The next few months

A lot has been happening these days. First of all, I subscribed for a 1-month study in Ecology at the University of Brighton. So I will travel to UK after exactly one month, July 11th. The post-graduate course will last until August 15th. I cannot wait for the trip... I haven't been to UK for a long time...I am missing all my friends there. We spent almost 4 awesome years in London. I want to see all that again...but mainly the qualification that I will gain there is so precious for my career...

Also I received an invitation from the GEO magazine. They want me to write regular articles for their environment column. I learned that they have an agreement with my employer company (Time Out) for staff exchange and we will have several new colleagues who will learn from us at our office. Meanwhile, they invited some of our most skillful columnists. I am still considering the offer but I do not think that I will need too much time to think. It is a great honour!!

Further, there is a new project at work related to an extensive environmental research in Botswana. Last week I received a positive response from my project supervisor, so the procedure is opened and I will almost certainly go to North Botswana in the end of October. That is spring time in the delta of the river Okavango, and the purpose of the project is to investigate the relations within the entire food pyramid, related to the use of industrial poisons against agricultural pests. We will focus especially on the vultures because they are the key to understanding the extent to which these ecosystems are affected by the destroying of the basis of the food pyramid by killing the small mammals with poisons by the farmers in the region.

On the left side here is a picture of the lappet-faced vulture. Once widespread all across Africa and the Middle East, this majestic bird has contracted from a large part of its historical range. It is now classified as a globally vulnerable species according to Bird Life International, and although the Botswana population of the bird is unknown, the Kalahari desert is undoubtedly one of the strongholds of the species. The opportunity exists therefore to make a significant contribution to the conservation of the species by investing in researching and securing the Botswana population. But the ultimate goal will be to find proper ways to return it to its original habitats...a very slow and difficult process...

So the primary task of the project is the re-introduction of the lappet-faced vulture into the unique ecosystem of the Okavango delta. That place is an ever pulsating green heart in the middle of the brown Kalahari desert...in winter it becomes swollen with marshes and flood-waters, and the wildlife returns in huge numbers. It is the breeding period for the vulture too. In spring (around October-November) the waters start retreating and then a huge exodus occurs back north as the desert invades...many of the animals get stuck in a tiny and ever diminishing territory, and it is a very nervous time full of competition, a lot of death and all unpleasant sorts of relations. But it is also the blessed period for researchers...because the entire ecosystem can be easily monitored within a relatively tiny period of space and time, while all animal groups become squeezed through the bottle-neck of the dying river...

Since the species of the lappet-faced vulture is now so sparsely distributed across 41 countries, the local initiatives to conserve it and re-introduce it in the territories from where it had disappeared 1-2 decades ago, should conform with the International Species Action Plan for the lappet-faced vulture that has been prepared by conservationists from several of the countries where it occurs (Namibia, Angola, Zambia to name a few). In Botswana there is a worrying lack of any baseline data about its status, its population dynamics and potential threats (if any) to its survival. So this is where our team steps in to fill the gaps. Because this bird is at the top in its segment of the local food pyramid, it is the key to understanding how the whole scheme works and where it should be touched in order to be optimised.

Kol wanted to join me there so much...at least for the first half of my stay there, so he arranged his due 2-week holiday to match with my mission to Botswana. So instead of going ahead with our initial plan to travel to South America for the holidays, the whole family will go to the Botswana wilderness =)
We will travel to there together on October 20th. We are still considering whether we should take Charlotte too. I think we will take her with us there, after all. I investigated about the accommodation conditions there and I found out that they are good. However Kol's holiday is just 2 weeks, and my mission is almost 1 month long. So he will leave me alone there in the beginning of November, and I will stay in Okavango for further 2 weeks.

There are still some more details to clarify both about my study in UK and the mission in Botswana, but these things are already taking shape in my mind...so I would better start with the preparations early enough...and that means NOW...

I was asked whether my current second pregnancy would not be an obstacle. I don't think so. When I finish with all this, it will be the middle of November. And I will still be in my 30th week. I will have plenty of time for rest after that! =)