Winter Wounderland: St. Paul, Nebraska

Greetings Friends, Family, and Readers!


Currently, I'm working on a presentation for my Welcoming Home Party my family is throwing for me this Sunday, and its been great to review what I've learned in Namibia and decide which 50 photos will be shown!

I've been recovering quickly from my jet lag and it feels so good to be home on the family farm in St. Paul, Nebraska. The last few mornings and evenings I've been walking around taking in the scenery with the red dog.

Here are some of the views! I hope you enjoy!

Cheers,

A.E. Price

My Last Post In Namibia: More to Continue

Greetings Friends, Family, and Readers:

There is some type of mysterious pull between Southern Africa and the Nebraska Sand Hills.

The beginning of my Namibian journey started on my family ranch, Gracie Creek Ranch. It took 7 miles of gravel road and 5 hours of driving to drop me off at the Omaha Airport. But this learning exchange program with WWF has been the continuation of a process that started with my granddad Jim Price and my father back in the 1970’s and recently my networks at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Our 30+ year rotational grazing plan was inspired by the South African natural scientist, Allan Savory, who had his critics here in the United States about rotational grazing, wildlife and cattle, and the “big picture” ideas. Our ranch is all the better now and we’re looking to the “next level” with our neighbors to build scale. Today, Savory’s Holistic Idea is a foundation in “sustainable” practices and my dad was one of the first practitioners of the idea in Nebraska with other neighbors.

And now, here I am, learning about farm management practices directly from the people on the ground in Namibia dealing with the various wildlife, agricultural, and development issues termed “the greatest untold African conservation story ever” with my neighbors the Switzers. The context of conservation here doesn’t necessarily mean the exclusion of all land use practices like cattle ranching for example. Things have a way of melding together in Namibia.

The wildlife population increases and benefits derived from sustainable natural resource use at the community levels through tourism, hunting and meat sales, speak volumes, and I have been so fortunate to live, work, and learn with people who made the previous statement possible.

Who would have guessed we’d find new inspiration in Namibia, Africa? Maybe it’s natural when it started in South Africa with Savory. Things have a way of coming around again.

Namibia has been an amazing experience for me –to say the least. Everyone told me before I left, “This is going to be a life changing experience for you.”
My Namibia experience definitely was more then anything I expected.

One expects things like this to happen if you’re open in the process, but you never can know how far things will go or how much you’ll grow as a person. This was the beauty of my 6 months living abroad in Namibia. I grabbed on tight and ran with everything coming my way and filled every single day and weekend with work/cultural/travel events. Luckily, WWF also works in some of the most beautiful areas in Namibia and these areas were part of my office!

I see all the 13,000 + photos I took as a responsibility to document an amazing community development practice that includes everything from cities, people, plants, animals, and landscapes. Many see it as art, which is humbling, but there is such an amazing story behind every one of these photos.

The most random people have contacted me because they saw a photo they liked on Flickr or Twitter, and for images to reach out to people and make them interested in WWF and the Great Plains work created a huge impact on me with what one can do with a camera and lots of access to natural areas.

My experiences, networking, and knowledge just kept snowballing and often I sat back and thought, “I am the luckiest guy from the states right now.” For me to be straight out of college and involved in CBNRM work with WWF in Namibia, conducting ground breaking commercial conservancy research near Etosha, seeing free roaming elephants, antelope species, and rhino, while helping to improve livelihoods using innovative conservation practices that is community driven, and being visionary with what I could do with my “lessons learned” back in the Great Plains is a true blessing or -possibly a calling.

Often I wondered when this crazy train would stop in Namibia with all my experiences, but I feel its only the beginning now. Every week something amazing, crazy, or possibly life threatening was happening. I hope my new experiences lead to good grad school programs focused on similar work, return trips to Southern Africa, and new adventures possibly elsewhere.

Maybe somewhere between……

visiting communal farms, informal settlements, and Katutura with Uapii and Larkin’s family, sitting on top of a mountain top overlooking an Uhab River early morning sunrise, being mocked charged 4 times by elephants and staring one down on the hood of my truck till he lost interest, hearing lions roar over a dead elephant calf carcass outside my Etosha camp in the middle of the night, or listening in on commercial and communal farmer’s meetings discussing farm management and environment policies, sleeping in only a sleeping bag in big 5 country with stars shining just like the ones over the prairie back home, meeting a pet leopard on a commercial farm, wrestling with Visa issues in the Ministry of Home Affairs for myself and other work colleagues giving me insight into another country’s system, petting three cheetahs, visiting Apartheid townships and piecing together the environmental and development challenges created by this history, a few black mamba encounters, exploring Katutura and Johannesburg, successfully spotting 4 out of the “Big 5” and countless other amazing species, the most random conversations about Obama, Namibia, and life stories with cab drivers, helping conduct the world’s largest ground wildlife count while assisting an ABC film crew to help tell a good story coming from Africa about MET’s community based natural resource development, seeing 5 cheetahs near their kill site on the largest private game reserve in Southern Africa, sitting in on a 10 year WWF project/vision meeting, mingling with the who’s who of conservation and ranch leaders in SD and NE on a WWF Namibia learning exchange program, 8 pages of passport stamps/visas and 5 countries later…

–something definitely changed in me. I'm all the better for it now.

International travel is so important. I cannot stress this enough after traveling abroad to several African countries.

I was unaware of the fact that this blog was being broadcasted on UNL’s SNR website for nearly my entire time over here, and for the students from UNL and other people under the age of 25 reading this blog please hear me when I say –get out there, and don’t just see places -visit places, and by this I mean not meeting/seeing a person or place but taking a closer look and know what you’re experiencing in a larger context.
Take the time to participate in more meaningful ways with your future foreign country travels. So many times I came across people who almost seemed to have blinders on during their Southern Africa travels. They would see an elephant, but would be innocently unaware of the management problems faced by communal and commercial farmers and the problems it creates for their future.

A big push here in Africa tourism with certain groups is not only to see cheetahs and elephants, but also to design experiences for one to participate in the species’ own conservation while understanding the cultures and livelihoods interacting with the animals and plants.

This will be a big step I feel for people to understand the beauty and significance of the Great Plains, while feeling connected, and seeing the bigger context of sustaining these working landscapes during challenging economic and environmental times. Maybe someday our ranches could help build a good context for others to also follow suit by passing on good stewardship practices and helping people reconnect to ag and environmental issues in their areas.

A future generation sure seems to depend on us doing so.

