DAY FOUR: HERE COMES THE RAIN
It became apparent today that the rainy season has arrived, eager to welcome us I suppose. It’s a bit early. But it left little doubt about the change of season when a downpour of impressive volume and intensity split the day and brought the campus to a standstill for many minutes. That should give rise to a good crop of mosquitoes.
I met up with Kellee and her class in the early afternoon, and then some of us attended Conrad’s presentation. The meeting was kindly hosted by Professor Alex Songorwa and Shombe Hassan of the Department of Wildlife Management.
Lack of sleep, the heat and my anti-malaria medication were catching up with me, and I have to admit that after taking photos of the presentation, I settled down in a chair and proceeded to doze off while Conrad was speaking. But the parts I stayed awake for were excellent, really. He discussed opportunities for public-private partnerships in conservation before a group of professors and students from the Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation.
Conrad emphasized the availability of the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT), a Web-based mapping tool designed to help businesses plan development projects while minimizing risks associated with impacting important sites for biodiversity. The database was developed through a partnership including BirdLife International, Conservation International and United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre. IUCN acts as an observer on the project.
Conrad, Kellee and I later had dinner of tasty Indian food at the Oasis (pronounced Oh-Ah-Sis) with two Norwegians who are also staying at the hostel. (We met them after I tried to get into one of their rooms, thinking it was mine. It’s one way to break the ice.) They’re testing an inexpensive household water filtration system made out of a large plastic barrel and river sand. If the device works well, it would be a welcomed innovation for many people in Tanzania, and plenty of other places, who are in desperate need of potable water.
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