancers who gave quite a set of performances of different types of music and dances. It was not in any travel books, and we're really glad we stopped there. We traveled through Katima Mulilo, a chaotic place, before exiting Namibia at the Ngoma Bridge to enter Botswana. We had to fill out an interesting form to state that we were (1) not feeling feverish, (2) not feeling sick, (3) not having a headache, and several other ailments associated with the symptoms of H1N1 flu. The border folks let us tourists cut in front of large bus loads of Zimbabweans traveling from Namibia back home, which made them really happy...

The road from the border to Kasane travels right through Chobe National Park, and we saw more elephants and a huge troupe of baboons along this road. We stayed at the Liya Guest House in Kasane, and ate dinner at the Chobe Safari Lodge. Although the Liya Guest House was not the greatest hotel in the world, we finally stayed in a place where non-tourists stayed. Botswana lodge prices are more expensive than Namibia, by far, and our basic rooms at Liya were US$30/person. Other nearby lodges were US$150-300/person/night. Some Namibian police, in town for a conference, stayed at Liya. Most large lodges in Kasane allow the public to eat dinner on their site, which is actually a great way to save money--we stayed for cheap at Liya, but spent most of our evening on the Safari Lodge's deck, enjoying marimba music and a great buffet. Larkin: Liya reminded me of some hotels in Puerto Rico; live marimba music was great; Kelly: lower-end, basic room, but clean; water was hot; yeah for Chinese food at the buffet!; an impressive place to eat dinner--just huge; the biggest buffet I've ever experienced on either side of the Atlantic!; Tristan: small room, but we had a TV; we had 'Hu Hot' food at the dinner buffet which was awesome.

Tristan prepares a get-away strategy, just in case he gets asked to dance. At the traditional village near Namushasha Lodge.

Day 7: One of the more interesting days on the trip, in many ways. We spent the morning navigating the border crossing Zambia at the Kazangula Ferry. You can read more about this fun-filled, expensive, long experience at a previous posting. Just be sure to have US$50/person (must be in US$$) with you for the visa and about US$100 (much of it should be in Kwacha before arriving at the ferry to avoid black market exchange rates; carbon tax had to be paid in Kwacha) for other tolls, taxes, and rip-off's. Upon entering Zambia, we drove 60 km to Livingstone, found our rooms at the Maramba River Lodge, and then went to see Victoria Falls. That was a spectacular sight, and we were happy to see local Zambians enjoying the holiday as well. The most amazing part of the experience was realizing we had only seen about half of the long falls. We highly suggest renting the rain ponchos in the park.

There are ultra-light flights over the falls, helicopter rides, boat trips, bungee jumping, and various other tourist ventures, which all sounded fun. You could definitely spend more than the one day we spent in Zambia; if we would have known how much it cost to enter Zambia, we would have scheduled another day in Livingstone to tour the David Livingstone Museum and other parts of this interesting, old town. We started seeing American tourists here--a departure from the normal German and South African crowd in Namibia. Zambia looked more like the 'Africa' that we pictured when we started planning our year in Namibia. In general, more chaos, more people, long lines, corruption, and less-structured infrastructure. Larkin: no comments: still in a daze over the border crossing; Kelly: cabins were darling, but going at a different time of year would be warmer; restaurant was on a patio overlooking the river where there is a hippo; beautiful setting; Tristan: I liked our cabin, but our shower was very cold (problem with hot water heater in our cabin); they had 'giant chess' outside, and I enjoyed beating my dad.

Fairly certain the insurance doesn't cover us, now...Larkin loads the van onto the ferry.

Maidens and gents of the mist.

A double 'mistbow' at Vic Falls.

Day 8: The longest driving day of the trip--almost 700 km. Back through Livingstone to the ferry. The border experience was much shorter this time, but the ferry we used was much older; as the semi pulled off before we drove on, the ends of the floorboards flipped up at a 45-degree angle under his weight. No diesel in Kasane ("truck will be here in 1 hour"), so we traveled south from Kasane, Botswana through Nata to Maun. Interesting cultivated farm fields near Pandamatenga. The road from Kasane to Nata had 160 km of the worst potholes (really 'craters') we'd ever encountered--you will have to check out the photos on our Picasa site! A trip that should have taken 2.5 hours took us 5.5 hours, as we averaged about 45 km/hour (20+ miles/hour). But, the road from Nata to Maun was fine, which was good, as we drove most of it in the dark.

We saw the last elephant of the trip west of Nata as the sun set, and he was not too happy: throwing grass and mock charging the car. We arrived late to our next lodge: Okavango River Lodge, just outside of Maun. This lodge has actually been renamed ORL Backpackers, which explains most of the folks we saw there. A much younger crowd. Again, we opted for a cheaper place, due to high lodge prices near the Okavango Delta (one lodge we found charged US$1500/person/night...and they were full). Larkin: felt like 4-H camp cabins, I enjoyed watching birds over the flooded marsh by the lapa; good food; Kelly: older cabin, very basic, saggy beds, no mosquito nets, but huge shower with hot water; more electric outlets than any other lodge we stayed in; Tristan: our beds had craters in them; they had a pool table and a cool hammock to swing in.

