The Mark Condor of the Outreach

A good view on a rest day

Gerhard dreaming of a rest day

For those not in the know, Mark Condor was a hero in the Sixties that made James Bond look like an under thirteen B rugby player. Well actually our hero’s name is Mark Cooper, but he is a lot like Mark Condor. Relentless, dedicated, adventurous, successful... In fact, he’s better than Mark Condor, he is Sooper Cooper!

DNA Strings as played by Sooper Cooper

No seriously, Mark is a hero when you look at him processing samples coming in. In fact, all these scientists are heroes when it comes to that. After a sunbaking, dehydrating hard day chasing bugs, sampling plants, catching reptiles, fishes and birds, you would expect these guys to arrive back at Klipbokkop, down a frosty or a softie, eat a plate of scrumptious Klipbokkop dinner and crash down. Zzzzzzzz...

Wrong. They get out of the Toyotas, each looking like a Father Christmas with their parcels and cooler boxes full of plants and crawlies. Then the hard work starts. Each specimen has to be physically numbered with a tag and catalogued on computer with matching numbers on the photographs and DNA specimens. And Mark is king of this castle.

Almost at any time of day and night, when he is not out in the field catching bugs, Mark is processing. The other night at around 9.30, he got up, looked around and spotted Michelle. Apologetically he asked to be excused, he was tired. The next morning around seven he resumed his task.

Sooper Cooper in action

Mark the marksman

Be that as it may, today was a rest day for the team. It was a breather to get ourselves ready because tomorrow we are on the road again towards Diepwalle in the Knysna forest. Il Doctoré Olive the Treeman is so excited he said he won’t be able to sleep. I suggested he should count sheep. “Are there sheep in the forest?” the Frenchman asked. OK, Olive count leaves.

But I am just as happy as Olive to go to the trees. He wants to hug them, and I want to... well, you know why dogs love trees. I wonder if Olive realizes hugging those Kalanders might not be so easy.  Maybe the whole team would be capable to hug the Big Tree near Diepwalle. We’ll try and get a picture of that.

The job ain't finished...

There is nothing more exciting than the anticipation of a new journey. “Hit the road, Jack”, some song goes. “Make a beeline for the trees, Gerhard,” I say.

See you in the shade.