April 25. At sea heading for Tenerife, Canary Island The end of the voyage is in sight, and I find myself sad at the prospect of leaving the ship, and the community that we have formed over the last month together.     Wow, I just looked out of the window, and I can see the snow capped peak of a volcano!!  I am in one of my favorite spots on the ship, the observation lounge on the top deck.  The library is here, with comfortable swivel chairs and windows all around and above.  It will be another 3 hours or so before we arrive in Tenerife.  The volcano that I am seeing is the highest mountain in Spain. So, I was musing on  community.  By nature a trip such as this is a temporary community.  This particular group is particularly rich, high powered, well educated, well traveled, and mostly  WASPS.  The vast majority of us are Americans, with a few Brits, a couple of Australians, a couple of Swedes, and a few Phillipinos.  There are at least 10 people who have lived and worked in West Africa, a number of them in the peace corps. Of course you can't get to know everyone, and there have been a few stinkers that you wouldn't want to know.  Luckily, they have been pretty easy to avoid.  All in all, a fascinating group of people. The professional staff have all been outstanding.  The naturalists each have their area of expertise, but they also are pretty good at being generalists.  Not surprisingly, the anthropologists have given wonderful lectures, complemented by the historical lectures.  I have gained a whole new understanding of the role that the slave trade played in history and world economics. I love the photography team.  They have periodically done lectures using their own pictures to illustrate what to do and not to do when taking photographs. Jay Dickman did a lecture on the anatomy of a National Geographic piece from conception to final edit for publication.  All of Them have given me many pointers on photography while out in the field.  I have taken more than 2500 photographs during the last 5 weeks.  It will be a major job to edit them down to a reasonable show.

Tuesday April 24  Dakhla, Western Sahara Dakhla is a small tidy city, that has become a popular destination for kite surfers, as it tends to be windy  all the time, and has large stretches of beach. This morning there were 48  4 wheel drive vehicles lined up on the pier to take us out into the  desert.  The buildings all are sand colored and have flat roofs, probably to catch rain, although I gather that that is a rare event.   We drive out of town on a fairly good road for about 45 minutes, and then turn off the road onto a track into the desert.  Unlike Namibia, there are no large dunes here.  Vegetation is very sparse, there are lots of rocks, and many small hills.  Shortly we arrive at our destination, a small collection of tents by the shore.  A couple of the tents are set up for lunch, there is a bar, and a tent for shopping!    We take a short hike before lunch with Tom, who is a terrific naturalist.  He takes us to an area where there are fossil castings of shrimp burrows.  A little further along is evidence of early hominids living there.  There are many stones that have been knapped or flaked.  David picks up what looks like it might have been a hand ax.  Because of the wind and the sand almost everything has been scoured.   Returning to the lunch tent, the white tablecloths have a fine layer of dust and sand.  The only clear spots are under our plates and wine glasses.  In front of the lunch tents is a mat where several Bedouin women are playing instruments, singing and dancing.  The most ingenious Instrument is a large metal bowl turned upside down, and struck with 2 shot glasses, like a drum!   Lunch is North African fare, a large communal salad, with eggplant, peas, beans and lettuce, followed by cous cous, and a lamb dish.  Dessert is fresh fruit.  After lunch we load uP and head back for the ship, taking off for Teneriffe, Canary Island. Tonight I have been invited to a chart room dinner by one of the naturalist staff.  Each guest gets invited twice to chart room dinners.  The first one that I attended was near the beginning of the voyage.