Potswana.

Day 9: We stayed in Maun and enjoyed a day that started at the tire shop to repair a dinged wheel rim (pothole casuality of the previous day). We all took a 3-hour basket weaving class in the afternoon from Ms. Thitanya Kishonya at Quality Baskets (if you only follow one link, follow this one). Thitanya has a wonderful story of empowering women by teaching skills, and we had a relaxing day under the shade tree in her yard. She teaches the class at her basket store, where baskets range in price from US$7-300.

We noticed that people in Botswana spoke English very well, and were easy to understand. We also noticed the difference in histories between Botswana and Namibia; because Botswana did not participate in apartheid, the blacks and whites are much more relaxed in their relationships--just a different 'feel' to the country, racially. Larkin: I now have a woven coaster for my coffee cup, and it only took me 3 hours to make it...; Kelly: a lovely day with Thitanya, we blew a wad of money in her basket store, but felt good about blowing it there; don't laugh at the piles of baskets when I come home; Tristan: I stabbed myself with the awl during basket weaving.

Kelly shows Tristan how to remove an awl from his finger at the basket weaving class.

Day 10: We traveled from Maun, Botswana to the Namibia border. Driving-wise, this was a pretty dull day; we were skirting the northern edge of the Kalahari Desert, but did not see dunes. We stopped at a San gift shop in Ghanzi, where we met more Americans. We're getting the feeling that Americans are really missing out by not coming to Namibia, which is--on average--much cleaner, safer, more modern in cities, and less expensive than Zambia and Botswana. At the border, an odd feeling--it was great to be back in 'our' country again. Just 20 km from the border was our last stop: Zelda Guest Farm. You can read about our experiences with fellow guest, President Pohamba, by clicking here.

We enjoyed a cheetah and leopard feeding (providing Mom and Dad with the last of the Big Five that they wanted to see). We had a common building with Mom and Dad, with a between-room area where we played cards. Larkin: great birding on the grounds; Kelly: very personal; would recommend this to others; interesting that they do hunting and photo safaris (many places only do one); Tristan: awesome; room was very nice; wish we would have gotten to see more of the President.

A cheetah waits for feeding at Zelda Guest Farm. Cheetah says, "President, Schmesident...just give me my food!"

Day 11: Took a walk at Zelda Guest Farm with San bushmen, which was fun and educational. Three San and a lodge guide/interpreter, Jaco, showed us many native plants and their uses, and the fees for such tours provide money for the San children to go to the local school and to pay for school uniforms. Listening to the 'click' language was entrancing. Then, it was a 2.5 hour trip back to Windhoek. Laundry, school preparations for Larkin, and more sight-seeing and shopping for Mom and Dad. We had 3-4 days to relax before Mom and Dad flew home to Iowa.

Our San guide shows Dad a special root. It turned out they were almost all special in some way...

How to cremate a lemon

2009-07-19T03:55:00.006-05:00

Let me start by saying that I am, in no way, blaming my cooking problems on the country of Namibia. Anyone who took organic chemistry with me at Graceland knows that I easily drip, spill, make serious mistakes, and sometimes blow things up. I cook the way Tristan goes through life at the moment--full of energy with little consideration for the possibility of negative events.

In a previous post, we asked people to give us recipes for lemons because our lemon tree had a serious case of overproduction in full progress. Never had a lemon tree before...

So, this week, we harvested many of the lemons and decided it was time to try some recipes. We had a recipe for lemon cake, lemon curd, lemon bars, and a suggestion to make lemon jam.

I started with lemon bars, because we had a faculty party to attend--what could be better than showing up with lemon bars in the middle of winter?! The results: the recipe was very easy, and in anyone else's hands with an oven that cooked in a somewhat predictable fashion, it would have turned out very well. But, as you can see in the photo at right, I produced Cremated Lemon Bars.

We've been struggling with our oven all year--it is a 'fan-assisted' oven, and (of course) has temperatures labeled in C, instead of F. It takes a while to heat up, but once it heats up, it appears to go to somewhere close to 450F. Kind of like trying to cook with a blow-torch.

Having the experience with the lemon bars, I decided against trying the cake. It looked like a lot of work for the eventual probability of burnt cake.

So, I tried lemon jam. Benefit: would not have to come close to the oven. I found a nice, easy recipe for lemon jam (click here for recipe), and boiled the lemon slices added the sugar and bottled it up. Pretty darn easy. Problem: it didn't set. I googled "how to get jam to set" and found this nice site that talks about the acid and pectin content of fruit. Lemons have almost no pectin, and I didn't have any pectin to add. So, the site recommended adding gelatin. I didn't have any plain gelatin, so I added two packets of "raspberry jelly" (southern Africa for 'jello') mix that we had on hand.

In our kitchen, you never know what color things are going to turn out. Yellow lemon bars? No, black. Yellow jam? No, pink. We'll keep experimenting with the lemon recipes, and let you know how the jam (still cooling) tastes--lemon/raspberry?!