Also, take a stroll off the beaten path in developing areas a little bit too. That is where you find the good stuff.

We have huge environmental, agricultural, and energy issues to solve and it helps to see another country’s perspective on a problem too. The US is a great country, but we do act high and mighty and we’re not always right.

True innovation comes from the areas where people will face the greatest environmental and agricultural challenges. I encourage you all to travel to these places soon.
………………………..

It is never fun saying good-bye, but my experiences here in Namibia have been so great, there is no time to feel sad about leaving this wonderful place, because I’ll always have a piece of it with me in my heart, pictures, and new friendships.

I like to see this parting as coming home with new energy and perspective on farm management and international development, a new list of connections for future grad school and research programs, and memories and friendships that will last a lifetime.

I truly experienced Namibia to its fullest.
There is no room for me to be sad. I’m so thrilled to have crossed paths with so many wonderful individuals while coming out a better person.

I want to personally thank all of my WWF colleagues for making this Namibia experience for me one that was filled with many wonderful moments. I’ve learned so much from each and every one of you and I hope to prove your investment in bringing me over here as a good one back home. You all became like family for me and after our wonderful Thanksgiving party at Keith’s house, it hit me that I would soon be leaving this wonderful network of friends and it was tough.

There are many other countless people who supported me and I can’t begin to thank you all. Thank-you all for your insight and support! You know who you are and I sure thought about everyone a lot over here.

But Uapii, you definitely stand out and I appreciate your love and passion for Namibia and the effort you took to share your world with me. It forever changed me and I hope to do the same with you someday back in the states! Larkin and I are figuring out ways to bring you over already. I know there are many people from Nebraska and elsewhere who would like to meet the “great cattlemen from Kunene” in person someday.

And Chris, it was a true honor to work for you and WWF-Namibia. I can’t begin to thank-you enough for bringing me over and to learn from you and your staff and networks. It’s ignited so much passion inside me now, and for this I’m extremely grateful. I’m sure we’ll be able to find common ground again no matter what happens between my Cornhuskers and your Wildcats in the Holiday Bowl.

Last but not least, my family! You all have been such a great support for me and I can’t wait to sit down after a nice meal and share a little presentation and pictures of my Namibian experiences with you. Your enduring love and support made my Namibia experience possible.

…………………………

Well, I didn’t have to make any trips to the hospital. I traveled through some of the most dangerous cities in the world, did not become lion food, seem to be malaria free, was close to being mugged twice but strategically avoided the situations, and finally functioned as a competent driver on the left hand side of the road thus not being a threat to society.

I think its safe to say my time with the WWF Panda was a great success. And yes, this came from the mouth of a Nebraska rancher.

I like the idea of working with cattle groups, government organizations, and other NGO’s like WWF when working conservation into the working landscapes, because some I know perceive this association to be “radical” [whatever that term means to you], but this diverse interaction is where discussions and progress start. Diversity and cooperation between all these groups is dramatically needed. Its never easy in the real world, but necessary.

I can vouch for the success of WWF-Namibia being based on networking with government, NGO’s, Ag Unions, and communities on the ground and assisting and not dictating. If I can spread any immediate message about my experiences here –this is the greatest one of them all.

Truly it takes a diverse community to sustain itself. I look forward to the challenges in my own community when I return.

What a crazy mix of things brewing in the Sand Hills and Sand Dunes. Somewhere between this Nebraska and Southern Africa pulling forde is where innovative possibilities rest for good things to happen.

I will be one of the many leading this charge.

…………………………………….

This will not be the end of the blog or Namibia. Frankly, I still have a lot to say! lol

I worked with a traditional tribe in Northern Minnesota who do not believe in good-byes. We’ll definitely meet again.

I’ll continue with future coverage, conversation, and pictures of the topics already discussed in my Namibia experience side of the blog, and will start the future chapters when I return home to my beloved Northern Great Plains.
Thank-you again everyone for your support! Namibia I’m sure going to miss you and the wonderful weather, but its time to “cowboy up” and ride on home to the winter wonderland in the States.

This Sand Hiller is coming home.

Happy Holidays Everyone and wishing you all the best in the coming New Year.
Cheers,

A.E. Price

The Last Week

Greetings Friends, Family, and Readers:

I can't believe this is my last week here in Namibia for awhile. My flight leaves Windhoek for Jo'burg this Saturday, then I'll be flying out at midnight from Jo'burg to Amsterdam, then to Memphis, and finally Omaha on Sunday Dec. 13th.

Things are winding down nicely and I'm bracing myself for another transition period that will include time on the ranch, completing grad school applications, dealing with a media frenzy, and figuring out how to adjust to snow and 5 degree F weather vs. sunny and 95 degree F amazing-ness... I always seem to find another big thing to cling onto, so I'm not too worried about this transition phase. It's just how I roll. 8D

What does one do with 5 days left?

Well, I'm making my rounds at the craft center buying gifts for the holidays, printing out pictures to send to people I interviewed, planning a going away party, and reflecting on my wonderful time here. I've seen so many things in Namibia and have traveled this area far and wide, and there are no crafts, items, ect. I feel I really need besides my own pictures and memories at this point.

Larkin and I both traveled to the airport this last Saturday to deliver boxes of books and such to be air cargoed to Omaha. Things started hitting both of us that Namibia is almost over. We had a good talk about things and both mentioned that we'll be coming back in the future for various other projects. Its a pitty we're both leaving at this point, because we're all hitting a nice stride with meeting the right people, with lots of data that needs to be crunched in other ways, and projects are just flowing through our heads right now. We definitely have unfinished business.

Its worth noting I was able to watch the college division championship games and I'm just heartbroken over the Husker's loss to Texas. Thanks to Oliver [US gov employee] and military channel TV, I was able to watch the entire game that finished at 6:30 AM Namibia time.

I'm very proud of Suh and the Blackshirts. This blog is making its rounds and Suh, if you're reading this, thank-you so much for your leadership and keeping it real for the Blackshirts. I haven't seen anyone play with your intensity in a long time. Even when I consider the early 90's teams, you stand out above my idols of that period. I look forward to your professional career and congratulate you and your teammates for putting the fear of the Blackshirts in every top 5 ranked offense in the country. You can roll with the best of them. GO BIG RED!!!

The first thing I'm going to do when I return to the ranch, is dig out my Blackshirts T-shirt and wear it with pride. It will also suit me well to try and find tickets for the Holiday Bowl and take in the last game before the season ends, while visiting some colleges out there in the process.

