Buddy is my name and the Outreach is still my game

I’m back! More importantly, the Toyota Enviro Outreach is back! Not that it has ever been gone really, but you know what I mean. The convoy is being packed as we speak. I think I will make my space in one of those sexy red Legend 40 Hiluxes. Hmmm....

But just before we get going on the extra special awesome exciting whopper 2010 Outreach, I had a word the other day with Theresa Sowry from the Southern African Wildlife College and she said:

“The Enviro Outreach visited past SAWC students in Malawi and Zimbabwe in 2009. It has been fantastic to find out that past students from each Country are now part of the Mentorship program for existing students at the SAWC.

A number of the students that we met over the past two Outreaches have returned to the SAWC for additional training. We cannot forget about Chamunorwa Rambanapasi who arrived in the middle of the night last year to meet the Outreach group at Mushandike. Well, he is back this year as one of our advanced students and doing really well. Other students we have met over the past years that are back to further their studies include: Samson Mkumbwa from Malawi who received training in GIS; Maisa Chulu from Malawi who received training in Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM); Doreen Kachingwe from Malawi (CBNRM); Yobe Tengani from Malawi trained in Transfrontier Conservation Area Management (TFCA); Brenda Mafa from Zimbabwe (TFCA); Edmore Nkosi from Zimbabwe (TFCA); Cesar Francisco (Mozambique), Trevor Silwamba and Erastus Kancheya (Zambia) are all back as advanced students.

So, information collected from the Outreach ‘08/’09 is alive and thriving at the SAWC! We hope 2010 is as fantastic as it has been over the past two years! Good luck with your DNA Barcoding project. It is just awesome what the Toyota Enviro Outreach does every year for the environment and conservation.”

Yip you see, that is not just any ol’ dog speaking, but words of wisdom straight from the horse’s mouth. Thanks Theresa, we’re going to miss you this year.

However, the tree people will be with us again. You remember Prof Michelle van der Bank and Olivier Maurin that did the DNA barcoding on trees last year? Well, this year they are the project. And Toyota agreed that DNA barcoding will be the project for the next three years. In fact, the Outreach is going international now with the representation of the University of Guelph in Canada also on board. They are the worldwide custodians of the Barcode of Life project. Other associates making this project work are University of Johannesburg, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, South African National Parks and Cape Nature.

Another difference of this year’s Outreach is that we will not only be a mobile convoy operating from campsite to campsite, but will have a permanent base at Klipbokkop. A permanent team will process all the samples there to be dispatched to Canada. They have in fact been setting up and getting the engines in place over the last few days already.

Tomorrow we’ll all get together for the last few preparations to get underway to our first stop, Noup on the West Coast in the Richtersveld. But even before we get going, a great thanks to Toyota South Africa and all the other sponsors. They are: 4x4 Megaworld, Campworld, Goodyear, Total, Cross Country, Garmin, Varta, National Luna and Klipbokkop.

So ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. DNA Barcoding, here we come!

Buddy