It may be worth mentioning that before I was writing this post, I whipped up some quick bread and stuck it in the oven. It was supposed to bake at 350F for 45 minutes. I set the oven on its lowest setting of 100C (which equals 212F--it's boiling point) and left the room. In 15 minutes, I had burnt the bread. The struggle continues.

I move that we adjourn this meeting!

2009-07-16T17:39:00.004-05:00

Last February, I took this photo down near Helmeringhausen of a 'sun spider' in the class Solifugae. It's not a real spider, and it's also not a scorpion. But it is an arachnid, and it looks pretty mean. It has those big chelicerae which supposedly can really pinch you pretty good.

Today, I listened to Polytechnic Nature Conservation students in their second year--they were presenting results from their research projects that they conducted during their in-service training last semester.

One student did his in-service on Solifugae diversity in Namibia. Turns out there are about 30 species in the country. There are many common names for these critters, including camel spider, Kalahari Ferrari, sun scorpion, and my favorite..."eyambulokungi".

In Oshivambo, that means "he who breaks up a meeting."

You know you're in Africa when...

2009-07-16T17:31:00.003-05:00

Here is the scene from our little Toyota in Windhoek the other day. The flatbed truck is carrying 4 kind-of-flattened cars, stacked on top of each other. No straps, no wires. Just the hydraulic arm that was used to load them--cinching them down as it drove down the road.

The 'former' passenger and driver doors on the car on top were flapping as it went over bumps. We decided to keep our distance just in case something (the whole thing?) fell off.

One big reason to like Zambia

2009-07-12T16:08:00.003-05:00

To counter-balance the previous blog posting of 350 reasons not to like Zambia, let me offer one big reason to like the country.

Zambia has figured out how to offer its natural resources to its citizens at affordable prices.

I blogged previously (see here) about the potential problems that I see in Namibia's model of ecotourism where natural resources (like National Parks and hunt trips) are priced for out-of-country tourists, rather than for in-country users. I still believe that if a country does not allow its citizens to access natural resources, the citizens will stop valuing natural resources--which will affect future legislation and policy.

So, we visited Victoria Falls. We had walked around for about 10 minutes, when I asked Kelly, "Do you notice anything about the people around us?" The answer was--there are native Zambians here.

It was refreshing to see local people exploring a natural heritage site. It was a holiday when we visited (not sure which one), and there were couples, families, and groups of friends enjoying the falls. It didn't look like Europe had just stepped off the bus...it looked like Zambia was there.

The way Zambia prices the Falls is key to this plan. We paid US$10/person to enter the Falls. As the photo shows, Zambians paid less than 2500 Kwachas (less than US$0.50) to enter. Compare that to Namibia's 25% discount for Namibians at National Parks. The Zambians get a 95% discount! So, tourists support the parks, and native people can enjoy them at much lower rates.

It's a model that Namibia needs to adopt!

Over 350 reasons to not like Zambia

2009-07-12T14:56:00.005-05:00

On our recent trip with Larkin's parents to Victoria Falls, we went to Zambia. To get to Victoria Falls, you can either select the Zambia side or the Zimbabwe side. Due to the unrest and such in Zimbabwe, we (along with most people these days--tourism is booming in Livingstone) selected Zambia.

I thought I'd share a bit about the boarder crossing into Zambia from Botswana. I highly discourage anyone from going across at the same place we crossed. We crossed at the Kazungula Ferry crossing, near Kasane, Botswana. For people coming across the Caprivi Strip in Namibia, headed for Zambia, there is now a nice bridge outside of Katima Mulilo, Namibia, which makes the crossing somewhat easier and about US$20 cheaper (no ferry fee).

Here is how it worked. We woke up at a decent hour, and got on the road so that we were to the ferry by 8:30 am. There were actually not too many cars in line. Huge number of trucks waiting to cross, but they are in a separate line. We went through the Botswana "departure" terminal quickly, and obtained our "temporary export permit" for the vehicle (free of charge). Botswana knows that Zambia requires this document. It is essentially a permit form that allows you to take a vehicle from Botswana to Zambia on a temporary basis.

Then, the fun began. When we arrived at the banks of the Zambezi River to catch the ferry, and herd of young men waved us into a line. One guy, named David, came up and told me, "Boss, I will be taking care of you." He said we could discuss he fee once we reached the other side of the river. I asked him what his fee was, and we agreed I would pay him 50 Rand, or about US$7. I had been told to ask for help getting on the ferry, as the ferry just comes to the side of the river and off-loads onto the sand. In a different place each time.

Then, another guy comes up and tells us we need reflector stickers for the vehicle. I had seen information about this, but thought our vehicle was correctly outfitted with reflectors. It turned out it was, but he told us it was not. So, for 150 Rand (about US$20), I bought stickers. He told me it would be 50 Rand, and after the 4 stickers were on the car, he told me that was 50 Rand for each sticker. OK, get away, and here is your money.

While we are waiting, other people come up to sell us some Zimbabwean dollars for souvenirs. We bought a 50 trillion dollar note for US$10 just for fun. Other people came up to trade Zambian Kwacha money with us, to prepare us for expenses on the Zambian side. We had Kwacha, and knew the rate was poor, so we declined. They were offering 4000 Kwacha per US dollar, and the rate at the bank to purchase Kwacha was 5000:1.