At sea towards Western Sahara

Sunday April 22. At sea towards Western Sahara I love the days at sea.  It is totally  different pace, much more relaxed.  Iwake up early, but know that I don't have to leap out of bed.  Breakfast is a leisurely affair.  The first lecture of the day isn't until 9:30 AM.  David Barnes our Welsh historian lectures about Darwin and the voyage of the Beagle.  It seems that Darwin was most interested in going to the Canary Islands, which is where we will be on Wednesday.  As it turns out, the Beagle was quarantined  because of a cholera outbreak in London, so he only saw the Canaries from the deck of the ship.  David has a dry sense of humor, which makes him a pleasure to listen to.  The next lecture by Jim, the geologist is on plate tectonics.  He brings in material from some of the latest published research this year, about theories of what will happen in the future--of course in 100 million years from now the human race probably won't be in existence any more.  It is interesting to hear about the history,and how the first geologists were accused of heresy, because the prevailing thought int the early 19th C. Was that the earth had only been around for 6 thousand years. I had lunch up in the observation lounge, and saw a few dolphins during lunch.  It is sunny, breezy and on the cool side today,but I managed to find a sheltered spot up on the top deck over the bridge where I could lie outside and read for a while.  We are at about 18 degrees north, and will pass the Tropic of Cancer sometime tonight or tomorrow.  Our course heading has been nearly due North today. Dakar is a remarkably modern city with lots of skyscrapers and modern architecture, nonetheless, as soon as you get out of the main business district  You see the typical little African businesses on the sidewalk or in the street--fruit vendors, and old tires, chickens, and turkeys, auto parts.  One of the places that've visited is a grotesque monument to the renaissance of Africa.   The monument is over200 ft. High, and is made of bronze, depicting an African man emerging from a dead volcano, with a child perched on his shoulder, and a woman under his right arm. Like the Statue of Liberty, one can go up to the top, there are viewing windows from the man's Muslim cap.  The monument is on the highest hill in Dakar, next to it is a twin peak that has a lighthouse. The food at the "best night clubbing Dakar" was really lousy, but the music was great.  One man played a wooden xylophone that had gourds underneath each key that resonated.  Another played a kora, a type of harp Monday  4/23 at sea towards Al Dakla, Wester Sahara Blogus Interruptus by cetaceans.  Yesterday as I was writing came the call, "Whales". I jumped up, ran to my cabin, grabbed my camera and ran for the bow.  There was a large pod of Sei whales, maybe 30 animals, some were owing to the surface within 30 ft. Of the ship.  A beautiful sight.  I never got back to the blogging. So, the kora harp has --- at the bottom that acts as a resonator, and a 3 ft. long stick stuck into it, to which many strings are attached.  If you enjoy  Caribbean music, African music will be very familiar. Yesterday at recap I gave a 10 minute talk on Chimpanzees, focusing on conservation, with a little bit about male dominance displays.  There is only so much one can do in 10 minutes.  Now it is just after breakfast,and I am looking at Northern gannets flying along with the ship, they are right outside the observation lounge at eye level. We have bright sunshine, lots of wind, and it is only about 50 degrees out.  I am hoping that it will warm up enough to get out on deck.  We have a packed schedule if lectures today, and although I enjoy them immensely, I can't stand to be in dark room all day when we are at sea a d these is shining.

