Rembo Bongo, Part 1Last week I went back up the Rembo Bongo (river) on the north side of N’dogo Lagoon for 5 days. I was there in September 2007, but it was still the dry season, and I found out through interviews with villagers that the manatees only come up in the rainy season. So this year I waited until well into the rainy season […]

Other Highlights from Sette Cama On Thursday we surveyed mangrove channels where manatees are often seen, and in a quiet cove we found a lone manatee calf. There was no adult anywhere in the area but the brief glimpse we got of the calf told us it was certainly active, because it zipped off and we could not relocate it. In Florida mother manatees sometimes

What Happened at Lac Sounga?A WWF boat was waiting for us at Sette Cama and DeDe and I set out first thing Tuesday morning. First we went next door to Sette Cama Safaris, where I stayed when I was here last year. Alain, the manager there, had found a manatee carcass last week. So we said hello to him & then got directions to the

Off to Sette CamaIt literally took all day last Monday to buy gas and food, pick up the boat motor and pack car with all the supplies for Sette Cama. Since I’m getting used to this pace by now, I don’t worry about rushing, and work on my computer between trips to the various grocery stores and other locations. The gas station was low on

Return to N’dogo Tomorrow I finally head back out into the field! It’s been a good but long 3 weeks of logistics planning and I’m ready to get outside. On Friday afternoon I arrived in Gamba, a town located at the southern edge of N’dogo Lagoon. I’m being hosted here by WWF who very generously puts me up at their guest houses in Gamba and

Mayumba Ecomusée Here in Gabon my friend Aimee, who has been doing fantastic outreach work for Mayumba National Park for several years, has been given a very generous donation to build the country’s first ecomuseum. It will sit near the top of a hill overlooking the beautiful wide beach and the ocean. Sea turtle nests (Mayumba is one of the most important nesting beaches in

What a Fantastic Day! I usually keep this webpage fully focused on manatee conservation and related topics, but on this historic day I have to make an exception. It was incredible to wake up here in Libreville, Gabon this morning to find out Obama had WON! I couldn’t believe it was real until I’d watched an hour of CNN at the American Embassy celebration I

…And Re-Planning Sometimes logistics are difficult here. I can spend weeks setting up plans for fieldwork- which includes flights, boats and other transport to a location, alot of gear that also has to get transported, lodging, food, planning camping for survey trips, buying hundreds of liters of boat fuel, arranging boat guides/drivers, trainees or other people who come along (sometimes I collaborate with other researchers),

Planning I’ve now been working at the WCS office in Libreville, Gabon for the past 2 weeks, finishing reports and setting up logistics for fieldwork at Fernan Vaz and N’dogo Lagoons south of here. On Saturday I went up to Cap Esterias, a small fishing community north of Libreville on the edge of Akanda National Park. I talked to a few fishermen about manatees and