Richard Munday, the Desk Officer for our Conservation project in the Amazonian rainforest of Peru, has sent in this update about the most recent work with turtles, enjoy!

The sun rising over the beach, a beautiful sight, even after a night of no sleep!

The middle of July and throughout August, Taricaya’s principle activity was our Turtle Repopulation project (locally known as the Taricaya Turtle – Otherwise known as the Yellow Spotted Side necked Turtle – Podoc Nemis Unifilis)

This project has been running at Taricaya for 3 years now, this year seeing us break all previous records in regards to nest collection – 55 nests in total, each nest containing an average of 30 eggs, which means we have roughly 1500 baby turtles to come.

On the left, Melvin our local guide and Kim Gajraj starting to dig for the nest

The Taricaya turtle eggs are a very popular protein source for the local people. Although illegal to take these nests it is very easy to do so and there are very few people around to stop the activity taking place. Our main role was to patrol the beach called Playa Alta (High Beach) – Playa Alta is actually an island in the middle of the Madre de Dios River.
Whilst patrolling is a very effective way to stop poachers from coming on to the island, it is not a full proof method in keeping the nests safe, as poachers will come the moment the beach is not protected. This means that we had to collect the nests we found and take them back to Taricaya where we have an artificial beach to keep them safe until they hatch.

One of the nests being removed from the beach

Now that the collecting part of the project is complete, we have nothing to do but begin prepare the reports that need to be presented to the government and wait for the turtles to hatch, which takes about 70 days.

It will be another 6 months before we actually release the turtles back in to the rivers, this gives them enough time to harden their shells and grow a few millimetres, which minimises predation by an extra few percent.
Although this is only a small help to the population of the Taricaya Turtle, our aims are growing year on year, next year in fact will see us working with two islands and hopefully will mean we can increase the effects the project is having on the general population even further.

Last years Turtles Being released on the same beach they were collected from

Stay tuned for more information on this project…

You can also read more about all the different projects our Conservation volunteers are working on in the jungle here!

When you travel to foreign countries it is inevitable that you will have plenty of new experiences and come to a deeper level of cultural understanding by trying new things and going out of your comfort zone. Trying bokdrol spoeg or kudu dung spitting when I was recently in Botswana hits all of these points!

Back in August I flew from Cape Town to southern Botswana to visit the staff and volunteers on our Conservation program for a couple of days. I was expecting to travel through a stunning landscape, see some wild animals and observe as much of this exciting new program as I could, all of which I was able to do. But I was not expecting bokdrol spoeg which is roughly translates as kudu dung spitting and within the Afrikaans community it is indeed considered a real sport.

On my first day after we finished lunch under this massive baobab tree (above) a perfect pile of dried kudu pellets was found and a game of bokdrol spoeg was suggested (Thanks a lot David!). The basic aim of the sport is to see who can spit a kudu pellet the farthest from behind a set line sort of like spitting cherry pits. But when the dust settled the volunteers and I were shown what amateurs we were by Gerrit, our Conservation Director, who won every game.

Anyone think this should be our next Sports placement? Any takers?

Harry Kent, our Desk Officer, showing his fine form in mid-spit

Ed. Note: I think it says something about our “corporate” culture that when Projects Abroad staff get together for a golf outing everyone minus Mr. Birbeck is wearing jeans or sneakers or business casual but no golf wear in sight!

Michael, the Director of our German office, with a bunker shot

A couple of weeks ago in the UK office we had a gathering of our overseas recruitment directors. It was good to be able to welcome Frank Seidel from our France office and Michael Harms from our German office. After a hard day at work it was time to relax. Our Director Peter Slowe was keen to get out his boat for a trip down river. A look of fear appeared over Frank and Michael’s faces having heard of other trips on the craft which is pretty full with two in it but with the prospect of four it is liable to sink. Eventually tide times came to their rescue as it was not going to be possible to go out.

A new brainwave came over me to take the guys out golfing. Both Frank and Michael were new to the game but eager to hit the famous Littlehampton pitch & putt course. I think it is fair to say that Frank mastered the intricacies of the game quicker than Michael. Michael tried to relive a famous German golfing memory of Bernhard Langer playing out of a tree. He also played a fine shot out of the bunker. Frank took to it like a duck to water.

