A Huge Thank You!
To all the wonderful people who helped and supported me in Gabon, shared their advice and boundless enthusiasm, and most of all made me feel welcome. Your dedication to Gabon, it’s protected areas and wildlife is phenominal, and I truly hope I can return to work with you all again and contribute more to understanding the West African manatee there. In particular I would like to recognize the wonderful collaborative spirit that I feel between Wildlife Trust and Wildlife Conservation Society.
There are many folks I’d like to recognize, but I only have pictures of a few. Those who escaped my lens for now, but who were integral to making my work and overall experience there a great one, include Lee White of WCS Gabon, Rombout Swanborn of Operation Loango, Solange Ngouessono at Mayumba National Park, Steve Blake, Sharon Deem, Francois Horrent, Evelyne, Heaven and Christian at the WCS office in Libreville, Pierre and Daniel at the Cas de Passage, Bas Hujibregts and Pauwel DeWacher of WWF, Robert and Sosa at Evaro Lodge. And of course Howard Rosenbaum in New York.
And those who didn’t escape my camera…
Han and Josey, who introduced me to the Petit Tropicana, the best beach bar in Libreville.
Bruno at his favorite office position. Bruno was a huge help with logistics, even if he liked to jokingly give me a hard time about things!
Aimee, Rich and Boo in Mayumba. Thanks to Rich who suppported my survey work there!
Simon and Ant enjoying a Mayumba sunset
Nic and Jean Marc surveying Evaro Lake. Thanks again to Jean Marc for all his support and enthusiasm for manatee work there. I hope we can do some GPS tagging in this freshwater system in the future.
Tomo talking to EcoGuides while being interviewed by National Geographic. Thanks very much to Tomo for all his help at Iguela, including loaning me his personal camping gear!
Alban and Ladji provided lots of laughs at Iguela.
All the EcoGuides and boat drivers I worked with were very knowledgible about where to find manatees, and had the best ability to spot wildlife from a distance that I have ever seen. I appreciate all the hours of slow boat driving, advice on manatee habitat and seasonal movements.
Romain lent us his personal boat to survey Akanda National Park and maintained his good sense of humor about getting stuck in the mud and other minor logistical frustrations!
I made some great new friends who I hope I will see again before too long- Sandra and Kath….
Ruth! Best of luck with your future endeavors!
Josey and Angela.
And last, but certainly never least…….. Tim (see below)
