IMPALA!!!!

As I said before, I went to Kruger National Park last week; and it was awesome. So much that I started to think if my way was on primatology or, instead, in conservation, as it was the initial plan. The problem with conservation is mainly that, during my master, the summary was that all the conservation strategies had been a failure in the short or long term and that everything was already so rotten that few could be done that would really work (scary stories about ecotoxicology and the disappearing male!); so it's depressing and not likely to get any satisfying result . Also, that I don’t know how useful is to try to convince a capitalist society that things that don’t  produce increasing incomes are also worthy (well, indispensable). Shortly, we need a philosophical revolution in order to fix the thousand problems we’ve got right now . But I won’t bore you with my thoughts (though I’m learning that most of the things we need are inside us and don’t cost a thing); this is not the place, nor the moment. So just enjoy some pictures of the hundreds of animals I was able to spot (Including the big 5: Lion, Leopard, Elefant, White rhino and Buffalo):

African Jacana ( Actophilornis africana)

Impala!!( Aepyceros melampus)

Yellowbilled hornbill ( Tockus leucomelas)

Lion (Panthera leo)

Nile Cocrodile (Crocodylus niloticus)

Hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus amphibius)

waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus)

blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus)

Glossy starling

 giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)

common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmi)

 steenbok, (Raphicerus campestris)

black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas)

Leopard (Pathera pardus)

Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer)

Twig Snake (Thelotornis capensis)

Elephant (Loxodonta africana)

greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros)

klipspringer (Oreotragus oreotragus

common dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula)

Bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus)

Martial eagle(Polemaetus bellicosus)

Back to Soutpansberg

The back was hard. After a few days not thinking about anything, everything came at once. Following the monkeys knowing that the data should go to the trash directly,  no answer  from the director of the project to know if I can improve the protocol or not, responding an email of my master supervisor about publishing and the marginalization rule that most English speakers have seemed to impose on me. Never be the enemy of the person that everybody loves…or at least do it for a good reason, that I think is my case. I could appeal to old traditions but, instead, I packed my mental katana and with a mixed attitude between John Wayne and Nina Simone, I walked a couple of kilometres, climbed a mountain  and spend a couple of hours sunbathing on the top while listening music ( I found out this one, I really liked it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev4hm-ft0zE ). Back at the Barn, good-sad news (yeah, paradoxes are the bread that feeds me, apparently), and most of the English speakers running away sneakily to a bar for the nearly last day of the Cardiffian. So, again, my ipod and I went to have a walk; and we got involved on a battle of stares with a huge male warthog. I was scared, but I won! And after, I managed the great feat of staying on a braai (barbecue) with all the Frenchs and achieved that they spoke in English, just for me. Anyway, I still appreciate when they speak in French; I have to learn it; I’m still waiting for an interview of a PhD in which I require it and, even though, if don’t pass it (if I have it after all), I will need it sooner or latter, parce que c’est l’anglais de l’Afrique! (?????)

If I’m not wrong, everything will be better in a couple of days…

Si me diesen un dirham  por cada vez que pienso en ti...