It wasn’t quite like the Ryder Cup when the guy who takes the money decided he had enough and was going to take the flags in. Having completed the round the assembled gang decided to have a go at crazy golf which lived up to it’s name.

-Ian

More great action shots after the jump …..

MORE…

Peter, our Director with a marvelous shot

Frank, the French office Director concentrating hard

Ian scratching his head after witnessing all the “golf” during the evening in question

Young Ethiopians Celebrating (Source: AP)

Hasn’t the millennium already happened? Well for most of the world you would be correct but not in Ethiopia. Ethiopia heralded in the 21st century on Wednesday, September 12th. It celebrates the millennium seven years after the rest of the world because it follows the Coptic calendar instead of the more common Gregorian.

Happy Millennium to all our staff and volunteers in Ethiopia! Enjoy the celebrations!

I recently returned from a visit to our programs in Cape Town, South Africa and the wild of Botswana, and while the projects are quite different they are also all equally amazing. Although the difference between a large cosmopolitan city and the bush of Botswana maybe quite obvious to some, the difference is most readily apparent by looking at the two different offices Projects Abroad maintains in Cape Town and the Legidimo region in Botswana.

Cape Town

Country Director, Dana Myers and Desk Officer, Alyssa Myers hard at work

Our office in South Africa is located in the Newlands suburb of Cape Town in a modern office building just blocks away from the famous Newlands Rugby and Cricket pitches and a pretty amazing view of the Table Mountain Range I dare say! Dana and Alyssa love visitors and volunteers are encouraged to drop by peruse all the helpful travel books, ask a question or just hang out. Then onto Botswana ………

Botswana

Harry Kent, our intrepid Desk Officer, in his “Legidimo office”!

Harry is the staff member responsible for corresponding and answering all the questions our Southern Africa Conservation volunteers have before they arrive. This is done primarily by email which requires internet, which is not easy to access in the bush! Consequently, Harry and Gerrit, our Conservation Director, drive 20 minutes up a hill to Harry’s “office” where the internet signal is the best. I would have to say Harry might have the best view of any Projects Abroad office! But watch out for the leopards!

Visit to US

I was dumbstruck by the fact that our Director for the United States, Thomas V Pastorius Jr, had never heard of either “John Brown’s Body” or “Marching through Georgia”. Unfortunately I can’t sing on this blog, but here are the thunderous words of the chorus of “Marching through Georgia”:

Hurrah! Hurrah! We bring the Jubilee!

While we were marching thro’ Georgia!

On this visit, I received original and practical insights into the next stages of development of our recruitment work and our operational work from my American colleagues. Podcasts, videos, questionnaires and quiz-games – and a great amount besides. It is really important for our organisation that we have strong and regular input from all of our colleagues all around the world – perhaps especially from Tom, Will, Jessye and Kelsy.

I have to confess that I was just being polite about the French Toast we had in Brooklyn. You can’t make French Toast with brioches and it was far too sweet. You should take two slices of good bread and dip them in four beaten eggs and absolutely saturate the bread making sure that the egg really soaks in by using a fork and poking the bread. Then you fry the whole thing in butter. Cinnamon or maple syrup on top are good.

Peter Slowe

The Cathedral in central Guadalajara, Mexico

The main reason why I visited Mexico this time was to condole with my colleagues over the sudden tragic death of Daniel Leon. There is a general sadness.

Daniel was a key man in setting up our successful medical programmes in Mexico, and Marco has arranged for some of his responsibilities to be taken on by our old friend, Dr Jesus Navarro. Jesus is known as “Chewy” – apparently this is universal in Mexico – anyone called “Jesus” gets “Chewy”. The great thing about Chewy is that he can develop something like our Village Clinic programme in indigenous villages around Guadalajara – this will be great for the villagers and a wonderful experience for volunteers. Chewy even speaks the indigenous language, Nahuatl, which is not easy.

