One final picture of sleeping Frodo!

Last leg

We are on the train to Castellon and we have 3 tired looking students.

Back in Barcelona

We have landed in one piece. Just waiting for luggage and then catching the train to Castellon

Flight from Lilondwe to Lusaka

It's the tiny plane!

Monday

On our way to the airport to get our first of 3 flights!

Had yet another large meal with a huge muffin, happy people!

Really sad to say goodbye to Malawi and all the fantastic people we met.

Sunday afternoon

After yet more food, we went on a boat safari on the Shire river, which is a tributary for the Zambezi river. We saw so many hippos it was impossible to count, we saw Elephants, lots of birds, water buck and crocodiles.

On our return to the lodge, we took advantage of the really warm showers, watched the sunset from the viewing towers.

We had another large meal and sat and chatted to a German/French family that we met at Mayoka.

What a fantastic way to end our trip at the safari lodge.

Sunday 23rd

After a large breakfast we had our first safari of the day- game drive.
We saw lots of wildlife inclufing elephants, crocodile, lots of different types of birds, several types of antelope and warthog

Boat pictures from Mayoka

Sunset in Liwonde

Interesting signage

Ellie in the bus

Sleeping Alfredo

Wednesday 19th

Breakfast at 7.30am as usual (fruit salad, toast, cornflakes, juice, coffee) Our first open water dive at 10am went well (we still need to work on defogging our masks!).We descended to 8m and the amount of fish we can see in the lake is amazing! Beautiful blues and yellows. We could see the bowers that the male cichlids build.

We did our PADI quizzes and didn't suck!

After lunch (cheese and ham salad sandwiches) we had a lecture by an intern on the water quality of the lake and what is being done to preserve it.

In the afternoon we went on a boat trip. First stop was to a river that feeds into lake Malawi to look at the biodiversity/pollution index.

Second stop was to relax and play games with the local children.

Whilst on the boat Fish eagles swooped  down to the lake and caught fish next to the boat!

On returning from the boat trip a quick review of the morning's quizzes and then the official PADI exam.

Wednesday night is PIZZA NIGHT! Woo hoo!

Saturday afternoon

We have arrived safely at the National Park.
Everyone is settled in their accommodation. We have enjoyed piping hot showers.
Now relaxing in one of the viewing towers waiting for sunset and then dinner.

Saturday 22nd Morning

Early start... We have left Mayoka Village and are now heading off to Liwonde National Park. We have an 8 hour bus journey ahead. 😕

Friday 21st

Passed our PADI open water dive qualification!  Yay!

Walked into town to look for souvenirs.

BBQ night- meat overload.

Tuesday 18th

Happy Birthday to Ellie! 18 today!
We reviewed sections 4 and 5 of the PADI theory and watched the amazing videos!
We did confined dives 3,4 & 5.
Mireia did snorkling with the Go-Pro and got some video footage of the fish.
We had a lecture on the geology of the Rift Valley.
We finished off the day with stir fry and Chocolate birthday cake!

Monday

Yesterday we woke up and after having breakfast we explored the lodge looking for the weirdest animals, managing to find monkeys, lizards, spiders, etc. We then had our diving lessons (theory part) which included many 'funny' jokes such as "people who dive are 'under'achievers"... no comments.
The videos left us with a big appetite and as lunch time arrived we devoured everything. After lunch we started diving which was so much fun! We did some snorkelling and kayaking and we got to see lots of fish and swimmimg lizards.
We had dinner which included mashed potatoes and sausages and then we listened to a lecture on the lake geology and geography where we learned the Great Rift Valley is about 30 million years old. Fun!

Sunday

Early start. Left our base in Tanzania so we could move on to Malawi.

We travelled to the border where firstly we had to be stamped out of Tanzania. We then walked across the bridge to Malawi where we went into an identical office to get our Visas. An hour later and we had our Visas.

We then spent an hour or so waiting for our ride to our next base. After a rather long (5 hour) journey in not the most comfortable car on some fairly bumpy (but scenic) roads we arrived at Mayoka in Nkahta bay.

Our accommodation looks over the lake. There are 'normal' toilets and running hot and cold water. There is even a restaurant! 

Saturday

Today we had a later start and went off to a different crater lake (Itapu)to look at the species around the lake.

We explored half of the shore of the lake taking pictures and samples of species.

We attracted the attention of a group of boys who were most intrigued into what we were doing. As time went on we grew in numbers!

Our evening's lecture was on invasive species.

Early start tomorrow- we are leaving at 6am to head off to Malawi. We shall be sad to say goodbye to all our new friends, but we look forward to our next adventure.

Friday

Exploring

Today we were sampling in the local river and lakes. We were looking for invertebrates initially, but also looked at fish, amphibians and anything that took our fancy.

We had a walk into the village for a quick drink and ended the day back at camp with a lecture on Speciation.

Thursday

Lake survey

Today we were out in the local crater doing 2 transects of the lake. We took water samples, measuring the depth, taking GPS coordinates, using Roy the robotic underwater camera. We used kayaks to go out into the lake so we could do the sampling at depths of 10, 20 and 30m

Evening lecture of Speciation and back out to 'help' the local student's to do homework.

Wednesday

Today was our cultural day.

We spent the morning in classroom talking with the students about our countries and their cultures.

