Coming out...

Ha! Bet you thought that was gonna be it with the revival of my long-believed-to-be-dead blogs right? Well... to be honest, I wasn't so sure either. But that's all because I'm really really busy with stuff. Some of it actually uni-work related and others involving me slinging guns, hanging from spaceships, or catching a ride with the Terminator. But that's not what this post is about.

"Mom, dad? I think there's something you should know. I mean... I think I might be... you know... a writer... How do I know I'm a writer? Well... you know, I really like writing?"

I've been keeping my writing habits mostly to myself for the past few years. Probably because of confidence issues or something, I'm not really sure to be honest. But now I think it's time for me to come out about this. Writing is something I really love (a passion I share with my darling sister, who has had a lot more success with it ;) ). No doubt I'll remain secretive about it to some extent, but that's mostly because I just find it difficult to even explain what the heck I'm writing about without making it sound as cliche as I really hope it isn't. If anyone would like to read bits of the stories I've been concocting and putting down on paper (or on my computer screen), just ask. I might actually get over my own insecurities and send it over.

What made me want to come out about this, finally? Well, besides the nice things I've heard from the few people who actually know about my secret (granted, now slightly-less-secret), I got an email from a certain school in Vancouver where a certain Head of Writing for Film and Television actually seemed to like some of the things I sent them. This was enough of an ego-booster for me to gather enough courage to write this little blog, as well as giving me the courage to keep writing and hopefully even get somewhere with this. ... Maybe.

I am aware - knowing myself the way I do - that this ego-booster won't last long. Before I know it I'll be trying to scratch my face off for ever making such a bold statement where I presume myself to be hardcore enough to be called something as awesome as an actual "writer".

Booyah!

Oh dear...

Hi, remember me? I think I might be back.

No doubt most people who ever blessed my blog page with their presence will have forgotten about its existence long ago, but this morning I thought it was time to bring it back from the dead. All too often will I think of things that I feel I should share with other people, and all too often do I end up yapping some of my friends' ears off with a collection of random pieces of information that they then somehow (miraculously) have to string together in order to make sense of it all (I'm sorry!). I have found that it is usually easier to write than to talk - that being said, I do have my moments where I find it hard to shut up once I get going about something. I apologize - hence the revival of this old blog.

One difference that will take place on this blog after it has been clinically dead for a year or two is that I will start focusing on more aspects of my life, straying away from my more Welshie/university centered blogs.

Right, I feel a lot better already. That's enough sharing my thoughts for now, more updates will follow!

You can tell it's my turn to write blogs again...

I'm never very consistent, I know. I'll just blame it on being "busy".

I've been back from South Africa for over a month (!) now, and although the pictures have been online for a while now, I never actually mentioned it here.

...

So there, I mentioned it. The pictures I took (and a few pictures from my mates) are officially on my picasa which you can find here, here and here.

Africa was too amazing to be able to tell anyone about just in a blog, so I won't even try. I hope the pictures will tell a little bit about what we saw though, to make up for my lack of blogging.

Bang! Bang!

The South-Africa trip is almost over. Time for a final update.

Monday was rifle handling day. The GlaWiBis (Glamorgan Wildlife Biology students) got to handle light weight rifles as well as somewhat heavier types. Wendy finished second-best. That's my girl. (Next time, shoot the no. 1, and you'll be the winner, Wendy!)

Yesterday (Tuesday) was anoter day of making tests, and today the GlaWiBis traveled back to Johannesburg. They'll spend their final night in a hotel, and tomorrow evening they'll take a plane back to Heathrow.

It has been a great trip, with a lots of excitement and fun. Very informative, and useful.

This will probably be my last blogpost as guest blogger on Y Ddraig Goch for some time. Next Friday we'll pick up Wendy at Schiphol airport. Wendy will again take care of this blog after returning home.

Perhaps I'm allowed to do some updates while the GlaWiBis will be in Indonesia next year. But, for now: thanks for reading my posts, everybody! I hope you enjoyed it.

~Martin (guest blogger)

I did! I did taw a putty tat!

It was a long night of watching the drinking spot for Wendy and het fellow student, Briony, but nevertheless they had to rise early this morning. But it was worth it. They went for a trip in the area and spotted some bathing elephants very close by. They also encountered a caracal (Caracal caracal), a beautiful cat (as you can se in the picture), traditionally known by the alternative name of African lynx. However, it is no longer considered to be an actual lynx, but instead it's believed to be closely related to the African golden cat and the Serval. In Afrikaans it's called a rooikat. An awesome creature.

Tomorrow will be an exciting day as well. The students will be doing rifle handling then, so stay tuned!

~Martin (guest blogger)

It's getting wilder all the time

It's been a few days since the last update, so to prevent you from getting too confused, I'll organize this update by days of the week.