I just don’t see how we can have a volcanology programme as such. We used to, but it wasn’t gripping. The volcano was spectacular but volcanologists actually spend most of their time staring at seismographs or analysing pieces of ash or lava in great depth. Volcanoes are exciting places to live and work, especially if they explode from time to time like the Colima volcano, which we’re based right next to at Ciudad Guzman. So we are going to set up an experimental two-week project in 2008 doing a little scientific work, climbing the volcano, doing environmental work and making trails for eco-tourists. I think this will be great – and it will be in the safe hands of Jose Soltero – known as “Joes” and an expert at making didgeridoos and finding ponds to play them by.

Jonatan has had some problem assembling his band recently and has cut a lot of his hair off. However, he is still determined to produce his cd and I’m sure he will. Volunteers and a lot of other people still love him.

Peter Slowe

I have to give my sincerest apologies to Scott and Rich who sent me this post over a month ago! A combination of work trips and some vacation kept me from putting this up sooner. But I am truly in awe as I can barely finish 2 miles on the treadmill! Way to go guys!

Team Projects Abroad: Rich, Lindy and Scott. Look at those snazzy Projects Abroad t-shirts!

When Rich (Richard Clowes, Deputy Director) first asked me if I wanted to take part in some relay triathlons, my natural instinct was to decline. When he told me the events were in 6 months time that changed the matter slightly. Surely this was enough time to get a training schedule together? Fast forward 6 months, and with very little in the way of training, our London triathlon was upon us. It was time to compete!

The team was made up of Rich (cycling), Lindy (swimming) and me (running). We were running on behalf of Projects Abroad. It’s fair to say we didn’t have the best preparation. As 6 days previous we had been competing in our first triathlon in Trentham. I’ve still not properly forgiven Rich for entering us in this colossus – 2000 meters of swimming (that’s 80 lengths of a 25 metre pool), 56 miles of cycling and 13.1 miles of running! We finished 17th out of 115 overall competitors and 2nd in the relay. Happy days! Well, not for long! On awaking on Monday morning someone seemed to have replaced my legs with lead weights. The only consolation was I knew Rich was feeling a little on the tired side. His text simply read “Oh my god, I can’t wake up”. It’s ok I told myself, it’ll be fine once I get to the Projects Abroad office. This was true in that I got to sit down for most of the day. But I did have to put up with my colleagues laughing at me trying to climb our stairs and getting in and out of the car. At least we had 4 more days to recover.

From the moment Terry (Projects Abroad Operations Manager) and I got in the car on Saturday morning I knew it was going to be a tough day. Blazing sunshine (the hottest day of the year so far), a traffic jam on the M25 and we very nearly missed our turning off of the motorway. The event was taking place at the Excel Centre in the Docklands area of London. There were 12,000 people competing in various events to give you an idea of the scale of the day. We had signed up for the Olympic relay distance – 1500m swim, 40k cycle and a 10k run. Each team was given an electronic chip which had to be passed over in the ‘Transition Area’. Lindy (AKA the bionic woman) got us off to an amazing start. Coming in the top 10 swim finishers - she swam 1500 metres in 22 minutes. Truly remarkable! Rich had the toughest gig of the afternoon cycling 40k in the highest temperature of the day. He still managed to zip round in a great time of 1 hour 15 minutes. My run took 42 minutes which was enough to see us finish 39th out of 400 competitors. It really was an amazing event to take part in. A fantastic atmosphere, a good challenge and awareness raised for a number of leading charities.

Scott in action

Our next triathlon is at the start of September. Surely there’s enough time to get some training in?

Thanks again to Projects Abroad for sponsoring us.

Pia with Dagmar and Pernille with her son Magne (she gave birth 22th July)

It was 1999 when I first met Pernille who was on our programme teaching in India when I was an assistant manager. On her return home to Denmark and my return to the UK she became our representative in Denmark for the last seven years. On a visit to Copenhagen I was introduced to Pia (Pernille’s cousin) who had been a volunteer in Thailand. As a fluent Thai speaker she fitted the bill for us as an assistant manager in Thailand before heading over to Ghana to work for us.

Pernille continues to work with our Danish volunteers although she took a short break to have a baby, Dagmar in July. Soon after her cousin Pia had a baby Magne.

Congratulations to Pia and Pernille!

Ian