A new step

Hello everyone,

It has been a while since I posted anything. So now a new post to keep you informed of what I am going to do. At the end of June we completed the project at Naturalis. Which meant that I needed to find something else to do. The dream of working abroad is still alive. So I embarked on a mission to find work or a project abroad. And I can say that I found a great project which will keep me busy till the end of the year. My contacts at the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) helped me to get a voluntary position to gain more work experience in the field, abroad and working with wildlife. I am especially grateful for the help given by Diederik, the executive director of the JGI Netherlands. Today I have booked my flights, so now I can say that I will be leaving the Netherlands on the 31st of August and will return on 19 December.

I will be going to the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) to work as a researcher within the Mandrill release programme in the Conkouati-Douli National Park. In this park the JGI has released mandrills whom were captured from traders/ private owners. Now they are monitoring and researching these released monkeys. In my capacity as a scientist I have to make sure that we maintain the same research quality during my time in the field. I will be doing the research together with local staff and during my first weeks there will be other researchers from whom I will take over the research. Below I have added some pictures of the living conditions in the field.

I am looking forward to going back in the field without internet and phone connections, but it will take a while to get used to the living conditions. During my time there I will try to send an update once a month, but I am not sure if I am able to do that.

greetings,

Yannick