Category: Travel (Page 1 of 3)

Teaser video – behind the scenes interview with Gaby Lamanna

March 31, 2020 / Allison Cusick

The FjordPhyto citizen science project brings people together, because conservation is a “we”.

Everything you see is a work of art created by an actual person (or team of people). This short video about the efforts of the Antarctic citizen science project – FjordPhyto – was produced and directed by Gabriela Lamanna using video footage taken by Allison Cusick’s journeys to the Antarctic. We wanted to introduce you to Gaby and share her story. To share how she got involved with the FjordPhyto project, why she is obsessed with cold regions despite her upbringing in the tropics of El Salvador, and what her plans are after she completes her Masters degree from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Q: Gaby, What drew you to make a film for the FjordPhyto project?

The minute I heard of FjordPhyto I was hooked! The fact that people can participate in citizen science by collecting phytoplankton in Antarctica is fascinating, everyone should know about this! I heard about the Vernet Lab needing someone to create content with all the footage graduate student Allison Cusick has from her expeditions in Antarctica, and there was no way I wasn’t saying yes!

I wanted to create a short video of FjordPhyto so that people can learn about the project in little time, just a minute!

I envisioned incorporating multiple voices representing different ethnicities and ages to narrate the story because I want the public to know that anyone can participate in citizen science!

I love the sentiment, “you protect what you love”, and if people get involved with science, there is a higher chance of them deeply understanding current problems like climate change. The more people fall in love with conservation, the better we will all be at protecting ecosystems!

One of the reasons I find FjordPhyto so special is that it brings people closer to researchers. I think there is a misconception that scientists are unapproachable, but the truth is scientists are more relatable than what people might think.

How fun is it that people can help them collect data and contribute to polar research!? Now, I know going to Antarctica is not for everyone, but I hope this video sparks curiosity to learn about other citizen science projects close to you!

Q: How did you get involved in ocean conservation and science storytelling?

When I tell people I have been completely fascinated with uncomfortably cold places since I first saw snow at the age of 22, they exclaim in disbelief: “But you grew up in the tropics!” To that I respond, “that’s exactly why!”. I was fortunate enough to grow up in El Salvador, a place with warm weather year-round, and even warmer people. My roots to the tropics are strong, but I knew that if I wanted to protect the ocean, I had to leave home to pursue a better education.

As soon as I graduated high school, I left to the United States to follow my dreams. I studied marine biology at Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College (Jupiter, Florida), where I had the blessing of having one of the best teachers I have ever met. His love for ocean conservation stuck with me to the point that I decided to pursue my master’s in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

I have loved the ocean from a young age, especially the animals in it. However, the origin of my true love started at 16 when I was introduced to surfing. I realized, the ocean gives us more than we can ever give back: waves to dance on, a place to grieve loss, medicine to heal, and the best part: as long as you are near the ocean, you will always have the curiosity of a child. You protect what you love, so it is no wonder that I wanted to become a marine biologist.

However, as much as I love science, there was always something missing for me. This all changed when I discovered science storytelling.

Q: What was it like growing up in El Salvador and how did this influence your creative outlets?

Being able to have a creative outlet means more to me than I will ever be able to explain. I have never been the best at expressing myself using words, but I am able to express myself through visuals.

Back in El Salvador schools work a little different. I went to the same school for 15 years, in a class of 22 people. Back then I didn’t think anything about it, because things seem okay when you haven’t seen anything different. But now that I look back, I think WOW! I can’t believe I spent so much time in a place where we would line up every morning and our teachers would check that our socks and tennis shoes were spotless and completely white, our skirts past our knees or else the principal would make you rip the stitching in front of her to make it longer, our nails short as can be, earrings as small as possible, our natural hair color without any modifications, no bracelets on your arms…

I could keep going, but in a short sentence… it was a place where self-expression would get you a trip to the principal’s office.

I grew up thinking that I did not have a pinch of creativity in me, but the truth is, after the 5^th grade, art class, music class, any type of creative class was not a part of our curriculum at school. However, my love for photography and filmmaking was inevitable, and I began documenting my life with what I had: a GoPro that a friend had found in the ocean while surfing. The very first GoPro model ever released!

I was ecstatic!!!

I started making short films about surfing, travel and family.

Eventually, I got a DLSR camera, but it always remained a hobby…

… until I discovered that scientists are extremely busy and that they need help with showing their work to the public.

My two main passions combined: science and visual storytelling, I had finally found my niche.

There is nothing quite like finally finding where you belong. I found love not only in having a camera as my tool, but in spending hours editing. Post production is therapeutic for me!

Q: What do you enjoy most about the Master’s program you’re in and where do you see yourself in the future?

I have so far loved my experience in the master’s program in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, because it is interdisciplinary. Not only are we allowed to combine science with other disciplines, but we are encouraged to do so!

In my short time here, my professors and mentors have impacted my life in many ways, and my career goals have become clearer than ever. I hope to someday bring the knowledge I have gained here back to El Salvador, where conservation efforts are greatly needed.

For the remainder of my time in the Marine Biodiversity and Conservation Masters program, I will be starting a new project creating an expanded informative “documentary style” video about the efforts of researchers in Antarctica.

When I finish, I hope to use aerial photography to start a mangrove monitoring program in El Salvador, since these efforts are still not in place in the country. I also hope to use filmmaking to bring awareness and promote conservation efforts, and especially to use my work to help low income vulnerable coastal communities in El Salvador.

Follow Gaby on social media at @gabylamanna

Follow the Antarctic Citizen Science project FjordPhyto @fjordphyto

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Tracking the Painted Dog Pack – Zimbabwe Part 3

May 26, 2019 / Allison Cusick

We are on the search to find a pack of Painted Dogs so Dr. Greg Rasmussen can collar them for future tracking and ranging behavior research inside and outside protected areas. These animals travel great distances, moving prey around the landscape, and understanding their habitat use, distribution, transboundary movements, and dispersal is vital to their conservation.