Our students taught the Tanzanian students a variety of different languages from Spanish, German and Chinese. And the Tanzanian taught us some Swahili! The Tanzanian's were very interested in our marriage cultures.

After lunch we walked with 8 Tanzanian student's to one of their homes, where we were very kindly shown around. We saw the live stock that they keep and all the crops that they grow. We were given gifts of a papya and a handmade broom weaved from grass.

All the students had a lot of fun. The girls found it very funny to discuss how many cows they could demand for marriage!

After an evening's lecture, our students went to help the local student's with their homework. .. not entirely sure how much work got done, there seemed to be a lot of singing and dancing!

And how could I forget we saw monkeys, and hornbills!

Mbeya

We arrived in Mbeya after 1.25 hour  flight. We barely felt as if we had sat down, before we were landing again.

Mbeya is a tiny airport where someone just hands you your luggage-no carousel.

Opwall's rep Hytham, met us and we had a 3 hour car journey, which went by so fast- good company and interesting conversations.

We arrived at the school in the dark, were introduced to the researchers, had food and settled ourselves for sleep.

Last flight for a couple of weeks

Waiting to get our last flight to Mbeya. Then we will be off grid for a while.
Everyone is ok and has recovered from the first set of travel.
Malaria tablet and Mrs PC are not friends, but everyone one else is ok!

Safe and sound in Dar El Salaam, Tanzania

We arrived in Tanzania on time... then we were faced with immigration! After 4 long queues, in a very hot and humid passport control we made it through.

The 2nd picture is what we where experiencing to get our passport back. It was like a school register with no rhyme or reason. An official calling out names of people who's passport he had!

Now we are in the hotel. This will be the last place we will have WiFi for a while.

Changed money

We have gone from Dollars to Shillings.

It all looks like monopoly money to us!

Hotreef hotel

Checked into the hotel in Dar el Salaam here are some of our veiws...

In transit in Dubai

We made it as far as Dubai, arrived 7.20am local time (5.20 central European time).

We have navigated the sprawling expanse that is Dubai airport and found our next gate.

Not enough sleep on the last flight due to the excitement of trip and all the in-flight entertainment, so 4 very tired people waiting forvthe next flight at 10.20

To Dubai

Leaving Castellon

All present and correct. All documents at the ready. Backpacks at the ready.

The Prior-Clarke's are Ready!

Packing

Background research- Reading Material

Here are links to some articles:

1)

Kenya’s lions could vanish within 10 years

2)

How a changing landscape and climate shaped early humans

Books 

Terry Stevenson(Author), John Fanshawe(Author), Brian E Small(Illustrator), John Gale(Illustrator) July 2015 Birds of East Africa - ISBN-13: 9781408157367 £29.99 

Charles Foley(Author), Lara Foley(Author), Alex Lobora(Author), Daniela De Luca(Author), Maurus Msuha(Author), Tim RB Davenport(Author), Sarah M Durant(Author) July 2014 A field Guide to the larger Mammals of Tanzania ISBN-13: 9780691161174 £13.97 

African Great Rift Valley Schools’ Booklet 2017 11 David Hosking and Martin Withers 2007 Collins Traveller's Guide - Wildlife of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda ISBN-13: 9780007248193 £15.99

Mary Fitzpatrick & Tim Bewer (2012) Lonely Planet Travel Guide: Tanzania 2012 ISBN-13: 9781741792829 £16.99 Andreas Spreinat (1995) Lake Malawi Cichlids from Tanzania ISBN: 3931328007 £12.99

George W Barlow (2002) The Cichlid Fishes: Nature's Grand Experiment in Evolution ISBN: 0738205281 £11.99 Jos Snoeks (2004) The Cichlid Diversity of Lake Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa: Identification, Distribution and Taxonomy ISBN: 0966825586 

Background Research- Secret life of elephants

Background Research- TED talk, Secret life of elephants

Background research- more Rhino's

Background Research- Rhino's

What is Operation Wallacea?

This video gives a general overview about what Operation Wallacea do.

Man Down

Sad news came in late last night with less than 3 days to go...
Joaquín (Man of Action) Rebollar managed to put himself out of action.

As you can imagine we are all gutted that he won't be able to make the expedition. 😔😢 

That leaves us with Alfredo as man of the trip! 😕Time to step up Alfredo!!

We wish Joaquín a speedy recovery, we will miss you. You will have to come on the next expedition in 2 years. 

Getting Ready

A few silly pictures

The count down has begun...

We have had meetings, watched videos about the locations, watched videos about what to pack, been vaccinated and now we are just 6 days away. 😊We are all very excited! Although I have to say I am feeling somewhat nervous, just hoping that all the transport arrangements work out and nobody loses anything! 

Great Rift Valley Expedition

The key features of our expedition are:

• Opportunity to work with a Nature publishing team of academics on speciation mechanisms
• The only Opwall expedition that is run over 2 countries (Tanzania & Malawi)
• Chance to visit the Great African Rift Valley – birthplace of humankind – and learn about its ecology
• Learn to dive in Lake Malawi which has a greater diversity of fish than the Great Barrier Reef

The link below takes you to the site of the organisers for this expedition:

Opwall Great Rift Valley( schools)

Thank you to Tenghis

Big thank you to Tenghis who has designed these for us for the trip