The Gambia and Dakar, Senegal

Sat. April 21  Dakar, Senegal Yesterday we were in The Gambia.  Banjul, the capital is on a small island and only has a population of about 60,000 people.  The Gambia is 90% Muslim, 7% Christian and 3% animist.  Jul is the local beer (joy with Jul).  The Muslims here apparently do like their beer!  People do not want to be photographed.   On our way out to a nature sanctuary we stop at a cattle and goat market.  There, I encounter the tallest black African I have ever seen.  In his long robe and head wrap he is a most imposing figure.  He is the boss of the market.  The people at the market are nomadic, and have brought their animals from far away.  The mangers for the goats are quite ingenious.  Stack 2 or 3 tires up and fill the center with browse. The Abuko Nature  Preserve is very small, only about 200 acres, but is a beautiful riverine forest.  The trails are well maintained, and it is lovely to walk in the woods for about an hour and a half.  At a small pond there is an abundance of bird life-- purple heron, malachite kingfisher, violet turaco, egrets,  night heron, African jacana, and a palm vulture.   Later in the walk we spy vervet monkeys, and later still red colobus monkeys.  There are dense thickets and vines on the trees making it difficult to get a clear view of the monkeys.  As we emerge from the park there is a small market, and the people follow us to the bus holding up carved wooden figures  and jewelry.  I manage to escape with. Using only one small item through the window as the bus is pulling out.  The price drops fast when you are leaving! Our next stop is Lamin Lodge, a rickety wooden structure.  On our way we pass thatched pavilions where women are shucking oysters.  Over a shaky bridge to a dock where we board a boat to tour the mangroves.  There's an upper sundeck  lined with cushions, yes this is the life for me, reclining on the deck,and someone to bring me a beer.  Because it is the middle of the day there are few birds to be seen, just a cormorant and an osprey, but it is lovely to be out on the water.  When we return to the dock there are some monkeys in the mangroves, and many mudskippers in the mud, as the tide has fallen. Another day another country.  We docked in Dakar around 6:30 AM.  We had our own private ferry out to Gore Island.  There was a slave house here, and another "door of no return."  Senegal did not have an enormous slave trade,  but they have capitalized on the tourism.  Gore Island was charming.  When it was French, it was mostly Catholic, now it has about 1200 residents, 800 of whom are Muslim.   As we were on the first ferry of the day, the island was delightfully uncrowded.  This morning was foggy and uncharacteristically  cool , being in the low 60's.  There are no cars on the island, and it is charming.  Gradually the fog lifted, and we could see the high rises of Dakar in the distance.  By the time we left at noon, the island was crowded with school children, and Muslim pilgrims of a special sect who were all dressed in white, and there for a special ceremony.   On the ferry back to the mainland they had beer and snacks for us, and then the usual buffet lunch aboard the ship.  I am usually eating salad for lunch, as there is so much food at every meal. This afternoon I will be taking a city tour and visiting a city market.  We have been advised that the Senegalese are "not shy," translate that to the vendors will be really pushy.  Tonight we are having dinner ashore at the best nightclub in Dakar.  I will let you know how that goes.  

The real post on Liberia

Tuesday April 17, 2012  Liberia and cruising to  Sierra Leone After our two days in Ghana we really needed the relaxation of a day and a half at sea.  We had some excellent lectures.  One by Shawn about The impact of the civil war in Liberia on two specific people, and another by Jack Swenson about his family's involvement with the slave trade.  Tom gave a lecture on "White Gold" (sugar ), and how  it influenced both the slave trade and the course of history.   Last night we had a slew of dignitaries on board , as well as lots of press coverage.  It turns out that the NG Explorer is the first passenger ship to come to Liberia since their civil war which ended nine years ago in 2003, and that we have set a record for the most people coming through the port in one day.  We had the Charge des affaires from the US Embassy, and the Liberian Vice President and several cabinet members.  Everyone dressed up in their glad rags.  I happened to be standing next to the bar when the VP and his entourage arrived.  They were seated near me, so I had a good view. It was an early wake up call today, with breakfast at 5:45 AM.  I went canoeing through the mangroves in dug out canoes.  The village where we began and ended had been the site of a large massacre.  There was a simple cross, and a temporary sign on laminated paper marking the mass grave.   It was very peaceful in the river amongst the mangroves.  We saw a couple of beautiful malachite kingfishers, a small bird with a brilliant orange beak, and iridescent blue feathers, a black kite, and some white faced whistling ducks. Tomorrow I will be going to the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, so it will be a wonderful day.