Painted dogs are red listed as endangered with a declining population trend. It is estimated that 6000 individuals exist in 600-1000 packs in the
whole of Africa (IUCN/SSC 2013). In the Victoria Falls / Matetsi area, where Dr. Rasmussen’s team (Painted Dog Research Trust (PDRT) is based, 33 individuals in a total of six packs are known, which represents a decline since 2016 when 44 dogs were recorded (Rasmussen, 2018 annual report).

Just like wolves in North America, Painted Dogs get a bad wrap for killing livestock and being a menace. Typically, they’ve been referred to as “Wild Dogs” but there is a conservation attempt to turn a negative connotation to a positive one. The main threats to Painted Dogs include snaring from bush meat wire, loss of habitat and road kills by cars. Dr. Rasmussen is trying to understand disturbances to these packs, as well as threats from parasites, genetic viability, and den disturbances by tourist, camera-crew and researchers.

Their success and persistence thus relies on effective conservation and management strategies.

We hopped in the field mobile with Greg as Captain. A young biologist, Kudakwashe (KC for short) joined us. As we searched for the pack, we discussed her potential school research projects:

KC: “How about I study the Roan antelope?”

Greg: “How often do you see the Roan Antelope?”

KC: “Never.”

Greg: “OK. Your study species is never to be seen. You’ll never get data. New plan. What about monitoring grass colonization and animal presence at a watering holes with remote sensing cameras?”

KC: “That sounds so boring. What about fecal collection of carnivores to track their movements?”

Greg: “Do the grasses.”

KC: “Allison, what would you choose?”

Me: “Well, the young biologist in me would want to totally do the carnivores or Roan Antelope. But now that Ive been a scientist for a while, I see the value in picking feasible short-term projects especially when you’re young. I’d definitely suggest the lower hanging fruit, the grasses. Its boring, I know. But you don’t have much time left in your schooling.”

Heavy sighs come from the back seat. She wasn’t thrilled with that answer.

All of a sudden, there they were!! Five Painted Dogs standing in the road.

STOP THE CAR!! Greg readied the dart gun as KC and I sat and watched in anticipation. The key now was to position ourselves on the road so Greg could have a clear shot to the hind haunch of the lead dog. So far, the dogs didn’t seem bothered by our presence.

As we repositioned for the perfect set up, we noticed a ranger coming down the road on foot. His normal patrol route. Greg, flustered, put the gun down, turned the car around and drove up to the ranger to let him know what was about to happen. He’d heard about this pack and knew Greg had been trying to find them for weeks. He wished us good luck, and we drove back down to the site where we had seen the dogs.

Again, Greg positions the car and prepared the dart gun.

Sure enough, coming towards us were two cars. Tourists. They saw the dogs and stopped. Now, any seemingly normal human might think it would be best to stay in the car. But oh no. For whatever reason, these people got out of their vehicles to get a better look.

The strange thing to me, is that when the African animals see humans on foot, they all spook and run away. Is that a sign we are at the top of the food chain?? I know in Kruger National Park, vehicles have been coming in for 100 years. The lions and leopards have been known to use the vehicles as hunting blinds to catch their prey. Was it different in Hwange National Park? Either way, these people on foot were disrupting Greg’s chances of collaring this pack!

Luckily, our accomplice friends were in a vehicle next to them, on the other side of the dogs, and they drove over to give them the scoop.

BACK UP! SCIENCE IS HAPPENING!

Unfortunately, the dogs caught on to our commotion and ran off into the bush. We drove after them, careful to avoid the ditches and mopane trees. Eventually, the dogs settled down again and came back out onto the road.

Now was our chance! Greg positioned the car and aimed the gun.

A shoot…

…and a miss!

It didn’t make sense!!? How did the dog duck from that dart? I had managed to capture everything on video so we replayed the footage to see what had happened. Can you see it?

At the very last second the dog ducks its behind. Its as if those huge satellite ears heard the dart leave the barrel as soon as it was shot. Clever! Cunning. They entire pack scampered off into the bush and disappeared.

Our chance was gone for the day.

Even though the day ended without a collaring success, we all still successfully enjoyed our search. As for the young biologist, KC, and myself – a polar phytoplankton biologist, we had a blast just being along for the ride!

We headed over to a nearby picnic shelter to make dinner and set up camp for the night. As we debated the best location to pitch our tents, thats when I realized we’d be in for a restless night.

Black thunder clouds were approaching from 180 degrees on the horizon, baboons were running towards us to roost in the trees by the camp, and our picnic hut had clearly been a long-occupied cave for bats. This would be interesting…

To read about how we survived the torrential downpour, thunderstorms, bat cave, and sleeping on the ground without getting eaten by lions, read Part 4 here.

If you missed how I got here and what happened before this post, start at the beginning here. Share this:
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Sizinda’s first woman graduate student, Loswitha

African Ecology Training Center Zimbabwe – Part 2

May 26, 2019 / Allison Cusick

Imagine a hub where young aspiring biologists and conservationists can come together for scientific training and education to understand and solve complex questions about wildlife and ecosystems in Africa. This is the place Dr. Greg Rasmussen and the community members of Sizinda, Zimbabwe, have been hard at work designing and building.

My mom and I had met Greg in Seattle at a fundraising event for his work with the Painted Dogs, and it was a treat to come see the progress in person! If you want to read about how I got involved, check out this post here.

Construction is underway

The ecology research center is situated at the hub between Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, in the heart of a region known as the Kavango – Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) of Africa.

This prime location is pivotal to training the next generation of researchers who will answer some of the toughest questions facing ecosystem landscapes in Africa.

The center is built on 20 acres of land, providing an excellent launch point for ecology studies on grasslands, insects, birds, food web dynamics, best farming practices, and more.

The building foundation has been strategically designed to have a minimal footprint; its round shape has utilized 27% less materials to build.

Keeping it local

By using stones chipped by the community from a local quarry, 5 tonnes of CO2 emissions and needless destruction of granite hills from commercial quarries have been avoided.

Building teams comprise members of the community and 78 local households have benefited from a total of $16,000 paid in construction labor wages. Investment in the building of this center, is directly returned to the community, which has meant a great deal to them!

Sustainable water use

In keeping with a conservation-based theme, a basin was dug and blasted to harvest rainwater. During this season’s December rains, the basin became a pond, which provides new breeding sites for four frog species, two terrapins (freshwater turtles) and a flurry of bird species.

Similar basins will be developed in the future and used as a natural bio-remediation wetland to treat waste water on location.

Student accommodations

A young field biologist dreams of having a base they can stay at long term–a place in the field where they can really dig in and learn, collect data, process samples, and analyze results.

Without these types of resources readily available, consequently, most aspiring young African conservationists never realize their dreams.

This center will help solve that.

Currently 10 student housing units are also in construction and will have the ability to house up to 40 students at a time, providing a perfect access point to field study sites and much needed retreat space for student studies.

The beginning foundations have been laid and I couldn’t be more proud watching this vision take shape! I know if I were still a young biologist I’d definitely appreciate having this space for my studies!

If you’d like to support young biologists, future researchers, and the community of Sizinda check out the donation page and share it with your network, today!

To learn more about the project visit,
Painted Dog Research Trust – Zimbabwe

And the read about the continued adventures of tagging Painted Dogs in Hwange National Park, read the next blog post: Part 3, here.

Bongo is the real leader of this pack 😉
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Broken bones in Zimbabwe – Part 1

May 26, 2019 / Allison Cusick

It was one of those freak accidents. The kind that can ruin a vacation if you don’t see some sort of humorous irony in it.

We had just finished an incredible six day trip through the Okavango Delta in Botswana (here, here, here and here), flew from the Kasane airport, crossed the border into Zimbabwe, and checked into our hotel. There was one last “touristy” activity on our list before meeting up with Painted Dog researcher Dr. Greg Rassmussen: to see Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls is right on the Zambezi River at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and classified as the world’s largest sheet of falling water, twice the height of Niagara Falls.

It also has many well paved walking trails. Nothing could go wrong.

We started walking around, enjoying the sites and taking selfies. One of the vistas required us to walk down uneven cobble steps that were wet from the misting spray. As we started to descend I hear my mom yell. I turn around and see she’s slipped and fallen and is now covered in mud. She tries to stand up. No go. I come over to help her and eventually we get her to hop up to the top of the steps and find a water spigot so she can wash the dirt off her legs. At exactly the same time, it hits me. Tunnel vision. Dizziness. Bright spots. My stomach turns. I stop helping my mom and immediately run off to the nearest bathroom. Insides out from both ends. It had to be the smoothie I drank for breakfast.

While my mom was cleaning off her legs, I gave Greg a call, “Hello Greg! You wont believe what is happening. Before we come visit you, we’ll have to take a trip to the hospital. I think my mom broke her foot and I’m not feeling too hot either.”

My mom and I find the nearest hospital and wait to be helped. I started freaking out because as a graduate student now, I need to alert Student Health services before I do any off-campus health care. I needed some antibiotics, I had no internet, and no way of checking in with school. I feared my doctors visit would be astronomically expensive and the clinic wanted us to pay in cash too. My mind started racing, I dont have cash on me, let alone hundreds of dollars of cash (which is what I was expecting based on US doctors visits), and the nearest ATM had a line around the block because it was pay day in the city and everyone wanted to get their money.

My mom and I went in to see the doctor. He took an X-ray of her foot and concluded she had broken the weirdest bone along the outside. For now, he’d get her a cane – a great souvenir if you ask me. I asked if I could get some antibiotics while she was at it and he added Cipro to the bill. All said and done, the appointment was only $20 for the X-ray, and $111 for antibiotics, Imodium, milk of magnesia, a cane, and anti-inflammatory creme. IN TOTAL! I dont even understand how it was that cheap, but we were thankful and caught a taxi back to the hotel.

My mom had to decide if she wanted to stay in the hotel the last two days she was to visit, or come to Gregs house and camp for the remainder of her time.

Because she is a trooper, she decided to head over to Greg’s with me and camp. I later learned this was only her second time camping! Better to be miserable, sweating from the heat, covered in mosquitos, with a broken foot in good company than alone. Plus, Christmas was only five days away and this was suppose to be our Christmas holiday family time!

Greg came to pick us up that afternoon and we also met Bongo and Mary.

To turn the bad day around, we went to have fancy drinks at the amazing Gorges Lodge looking over the Zambezi River. We sipped wine, snacked and chatted.

With Okavango Botswana behind us, new adventures were waiting around the Zimbabwean corner…

(See Part 2 – Building an African Ecology Center with Dr. Rassmussen)

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Heading Back to the Ice, 2019

January 11, 2019 / Allison Cusick

Antarctica is one of the most spectacular places on Earth, in my opinion – to get to the peninsula, I must cross the infamous Drake Passage, a 620 mile (1000 km) journey from the tip of South America. It’s around a two-day sail from the port towns of Punta Arenas (Chile), or Ushuaia (Argentina), to the South Shetland Islands. These islands make up the first stop nearest the peninsula. Some tour operators offer flights across the Drake for those who don’t want to brave the stormy waters and experience ‘the Drake Shake’. Despite being an Oceanographer, I get very seasick. Yet, that hasn’t deterred me from embracing some of the roughest open ocean and exploring all it has to offer.

Map of typical route.

I will be on the peninsula for two trips during the months of January and February – the southern hemisphere’s summer. During this time, it will never truly get dark. Instead there will be a prolonged period of magical twilight, sunset blending into sunrise, that lasts for several hours and makes for excellent photography opportunities. But I’m not here just for the photos.

I will first be onboard Antarctica 21’s Ocean Nova as Scientist and Lecturer conducting the FjordPhyto Citizen Science project I designed with my advisor, Dr. Maria Vernet, and polar guide experts Bob Gilmore and Annette Bombosch of the Polar Collective. The second trip, I will be onboard the Akademik Ioffe with Cheesemans’ Safaris. I will be coordinating citizen science projects as well as running FjordPhyto. This trip will have a scientific focus on marine mammals, in partnership with the American Cetacean Society.

Ocean Nova

Ioffe

When I first visited Antarctica in 2013 (McMurdo Station/Ross Sea), I was immediately struck by the lunar landscape, absence of any vegetation, and a looming active volcano called Mt. Erebus. I had no idea Antarctica had such mountainous topography! In my mind, it was a continent of flat white nothingness. In the interior – on the ~2.5 km thick ice cap – it is! But along the coast, it’s a strikingly magical sight with a landscape made of snow-topped mountains and jutting black rock rising straight from the ocean. The mountains along the peninsula were once a chain of volcanoes active millions and millions of years ago. Today, the one remaining active volcano is called Deception Island, which last erupted in 1970. The caldera left behind makes an excellent landing site for tourism.

In December 2017, I had another chance to visit Antarctica, this time to the peninsula, and was intoxicated by the beauty of thousands of snowy islands and coastal fjords speckled by an abundance of penguins, seals, and humpback whales. The deeply indented fjords resemble those of Norway, Alaska or southern Chile. When the sea-ice melts during the summer, routes open allowing ships to pass through the towering cliffs and channels. When I’m on any journey, my experience is always enhanced by an understanding of the region’s geography and biology. Maybe that’s why I became a scientist!

Lonely Planet

Antarctica is politically defined as land south of 60°S, but the physical oceanographic boundary of water masses located at the Polar Front makes a better demarcation for understanding the characteristics seen along the Antarctic Peninsula. The Southern Ocean encircles the continent and where cold water from Antarctica meets the relatively warmer waters of northerly oceans, there is a sudden change in surface temperatures ~3-6°F (2-3°C). This zone acts like a boundary isolating Antarctica. This isolation explains why Antarctica is much colder than the Arctic and why human discovery occurred relatively recently.

Approximate positions of the Antarctic Treaty CCAMLR boundary, Antarctica.gov.au (left) and polar front and the subtropical convergence (right), which are the northern bounds of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic water, respectively. Ceridwen Fraser, The Conversation.

Ancient Greek geographers had hypothesized there to be a southern continent to counterbalance Arctic lands. The name Antarctica derives from the Greek meaning ‘opposite the Arctic’.

Attempts to search for the southern continent occurred as early as 1699 by Edmond Halley and was not reached again until James Cook’s circumnavigation of the Southern Ocean in 1772 – 75. He suspected, from all the icebergs he encountered, that there must be a source further south. In 1819 William Smith sailed far enough to make first sighting of South Shetland Islands. In 1820 multiple explorers (Palmer, Bellingshausen, Lazarev) officially set sight on the mainland.

Love these old maps

This remote continent holds a fascinating history of human exploration with pioneering voyages of bravery and hardship. However, Antarctica is not without its dark side. Early whalers and sealers hunted its resources to near extinction in the 1800s removing nearly all seals and ~2.9 million whales from the Southern hemisphere. This caused a significant shift in the ecosystem, that since has not rebounded to its original state.

The 1900s marked a more positive ‘Heroic Age of Exploration’ through expeditions to the South Pole along with many scientific endeavors. Today’s modern research stations demonstrate the importance of the area to science, providing a natural laboratory setting for scientists who spend their time researching Antarctica’s role in the Earth’s systems.

Relatively recently in 1959, the Antarctic Treaty was signed to protect Antarctica and it still remains one of the most remote and pristine places on the planet. Only scientific and peaceful activities (including tourism and regulated fishing) are allowed and I’m so excited to be down here with the ability to involve passengers in my research through the FjordPhyto citizen science project and to be a part of the education team sharing the knowledge of this place first hand.

Photo: Allison Cusick

Stay tuned for more posts to come! Thanks for reading, and please share with your friends.

Follow along at www.fjordphyto.org and on social media at @FjordPhyto and @WomanScientist
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Sundowners and Bushman Solutions. Part 4 – Exploring the Okavango Delta

November 23, 2018 / Allison Cusick

Sundowners. A ritual I learned in Africa and would like to establish in my “regular” life back home. The sundowner involves stopping to enjoy an alcoholic beverage during sunset. Sundowners allow us to reflect on the day’s adventures and feast our eyes on the painted African skies.

It was our last day at the Savuti camp and tomorrow we were to fly to the Linyati region, to Vumbura camp, in the heart of the Okavango delta.

If you missed the post about how I was drawn to this epic region of the world and what happened before this post, catch up here and then with part 1 , part 2 , and part 3.

We boarded the plane, a tiny turbo prop, and fears of crashing immediately flooded my mind. I had always heard bush planes go down easily, but now was not the time to start thinking of that. Our pilot was a woman named Micaela. She assured us we would arrive safely, despite the thunderhead clouds forming on the horizon. Eventually the rain became so thick, we had to make an emergency landing at Great Plains. Ross and Ariel greeted us, soaking wet, and offered us umbrellas to the cabin. We drank tea and chatted while waiting out the storm.

An hour later, the weather let up and we once again flew, making it to camp. Vumbura was built to sit up above the wetland. Here I met Malaki, an amazing effervescent woman who used to be in the police force, but had switched her career to tourism.

The place was amazing. Not only were we now in the heart of the Delta, but we were spoiled with the beauty of the camp. We immediately set down our bags and hopped in the Land Rover for a ride.

Our guide’s name was Sam. Sam was born in the delta. He had lost his dad in 1968 and crossed the delta river with his mom. His brother went to work in the South African gold mines but wanted a better life for his brother. He encouraged Sam to study and look into tourism. Sam got a job as a guide with Wilderness Safaris and has been there for over a decade.

Our drive took us to a tree where a young leopard lay. We were enjoying the scene quietly when the radio cracked on to alert us one of the other trucks had gotten stuck and needed back up. We decided we would go for the rescue! After our experience getting stuck in a watering hole with a dead hippo, we were eager to see what predicament this group got themselves into.

Because it was the rainy season, the ground had become very soft in certain parts. A lot of the Mopani trees held the ground together, but occasionally the truck wheels would get sucked under. The guide tried using sticks to leverage the wheel out of the mud. Nothing seemed to work. Eventually using straps and more logs and sticks, the truck was released and the group could go on their way. The Bushman Solution worked!

During the debacle, we met a lovely woman named Ruth. She’s an inspiring world traveler and retired lawyer. Ruth and her sister sat in the truck with us and we chatted about our adventures thus far and how exciting it was to be in Africa. I learned Ruth was from San Diego, where I am currently living, and we exchanged information for our return to the US. It has been lovely getting to know Ruth better in Southern California! Later that evening, we learned the group managed to see that young leopard make a kill and drag it into a tree to feast.

One morning, we ventured out to have a water-based adventure. The delta was so clear, Sam said we could drink straight from it! And so I did. We rode in a dugout canoe through the reeds. Our guide told us of the medicinal uses of plants within the delta. We learned of the culture of the bushman, and the natural history of the region.

It was a spectacular way to experience such a gem of nature. Additionally spectacular, was the lodging accommodations of the camp! This place was built to enjoy the delta from comfort. Normally I enjoy simple things like camping in the dirt, but I will admit its nice to live in luxury! Check this place out!

And of course, words can’t ever describe what pictures can … so here are some shots of the wildlife we saw. Pretty good for the rainy season!

Just driving right over those Mopani trees!

Time for a coffee!

After a couple of days, my mom and I left our glamorous accommodations and the splendor of Botswana’s Okavango Delta and headed to Zimbabwe where more adventure awaited.

Stay tuned for the next story of broken legs in Victoria Falls and attempts to tag a wild Painted Dog pack with Dr. Rassmussen in this post here .

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This story ends here! If you’d like to keep reading, be sure to subscribe to the newsletter and get immediate updates delivered to your inbox. For stories earlier in the trip, read part 1 , part 2 , and part 3.

As always, please share Woman Scientist with anyone you think may feel inspired!

Thanks for reading.

***

All photos taken by Allison Lee and Cynthia Cusick. Information obtained through personal conversation with Wilderness Safari guides. Share this:
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Sticky post

Writing Your Dreams into Realities

September 17, 2017 / Allison Cusick

They say those who write down their goals and dreams have a higher success rate of turning them into realities.

I recently found a very artistic goal book I had made in 2001, sixteen years ago, during my 11th grade English class. Thank you to Mrs. E for giving us time in class to create these visions! Flipping through the pages, I realized that a lot of the goals I had written down, I have now accomplished. You can also tell which song was popular at that time…

“Watch a sunset in Africa.” In 2014, I traveled to South Africa co-leading a group of undergraduate students on a Big Cat Research trip. I made sure to watch every sunrise and every sunset, imprinting the experience in my mind. I was able to travel back to Africa at the end of 2016, this time watching sunsets in Botswana and Zimbabwe (look for future posts to come).

“Swing on a vine in the rainforest.” I have this strange obsession with the rainforest. I’m not sure if it comes from gazing at all the National Geographic magazine spreads of the Amazon canopy, the film documentaries I watched as a kid, or from my visits to the Rainforest Exhibit in the Woodland Park Zoo. I remember the day I arrived in the Amazon and reached the summit of a hike I did near Aguas Calientes in Peru. My heart fluttered as I looked out over the canopy. I’m here! I’m seeing this in real life. I can’t believe it. I’ve been to the Peruvian rainforest a number of times now as a tourist and as a volunteer biologist with Earthwatch and the Tambopata Macaw Project. On a regular basis, I daydream of the soonest time I will be able to return. I find it interesting I’m on the path to becoming a polar oceanographer, because I’ve always had a vision of myself as a rainforest biologist.

“Jump off a tall cliff into water.” Why did I want to jump off a tall cliff?! I have no idea. After college I traveled Europe with my best buddy Kristina Ciari (she hosts an awesome blog called An Adventurous Life and works for The Mountaineers). We did one of those canyoning adventures out of Bern, Switzerland and at one point had to jump off a cliff into a narrow section of the river. Terrifying to say the least. I hesitated before my jump and got reprimanded by the guide. “YOU JUST HAVE TO JUMP!” he said, “Do NOT overthink this. Now, GO!” It really is a life metaphor if you think about it. Years later, she and I visited Smith Rock near Bend, Oregon for a climbing trip and found this beautifully tall cliff. The guide’s words still rang in my ears, “Now, GO!” We all jumped 30 feet down into a wide calm river. Some of us came up with nose bleeds. I luckily did not. But I think I cured my desire for jumping off tall things.

“Scuba dive in exotic waters.” I grew up in Washington’s Puget Sound. A beautiful location for diving. However, scuba is an incredibly expensive hobby and I never found the means to get in to the activity until 2013 when I finally had saved enough cash to get my Open Water Certificate. I spent the next two years working to get certified in Advanced Open Water, then Dry Suit, and Rescue Diver. My progress stalled when it came time to buy my own equipment. I couldn’t pass that next financial hurdle. One day, I was talking to a science colleague while working in the lab, and he said that he got funded to dive during his graduate program. I vowed to myself that if I ever went to graduate school I would find a way to dive for science. When I found out I was going to be attending Scripps Institution of Oceanography for my Master of Advanced Studies degree, I immediately signed up for the Scientific Diving course. I then spent my loan money on nearly $3000 worth (probably more) of gear so that I could be independent of a rental shop whenever I wanted to dive. I have yet to dive in exotic tropical waters, but I did manage to snorkel in the frigid 2°C Silfra fissure of Iceland. Some day I do plan to dive in the polar oceans, namely Antarctica. Because I’ve already written it down, I know it will happen!

“Stay in an igloo at the poles and watch the Aurora Borealis.” Ok, so the igloo part hasn’t happened yet but I have made it near to both poles and seen the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and Aurora Australis (Southern Lights). In 2013, I was sent to Antarctica aboard an icebreaker for a two month research expedition. During one of the nights, we all went on deck to gaze at the Southern Lights. Dazzling ribbons of green, electrifying the sky. The only time I have seen the Northern Lights occurred while I was in Seattle, funnily enough, about 14 years ago. One evening I was driving home from college around midnight and I saw funny clouds moving high in the sky. As I got closer to my house I realized those funny clouds were the Aurora Borealis and I raced inside to wake my parents. They ran out, mom in a nightgown, dad in his flannel pajama set. We all gazed up as the green lights danced above us, flickering, sizzling, then moved out of sight. It was magical. Seeing the full curtain of blues, greens, purples, and pinks — from an igloo — is still on my To-Do List.

“Walk the wall of China.” This still needs to be accomplished! Asia has been a region of the world I haven’t devoted much time. Malaysia was the first international country I visited back at the ripe age of 15. We traveled to Kuala Lumpur and to the small island of Penang. Growing up, our family hosted over 25 Japanese exchange students, so I have every reason to plan a trip to this side of the world.

I knew at a young age I was an adventurer. I have that Wanderlust. That Travel Gene. I have visited 35 countries and all 7 continents. I had no idea at the time of my 11th grade English class assignment, that I would actually end up traveling the world, for curiosity and for science, fulfilling the goals I had written down in that little book.

I’ve been writing goals ever since, many more of which have come true. I have dozens of notebooks and journals scattered about my room.

Apparently, if you just *think* about your goals and dreams, its not enough to make them real. Dreaming and imagination occur in the right hemisphere of the brain. Writing taps into the power of your left hemisphere, or logic-based side of the brain. When you operate the two together, you send your consciousness a signal that says, “I want this, and I mean it!” Throughout time, its as if your subconscious mind then orchestrates those visions into realities.

Seeing this book, and reflecting on the accomplishments I’ve made over the past 16 years, I’m convinced I need to keep writing down those dreams and goals so that some day they become reality!

What are the dreams and goals you have written down wondering if they would ever be achieved? I’d love to hear in the comments below!

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Exploring the Okavango Delta – Part 3

January 22, 2017 / Allison Cusick

Last year I went to Africa in June. Their dry season. When all the green fades away and only shades of beige and golden hues remain. I was co-leading groups of undergraduate students who were eager to learn wildlife tracking and skills in collecting observational data on the Big Cats of Kruger National Park. Over the course of a month, we saw 101 lion, 33 leopard, and 7 cheetah, among a plethora of other fantastic african wildlife. I felt I had nearly seen it all.

This year, visiting Africa during the December wet season, proved to be equally spectacular but in a different way. The bush had become thick with green Mopani leaves and grasses extending all lengths. This cover allowed animals to better hide but despite the density of green, I was still impressed with the amount of wildlife we saw. Lions, leopards, elephants, and hippo. We did not go home feeling any sort of lack.

Early one morning, we sat with two female lionesses. “Lions are lazy,” the guide said to us. “They lie around all day sleeping and only hunt when they have to.”

It sure seemed that way to us. Female lions are a pride’s primary hunters. They often work together to take down prey such as zebra, antelopes, and wildebeest. These lazy lionesses sure didn’t seem to be planning for any such activities that day.

Most of the time we saw lions, we either saw two brothers, two sisters, or a male and a female mating. The average size of a lion pride consists of five or six females, their cubs, and one or two males living in a family unit. Extremely large prides are not typical, although last year, we did count a group of 29 individuals living together in Kruger National Park.

Lions are the only cats to live in social groups, and all of a pride’s lionesses are related. Female cubs typically stay with the group as they age, but young males eventually leave and establish their own prides by taking over a group headed by another male.

The story of one particular male roaming the area near Savuti had a sad beginning. Mr. Lion and his brother were a team. But one day, Mr. Lion met a Ms. Lion and the two went off to enjoy each other’s company. As a typical mating cycle lasts about three days, with the mating ritual taking place almost every 20 minutes, up to 40 times daily, the two would be busy for quite some time. Brother lion was left to wander by himself.Alone and unguarded, Brother lion ended up getting into some trouble. A band of three other brother lions roaming the area challenged him to a fight. Without the help of his brother, he was no match for the three males and unfortunately did not survive the attack.

Mr. Lion had no idea this was happening. However, once the days had passed, and Ms. Lion’s interest wained, Mr. Lion went looking for him.

Nowhere to be found.

He called, and called. Through the night and day.

The guides suspect he eventually figured out his brother wasn’t going to come back. Without him, Mr. Lion wasn’t able to effectively hunt. They watched him slowly lose weight as time went on, and renamed him Mr. Skinny.

Each time we saw him, he barely moved. In the heat of the sun, you’d suspect he had died. Every now and then, though, he would stir, roll around, and clean himself off. Then one evening, just before dusk, we saw Mr. Skinny in a rather peppy mood. We weren’t sure what was going on at first, but then we saw. Ms. Lion had returned. At first, she seemed rather annoyed he had started to follow her. She ran ahead, and he continued to slowly trot behind.

It became clear he was too weak to catch up with her. Exhaustion took over, and he lay down to catch a break. Surely Ms. Lion would be on her way?

Nope! She came back to him, rubbed her face against his, encouraging him to stand up and continue after her. We watched as she played a flirtatious game of catch-me-if-you-can far into the sunset, past the hour of visibility to capture any of it on camera.

The guides were optimistic that Mr. Skinny could recover. Although, with the band of three brothers still roaming around and a flirtatious female visiting them all, his chances would be slim unless he stayed well hidden from the other males.

Each day our schedule was full of adventure, food, and relaxation.

Morning started with the 5:00 a.m. wake up call. At 5:30 a.m. we piled into the car for our first game drive of the day. At 9:30 a.m. we would find a nice place in the field to stop and have coffee and biscuits before continuing our drive.

By 11:00 a.m., we returned back to camp for breakfast with the staff and a lively recap of the morning’s sightings.

“The bar is open if anyone wants something to drink,” the host Sally announced!

“Join me in some champagne,” Eva, the German/South African would chime. Why the heck not?! We were on vacation, after all, and we had the best seats in the house!

After breakfast, we had a break in the day. Siesta time until 4:00 p.m. A perfect span of time to relax, journal, and nap. I don’t know if it was the heat of the day, or the fact we woke at 5:00 a.m., but a nap always happened.

Temperatures during December never got too cold, hovering between 60-80*F throughout the day. In June, nights would drop to 46*F and rise to 97*F by midday, so packing layers was crucial, however this time around, I never used my gloves nor hat.

At 4:00 p.m., we sauntered out to the main lodge where we sipped tea and nibbled on delicious snacks. All of the food prepared at Wilderness Safari camps was incredible.

At 4:30 p.m., we again piled into the car to begin our afternoon game drive. Every day we stopped at sunset to enjoy “Sundowners”, really just an excuse to drink and enjoy the colors of light playing off the landscape.

Tops offers Sarita a glass of Africa wine.

Eva holds a dung beetle to the light.

Unless an epic sighting kept us out late, we returned to the camp by 7:30 p.m. each night. A full course dinner and wine pairings began at 8:00 p.m. and we sat with the whole group, guests and staff. Wine and conversation flowed as we recounted the day’s events and stories of our lives back home. It truly felt like we were eating with family.

***

This story ends here! If you’d like to keep reading, head over the part 4, and be sure to subscribe to the newsletter and get immediate updates delivered to your inbox. For stories earlier in the trip, read part 1 and part 2.

As always, please share Woman Scientist with anyone you think may feel inspired!

Thanks for reading.

***

All photos taken by Allison Lee and Cynthia Cusick. Information obtained through personal conversation with Wilderness Safari guides.

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Exploring the Okavango Delta Botswana – Savuti Part 2

January 20, 2017 / Allison Cusick

“Knock, knock, knock…”

“Helloooo…”

“Good morniiiiing….”

…It’s dark…

I sleepily open my eyes to the 5a.m. wake up call.

“Good morning!”

“We are awake. Thank you!”

In thirty minutes the sun would rise, which gave us just enough time to roll out of bed, throw on clothes, grab our bags, and slug back a cup of coffee and light breakfast before heading into the vehicle for our morning game drive.

In the wilderness, if you want to have the best opportunity for animal sightings, you wake up when the animals wake up . And sunrise is actually one of my favorite times of the day. It always feels like you are in on a secret the rest of the world doesn’t yet know about.

Elephant and a saddle-billed stork

Four of us piled into the rover eager to start exploring: Our guide and driver, Tops, a lovely German/South African woman named Eva, and my mom and I.

There is never a real agenda when you are on safari. You go where the animal signs lead you.

Tops began the morning meandering along the main roads, keeping an opportunistic eye out for fresh animal tracks.

Even when we didn’t see big game, there were plenty of other animals and birds to keep us occupied. Botswana has 75 larger mammal species and 593 bird species have been recorded. Because of the Delta’s dynamic watery woodlands, amphibians are also abundant.

Helmeted Guinea fowl

Coppery tailed coucal

Lilac breasted roller. My favorite.

White faced whistling ducks

Marabou stork

leopard tortoise

african bullfrog carcass

Southern carmine bee eater

Another lilac breasted roller

Sable antelope

Kudu

They joke that warthogs are part of Africa’s “Ugly Five”. A play on the sought after “Big Five” game animals: African lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, African leopard, and rhinoceros. I found the warthogs to be endearing and my favorite site was them trotting off into the bush with their tails held high. A signal to other hogs to say, “Follow me if you want to live!”

Warthogs typically live in family groups of a female and her young. Female warthogs only have four teats, so litter sizes are usually confined to four young. Each piglet has its own teat and suckles exclusively from it. After about 4 months, the young switch to receiving most of their nourishment from grazing.

Mama warthog and piglets

Baby impala

side striped jackal

Blue Wildebeest

Pair of jackals

A playful zebra

Giraffes are probably one of my favorite animals. They’re so tall and slow. If you’ve ever seen a giraffe running, you know what I mean. They’re operating on a different timeline and for good reason. They have some of the longest nerves around. The sciatic nerve, which runs down each of its legs, is several yards long, so responding to a stimuli actually takes longer.

Wilderness Safari’s Savuti Camp is located in the Linyanti concession. This 125,000 hectare area is rich with mopane woodland, floodplains, and riparian forests. The year round water source from the Savute Channel attracts wildlife including herds of elephant that can reach very high densities in the drier winter months (July/August).

“Never trust a hippo,” they say.

Here, you really get to appreciate the full circle of life. From the living, to the dead, as well as the breakdown process of decay. Everyone is hard at work surviving.

Tops holds up a Cape Buffalo skull. This was a female which you can tell by looking at the helmeted cap on the head. Males have larger more fused plates which help them in combat.

Tops explains to us the importance of elephant dung in the ecosystem.

Dung beetles ready for action.

Skin of an elephant. This one probably died naturally. Signs of poaching involve removal of the tusks and Botswana has a shoot-to-kill policy against anyone suspected of doing so.

One sign that decay is close by, is that of the Scavenger of Death. The Vulture.

Vultures are not known to kill their own prey. Instead, they wait near the scene of the crime for their chance to gorge. If you’re out driving and spot vultures circling on the horizon, there is a sure chance you’ll find something exciting if you get close.

Perhaps a lion has just made a kill? Or a pair of cheetahs has finished feasting on a zebra?

One day, we saw vultures circling around a tree, so we decided to investigate.

As we got closer to the tree, we noticed many of the vultures were sitting in its branches staring at the pond below.

Then, we saw it.

A dead hippo in the water!

Trying to get a better view, we decided to circle around the pond. Attempting to cross a water way in the rainy season is always a risk. Depending on the soil type, the ground can turn into sticky mud within minutes.

Our effort to get closer immediately failed. The mud pulled us in.

Tops revved the engine trying to force the Land Rover free. We didn’t budge. The mud was too slippery and grabbed us, pulling us in further.

There was no escape.

That’s when we knew we were really seriously stuck. At first, I tried to play calm. Stuck? Its part of the Safari experience! … right?!

Then my mind started working. Vultures. Dead hippo just lying there. Nowhere to go.

I couldn’t help think the lions would be there soon. We were goners.

Tops radioed for help but we were more than an hour outside of camp.

As we waited, he cheerily offered us all coffee and biscuits. Coffee? Biscuits?? How can we eat right now?! WE MIGHT DIE!

“But Allison, if this is your last meal, you might as well enjoy it!” Eva said as she crawled to the back of the rover and lit up a cigarette.

“Mom? Are you scared?” I asked.

“No! We are fine,” she smiled. Calm. Too calm, I thought. A sure sign of denial regarding the imminent doom we were facing.

I felt a mix of high anxiety and thrilling adventure while my mind played thoughts of lion attack. I also knew I could trust our guide, Tops. He grew up here. Surely getting stuck has happened before. Right!?

Tops distracted us with jokes and stories while we waited.

And waited.

The team, enjoying our last meal.

Finally, after an hour, our help arrived!

Pahlana and ST showed up with another vehicle and long tow straps.

After several attempts, a shovel, and lots of wood jammed under the tires, they eventually pulled us out and my nerves subsided.

We circled around to get a better look at said hippo. That’s when we discovered it’s face had been chewed off, the entire body was bloated ready to explode, and we had luckily gotten stuck upwind from the wretched stench.

An adventure to remember for sure!

I definitely slept well that night.

This post ends here. To keep reading, click here for part 3.

***

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Stay tuned for more stories of my adventures in Botswana and Zimbabwe….

If you missed the beginning of this journey, click here to start from the beginning.

*****

All information obtained through personal conversation with Wilderness Safari guides.

Photos by Allison Lee and Cynthia Cusick. Share this:
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Exploring the Okavango Delta in Botswana – Savuti Part 1

January 13, 2017 / Allison Cusick

I still could not believe I was about to spend the next seven days soaking in the beauty of the Okavango Delta, enjoying the wildlife and hospitality of the people at Wilderness Safaris in Botswana. If you missed the post about how I came to book this trip, click here.

The Okavango Delta is the world’s largest inland river delta and the last remaining intact wetland. In June 2014, it became the 1000th site to be officially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The source begins in the Angolan highlands where myriad streams and smaller rivers combine to bring summer rains (falling between October and April) through Namibia before finally reaching the delta basin in Botswana (around March through August).

Simplified catchment flow progression. From Wilderness Safaris pamphlet

At this point in the season, the delta swells to three times its permanent size. Animals from miles around come to Botswana for this influx of water, thus creating one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife.

So how long does it take to travel to Africa from the west coast of the US?

FOR.EH.VER.

We spent nearly 26 hours in flight, totaling 38 hours of travel, including layovers. I left San Diego bright and early to fly to Washington DC, where I met my mom and caught my overseas flight to Johannesburg. That distance took 18 hours to fly and the plane made a pit stop in Ghana to refuel. Once we got to Johannesburg the flight to Maun, Botswana, was less than two hours. From Maun, we caught a small puddle jumper flight to our first camp at Savuti, which is in the Linyanti concession.

I was able to sit as co-pilot in the tiny plane and gaze at a spectacular bird’s eye view of the region.

Copilot with Trent in charge. (Trent also has hopes of flying with Kenmore Air for any of you Seattle folk! Although I’d say flying bush planes in Africa is WAY cooler.)

Can you see the elephant at the waterhole below?

Our pilot, Trent, warned us about slight turbulence and made sure we knew where to find the doggie bags. Down below we spotted elephants drinking at a watering hole, so to gain a better view he made a large circle around. It was during that time my mom discovered airsickness. Luckily, the doggie bags were within reach.

We landed at the small dirt airstrip where ST greeted us with a big smile. It had been raining off and on so everyone was wearing dark green ponchos. ST drove us down a mud road to the Savuti camp where a group welcomed us with singing.

Greeting committee: Quest, Julia, Sally, Kelly, Nkuma? (If you’re from Wilderness Safaris, help me fill in the missing names!)

We had no idea what to expect but were blown away immediately. The Savuti lodge is built rustic and beautiful with an open air plan, just the way I like my living! In the elements where you can feel close to nature, hear the sounds, and see the sites directly from your bedroom. Nothing like the boxed in cages of posh hotel rooms in the city.

Elephants could literally come through your front yard, and have in the past.

After our briefing with tea and cookies, we had the option to go out on a game drive or relax. Relax?! I dont think my family knows the meaning of relax. Even though it was raining, we emphatically said YES to the game drive! My mom and I were born and raised in the rainy city of Seattle, afterall.

Sally, me, ST, mom and Phalana wait in the rain for our guide to come.

The rain didn’t seem to bother the impala nor the elephants as they feasted away on the mopane trees…

Last year I had visited Kruger National Park in South Africa during the dry season of June, so I was not expecting there to be so much green. I suppose, when you think about it, that is the whole point of the rainy season in December! It was spectacular and made the bush lush and thick. A perfect place for animals to hide.

We left the thickets and opened into a large meadow. I raised my binoculars and started scanning the edge of the meadow. Thats when I saw it.

A lion!

Two lions!

It was amazing to be so close to the king of the jungle. Awe struck and slightly terrified.

The two males, brothers, were beautiful and relaxed. Sleepily watching a heard of elephants grazing in the distance. Every time the elephants moved away, the lions took a stand, stretched, yawned, and lazily sauntered closer to them.

Their amber eyes were stunning and had the magical effect of drawing you in while seemingly reading your mind. “Please don’t eat me!” mine pleaded.

As the sun set, the two started to roar in what sounded like a duet harmonizing. Deep, guttural groans that echoed through the meadow.

We stayed with them for a while as the sun set a brilliant hot pink, casting fluorescent green on the grass. An excellent way to begin our journey in the Okavango Delta.

Botswana is approximately 224,610m² (581,730km²) home to just over 2 million people consisting of many ethnic groups (Bayei, Bakalanga, Babugakwe, Hamkubushu, Bakgalagadi, Batswana, Baherero, Basarwa (San), European), each with its own ethnic identity and language. I was amazed that an entire country of that size held less than the population of my home region! To put that in perspective, Seattle and Washington’s Puget Sound alone contain more than 3.8 million people all crammed into just over 1,000m² (2,642 km²)!

Retreating into wilderness treasures, like the one in Botswana, was a welcomed relief from the rush of city life.

Many of the indigenous communities are represented within Wilderness Safaris, employed as knowledgeable guides sharing stories of the dynamic ecosystem and their culture and life living in the Delta. To travel through this pristine region, learning from the experts, was honestly the highlight of the experience.

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To continue reading more, click here for the next post in the adventure.

Thanks for reading.

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***

All information obtained through personal conversation with Wilderness Safari guides.

All photos taken by Allison Lee and Cynthia Cusick.

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