After I return to the states and have time to think about things and ect. I'll be posting a recap message that will show what I've learned and what my game plan is with my neighbors and the Northern Great Plains. And my blogging won't stop once I return. This site will transition into a ranch blog, and will continue telling the other chapters of this story as things develop.

I gotta run! Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

A.E. Price

Tiera: The Pet Leopard

Greetings Friends, Family, and Readers!

Yesterday, during one of my non-conservancy farm member interviews, I came across something that just made me think, "Yep, I'm definitely in Namibia."

I have a running list of "Aaron's Crazy Namibia List" [=future blog post] and there are already about 30 entries of things I'd classify as, well... CRAZY. For example, meeting three pet cheetahs, being mocked charged 4 times by elephants, helping conduct the world's largest game count. These are a few of the things I've been taking note of during my time here.

Meeting a pet leopard easily cracks the top 5 when ranked.

This farm I interviewed is mostly a cattle farm with a fenced in area for game and such. The owner trophy hunts on the side and they're debating about joining the conservancy movement soon.

But during the interview a 1 year old male leopard walked into the living room and I about kicked my coffee over, but everyone was just laughing and said not to worry.

"Meet Tiera Aaron!"

This leopard is basically like a big dog living on the farm and it eats kudu meat that the boys hunt. Once in a while when they find road kill, this also finds its way into the leopards stomach.

The owner of the farm at one point told me, "Would you like to feel how sharp his teeth are?"

"Sure," I said. Then I was like wait a second...

"Wow, they're really sharp on the backside!"

I won't be sticking my fingers in a leopards mouth anymore. I promise.

This WWF gig is pretty crazy stuff! Now I have seen cheetahs and a leopard both in the wild and in personal settings like this.

This kind of stuff is turning out to be a normal "day in the life."

Enjoy the pictures! Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

A.E. Price

NamibRand Photos

Greetings Friends, Family, and Readers!

Here are some photos I took during my trip down south to NamibRand located in the Namib Desert. This area was incredibly breath taking and the camera doesn't do much justice for what I was seeing in person.

I hope you enjoy these photos! Be sure to look at my Flickr photo stream for others. Its located on the side bar of this blog.

Be well!

Cheers,

A.E. Price

This was my view outside of my cabin:



A cheetah on the kill site:



Cheetah with "war paint" on its face from a springbok kill:



An Oryx:



The 5 CCF cheetah donates as a group on the kill site:



Another Cheetah shot:



Sun-Downer:

NamibRand: Lessons Learned

Greetings Everyone:

On Friday, I briefly updated everyone about my upcoming NamibRand Trip and a few details about NamibRand. I’ll go a little deeper into the idea behind NamibRand, my amazing experiences with their game guards Mike and Anne, and what I learned from NamibRand. This last weekend will be one of my most memorable weekends for a long time to come.

I send many thanks out to Danica and Nils Oldenhaal [CEO NamibRand] for pulling out all the stops for my visit to NamibRand. Having NamibRand’s game guards as my personal tour guides, pre-arranged travel, and the amazing housing and dining accommodations, was more then anything I expected and I’m so grateful for the experience! It truly gave me new insight concerning working conservation into the previous ranching landscapes in a “high dollar low impact” process. Thank-you again! I truly learned so much seeing things in person and experiencing the quality of your staff and guides.

Quick Blast to the Past……………..

About 4-5 months ago or so, the Northern Great Plains WWF learning exchange group arrived in Namibia to learn about Namibia’s conservation. They covered a lot of ground in a short time thanks to aircraft flying everyone around. One of the destinations I was a little forlorn about not being able to attend was the NamibRand destination. Before leaving the states for Namibia, I heard a lot about the NamibRand model from Nils, CEO of NamibRand, personally at Grassland’s conference, and knew I’d have to see it before I leave.

Also, this learning exchange program with WWF Northern Great Plains and Grassland Foundation [my previous employer] was recognized by Travel and Leisure Mag with a 2009 World Visionary award for Wildlife Tourism. I’m happy to play catch up with the rest of the tour by visiting the sites I wasn’t able to attend while in the field or in Windhoek.

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NamibRand truly is an amazing place and I can say right now NamibRand has been the most amazing, breath-taking, and informative experience I’ve had to date in Namibia. The timing couldn’t have been better, because I only have two weeks left in Namibia. I have so many other experiences to compare it to at this time; therefore the timing is also good for my own personal development/reflection.

What hits me about NamibRand is the quality of the nature experience produced on commercial private ranch land. It truly rivals. I hear this area referred to as one of the best tourism products in Namibia and arguably Southern Africa. Everything is extremely professional to the “T” in the word eco-tourism.

I’ve been to nearly all the “hot spots” in Namibia like Etosha National Park, the Caprivi Parks, Damaraland’s conservancies, Suss and Deadveil, Skwakopmund and Walvis Bay, and some really nice commercial conservancy farms with a lot of outstanding wildlife. And to see 13 visionary private landowners come together and say. “Hey, we can do this nature gig thing” and produce an experience that equals the “hot spots” instilled new inspiration in me given what we’re talking about back home on the Gracie Creek Watershed using similar ideas.

This area is extremely difficult to access too, just like our ranches back home. It took almost 6 hours to drive down there, along with many supplies for the farm and lodge. Flying was almost considered for my main travel method. BUT people still come out.

I see where this can scare some people to death back home when you look at the complete other side of the coin NamibRand transitioned too, but I still feel there are some key lessons to be learned here without implementing a total nature reserve idea that could be economically/ecologically viable in the Northern Great Plains.
Why is NamibRand unique? What can we learn from this model?

This area of Namibia is referred to as the Namib Desert. Generally speaking, many tourists visiting Africa in general want to see the big charismatic species like elephants, lions [which I still need to see BTW], water buffalo, ect. Who can blame people though?

The unique thing about NamibRand is how they lack the previously listed species yet capitalize on other things like: thousands of Oryx running around [I prefer these critters the most in Namibia. They’re peaceful, easy going creatures and safe to be around vs. elephants], 5 CCF cheetahs that were introduced to keep the balance, “singing rocks,” quiver trees, chances for guests to participate in conservation with research concessions operating in the area, thousands of sand grouse, and most importantly OPEN spaces just like we find back home in the Sand Hills.
But what do you do when you live in an area that cannot viably support livestock, lack the wildlife everyone is so crazy about, but you have one heck of a view that has attracted the likes of National Geographic, Vouge, and Elle magazines?

