Work life balance can be hard in many industries and for sure it is true in bat research. You find yourself doing working really long hours with few days off, even if all I seem to blog about is braais and nights out!
Whilst in Salima we are flat out doing roost visits, emergence surveys and even some hand netting to help identify species. We are very thankful to stay at the Kumbali Lakeside Retreat and we are also treated to some canoes one morning which makes for a great start to the day!
Me, Tom, Dom and Patrick took a trip to Ngala Hill on our day off to go and climb the mountain (it felt like one!) which is just outside of Lilongwe and had beautiful views up at the top! I wasn't so sure I would make it though...
Every time we have tried this survey here, it gets cancelled due to thunderstorms! We ended up had a really successful night bat surveying! I am also really happy to be getting back on the African Bat Conservation Urban Mops project!
Bringing It Home was screened, which talks about hemps many uses including in the construction industry, as food and medicine. After the screening, we headed over to the Cuneco bar and the tunes were so good and the wine so affordable (£2 a glass)...
For something a bit different we went to a pizza night and before that a bunch of went for volleyball with a few beers. The others went out for sun downers at Kumbali beforehand but thankfully me, Lena and Tom went for some earlier in the week on the rock spot you see in the picture!
ABC held a ‘Bat Roost Training Day’ for staff, students and volunteers. Roosts (which is what bats homes are called) play a vital role in the ecology of bats...
Had a bit of a meltdown this week, largely as so much has been going on, surveys cancelled due to weather and partly because Sophie one of our students has decided to go home which was a bit of a shock...
We have had a couple of volunteers join us here at ABC, camp numbers are always changing as people come and go which keeps things interesting...
As I mentioned in my last blog the lightning storms here are rather immense! When they get going they are huge and pretty dangerous. The rain is so heavy is fully washes away the roads...