Liberia

Monday April  16, 2012. At Sea to Monrovia, Liberia  When I last reported in,  I was in Togo, the land of Voodun.  One of thievery disturbing places that I visited there was a fetish market,sort of a pharmacy for the Voodun.  There you could go behind the stalls, and the behind a curtain  and buy amulets for protection.  Some were small bags filled with herbs, and covered in cowrie shells, others were a small effigy with a hole where you whisperedwhat travel protection you needed,a nd then secured the hole with a small stick. Outside  in the  market place it was shocking.  There were large flat tables filled with skulls,and bones,whole animal heads,and some with fresher ingredients, a recently dead frog covered with flies.  The smell of death and decay filled the air.  Monkey heads,baboon heads, goat heads, elephant skin, and elephant pelvis.  Buffalo heads, hippo atoms skulls, antelope heads,all  used to protect from spirits, or placate ancestors.  There were leopard skins stretched out.  Our guides had told us that the small fetish dolls studded with nails were not imbued with spiritual powers, but just for the tourists.  The real  fetish dolls were in the back behind the curtains in each shop.  Many people bought things,but I didn't want to support the market.  Laurence, a fellow traveler from South Africa said that these markets exist all over Africa.  This particular market is reputed to be the largest in Africa.  It made me feel nauseous.  One naive tourist said, "Maybe they found them in the forest."  On to Ghana Clearly we are in a much wealthier country.  There are many,ore cars, fewer.  Motorbikes, and the road side shops are frequently constructed with metal or cinder block instead of shacks made of thatch and branches,  western style gas stations, no longer old wine bottles filled with "gaz"  Bypassing the Accra city tour, I went to the Shai Hills National Park.  When we pulled into the park there were several large baboon lurking nearby.  The scenery was lovely, a dry tree savannah ,with large hills and rock formations.  We walked along a track for about a half mile, and saw no game.  There were birds in the thickets, but we were unable to spot them. Theresa's a large blooming bush covered with hundreds of butterflies,of several species. We drove to a different area of the parkland saw some lovely kob antelope. It is extremely odd to be  on safari in 2 large. Motor coaches with 50 people to share the experience!  No going off road.  One of our interesting sightings was a whited fronted bee eater bludgeoning a butterfly to death one branch, and then knocking the wings off,sot habit could eat the body.   Overnight the ship moved to Cape Coast, in western Ghana.   We had a long ride to Kakum National Park, through many small villages,cocoa and banana plantations.  Kakum is famous for its Ariel walkways above the canopy.  Although the park is rich with animal life (forest elephant,forest buffalo, Mona monkeys,etc.) we were cautioned that it would've unusual to see anything.  It is the most visited park inGhana, an sure enough our group was  followed by numerous schoolchildren shrieking and giggling. on the path going down the children  were very polite, saying , "Good morning'" and wanting to shake our hands.   The walkways were fun.  They were extremely narrow, and we were 100 feet or more above the forest floor.   It is quite amazing to lockdown on the canopy from just above. Blogging was just interrupted Dolphins.  A school (pod?) of bottle nose dolphins were riding the pressure wave under the bow.  They reveled in it, rolling over as if to get a belly rub from the wave.  At one point there were 6 of them riding at one time.  Because this ship is an icebreaker, it has a large bulb under the  bow, that seems to push the pressure wave forward with greater force than a typical  keel would.   Back to Ghana.  I had thought that the fetish market was horrifying, but then I had not yet been to Cape Coast Castle.  The name is lovely isn't it?  It is situated on a white sandy  beach facing south looking out over the Atlantic where deep blue water turns into azure and then turquoise before becoming a foamy mass of white surf, as it breaks over the rocks in from of the castle. Down down into the dark of the men's dungeons, where channels in the rock floor were for the runoff of urine and excrement.  On the wall , two feet above the floor was  the mark that showed just how high the shit piled up.  The miasma of horror and pain and sorrow was almost more than I could bear.  Many men died here, freed from the gruesome trip to Brazil, and a life of slavery.  After as long as 3 months in the stench and the darkness they would be led out through the  gate of no return, into the bright sunlight for a brief few moments and then into the bowels of the ships for a free trip across the Atlantic.    Ironically, we drove a short distance to a luxury beach resort, where we had a wonderful barbecue lunch.