Try marketing open spaces/stars, tours where people participate in conservation, and high quality housing/food with local flare.

It’s been extremely successful for this area. We simply are running out of peaceful, quiet, open spaces in the world today, while people are more conscious about their environmental impacts demanding products that make a difference ecologically.
NamibRand essentially markets the exclusive open space experience with as little human/truck disturbance around as possible. Consider this quote from the Wolwedans Lodge located on the reserve: http://www.wolwedans-namibia.com/namibrand.htm
“The main objective of NamibRand Nature Reserve is the conservation of this beautiful land on a self-sustainable basis. The lodges and camps on the NamibRand Nature Reserve are limited to 20 beds each. The park is governed by a strict code of ethics and the number of guests this wilderness paradise can accommodate is restricted. Despite the tremendous potential for more tourist development, it was decided that in theory every bed must be surrounded by 1000 hectares of nature - now and forever. This means that every guest at Wolwedans has one million square meters to themselves - a sanctuary free of tour buses and overland trucks. This luxury of space makes the reserve the pristine destination it is today.”

Trust me this is a unique group NamibRand markets to, but I met a guy who has been to the lodge 3 different times now. That says something about the quality of the experience at NamibRand and the value of space.

This lodge is not the only place where one can stay and there are other housing accommodations that make it affordable for locals too. It’s always good to be good neighbors with locals and especially your neighbors when introducing predators like cheetahs.

I can see how other organizations would see this as a way of restricting people from visiting areas, but there are solutions and reduced prices and the park fees NamibRand implements I see as helping with the sustainable future of the area for tourists, neighbors, and owners in the area.

I hope you’re asking the same questions I’m thinking right now. What are the “drivers” behind this model? We’ll explore them briefly in this blog.

…………

Friday afternoon, I received a call from Anne that they were a little lost trying to find the WWF office and we finally connected and I could tell by their warm welcoming smiles greeting me as I struggled to carry my fully equipped camera bag, my ultra light duffle bag, and cooler full of food for 3 days across the street that I was going to be in good hands. What sealed the deal for me was when Anne and Mike both said to let them know if we need to stop so I can take a photo, “Because we understand.” 8D Those three words associated with photography are magic to my ears.

I told them a little bit more about my background and purpose for being in Namibia and we hit things off before we even left the WWF office block. They asked me if I was the neighbor they heard about from Bruce and Sarah Switzer and I said yes. They both mentioned how it was nice to meet everyone on that tour guide.

Mike and Anne are from South Africa and they’ve been involved in nature conservation their whole lives –especially birds and blue cranes. They’ve been working in Namibia for the last 6 years and just started working at NamibRand. Currently, they’re on contract to be game guards for NamibRand, which basically consists of overseeing many aspects of the natural resources on the 13 ranches. Just like any well managed cattle ranch back in the states with good grazing records, herd vac records, and ect. NamibRand has the same idea but purely focused on conservation and overseen by game guards.

We made our way to the NamibRand [NGO] office in Windhoek to pick up supplies for NamibRand and the reserve’s new in-service training student Preston [who happens to be a previous student of the UNL Fullbright Professor Larkin Powell –see Larkin’s blog in my website of interest section located after the blog]. And I have to say, Larkin and I could each dedicate a blog to the “Nebraska Connection” we’ve discovered in Namibia. It has blown me away how many people know someone from Nebraska here in Namibia.
All roads to Namibia seem to pass through Nebraska. I think its because both start with “N’s.” N=N. Its truly worth a blog topic someday…

Just within the last two weeks I’ve met Preston and a master student from Canada who knew UNL’s star volleyball player Jordan Larson [plays professional VB in Italy now and destined for the Olympics] as a childhood/high school friend.

The weather was incredibly hot. 43 degrees C or 109 degrees F! I felt like melting. The driving route was the exact same one I took with my German travel friend Tina to the parks located down there and it was nice to see Solataire again. This town has the best desert snacks.

When we arrived at the farm house, there were already wildlife running around at the water hole and beautiful mountains and prairie sounding us. I could step foot outside my door and sit down on a table 45 meters away from the community drinking well. Frans Lanting, National Geographic photographer and his wife spent a day photographing Sand Grouse flying into the water hole and were so impressed they didn’t even want to go see the cheetahs Anne told me. That is impressive! And the birds were. Trust me.
But the rooms all have guide books and themes that resemble the area, along with information about the area you’re in so you have a context for the experience vs. a disassociated mess of experiences.

The next morning everyone met at the office that reminded me so much of the ranch office back home on Gracie Creek Ranch. NamibRand is all about wildlife and they had records of game counts, predator kills, management plans, ect. all neatly lined up on the wall, just like the records we keep of grazing and vaccination/treatments on GCR. This is not a whimsical fluffy idea. Its serious business on NamibRand.
We all left to report on recent wildlife kills in the area cheetahs were responsible for, so the data could be collected about the animal’s age, sex, what animals were eating it, and were it was killed so the information could be sent to CCF here in Namibia and linked to the satellite data they have from the 5 NamibRand cheetahs who are collared.

Having guests participate in conservation and understanding the systems around you is a huge step and a much more valued and meaningful experience for people. I could see this being picked up more in the US.

Later that night we all had a conversation with the manager of Wolwedan and how to best incorporate the new cheetah information packets they been receiving for the guests. Not only are NamibRand guests seeing great stuff, but they’re actually helping out and learning about the ecological issues/challenges in the process. Imagine what this will do for nature deficit children in the US and future agriculture and environmental leaders?

But other research concessions also have contracts to do research on game and cheetahs, which is essentially what our ranches are doing with university, NGO, and federal institutions already with prairie chicken and water issues.

……….

This is already way too long for one blog and I still need to mention the lodge stuff I learned about some other time. I’m off to Etosha area tomorrow to survey. non-conservancy members. I will post my most recent photos from here tomorrow sometime on flickr and as a separate blog!

I gotta run, but thank-you for reading.

Cheers,

A.E. Price

PS: Other field notes

As one who’s taken photography somewhat seriously during my 6 months in Namibia, you enter into a photographer’s paradise in NamibRand. At this point in my Namibia experience, I’ve been to basically every part of Namibia except the Naye Naye area I’ll leave for another time. I’ve also been to many amazing places in the states –especially national parks and reserves. But in NamibRand I’ve never been in a place where I can truly say everywhere I looked there was a photo opportunity. Every place has its own beauty, but there is something special about the Namib Desert area.
Even my colleague Helge Denker, who was with me on our eventful Elephant trip in the Huab, said if I ever get the chance to go down there make it happen. Helge use to work in this area and can vouch for the amazing scenry.

