Gabon by the Numbers
Posted December 9th, 2008 by SaraMaxwell
After a 4 week delay in Gabon, I have made it back to California. The turtles arrived late this year - 2 months late - presumably due to the delay in the start of the rainy season this year in West Africa. It was a rough trip all around but truly an adventure on all fronts and things worked out fantastically in the end! I will try to post some pictures and blogs over the coming weeks, but for now, here are some photos and a pseudo-summary of my trip in numbers...
Number of:
Days in Gabon: 74
Weeks I stayed beyond what had been planned: 4
Turtles tagged (to date): 12 (Go Edgard and Junior!)
Number left to go: 10
Times I changed my plane ticket home: 3
Days without seeing a turtle: 65
Bird species: 89
Python tracks: 3
Weddings of close friends I missed: 1
Fungal infections in my foot: 2
Dollars over budget: near countless
Scorpion bites: 1
Days I wanted to cry (or actually did!): 71
Days without talking to an English speaker: 25
Hours with a 4-wheel-drive vehicle stuck in mud in the jungle: 13
Miles walked: 304
Buffalos seen: 7
Oil spills from offshore rigs in the park: 4
Pounds lost: 12
Pounds already regained: 7 (thank you Thanksgiving)
Miles covered by bush taxi: 180
Horrible blisters: only 1
Leatherback turtles seen: 13
Pounds of peanut M&Ms upon arrival to Gabon: 8
Individual peanut M&Ms upon departure: 10
River crossings: 48
Blank stares from my field assistants due to my French: 1,264
Hours I was illegally in the Republic of Congo: 13
Shooting stars: 4
Times I had to listen to Celine Dion's 'Dreaming of You': 102
Days without a satellite phone or any communication what so ever: 12
Operating vehicles in Mayumba National Park: 0
Millimeters of rain: 205
Sardine-based meals I ate: 1 (shockingly)
Canned corned beef-based meals I ate: 47 (now you see why)
Alive olive ridley turtles seen: 11
Dead olive ridleys seen: 10
Times I ALMOST saw gorillas: 8
Worms in my feet: 2
Amazing friendships made: 12
Personal revelations I had: 7
Times I was thankful for the support of friends and family: 9,356
Days I wish I had never gone: 0
Setatunga tracks on the beach near camp
My field assistant Junior with olive ridley PTT 14750
Me with my field assistants Junior and Edgard at the end of a long night of digging a truck out of the mud in the jungle
How can you not love that face?
Gabonese man on the commercial pirogue coming back from the field camp
Happiness = Turtles
To follow the turtles online, go to The Gabon Turtle Project Page on seaturtle.org
Click here to learn more about Mayumba National Park and donate to the park
This work is generously supported by:
Tagging of Pacific Predators Project
Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund
Achievement Rewards for College Scientists
National Science Foundation
Myers Oceanographic Trust
Friends of Long Marine Lab
Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
CDELSI
Project Collaborators and Partners:
University of Exeter - Cornwall
Parcs National Gabon
Partenariat Tortues Marines Gabon
From your Mom
I read through your whole blog this morning.
Was I worried about you when I said good by to you the day you left by yourself to go to Africa? No not at all?! Just ask every friend I have ever had plus Jim, Bill and Johannah (yes, I even talked to a 2 year old) who heard all of my rationalizing, fears, but most of all respect for doing what you wanted to do. Did I worry when I heard discouragement in your voice and emails during the course of the trip? No because I knew you would succeed no matter what the results because you were dedicated and doing everything humanly possible to make this work. Did I think of hopping on a plane to help out? Jim offered to buy me ticket!
I want to see all of the pictures and hear all of the stories! Can't wait for Christmas!
I am quite sure that the research you are doing, along with the friends you made in a foreign country (and being totally reliant on their world) is what a better world is all about! I am so proud of you!!! Love Mom