Back to the Upper Congo

This trip to Zambia is my fourth to Africa in as many years — fifth, if you want to regard Egypt as part of Africa rather than the Middle East. In 2005, I was part of a group that visited various sites in the Zambezi Basin of southern Zambia. Kevin, who will be with us this year, was on that trip. In 2006, I went to the Lower Congo with Kevin and a bunch of other folks. And last year, I went to Zambia by myself to work with my colleague Alex. That 2007 expedition to Zambia focused on the upper-most part of the Congo Basin, but the water was high enough in the month of May to thwart much of my intended sampling. This year (starting the week after next), we will be covering many of the same sites, but at low water — and with a substantially larger group.

Because I have done this before, I have a pretty good idea what to expect: I know where to get supplies, I know the condition of the roads along our route, and I know which local beers I like and which I will use only in a pinch. Mosi: Great nights, great mornings, great beer. Hopefully, we will be able to find some of the mollusk species that have eluded us in the past, like Mutela hargeri and Etheria elliptica. I have lots of shells, but I want some soft tissues!

In addition to Kevin, we will be joined by a bunch of first-timers: Anthony, Curt, Jaci and Jeremy. While each of these people is at a different stage in their scholarly development — from undergraduate student to professor — they are all share the trait of having never sampled tropical African rivers and lakes for freshwater mussels. I am hoping that they are so eager to get wet and lay their hands upon the shelly beasts that I won’t have to. I can just sit on the shore and hold the money.

I am not looking forward to the long days of travel it will take to get from Tuscaloosa to Philadelphia to London to Lusaka, but that is the price to be paid for pushing back the frontiers of malacological knowledge.

Preparation for the Trip to Africa

This trip was organized by two well traveled mussel biologists from Philadelphia, PA (Dan) and Champagne-Urbana, IL (Kevin). The original idea was to sample, collect, and describe species of freshwater mussels from tributaries of the Zambezi and Congo Rivers that drain out of Zambia. Luckily due to some nice folks at NSF and TCNJ I can also participate. We will be there for the dry season to sample during low water conditions, and we will be in country for about three weeks. There are four other biologists involved in the trip including myself. This will be my second trip across the ocean, and my first trip to Africa.

There is much to learn in the next few days and even more to pack. I have an amorphous collection of camping gear, clothes, shoes, and books to get together, not to mention all the little items that I always forget. Luck for me there is a good packing list, and many suggestions online.

About 10 days till departure and man are my shoulders sore! Too many shots in too little time. I took the advice of my travel companions and got the Yellow Fever and Meningitis shots (thanks all!). All is well, but ibuprofen is involved. That makes a total of eight shots in the past few months!