At one point, we had to back up the vehicle as the ferry changed positions when the sand bank started caving in. It was nice to have David waving other cars back--all the 'agents' were doing a good job keeping the proper order of the line, and it was a fair process.

We got on the ferry, and David explained he would come with us to help pay fees on the other side. OK, sounds fine. The ferry ride was mostly uneventful--just fun loading from a sandy shoreline onto a ferry with an expensive rental vehicle. Good thing we had those new reflector stickers...

We got to the other side and parked the car. David told us he would pay for the ferry and council tax and arrange third party insurance. We had read about all these fees ahead of time, and knew they were legitimate, so we stood in line to get our visas and vehicle permits. In the end, here is what it took to get into Zambia:

Zambian visas: for a one-time entry, people from the US pay US$50/person. So, that was $250 for our group of 5. If you want to go into Zambia, go back out, and come back in, they charge $80/person. Only country I've ever seen that charges to enter. But, this line was fast, and we got our visas fairly quickly.

Vehicle entry permit: I stood in line for 2 hours to get this permit. It consisted of a permit to allow the vehicle into the country. Where Namibia and Botswana just have you sign a book with your registration number, engine number, and chassis number (which is odd in itself, but doable with the information we had from the rental place), Zambia requires a special permit. A guy would take our paper work and passport, and leave the window to go to another building to use the computer to enter the information. He took 2 people's information at a time, and took 25 minutes each time he left. Enough said. That was the horrible line, but this permit was free. Best deal of the day!

Carbon tax: after getting the vehicle permit, I had to go pay carbon tax. The tax is based on the size of your engine. I told the lady I had a 1.9L engine and she told me I owed twice as much as the sign indicated. Guys behind me helped protest, and she quickly agreed. It was 100,000 Kwacha (and I had to pay in Kwacha), which is US$20. Be sure you have Kwacha before coming to the border, or you will pay through the nose to get some Kwacha from guys outside. Funny thing is that all signs around the offices say "No agents should be involved." But, everyone knows the system relies on these 'agents'.

Road toll: US$20. Fast line. Fun guy at the window. Over and done with quickly.

Council tax: the local board that governs the communal area we drove through after leaving the ferry has gotten in on the action, and David used his own Kwacha to pay this (and later charged me using the poor exchange rate). It was another US$20.

Third-party insurance: Zambia requires all vehicles entering the country to have this insurance. Even if you have personal insurance and insurance through your rental agency. This is the real scam, and I'm fairly convinced these 'agents' actually work for the insurance companies, as there are several companies lining the shore of the river near the Customs Office. David bought the insurance, and I have no idea how much insurance he actually bought or what really would have happened if we had an accident. But, we paid 112,000 Kwacha, or a little over US$20 for this insurance.

Ferry toll: David paid this while I stood in the vehicle permit line. It was US$20 (see a trend here?!), with US$2/person for passengers.

When we were done, David and his 'boss' came over to the car and started the hard sell. "Hope you liked my service, boss." I convinced them I knew the exchange rate for Kwacha to US dollar, and they lowered their price for all the fees David had paid. But, suddenly his rate went from about US$7 (as he told us on the other side of the river) to about $70. I ended up paying him about US$30 for his services. He was helpful, but I just dislike the way these guys do business.

So, we entered Zambia with a bad taste in our mouth, some new reflectors, and about $350 less in our pockets. Wonder how long Zambia can keep this up and still keep tourists coming? But, this was Africa at its finest--as we had expected when we came over. Glad it took 6 months to find that side of things...

When we came back the next day, to go back to Botswana, we only had to pay the Council Tax (another $20) and the ferry fee. Another agent came up and offered to pay the ferry fee with his own money, but I sent Dad to pay it.

If a person knows what fees must be paid, the agent is not necessary. But, it is helpful to have some guidance getting on the ferry!

Our brush with greatness in Namibia

2009-07-11T17:57:00.006-05:00

We returned home to Windhoek today from an 11-day trip with my parents to Namibia's Caprivi region, Zambia, and Botswana. More to come regarding those adventures, but I thought I would start with a story of our last adventure of the trip.

It was about 4:30 pm, and we were pulling into our last lodge for the trip--Zelda Guest Farm, west of Gobabis, Namibia--about 20 km from the Botswana border. We were very happy to be back in Namibia and on 'our own' soil again.

Upon pulling into the drive to the Zelda Guest Farm, we noticed a police vehicle following us. Then, we found a large bevy of security folks near the lodge. We checked in at the reception desk, only to find out that Namibia's President Hfikepunye Pohamba was to be a guest that same night!

We were hurriedly encouraged to attend a cheetah feeding, which seemed to be timed precisely to coordinate with His Excellency's arrival by helicopter--to keep us away from his entourage. We did spot the President walking to his private dining room at the lodge later that evening. Except for that brief moment, we never saw him again. But, his security folks were crawling over the place all day and night.