……………..
But two pretty special photography moments happened for me during my time with Mike and Anne. One involved 5 male cheetahs sitting on their kill site with “war paint” on their faces or the blood from the fresh kill, and two breeding pairs of klipspringer standing on the same rock together [EXTREMELY rare site]. Both Mike and Anne joked that people might accuse me of photo shopping my klipspringers into one photograph.
My cheetah experience was amazing, because NamibRand adopted these 5 males from the Cheetah Conservation Fund here in Namibia, and released them onto the reserve to bring back the natural predator/prey cycle. NamibRand currently doesn’t do any hunts, so having predators introduced helps with their management plans.
Cheetahs at CCF [Lorrie Marker’s NGO] and other farms who run cheetah farms feed the cats by hand and care for them day and night. These cats on NamibRand did not grow up with their parents and would have been shot by the farmers who captured them if CCF or other groups do not take them in.
Enough said… but to see these cats go from essentially domestic cats to being released in the wild and slowly weaned away from meat handouts and being forced to learn how to hunt goes against a lot of research and thought that domestic cats are doomed in the wild. The 5 cats I’ve seen at NamibRand look healthy and obviously from the “war paint” faces are learning to work as a team.
“You’re very lucky. Not everyone gets to see the cheetahs, especially sitting on a kill site.”

Happy Thanksgiving From Namibia! Pre-NamibRand Post

Greetings Friends and Family!

Some of you might have heard that I was pretty sick last weekend with symptoms VERY similar to malaria, but I feel 100% now and should be in the clear. Malaria symptoms are so much like the common flu, and with the variety in Namibia there is no messing around. This strand flalines people in malaria comas and kills people, while the other two in Africa do not. I had deep consultations with my German roommate doctors and feel I don't need to worry anymore and neither do my friends, family, and readers.

I stopped taking my malaria pills because for one they make me sunburn and two I think they were giving me bad dreams. Plus, this stuff can't be very good for my liver, especially 1/2 a years worth of malaria medication. I'm definitely taking a chance, but if you pick up on the symptoms and act quickly, the doctors can take good care of you.

..............

I hope everyone is having safe travels to their Thanksgiving destinations. It is hard for me to believe its already Thanksgiving and that I'll be home in 16 days. I sure miss everyone from time to time, but I'm so thankful to have this Namibian experience under my belt and all the doors its opened for me. I'll be coming home soon and we'll have to extend the festivities into my welcoming home party in Grand Island 8D. If I can make it through Jo'burg Round IV -I should be in the clear if the weather holds!

Last weekend I had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with the WWF family and friends. And it hit me then, that I'm surrounded by such amazing people and experiences. I have a lot to be thankful for this year, and many times I reflect on the research, what I'm doing, the amazing landscape around me, what my new skills and knowledge of conservancies can do for Africa and the Northern Great Plains int he future, and just feel like the luckiest guy in the world. I'm very thankful for everyone back home who has supported me and equally thankful for the people I've met and worked with here in Namibia. I'm truly blessed.

I'm going to miss the stuffing and the Cornhusker vs. Buffalo game that I look forward to every fall... This is a bummer. I love seeing NU slam CU, but I know they always play their best for Nebraska. I've had to wait many weekends to see if we've won the games or not and this one will be no exception. But I'll be surrounded by a good distraction -The NamibRand Nature Reserve.

I'm going to be in the NamibRand Nature Reserve in Southern Namibia Friday through Sunday. The informational brochure I have has me itching at my seat to be on the road headed to the Namib Desert! At the last Grassland Foundation conference, Nils Odenhaal CEO, of NamibRand talked about this private conservation initiative, toured the ranches, recommended ideas about what we could do in the Great Plains based on what he experienced, and we talked about making a visit for me happen at the Switzer's lodge when I arrive in Namibia.

During various meetings and conferences in Namibia, I've ran into Nils and I've always been too busy to think about visiting, but in the last 16 days I'm going to be squeezing in a lot of things. I'm so happy to see this come through.

If I had to pick only one place to visit in Namibia and then have to be teleported back to the Sand Hills, I would pick this place, even though I haven't been there. The reserve borders the Namib-Naukluft National Park to the west and is very close to the Sussusvlei and Deadveil areas where I've taken some of my best landscape photographs. National Geographic photographers spend a lot of time down in this area and the geology is just out of this world! I'll be running around the reserve's game guards and can imagine I'll be in the best photography spots and learning so much about their system.

After reviewing everything I've learned here in Namibia in my head and the goals my neighbors are pursuing with the watershed agreement, this initiative is a great model to mimic/adapt, and I hope to have new insights while seeing things in action.

A brief overview of NamibRand:

I'LL DISCLOSE RIGHT NOW: I'm not recommending ranches and farms in the Great Plains or elsewhere abandon previous land use practices and become strict nature reserves with high dollar low impact tourism operations. I recommend landowners to make the decisions they want to make for their land based on their own needs and opportunity costs.

I can see all the "Buffalo Commons" radical rancher rumors spreading now, and I don't want this to be an unnecessary pain in the butt for people and myself. There needs to be large grazers for the good sustainable health of the plains on the ranch lands and I don't care what critter fits your management plans. And we still need to produce food in sustainable fashions for the 9 billion people expected to live here by 2050.

This NamibRand initative is landowner driven just like the Gracie Creek watershed initiative, with landowners still calling all the shots and most importantly making the management decisions as seen fit by the owners.

IF I HEAR RUMORS OF ANYTHING ELSE THAT TRIPS MY TRIGGER, I WILL SOURCE THE RUMOR, AND YOU'LL BE HEARING FROM ME PERSONALLY. Let's be open and honest in these discussions everyone. Thank-you.

This reserve consists of 13 former livestock farms that have come together to manage the natural habitat as one large unit and cover a whooping 172,00 ha or nearly half a million acres! The Namibia maps show it on their road maps. This nature reserve operates as a non-profit, and all the landowners in the reserve sat down and signed agreements about how they'll manage their reserve resources -just like the ranches back home on Gracie Creek are exploring right now.

They have research projects that contribute to the preservation of the area and surrounding ecosystems I'll have to talk about later after I return!

