I'm back online!

Hi everyone, sorry for the major lag in my posts. I've been in Tana for the last three days, but I've been really busy getting things ready for my departure from Madagascar.
Ok, back to the beginning of the trip. I went to Diego Suarez on December 28th, and stayed at a nice hotel for 5 days. I spent my days hiking around on Montagne Des Francais looking for Coffee trees. I didn't have any luck, but enjoyed staying at a nice hotel, and I did a lot of computer work (programming stuff) in those 5 days that I had been putting off for months. On January 2nd, my partner/paid guide and professional Malagasy botanist Franck Rakotanasolo arrived in Diego, and the craziness began. On January 3rd and 4th, Franck and I camped in a forest about 50 km SE of Diego called the Foret De Sahafary. With franck's expert help, we were able to find several populations of at least 3 species of Coffee. We returned to Diego on the 5th of January and worked at Montagne Des Francais again, and I am embarassed to say there are many coffee trees there, but I just could not find them alone. It's pretty amazing how good franck is at finding Coffee trees, certainly my work would not have been possible without his help. OK, on January 7th, Franck and I traveled to Amber Mountain National park, and started work in the high elevation cloud forest on the 8th of January. Lots of coffee trees, of at least 4 species were collected. On January 9th (my birthday) we went even higher, to find one species we did not find lower on the mountain. For about 5 hours that day, we hiked in the rain and mud, and hundreds of terrestrial leaches (they go through your socks, so there is no stopping them). I was very stressed out by the leaches, and did not enjoy it very much. Thanks to all of the birthday emails folks sent. On the 10th of January we left amber mountain and headed back to diego for the night. The following day, we traveled to Ankarana National Park, about 3 hours by taxi, and stopped in some small forest patches on the way to collect. We spent one big day at Ankarana, and collected many populations of about 4 species of Coffee. And we got to see the amazing tsingy limestone formations (check out the wikipedia page linked above for more info). I will post pictures when I get back, and the connection is faster. THe next day, Franck and I took a taxi-brousse (a rural bus service that is really a 15 seater van, but usually packed with more than 22 people) for 3 hours to a small fishing village called Ankify. From this village, we caught a ferry (just a 15 foot long canoe with a big motor) to the island of Nosy Be. I had the best mango I've ever tasted at Ankify while we waited for the ferry to fill up. We managed to find a decent hotel for pretty cheap in Hellville (Nosy Be's only real city). The following day, we went to the Lokobe Forest reserve, about 20 km west of Hellville on an extinct volcano. This is a wild forest, with black lemurs everywhere, and few trails to speak of. We didn't find any coffee trees, but only spent half the day in the forest. Then, the next day we just hung out in Hellville, and I did some touristy shopping. THen back to tana to get specimens ready for exportation, and complete paperwork.
That brings me to the here an now. I'm leaving for mauritius a few days early, because I am finished here in Madagascar. Heading out today at 4pm. So, I will update you on Mauritius when I get there. Should have an easier time with internet there, and I can probably find a phone card to make some calls. OK, hope every is well. Please comment or email me and let me know whats been up.

moving fast now...

Things are starting to move very fast now. I met with Franck at about 9am today, and we discussed the trip plan. He was really helpful, as was Helene, who works at the Kew house and came in to check on me today.
Franck and I went to the Cortez expeditions office and picked up our tickets. I fly to Diego tomorrow at 7am, which means I have to be at the airport at 5am. The taxi has been arranged, and now I just need to pack my things...again. I am staying at the Hotel Panorama it seems pretty nice, and they are giving me a deal on the room because I wanted to stay at one of their other hotels, but it was closed for the holiday. Franck doesn't arrive in Diego until the 2nd, so until then I will be working alone in the easily accessible forest on the slopes of Montagne Des Francais (French Mountain). It's named for the allied French forces that fought the Nazi affiliated Vichy French for control of Madagascar (then a French Colony) during WWII. Really, I'll just be hiking around in the forest and hoping to find some Coffee trees, but they are hard to find, and it is entirely possible that I will not be able to find them (but damn if I'm not going to try).
Ok, when I get to Diego, I have no idea how much internet access I will have (probably none), so this might be my last post for a while. I will try to get a phone card or something at the airport so that I can make some international calls, but I can't be sure that will happen either. If you don't hear from me, please do not worry, I will get in contact when I can. Ok, that's all for now, hope everyone is doing well.

My stuff!

