In 2 days i will be on my way to Kirindy forest in Madagascar. I will arrive at the city of Antananarivo and then travel 2 days to Morondave region by bus. I will be attending the Tropical Biology Association course for this year, a version of AFEC-X. Once again, for a whole month i will be in those jungles and this time in an area that boasts of about 80% endemic species of plants and 90% endemic species of animals. I believe it will give me a different perspective on ecology and conservation issues and as expected build my capacity even better.

While I am there, I have been warned that the place is so isolated that there will be no access to phone calls or emails. We will only communicate with ourselves and with nature.  So it is only prudent that this time instead of learning the greetings in Chinese as before, we must learn monkey calls and bird greetings. Otherwise goodluck to all. Til then.

On my last day in China, i spent the night at Wu Kai’s uncle’ residence. Just after Dinner, he showed us around. He brought out his prize China and vases that were to me the most spectacular collection i had ever seen. There were those that were a few years old, and those that were hundreds of years old. And there was one that was dated back to a dynasty perhaps a thousand years ago. He said they had been passed on from generation to generation. I asked him how such delicate stuff could survive all the years of chaos that he probably went through; Wu kai and his little cousin running like mice all over the living room. His answer: If they want to stay here they stay here. If they want to get destroyed, they are destroyed.

I wish everybody surviving by the skin of their teeth in the sunamis, street riots, storms, and all the madness of nature the best of survival luck. I want to stay here atleast a little longer. I hope i will.