My ride just arrived! Thank-you for reading

Cheers,

A.E. Price

Windhoek's Informal Settlements

Greetings Everyone:

I can feel my trip winding down and I'm so excited to be coming home, yet I'm sad to think about leaving what has been an absolutely amazing experience for me. As of today, I only have 26 days left in Namibia. But its probably something like 21, due to the fact that I'll have to bus myself to Jo'berg, South Africa to catch my flight home. All my roommates and friends who are leaving in December are all planning their last minute trips and thinking about going away parties too.

This weekend I'm going to be celebrating Thanksgiving with the Sproul family, my colleague Keith's family who traveled to Namibia to be with him during his 2 years at WWF-Namibia. The weather, new location, and different cultures has thrown me into a time warp and it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving or Christmas should be around the corner.

The feeling of transition and all the uncertainties is in the air. Yet there are a few things I want to literally squeeze in before I leave including shooting an oryx with a colleague, Swing through Cape Town before Jo'berg to see The KILLERS play, and one last research field trip to Outjo.

These feelings really hit me during my last day in Katutura with Uapii and his family, along with the Fullbright Family, The Powells, from Lincoln, Nebraska. Many of you might know about my connection with Larkin and Uapii, but here is Larkin's Namibia blog I want to invite everyone to check out too. Larkin has had equal crazy/unique/interesting experiences in Namibia like myself: http://namibiafulbright.blogspot.com/

Uapii gave the Powells a full tour of Katutura, which they were not foreign too, but I was lucky enough to tag along, because, Larkin has a car and Uapii and I both knew that meant there was a good chance we could go visit the "informal settlements" outside of Katutura. I hear so much about these settlements from Uapii and my roommates who also work in development work.

The election buzz is live and well and during the tour we stopped at a market where meat is grilled and sold. This woman is making a scarf of the SWAPO political party colors.



This picture was taken just to the right of the woman making the scarf. I like it because of all the strong blue colors and face expressions.



Many of the places we took the Powell's I've been before, but it was nice to think about taking the shots you missed the last time and experiment with the ultra wide lens. These are two lion heads located in a restaurant we visited.



Single Market Butchery/Take A Way



After driving around Katutura for awhile and making a pit stop at Upaii's house, we piled into the car again and drove off toward the informal settlements. There is a point where the roads are no longer paved and the only way I can describe it is you feel like you've entered into a different world/reality.



"Welcome to the real Africa," Uapii said. "My friend, few in a hundred people traveling to Namibia see what you see here -right now."

This area of Windhoek has many people who travel from the northern communal lands looking for work in Windhoek and don't have the means to rent or buy houses. There are only a few cars in this area and you see lots of taxis. The smell of urine and human wastes fill the air around the communal toilets.

A shot from a hill:



The houses are small little tin shacks that have numbers spray painted by some Namibia authority that is keeping track of the rent payments of that family to live on the land. After a certain period of time, the family is then allowed to own the plot. Everyone still manages to carry a cell phone here in Namibia and you see cell phone towers surrounding this area. I'm not a fan of MTC and the other cell phone companies here in Namibia, because I feel they charge too much, the service sucks, and intermittent -but they do reach areas many areas in Namibia I would never have though by looking at population densities would be fortunate enough to have.





The houses are office size and well below the average size of many college apartments I've lived in. But the people here were welcoming and very friendly. I think they were as shocked to see 4 white people with Uapii like we were shocked to see this side of Windhoek. We tasted the local brew at a sheebean, an illegal bar. Tasted like apple cider.

What was interesting to me was the water system. Its one of the few things municipalities have been able to provide these homes. Its tough to get funding when the homes are not officially recognized, but people need water. For 20 Rand or about 3 USD, your blue chip is credited so you can fill your buckets with water for one month.







Most the people who live here work the countless security, gardener, maid jobs in Windhoek and are paid in my eyes poorly. The average pay for services listed is around 10-30 rand a day. Therefore, essentially one day is spent just working for your water that month.

Basic water quality and quantity is a huge issue for many parts of Africa. I definitely experienced an area that could easily be stressed of its supply. There wasn't time to go into details with the locals in Katutura about their water supply, but consider these facts from National Geographics Blue Water Project:


"30,000 people—including about 4,000 children—die each day as a result of contaminated water and poor sanitation.

About 1.1 billion people, or 18 percent of the world’s population, can’t get safe drinking water. At any given time, half of the hospital beds in developing countries are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease."

After our time in the "informal settlements" we drove to Uapii's house to have a wonderful meal with his family. Upaii gave a heart felt blessing for everyone who has come to his farm/house this year and it about made me cry. It was our last Namibia meal together, but I don't think it will be the last. A few years will pass but I expect the Powells and myself will be back.

Uapii left for his farm in Kunene yesterday and I wish you safe travels my friend! You've done so much for me here in Namibia and showed me so much. This isn't good-bye my friend. I'll be back.

.......

This week I'm going to continue writing up the reports on the conservancies I interviewed, start figuring out the packing/busing situation, and figuring out what I can cook for Thanksgiving this weekend! I'm so excited to come home to the welcoming party my Aunt Leslie is throwing me! Everyone attending can expect a selection of the best photos and the stories behind each one, and a recap of the research and conservancy system.

Gotta run.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

A.E. Price

Close Encounters With Denive: The Desert Adapated African Elephant

Greetings Everybody!

GO BIG RED!!! How about the Husker's win over Oklahoma in Memorial Stadium?!? I'm so happy to hear the great news here in Namibia. If we can sneak by K State we should be playing Texas for the Big 12 Championship! I bet things are off the hook in Lincoln and I wish I could be there! We still have a lot of work to do on our offense, but I'll take a win over OU ANY day. Congrats huskers!

Travel experiences like the one I'm going through come with opportunity costs in relationships, delaying starting full-time jobs and grad school pograms, and I'm especially missing out on college football action, but I still think I'm getting the better deal by living in Namibia for half a year! But NU's win over OU kinda hits me in the stomach and reminds me of all the other big games I've seen played in Big Red's football country.

I don't have time right now to go into the whole conservancy "lessons learned" I picked up on traveling to Caprivi and Damaraland. I'm thinking this will need to be a recap post at the end of my time here. I learn so much everyday and especially when I go out into the field. I am excited about a UNL law professor coming out here to Namibia to really examine the pressures of why people join conservancies, the land rights, and ect. that go along with everything and I'm going to work laying out the network foundation I've established, so he can make the most out of his 8 days in Namibia.

I promised to share a story about my elephant experiences a week ago today. Here is my story.

...................