Ghana

Monday April  16, 2012. At Sea to Monrovia, Liberia  When I last reported in,  I was in Togo, the land of Voodun.  One of thievery disturbing places that I visited there was a fetish market,sort of a pharmacy for the Voodun.  There you could go behind the stalls, and the behind a curtain  and buy amulets for protection.  Some were small bags filled with herbs, and covered in cowrie shells, others were a small effigy with a hole where you whisperedwhat travel protection you needed,a nd then secured the hole with a small stick. Outside  in the  market place it was shocking.  There were large flat tables filled with skulls,and bones,whole animal heads,and some with fresher ingredients, a recently dead frog covered with flies.  The smell of death and decay filled the air.  Monkey heads,baboon heads, goat heads, elephant skin, and elephant pelvis.  Buffalo heads, hippo atoms skulls, antelope heads,all  used to protect from spirits, or placate ancestors.  There were leopard skins stretched out.  Our guides had told us that the small fetish dolls studded with nails were not imbued with spiritual powers, but just for the tourists.  The real  fetish dolls were in the back behind the curtains in each shop.  Many people bought things,but I didn't want to support the market.  Laurence, a fellow traveler from South Africa said that these markets exist all over Africa.  This particular market is reputed to be the largest in Africa.  It made me feel nauseous.  One naive tourist said, "Maybe they found them in the forest."  On to Ghana Clearly we are in a much wealthier country.  There are many,ore cars, fewer.  Motorbikes, and the road side shops are frequently constructed with metal or cinder block instead of shacks made of thatch and branches,  western style gas stations, no longer old wine bottles filled with "gaz"  Bypassing the Accra city tour, I went to the Shai Hills National Park.  When we pulled into the park there were several large baboon lurking nearby.  The scenery was lovely, a dry tree savannah ,with large hills and rock formations.  We walked along a track for about a half mile, and saw no game.  There were birds in the thickets, but we were unable to spot them. Theresa's a large blooming bush covered with hundreds of butterflies,of several species. We drove to a different area of the parkland saw some lovely kob antelope. It is extremely odd to be  on safari in 2 large. Motor coaches with 50 people to share the experience!  No going off road.  One of our interesting sightings was a whited fronted bee eater bludgeoning a butterfly to death one branch, and then knocking the wings off,sot habit could eat the body.   Overnight the ship moved to Cape Coast, in western Ghana.   We had a long ride to Kakum National Park, through many small villages,cocoa and banana plantations.  Kakum is famous for its Ariel walkways above the canopy.  Although the park is rich with animal life (forest elephant,forest buffalo, Mona monkeys,etc.) we were cautioned that it would've unusual to see anything.  It is the most visited park inGhana, an sure enough our group was  followed by numerous schoolchildren shrieking and giggling. on the path going down the children  were very polite, saying , "Good morning'" and wanting to shake our hands.   The walkways were fun.  They were extremely narrow, and we were 100 feet or more above the forest floor.   It is quite amazing to lockdown on the canopy from just above. Blogging was just interrupted Dolphins.  A school (pod?) of bottle nose dolphins were riding the pressure wave under the bow.  They reveled in it, rolling over as if to get a belly rub from the wave.  At one point there were 6 of them riding at one time.  Because this ship is an icebreaker, it has a large bulb under the  bow, that seems to push the pressure wave forward with greater force than a typical  keel would.   Back to Ghana.  I had thought that the fetish market was horrifying, but then I had not yet been to Cape Coast Castle.  The name is lovely isn't it?  It is situated on a white sandy  beach facing south looking out over the Atlantic where deep blue water turns into azure and then turquoise before becoming a foamy mass of white surf, as it breaks over the rocks in from of the castle. Down down into the dark of the men's dungeons, where channels in the rock floor were for the runoff of urine and excrement.  On the wall , two feet above the floor was  the mark that showed just how high the shit piled up.  The miasma of horror and pain and sorrow was almost more than I could bear.  Many men died here, freed from the gruesome trip to Brazil, and a life of slavery.  After as long as 3 months in the stench and the darkness they would be led out through the  gate of no return, into the bright sunlight for a brief few moments and then into the bowels of the ships for a free trip across the Atlantic.    Ironically, we drove a short distance to a luxury beach resort, where we had a wonderful barbecue lunch.