Last tuesday
On Tuesday the students visited a reptile park in the area. It was a lot of fun. They even got to hold some of the animals there. Wendy was allowed to hold a python, a very rare (female) Golden brown baboon spider (Augacephalus breyeri) and even a scorpion. (Pictures of her holding the animals will be online as soon as she is within one armlength of an internet computer.) There were also black mamba's (Dendroaspis polylepis). The black mamba is one of the most dangerous snakes, and the second largest venomous snake in the world. The students witnessed them being fed (poor mice). And ... no, they weren't allowed to pick the snakes up and hold them.

Wednesday
On Wednesday they have been spotting birds.

Thursday
On Thursday the students went for a walk in the area. Like most of the other days they leave pretty early in the morning, when it's still cool, and stay out untill around 3:00PM when it gets too hot. They are always accompanied with a guide carrying a rifle (safety measure).

Friday
Friday was a day off. Most of them went swimming in the river. It was a beautiful spot to go swimming according to Wendy, so I guess there weren't that much crocodiles in the area. It was great fun.

Today (Saturday)
A somewhat less awesome thing is that Wendy and her fellow students even have to work on the weekends. They're currently doing a 24-hour watch near a drinking spot, and registering and counting all the animals coming to drink there. Wendy's shifts are from 1:00PM to 3:00PM, 8:00PM to 10:00PM and from midnight to 2:00AM tomorrow morning. I guess that last shift could get pretty cold, since it's winter on the southern hemisphere. Being a wildlife biology student is not a nine to five job, I can assure you. But, as passionate as they are, this seems to be no problem whatsoever.

Stay tuned!

~ Martin (guest blogger)

Wildebeest for dinner?!

Wendy called 5 minutes ago, so here's another update. Her stories are getting more and more juicy. Speaking of juicy: the day before yesterday they had wildebeest for dinner. A bit tough, but not bad at all.

Yesterday evening they heared the jackals and the lions very close by their tents. Must be somewhat scary, I suppose ... But I've been told its tradition at the Glamorgan University to return home from their Wildlife Biology field trips with all the students alive and (more or less) in one piece. And that fills us with confidence ... I guess.

This morning (very early) they left for Kruger National Park. Inside the park, they encountered a mother elephant with two youngsters crossing the road at 10 meters distance. There was also a male acting somewhat aggressive, flapping its ears and being noisy, next to the car. (Must be the season, and the big guy's hormones ...)

They've taken lots of pictures of the elephants (Loxodonta africana), hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius), girafs (Giraffa camelopardalis), baboons (probably Papio ursinus griseipes, because we're talking about South_africa here), warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) and lots and lots of impalas (Aepyceros melampus). Some of the best photos will be uploaded to this blog after Wendy returns. That's a promise.

Wendy's exam results arrived in the mail last weekend. She got a first on most of the subjects and, depending on the pending results for the Big Game Tracking tests (which look very promising, by the way), she might well get a first for the whole academic year! Keep your fingers crossed, everybody!

Stay tuned!

~ Martin (guest blogger)

Jealousy alert

I feel a strong urge to warn you beforehand that the following may cause some jealous feelings towards the International Wildlife Biology students. So, if you're not sure you're up to it, leave this blog right now, and do not return in the following two weeks or so. After that, they will be home again, life will be back to normal, and it will be safe for you to return here.

...

Still here, are you? Okay, then. Today Wendy called to give us a quick update on her whereabouts in the last few days. Yesterday they left Bloemfontein and travelled for 12 hours. They're now in a place near Kruger National Park, and the accomodation is not bad at all. They're sleeping with three persons in nice big tents that have their own shower cabin. There is even a swimming pool! Some students couldn't wait after the long journey, and had to jump right in. No time to change, or even take off their shoes. (Guess who was one of 'em?) It's not as cold at night anymore, so no more frozen shoes ...

Today they went on a safari trip and spotted lots and lots of beautiful animals. There were too many birds to even mention them. They saw zebra, buffalo, hundreds of impala, a black-backed jackal, and wildebeest. The wildebeest were less than 10 meters away! And so were the African elephants they encountered. O, and they also saw a few giraffes at a 15 meters distance. Wendy was all enthousiastic. She having a fabulous time.

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty jealous. If you are too, don't say I didn't warn you.

Stay tuned for more updates!

~ Martin (Guest blogger)

Lions in Bloemfontein

I shamelessly use any excuse I can think of to try 'n' get my safari girl on the phone to hear about her whereabouts. I promised her yesterday to call her as soon as her exam results arrive in the mail. But hey, I didn't promise her not to call when there were no exam results in the mail. So just ... erm ... to be sure, I gave her a call to let her know there were no exam results yet.

(In a whispering voice:) "Hello?"
- "Hi Wendy, it's dad. Why are you whispering? Is this an inconvenient time to call you?"
- (Still wispering:) "Well, I'm in the car right now and there are about eight lions next to the car!"

Wow, that must be so cool. Driving around in an open Jeep, spotting al these wonderful creatures. I guess this makes up for the days of hard work, yesterday and the day before.

For those of you who are - like me - dying to see the pictures of this trip, I'm happy to tell you the students will create a facebook page especially for that purpose. So, be strong for just two more weeks, everybody!

Stay tuned!

~ Martin (jealous guest blogger)