So there I was, just leaving the Tora Conservancy hunting quota setting meeting with WWF, IRDNC, Wilderness Safaris, and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism with my colleague Helge Denker. [This is a meeting each conservancy in Namibia organizes annual and debates occur about how many animals the conservancy can sustainably hunt. The numbers are recorded by WWF and MET, then its sent off to the MET office in Windhoek for the final approval].

We were off on a photo shoot for a wildlife/travel magazine I'll have to leave unnamed right now, and we were looking for elephants on the Huab river. The person on the magazine end wants a picture of me with wildlife and the landscape cannot be mistaken for anything else but Namibia/Africa. They're going to get what they asked for! I hope the editors are impressed too, because it was somewhat traumatic for me to take photos with elephants behind me!

It was pushing mid-afternoon and the weather was just hot. 90+ degrees and sweltering. The wind was blowing like the dickens and was sucking all the energy out of you. We were trying to find elephants, but we wanted to stop for lunch and take a brief nap till the weather cooled off. The wildlife were doing the same thing I imagine.

Two trucks from South Africa stopped us as we were entering the Huab River bed, and I think because they saw the panda on the side of the truck they thought we're the "know all" for wildlife and knew where to find elephants on the river, but we told them we haven't seen any elephants today.

These two trucks drove all over the west side of the river and said they found nothing, so we knew where not to look.

After we ate lunch and took a 15 minute nap, we started up the truck and went elephant tracking. We drove in the opposite direction of the two ZA trucks and I was worried they'd be around us if we found elephants and we'd have to spend extra energy working the camera angles to exclude them, but we didn't see any tracks going in our direction.

We walked over to a small hill with our bi-nocs and immediately spotted a couple of elephants in the far distance! One could not see them without bi-nocs.

"Jackpot" I thought! I was so excited. This was the same spot where Helge took Frans Lanting, National Geogrpahic photographer extraordinaire, a few months back. We were much closer to them this time around vs. Helge's last trip.

Off we went with our cameras ready to roll. It is also worth noting these are free roaming elephants and are not fenced in like Etosha or other private farms, so I was so excited to have an opportunity to photograph elephants in a natural setting like this.

Driving through the riverbed is a slow process. The gravel almost covers the rubber up to the metal rim, and we had to let air out a few days prior so we had better traction. The wind was blowing right at us, but made some nice dust effects of the elephants and made their ears stand flap out like wings on a bird.



When we finally come close to the elephants, there were 14 of them walking down our left side of the river toward us. There were bulls, mamas, and two calves. Right now, the wildlife, especially the elephants, love hanging out in the riverbed because all the trees have seedpods that are fresh and tasty. The riverbed is not very wide where we were driving and were probably 30 to 40 yards away from the elephants at times.

Here is a shot of a mother with her calf. It was so interesting to watch the calf try to act grown up by eating the seeds off of prairie grasses, but he wasn't having any success and was later nursing under his mother. The personalities just pour out of these elephants and the non-verbal communication is so much like humans.



We were snapping photos like crazy. For the first few minutes I was sitting in my car seat and just having the time of my life watching these elephants interact, graze, and walk past us. Helge was stepping out and taking pictures and I asked him when he came back into the truck to change lens if I could step out too. Helge said I could, but to stay CLOSE to the truck and hide the best you can. I slowly opened my door and my left side never left the side of the truck till I could place my telephoto lens on the back spare tire.

The elephants came close enough where it was time to start the truck. When we turned the key... nothing happened. We were stuck with a dead panda truck on the Huab river with a herd of elephants with calves walking by us/toward us. Things became a little serious and luckily when we popped the hood it was a loose battery cable problem and we tried wedging a 4 cent Namibian coin followed by a metal handle from an office clip we had on a stack of papers. We just waited for them to pass before we opened the hood and were lucky they were so calm.

What is humorous to me is how on the Friday morning [the day we left] we had a staff meeting to regroup on everyone's projects and ect. Chris showed some amazing Mongolia pictures and has a few of these goats many wildlife groups want to have pictures of because no one has adequately photographed them. Anyhoo, Marque said to everyone we need to report truck problems early so Denive can take of the problems before they become bigger problems. How fitting given our situation I thought!

The elephants didn't give us any problems during this pass and I was able to snap this picture.



This one will be a WWF public announcement photo in the coffee room warning people to report truck problems early.

I was so relieved to hear the diesel engine fire up and drive us to another prime photography spot. I ventured out again to take more photos. I know the elephants knew there were humans walking around and I would keep eye contact with them when I was walking around the truck waiting for trouble.

After I sat my lens on the back of the tire I thought this was totally nuts and will be forever hooked on wildlife photography.

Then Helge said it was time to take some pictures of me with the elephants and I retired my camera in the truck and slowly walked to the back of the truck staying close like he initially instructed. Helge instructed me to squat down about 2-3 meters from the truck and snapped away. I had to put all my trust into Helge, because I could not see what these elephants were doing and I was carefully listening for his signal to "move" toward him if necessary.

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!! If the South Africa trucks would have been in the area we would have stayed in the trucks and not given anyone ideas about getting photos with elephants while standing in the river bed. If you decide to do something like this, have someone with many years of hunting and wildlife experiences assist you.

There was only one moment where he told me to move and come behind the truck so the elephants would forget about us. I stepped back into the truck and started taking pictures and meanwhile Helge is outside under the truck taking photos.

The light is turning out to be amazing at this point and I'm snapping away then all of a sudden I see a yellow yield sign on my camera saying "CF Card Full"

"Oh snap!" I thought! I changed my camera to take higher resolution photos and wasn't use to working with less memory. What horrible luck! Helge was still outside and I was flipping through and deleting photos and snapping one, then deleting then snapping again, and just frustrated I left my spare memory card in my camera bag and not in my shirt pocket. I'm smarter now.

One elephant, who we will now call Denive, named after our colleague became rather curious about the white panda truck sitting under the ana tree by the herd.

This is Denive:



And he slowly started wandering over to the truck:



And closer:



And closer:




Helge jumped back into the truck and I'm not sure how we let this elephant come so close, but I think we were just lost in the photography moment. Luckily we spent a lot of time with the elephants at this point and everyone was calm except me! lol

We noticed shortly after Helge came in the truck we were going to have a situation.

The only thing we could do was -painfully wait in dead silence and remain motionless and hope he'd loose interest.

