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.

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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