biodiversity

Islands of Biodiversity in the African Sky: Golden Monkeys and Irish Potatoes

September 2014. The view from my east-facing window at the Gorillas Hotel in Musanze before dawn was promising.  Even though Mount Muhabura was enveloped in clouds, the rest of the sky was clear.  After a quick breakfast we left for
Read More

Ukrainian Spring

March 2014. Almost exactly three years ago, in March, 2011, serendipity handed me the opportunity to lead a biodiversity conservation assessment for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Ukraine, and I worked with a team of exceptional Ukrainian consultants.
Read More

Islands of Biodiversity in the African Sky – The Nyika Plateau

April 2013. In a previous story I wrote about the archipelago of mountain ranges that scatters across eastern Africa between Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa.  These East African mountains are a Galapagos of speciation and
Read More

Islands of Biodiversity in the African Sky – Mulanje Mountain

April 2013. An archipelago of mountain ranges scatters across eastern Africa between Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa.  Most of these mountain blocks rise 2,000 meters or more – some to over 3,000 meters – above
Read More

Xipamanine and Xiquelen: Biodiversity, Traditional Medicines, and Charcoal in Maputo Markets

24 September 2012.  After our unsuccessful attempt to find the medicinal plants market in Phuza, near Ponta do Ouro (see The Map Is Not the Territory blog), the forest expert on our assessment team, Mario Falcão, promised to take me
Read More