Another year winding down.
It has been an exciting year travel wise for the Bate/Frazer-Bate family. Devon, Nadine and I went to Guatemala in March, Peter and Adam visited Colin in Bermuda in May and I spent a month in Malawi in July/August. Colin also travelled to Sweden for a friend's wedding in August and he also went to Vancouver and Banff in November as well as coming home in July and December. This year also found Adam moving to Ontario and Devon winning the co-president election in High School. Peter continues his Computer Science degree at Dal and Colin is still enjoying his work with Orbis in Bermuda. Nadine and I continue to stay busy at work and are enjoying having the whole family home for the holidays.

Happy New Year everyone.

I want to start by thanking the Department of Transportation for doing a fine job in clearing the ditches on our sub division road. We have had some problems with the water levels backing up into our basement and this should fix any problems in the future. They also did a good job with our neighbor's ditch, I am sure they are very pleased. I hope there will be no more flooding.

We are home after a long day at the field. Devon organized a day-long Ultimate Frisee Tournament in support of 2 orphanages in Guatemala. There were 4 teams that played 3 games each and everyone had a great time. The teams were from St. F. X., the Community College, North Nova High School and Devon's school, Northumberland High. There was a canteen on site to provide everyone with some wonderful nourishment. Thanks to Sobeys and the Nova Scotia Community College for sponsoring some of the event. He hasn't calculated the amount raised but is hoping for over $500.

Well done Devon!

Monday evening and having a bite to eat while waiting for my flight. The last four weeks were an experience like none other. I rode on life threatening buses, saw more wild animals than I could imagine, worked the nice nicest people in the world, (next to Newfoundlanders) and managed to complete my assignment within the time frame (and Malawi time is like “we will get to it later”). All in all a great four weeks. I will have many stories when I get back and look forward to seeing everyone.

Happy Birthday Adam (tomorrow)

I spent 4 days at the Track & Trail River Camp on the Luangwe River in Zambia. I spent Friday and Saturday driving around the National Park in search of wild animals. Thursday was a travel day and it took about 6 hours to get to the site from Lilongwe. Crossing the border was somewhat a hassle but we got through. The camp was situated on the side of the river and when we arrived there were 4 elephants in the camp.





This was a common occurrence and there were 2 security people stationed there to ensure we did not run into problems. The baboons in the camp were a real nuisance because they would snatch food from the tables. Friday and Saturday we left the camp at 6:00 am and rode through the park on an open aired jeep for four hours and then went out again from 4:00 pm until 8.




We spent 2 hours from 6 – 8 in the evening using a high powered light to see many animals. It was during the evening we saw 3 hyenas. It was amazing! There were animals every time we turned a corner.

For more pictures click on one of these pictures and go to my FLICKR site.

Lots of impalas and zukus as well as other deer like animals. Both evenings we saw some lions, they had just finished eating a recent kill and were relaxing by the side of the road. Zebras, elephants, giraffes, hippos, water buffalos, water bucks, impalas, warthogs, monkeys, baboons and numerous birds of wonderful colours were around every corner. We also saw one leopard during the weekend across from the camp on the river’s edge. We had a great guide who worked in the park for over 20 years and knew where to go to find the sights. Sunday was another travel day and I spent 11 hours getting back to Blantyre. Tired but very pleased.

I rented a car and driver today and we drove to Mt. Mulanje. We took a detour and went to the Mozambique boarder where I walked into Mozambique (just to say I was there). The day started out very foggy so I couldn’t take many pictures in the morning. The sun finally came out around noon and we walked part way up the mountain to the water falls.


On the way to Mulanje we passed through many towns and villages. It market day in most of them and there were thousands of people buying and selling.


We stopped at one spot to buy something and were almost mugged, everyone wanted to sell to us, and it was somewhat frightening. I was also an unusual site in these areas. We also passed by many large tea plantations and a few banana plantations on the drive. It was a great day.

Happy Anniversary Nadine.

Week 2 and all is well. The work I am doing is going to be very helpful to the local farmers in Bvumbwe. I am helping the local farmer’s dairy cooperative, and when they succeed the farmers benefit. The weather is starting to warm up and it did not rain today. I walked around the city of Blantyre this weekend and saw some sad and amazing sites. It is amazing how everyone smiles here no matter how poor they are. People cooking food on the side of the road to sell, crushing gravel by hammering it, selling their wares on the sidewalks, anything to help support their families. I hope to get to the Mulanje Mountains this weekend if I can book a car and driver. I hope to have more pictures soon.