Thanks to Steve Goodman, who called the cab for me, I was able to pick up my bags. No luck on a phone card yet, I asked all over the airport, and I could tell my driver was getting antsy. It is probably better just to buy a cell phone, they are only like 35,000 Ariary (1 dollar ~ 1,800 Ariary). It feels good to have my bags, I had been looking forward to this for a couple of days now. On the other hand, it really does little for my boring situation. Still just sitting here by myself. Plus, now I've developed a little sniffle, either a head cold, or allergies. I'm hoping head cold, because I do not want to be allergic to Madagascar, it would make the next month much less enjoyable. If it is a head cold, it is a weird one, no sore throut, and that usually comes first for me.
It's been raining 3-4 times a day here, and last night we had a proper thunderstorm, the power was flipping on and off more than usual (that means a whole lot). I'm happy to report that my solitude hasn't been totally wasted, I've been getting some work done that needed doing for a while now. It's amazing what 2 days of boredom will accomplish. Ok, all for now, I have a steaming bowl of ramen awaiting me.

good news and bad news

Good news:
My luggage finally arrived, and is waiting for me at the airport.

Bad news:
The airport is now closed because there are no more flights arriving today.
So, I'm stuck in my dirty underwear yet another day, good thing there is no one else around to offend.
The plan is to head to the airport tomorrow to pick up my luggage. It should be interesting trying to speak to the taxi driver in my extremely limited french. Today, I made up a little list of phrases translated into french. Things like "I need to go to the airport" and "Please wait for me here". Although, from my previous experience with this sort of thing, I tend to freeze up when I am on the spot and revert to wild arm waving. It doesn't work so well, and people tend to look at me like I am retarded. Even if I did execute my little list perfectly, this would really only work if it were a totally one-sided conversation, god forbid if he asks me any questions... Maybe I can get someone to help me with the driver tomorrow.
So, it looks like I've got another day of sitting around at the kew house, which is remarkably boring. Luckily I have a good book, "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (thanks Audrey). Unluckily (well, more like stupidly), my power convertor is in one of my checked bags, so I only have about 2 hours of computer life to while away the time. But I am very thankful that I have the internet on this Kew machine, slow though it may be.
Oh yeah, merry Xmas and all that. I bet the whole family is getting together at Mom and Dad's house today. I'm 8 hours ahead, so it's 6am in Wisconsin, mom and dad are already up and discussing (with no lack of stress) the things that need to be cleaned or prepared for the arrival of the family at 1pm. Although stressful at times, I wish I could be there. I take some comfort in knowing that although I will not be in attendance to do so, someone will get drunk and say something inappropriate. Well, you are the only family I have, and I miss you (even Vance, I know, I was surprised too).

On the ground in Tana

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. After a 12 hour flight with a connection in Mauritius, I am now finally in Madagascar. I arrived just this afternoon (1pm local time) and was picked up at the airport by a taxi that was sent from the Kew house. There was an hour delay out of London, so my bags didn't get onto the Air Madagascar flight to Tana. So, I'm here with little other than some books, my computer, and the clothes on my back. Hopefully, that will be resolved tomorrow. All of the kew staff are off for Xmas holiday, so I have yet to be able to speak to anyone about practicalities of staying at the kew house (like where I go to buy food, etc).
My first impressions of Tana came today in a 20 minute cab ride from the airport. It's a sprawling city with intertwined rice paddies and various earthen canals carrying water around, overall much wetter than I imagined the central highlands being. Lots of people around the open stall shops and doing laundary in the canals. The streets are crazy with pedestrians, bikes, and auto traffic, big Mercedes vans (taxi brousse) belching black diesel fumes. I have yet to venture out of the kew house on foot, and I am planning to wait until tomorrow to do so, perhaps after I have an opportunity to ask someone which direction to walk. Ok, I'm doing a lot of sitting around right now, waiting for bags, and for kew staff to come back to work, so I'll try to post again tomorrow.

I'm off to London on Friday to work with a colleague at Kew Botanic Gardens. Then I fly to Madagascar on the 23rd of December. I'll be collecting mostly in the North of the Island until January 23rd. Then I fly to Mauritius and work with a colleague at the University of Mauritius collecting all over the island and doing a bit of lab work. I'm back to Durham February 13th. Ok, I may not update this again until I get to Kew, where maybe I'll upload some pictures of the gardens.

Ava is jealous

Ok, so Ava wants her picture on my blog as well. I guess I should be fair.