Denive walked up to the truck and Helge said to slowly roll up my window and do not move. I took my time rolling up my window and kept my eye on Denive the whole time. Helge's hands were on the manual stick and keys ready to start the truck if needed, but that's the VERY last thing you want to do in this situation. A loud truck would startle Denive and entice him to level the truck and us in the process.

I couldn't contain myself with an elephant being so close and not taking a picture, but on the other hand this was a semi-serious situation. But I did snap this photo of our curious visitor.



Things became so quiet in the truck. My senses were just amped and I could hear the second hand in my REI pocket watch ticking... Denive just kept staring right at the windshield and I seriously thought this could be it for me. A lot of thoughts were racing through my head, but I kept hoping I'd live through this one. This elephant was always one step away from crushing the truck and his trunk could have easily slapped the hood of the truck.

I'm not sure how much time passed when Denive was right in front of the truck staring us down, but it felt something like eternity. I could see the grooves from digging for water and fighting on his tusks, all the little dimples and wrinkles on his trunk, and I took note elephants have brown eyes [I didn't not know this until I had a closer look at them]. THAT is how close he was to us. You truly feel power like you've never felt it before.

Denive slowly side stepped his away in front of the truck and planted himself under the ana tree our truck was being shaded by and continued to eat ana seedpods. At this point a sigh of relief came flowing through the car and Helge and I just watched this huge elephant eat these little seed pods the size of small cell phones. The elephant was never flustered, but I worried if he did become so, what would the mamas with calves behind us would have done?

Mother elephants are particularly dangerous because they normally have calves and smaller tusks, therefore, they're prone to become aggressive.

Luckily, we were just a roadblock between Point A and Point B for Denive and finding his ana seedpods. He was checking out the scene on the other side away from the herd I think and luckily kept his goal in mind the whole time.

At this point the good light opportunities were all gone, but I had enough fun for the day and was ready to go set up camp in a non-windy place. We fired up the truck when Denive was behind us and turned around and headed up a small side river channel. I shot some nice video of the elephants as were driving away I'll share later.

We found a nice little spot behind a huge rocky mountain and quickly collected sticks and dry grass to start our brai fire. When we had the fire going we were starting to clean cameras and I heard what I thought was an elephant making a vocal noise down the valley. Helge wasn't sure and I wouldn't be either with a non-Namibian native and we ran over to the river bend to see what was going on and yep... there were the elephants coming our way.

"Oh geez" I thought. But we just went about our business as usual. They were sure making a lot of noise, but I noticed earlier in the day one of the males appeared to have "woman issues" in the herd and was acting rowdy. I suspect it was him making all the noise.

Maybe 15 minutes later when I was dusting my camera off with my air rocket Helge shouted at me to be quiet. I just freeze and drop my rocket and laid my camera down and I quickly stood up near the truck seat and proceeded to watch these huge elephants and their shadows just roll across the Huab River bed under a full moon. This image will never leave me. Its amazing how quiet elephants can be. I never even knew they were close till Helge said something.

At that point, I truly had enough fun with elephants for one day and was happy to see them wander upstream away from us, especially this late in the night. The way they were moving told me they were not going to be coming back during the night again for another visit and were on the move.

I never sleep in a tent in Namibia now and always sleep under the stars in my sleeping bag so I can easily run to the semi-safety of a tree or mountain side if need be.

What a wild day! All of this trouble and work to take a few photos for a magazine! But one can't decent photos if there isn't a certain degree of risk involved.

The next morning was also pretty amazing for photography too. We woke up to this nice morning view when he hiked up a similar sized mountain as seen in the picture to continue the photo shoot. The river in the picture is the Huab



So there is my elephant story! I'm so happy the truck and Helge and I are in one piece and that everything worked out for Denive too. I hope you enjoyed the photos and elephant story!

Cheers,

Aaron

Damaraland Photos [Part II]

Greetings Everyone!

Sorry for not posting much the last couple of weeks. I've been traveling around so much and have had poor internet access. I've been all the way to the Caprivi Strip and the Northwest area of Namibia. There is so much to tell, but that will have to come later this week. But I'm looking forward to spending good time in the office and with my roommates and friends too the next couple of weeks.

I was able to travel to 6 communal conservancy quota setting meetings and saw how the quotas are set and the various roles of the committee members, ministry, and supporting NGO's play in the process. I learned so much by just sitting and listening -even if half the time only Afrikans was being spoken. Maybe I'm slowly learning Afrikans!?!

Each conservancy has its own unique issues that range from community involvement, legal agreements with professional hunters, problem animals, and ect. Lunch with my colleague Keith today relived more of the reasons behind some of the problems I heard about during my travels specific to the conservancies, but I can't talk about them here on the blog. There are still many positives occurring in the communities that will be worth mentioning in the future. There are always politics when you work in communities and various interests and power struggles you have to adapt for in the process.

As usual, I wasn't far away from my camera and took some of the best Damaraland pictures I've taken yet, and some pretty wild elephant ones too. Over the last few months, I've learned so much more about my camera and what it can and cannot do and traveling around with Helge was a crash course in nature photography that is priceless for me.

I've seen a lot of beautiful areas in Namibia and elsewhere, but there is something completely different about the Damaraland area of Namibia that just hits your senses deep. I've said this before, but if Darmaraland could be moved to the states, it would be our most cherished national park -hands down.

Each morning Helge and I woke up to the sun [About 5 AM], the best time for shooting photographs, and I would say I was somewhat hooked on photography, though after a couple of mornings doing some serious photography work I'm totally hooked on it now. The sights were so amazing and I'll never forget my mornings sitting on rocky outcrops/mountains and seeing such amazing colors before we'd pack up camp and head to conservancy meetings. We both commented about how we have such an amazing office to work in! You truly can't be the Northwest part of Namibia.

There was one rather traumatic elephant experience for me I'll share later, but everything turned out fine for both human and elephant in the end. But basically it does involve a close encounter, truck battery problems, and midnight visitors to give you all a taste of what's to come in my next blog. For a Great Plains kid, elephants are not your average threat you deal with on a daily basis. We have our own threats that are unique, but nothing close to the size and power of an African Elephant.

Needless to say, I'm experiencing a breath of healthy lifetime experiences that will be firewood for the old days.

I'm so busy with side projects and crunching survey data this week, but hopefully by Saturday I can post a nice recap of my recent travel experiences and especially talk more about the conservancy system and its application to the Great Plains. The last two weeks have been especially informative for me. I can't wait to share my experiences in a future blog.

I hope this message finds you all well!

Cheers,

Aaron

Here are the photos: