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I'm on the plane...no turning back now! Flight plan is San Diego to Cincinnati; Cincinnati to Paris; Paris to Douala, Cameroon and finally Douala to Bangui, Central African Republic. I've learned it could take up to three days of travel over land from Bangui to the Nouablalé-Ndoki Gorilla Project at Mbeli-Bai Reserve in Congo. We're traveling to document the work of Busch Gardens researcher Tina Goody.
I'm feeling wonderful: excited
about starting this trip that I have dreamed about since first reading The
Adventures of Tarzan in 4th grade and later, Jane Goodall's In the
Shadow of Man. I've been working with animals all my life, studying
behavior, and keeping up on conservation news and projects, but actually going
to Africa has always seemed impossible. Since setting the goal two years
ago of getting to Africa within the next five years, this will actually be my
second time on the
Continent. I can't really count the first time though, as it was a quick
four hour jaunt over from a conference in Portugal, across the Straight of Gibraltar,
to Tangiers Morocco. It was too close to resist, but not really the Africa
of which I have always dreamed. Cattle egret, a type of bird, was all
the wildlife I saw.
This trip I hope to see and document at least some of the following animals: the western lowland gorilla, forest elephants (considered by some to be a separate subspecies), sitatunga (a mid-sized antelope), hippos, Congo clawless otters, colobus monkeys, guenons and mangabys, duiker, bush pigs and maybe even the elusive bongo and a few chimpanzees. I can't wait! I'm finally on my way!
SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Animal Information Database
www.seaworld.org / www.buschgardens.org
©2002 SeaWorld, Inc.
An Anheuser-Busch® Adventure Park.
All Rights Reserved.