We are often reminded of how small a country Namibia is--this was a great example. I'm sure if President Obama decided to go to a lodge, our reservations would have been cancelled and the entire place securely shut down for his visit. Not here. Also, the President's security forces camped in the lodge campground overnight--no high rolling suites for them!

In the morning, I went out on a bird walk, and successfully added 7 new species to my life list in about 15 minutes. The other half hour of the walk, I was attempting to be sly and find ways to take photos of various Presidential moments from various vantages in the bush--sometimes it pays to be a birdwatcher...the photo at right is the security force that was near our room.

Other than getting our dinner about 30 minutes late, our visit was not affected by the President's visit. We were not frisked, interviewed, or viewed suspiciously by the security folks. We managed to find some 'decent' clothes in our bags of almost-all-dirty-because-the-trip-is-almost-over clothes, to make ourselves presentable at dinner. Tristan even washed his glasses and combed the lint off his coat before going to dinner. It was arguably the safest night we've ever spent in the country! It was a great place, and we'll write more later about our interactions with the San people that live on the farm.

I might add that I waited to post this until now, in the interest of Namibia's national security. The President left, according to his aides, at about 4 pm this afternoon, so his whereabouts are once again top secret.

Keeping the home fires burning...

2009-06-26T16:33:00.003-05:00

I'm sure sabbatical trips to Africa 40 years ago were very different than my experience this year. We have email, blogs, internet phones, CNN, and the like. It would have been different to just wave good-bye and hope to catch up with everything in the States when we return!

But, in reality, my time in Africa has consisted of a lot of work with folks back in Nebraska. Three graduate students working to finish their theses/dissertations, 4-5 former students working on publications, and four students working on field projects in a variety of places, including Mexico, the Sandhills of Nebraska and National Parks across the Great Plains.

In the spirit of reminding those students I do still think about them from time to time, amidst rhino watching and such, I thought I'd post some links to a cool project that has hit the news in Nebraska.

I collaborate with project leaders Steve Dinsmore (Iowa State Univ.) and Joel Jorgensen (Nebraska Game and Parks Commission), as well as the real worker--Cory Gregory (ISU MS student), on a long-billed curlew ecology project in western Nebraska. It's based at Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and we're trying to learn more about the secretive nesting ecology of this species--nest survival, nest habitat preferences, and movements of chicks after they leave the nest.

We found money to attach satellite transmitters on two adult curlews, and things have gotten really interesting now that they are migrating south (yes, already...). Joel has created a web site, where you can see maps of the birds' movements and check for updates. In addition, you can click here to go to a Nebraska Public Radio story about the project.

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Photo property of Cory Gregory

The oblivious ant

2009-06-25T07:11:00.008-05:00

Readers of NTN may have to bear with me on this one. It's the first poem published on the blog. Maybe the last...

Here's the background information/story. During our recent survey trip (see older entry on the blog) to a communal conservancy, we happened upon a group of farmers meeting to discuss how to better manage their rangelands. We were asked to join them as they discussed the new technique. Essentially, they have all been sending their individual herds out untended and the herds go wherever they want. The result is drastic over-grazing...not a blade of grass to be seen for 3-4 km around the village. The new system will employ a herder who will take all cattle from the village to new areas each day. It should result in better rangeland and also reduce losses from predators.

The men were sitting in the circle you see in the photo, and as I listened to them talk I saw an ant walking across the circle carrying a grass seed. It struck me that the Holistic Management that the farmers were discussing would most likely affect the ant, even though the ant didn't realize its fate was being determined at that very moment. So, it's thoughts about those connections that sometimes go unnoticed in nature.

Now, the poem...

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The Oblivious Ant

It was an ant.

Carrying a grass seed late in winter.

Lucky to find the seed on the bare ground.

The men sitting in a circle around the ant did not notice the struggle to carry the seed.

The ant, also oblivious, saw their legs as giant tree trunks in a forest that needed traversing.

But, the trees were making decisions.

Decisions about grass.

Decisions about ants.

Although the trees said their decisions were about cattle and goats.

The trees shuffled their feet, debating.

The ant dodged their feet, worrying only about its cargo and final destination.

It was the mouths of the trees (not their feet) that decided the ant's fate.

The ant heard only the wind as the trees talked and talked.

The ant left the circle with its seed.

Only 12,654 steps to go to reach its mound.

The trees decided that the ant, next year, would have more seeds.

Then, everyone went home without saying good-bye to the ant.

"I found a seed," the ant said to its friend as it reached the mound.

--L. Powell, on the Ehirovipuka Conservancy, Namibia

Etosha trip with friends from Nebraska

2009-06-25T06:50:00.007-05:00

The year has become so busy that we are scrambling to get items posted on the blog before we have too many new adventures. Recently, the chronology of blog events has not been in the right order, so we hope you can 'play along' as we try to add comments here and there as we have time.

When we came to Namibia, we knew the year would be divided into two sections--the mid-point being the time when our friends from Nebraska would come (May/June) and Larkin's parents would come (June/July). We had planned trips with both groups to different parts of Namibia. It seems the year is going fast, as the Nebraskans have come and gone, and Larkin's parents get on the plane to come to Namibia in a couple days.

The Pegg's and the Hygnstrom's are professional colleagues and friends from the University of Nebraska. We all work together and enjoy similar ventures, so it was no surprise when we announced our trip to Namibia that we soon found we would be having house-guests.

Our trip started with a trophy hunt, after which we went to the coast for fishing and dune tours, and then concluded with a trip to the Etosha area. It was hard to watch our friends get on the plane to head back to Nebraska, and even harder to keep Tristan from going with them! But, we thoroughly enjoyed showing them some of our 'finds' near Windhoek and on the coast, and we had a good two weeks' worth of adventures. Click here to go to the photo story of our trip on the Picasa photo site.

Lazar Wolf: Tradition!

2009-06-21T17:23:00.005-05:00

Tristan recently had his acting debut in the Windhoek International School's production of "Fiddler on the Roof". The troupe used 'minimalistic theatre'--very little in terms of set and props--to encourage the imagination in the troupe and the audience.

Our aspiring thespian first set his sights on helping with the set, but was convinced by the show's teacher/sponsors to try out for a part. He was assigned "Lazar Wolf," the butcher who wants to marry one of the daughters.

Here is the video the grandparents have been waiting for. Scene Four. Lazar and Tevye discuss Lazar's interest. As the narrator points out, they seem to be talking about different things.

Click here for a few photos of Tristan in the musical from our Picasa site.

Birds and houseguests

2009-06-21T16:38:00.008-05:00

I just returned from 4 days in northern Namibia (just west of Etosha NP) at the Ehirovipuka (pronounced Eee-hero-vee'-puka) communal conservancy. I traveled with Uapii, our friend and Polytechnic student, who translated my survey on ecotourism to the OshiHerrero-speaking farmers. We were also joined by Aaron Price, a recent graduate of U. Nebraska, who has just arrived in Namibia for a 6-month stint with World Wildlife Fund.

We performed 36 surveys in 2.5 days--not bad considering travel time and the fact that each survey takes about 30 minutes to complete. The survey documents opinions about the value of conservancies to the resident farmers, as well as the level of their participation in ecotourism activities. Last, the farmers (both men and women--heads of households who make management decisions) are presented with 10 photos of wildlife species in Namibia, and they are asked to share how much they value each species. A "10" indicates "I value this species highly" while a "0" indicates no value, with the range between 0 and 10 available for ranking.

I included photos in the survey of 3 predators (hyena, cheetah, leopard), 3 meat animals (kudu, zebra, oryx), 3 animals who can cause damage (elephant, warthog, rhino) and on 'control'--a bird called a hornbill. It causes no damage, but is too small to eat. I was interested in how people felt about a species that doesn't harm but doesn't really help them. You can see a photo of a hornbill from a previous camping trip here.

We learned that no one like hyenas and everyone loves hornbills. My first favorite quote of the trip came from the farmer at right. He had worked for the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in the past in Etosha, so had an appreciation for wildlife. He still gave predators low rankings, but said this about the hornbill. "Ah, I like this one. You know, the veld* without birds is like a house without children."

On our last night, we ended up camping at Uapii's uncle's house. The family didn't know we were coming, as our plans for camping changed at the last minute. We arrived after dark, and they arrived home from town soon after to find they had guests camped in their front yard. They were incredibly hospitable, and we had a great evening talking. His uncle is a principal at the local primary school, and his aunt teaches 1st Grade.

While talking and sharing our supper with them, his uncle commented, "We have an African proverb...it says 'Sometimes the guests to a home rescue the host.' "

It was his way of thanking us for sharing our food. Thinking of how glad our family had been to see our recent visitors from Nebraska, I had to agree.

I'm adding these two quotes to my list of all-time favorites. Photos of the trip start here on our Picasa photo site.

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*"veld" is the word folks in this next of the woods use for 'range'--we teach 'veld management' instead of 'range management'--it essentially means the habitat around them with bush and grass.

When the tree gives you lemons, make ... well, you tell us

2009-06-13T11:43:00.004-05:00

OK, so our lemon tree is working overtime. We literally have buckets full.

We thought it would be fun to ask for recipes from our loyal blog followers. Help! We can only make so much lemonade, and lemonade just doesn't taste the same when it is only about 50 degrees.

If you have recipes that use lemons, feel free to send them by clicking on the little comment icon below this post. We'll let you know how the recipes work out.

We also have lots of guava, in case you have guava recipes...

The only ground-rules are: remember (1) we're in Namibia and (2) we have no mixer and no blender. Just strong arms.

Investigations into invigilation: exam time at Polytechnic

2009-06-12T11:52:00.006-05:00

June is final exam month at Polytechnic. Because the African system is so different than the US system, I thought I'd share a bit about how Namibian final exams work.

For starters, at University of Nebraska all students take 'final exams' during one "Finals Week" at the immediate end of each semester. Some instructors choose to make the "final" a comprehensive exam. Others choose to make it a regular test that covers the last unit of the semester.

At Polytechnic, the system works quite differently. Students can only take the final exam if they have over a 50% average on the rest of the tests and assignments during the semester. While that sounds fairly benign, grading scale is different here, and it is not unusual to have up to 1/4th of the class not qualify for the final exam. If you don't qualify, you have to take the course over the next year.

Students also have to pay to take final exams. Some students have spent all their money on tuition and food, so they elect to skip the final exam immediately after the semester, and they take the exam during the next exam period in about 5-6 months (after the next semester). A student who fails the final exam can also take the exam again--up to 3 more times. So, it is common to have students taking an exam for the 3rd or 4th time for a course they took two years ago. The educational ramifications of that seem a bit of a stretch to me, as the new exams might be set by new instructors who teach very differently--and the student doesn't actually take the course over...just shows up for the exam.

Tests and exams are different in Namibia...the words are used by me to mean the same thing in Nebraska. I have a course with 3 tests or 3 exams...use whatever word you want. But, in Namibia, "tests" happen during the semester and "exams" happen at the end of the semester. I learned the hard way that students get a little freaked out when you tell them the 'exam' is next week...

During the semester, let's say a student misses the first "test". In Nebraska, we'd make up a make-up exam if they had a good excuse (death in family or personal illness). At Polytechnic, the student just misses that test. No re-do. But, the lecturer now has to create another test for the student sometime during the semester. The rule is that each course has to have at least 2 tests during the semester. The expectation is that these are 'traditional' tests--not group project reports or other experiential learning type of assessments. So, most instructors make 3 tests for their course, so that each student has the opportunity to get 2 tests taken. Then, the third test could be optional for students if they have taken the first two. Again, from my perspective, there is a lack of connection to educational objectives--some students may not be tested over a portion of the material covered (until the Final Exam). But, it appears to be an adaptation to a system in which students sometimes have odd reasons for not being in class--like the fact that their transportation from their home 8 hours away didn't materialize for them to come back after the weekend.

OK, so now the semester is over. Most students have taken at least two tests, they have passed the semester portion of the course, they have paid their examination fees, and the Final Exam is upon us.

Well, actually, we have to back up about a month before the semester is over. Lecturers have to submit a 'memo' for their Final Exam to a moderator, who is an off-campus person assigned by Polytechnic to make sure the Final Exam is suitable for the course. The memo consists of the questions to be asked and ALL possible answers that will be accepted as correct. For open-ended essay questions, this can be a bit hard to think of all possible creative ways students might answer a question. And, what do you do if the final month of semester is altered and you cover different material than you previously placed on the Exam? Last, lecturers actually have to submit TWO memos--one for the current semester's exam and a "supplement"--which is the exam that will be given 6 months from now, if students elect to skip or if students fail the current exam.

Again, at first glance, this moderator system appears to be a real educational boondoggle. The moderator never sets foot in the classroom during the semester, and they are supposed to know if the Exam is suitable? Furthermore, the moderator will look at the marked exams, after the lecturer grades it, to be certain that appropriate points were given or deducted for each question. I chuckle when I think what my colleages at UNL would do if they were told we were switching to a moderator system. "Academic freedom" is a foundation of the American system, and the notion of tenured faculty members letting someone else change their scores given to students would be enough to make some people resign on the spot.

As with all things, it is good to look behind the system to see why it exists, however. African education, like other things in Africa, has a record of bribery and corruption. Polytechnic has tried extremely hard to make their system immune to this, but you hear of other institutions who routinely instruct their lecturers to stop taking bribes for grades. Also, there are few PhD lecturers at most institutions--making a system that provides checks and balances somewhat sensible. However, it has been hard for me to adapt to the system.

So, now we have our Final Exam accepted by the moderator, and the Final Exam time is upon us. Rather than a week of exams, Polytechnic students have a month of exams. June and November are examination months. Lectures stop in late May and October, with about a week between the end of lectures and beginning of exams. Exams are scheduled to accomodate student and lecturer schedules. But, if a student ends up with two exams on one day, they can elect to just wait to take one of the exams 6 months later. No policy to let them take it on a different day or reschedule.

Today, I attended the final exam for my Natural Resource Management course. I arrived at 7:30, prior to the 8:00am exam. Students were in a queue, being bodily searched by security guards to check for cell phones and other items not allowed in the exam rooms. After the security check, they presented their paperwork to show they qualified for the exam and that they had paid for it. The students entered a large hall, which was actually a parking garage at one point--cement floors and ceilings. It was well-lit, but open in several places to the outside. Today's temperatures at 8 am were probably in the high 40's or low 50's, so students took the exams bundled in coats. Exams are 3 hours long.

All students scheduled for the same day--in many courses--take the exams together. So, our Natural Resource Management students were in one long row of chairs (front to back to prevent cheating--no side views), right next to Consumer Law and Business Communication students. This is depicted in the photo (sorry for cell phone photo) on this posting. Each student got the appropriate exam paper, and examination booklet to write their answers. They were given final instructions, and started to write. Invigilators (a new word to me--proctor is the word we use at UNL) walked the aisles to keep student eyes on their own paper. Lecturers hovered for the first hour to see if there were any questions. Three hours after it began, the students handed in their exams, which were whisked away to a secure site to be collated and bundled.

I arrived at the examination office in the afternoon to pick up the exams to be marked. I went through 2 locked doors to get to my examination officer, who handed me my exams after I signed to show that I had picked up 21 exam papers. They also gave me the official memo, which I had helped construct a month ago, to help with my grading. Lecturers mark the exams in red. Moderators mark their comments and revisions on scores in green.

So, maybe my UNL students will breathe a sigh of relief when they read this. I want to emphasize again that there is a reason for the really rigorous attempt to make the exam rigorous, comparable to other universities, secure, and immune from cheating. But, it is definitely a different system.

Kelly says that the system reminds her of the examinations shown in Harry Potter, so perhaps there is a European influence (or influence of witchcraft...?!). There are movements afoot at Polytechnic to change the system to make the assessment system used directly reflects educational objectives and insure that students re-taking an exam have studied under the lecturer who wrote the exam. But, my guess is that those will be a long-time coming.

In the meantime, I now have a new title I can add to my resume: invigilator.

Camping trip to the Brandberg (with Namibian music)

2009-06-11T19:50:00.008-05:00

Another Namibian excuse to camp! A five-day weekend, centered around Ascension Day and Africa Day. Namibian is officially a Christian country, so Christian holidays are officially observed. Whatever the reason, it was a great excuse to ascend to new heights in the great outdoors. This time the goal was the highest point in Namibia--Brandberg Mountain.

We didn't actually climb the Brandberg, which can only be done by mountain climbers. But, we camped at the Brandberg White Lady Lodge at the foot of the mountain with our fellow Fulbrighters, the Bates family. Brandberg is about 4.5 hours from Windhoek in northwest Namibia, on the edge of the mountainous Damaraland region. We had gone through quickly on our trip with our friend Uapii in April, but didn't get to explore the area thoroughly.

It was a relaxing weekend, with the end of the semester looming at Polytechnic and multiple trips with visiting friends from the states at hand. So, it was great to just go to one place and stay there--with time to sit and relax. One of the thrills we had was falling asleep on two different nights to the sounds of native Namibian music. One of the 'people-mover-camping lorries' (see photo on previous blog here) at an adjacent site hired a local group to come sing around their campfire. Click the links below to listen and imagine being under a spectacular Milky Way and the Southern Cross, drowsily falling asleep to their music. It's beautiful and really made a great end to the day. I recorded it as a video on my cell phone, so I apologize for the scratchy quality. There is no video--it was pitch dark when I recorded it.

The Lodge is near the 2000-year-old White Lady rock painting, partially depicted in the photo here. It turns out that the white lady is neither white nor a lady. It was thought to be a visiting female from the Nile area originally, but is now thought to be a local man with ash on his legs from dancing around a fire for too long.

More photos of the trip, with more details of adventures, at the Picasa photo site.

Sacred morning

2009-06-10T15:06:00.010-05:00

A quick photo of our recent trip with our friends the Pegg's and Hygnstrom's from Nebraska. We hunted and traveled to the coast and Etosha. It was wonderful to see old friends, and adventures were many. Stay tuned for more details!

Our hunt with a professional hunter, Claude Thorburn, was an exciting experience in a beautiful area of Namibia, near Kamanjab. I was fortunate to get this nice kudu bull early one morning in an accessible area (after walking miles through much less accessible areas). Claude zipped back to camp to get other hunters and the ladies to help load this beast in the truck. It was a great opportunity for a group photo of a moment I'll always remember. Fortunate to share it with such good friends.

A quick story about this kudu...Claude, Scott, Tristan, and I woke early to be at a waterhole at 5 a.m. It was Tristan's first morning (ever) to sit with me while I hunted, and we were a bit nervous about his ability to hold still. He was motionless, perhaps asleep, for about an hour. As day broke, I felt a tug on my sleeve. "Dad, can I go to the bathroom?!"

"Not now!" I whispered.

Claude leaned over and asked him quietly, "Do you need to pee?" Tristan nodded and Claude told him to walk softly behind us and return quietly. As soon as Tristan left, out stepped the kudu. The kudu was walking slowly, so Claude whistled at it, to make it briefly stop. Didn't work, so he yelled. Kudu stopped and I shot. It was a heart-shot and the kudu dropped quickly.

That is the story from my perspective. Here it is from Tristan's: "I leave quietly, like Claude told me. Then, I hear Claude whistle and shouting, which I thought was odd--because he told me to be quiet. Then, BANG! I forgot about going to the bathroom..."

I enjoyed the morning with Tristan and was grateful that Claude was accommodating and so nice to him. It provided a perfect opportunity to talk with Tristan about hunting. We both spent time with the dead bull, as I do with each animal that I shoot. Killing an animal is not something to be done lightly, and the sacred moments that follow the kill are not easily talked about. It is always an honor to realize one's place in nature and to reflect on the value of life and death.

Participating in sport hunting in Namibia gave me a chance to experience ecotourism first-hand, and I'm sure I will reflect more on this in the future with other stories. The meat from our hunted animals, including intestines, tongue, and many organs that would be discarded in the States, is processed and eaten by the farmer and the 4-5 families of native Namibian workers that live on the farm on which we hunted.

In this case, Tristan learned that things can happen quickly during a hunt!