Etosha Pluto Trip

I returned home yesterday from a very interesting week spent with 2 astronomers just outside Etosha. As I mentioned in the previous post, their aim was to observe an occultation of Pluto (to record a star passing behind Pluto.)

We took advantage of being outside Etosha and did some morning drives into the Park.

For astronomers doing this kind of trip involves a lot of nerves as there are a number of things that can go wrong. The first is getting the telescope and other equipment to the country and location where they will be used. This is no trivial task. The next is to find a place where observing logistics will be possible. In Africa, with the possibility of wildlife issues and security problems, both can be a challenge. And by far the biggest thing, will you actually get to see the sky, and specifically the event that you are hoping to record?

I will be following this post with a number of posts relating to this trip. I am not an astronomer, but will tell you a bit about Pluto and stellar occultations from my limited knowledge and understanding, but more importantly, I will tell you the story of our trip, a bit about what wildlife we saw, and a little bit about Etosha and doing tours to Etosha.

The trip was very special to me and I hope to do more of this type of trip in the future. It was really special to work with the two astronomers, both very experienced. You can learn more about them here:

• Marc Buie
• Leslie Young

So if you are interested, keep your eye on the next three or four posts on this blog.

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The week ahead - Pluto and Etosha

Tomorrow I am leaving for Windhoek to travel up to Etosha with some astronomers.  There main purpose is to record a particular even with Pluto (the almost planet) and we will be spending a few days outside Etosha's eastern side, and spending the evening trying to view this little icy planet.  I will be going up with my Land Rover, which is fun, and carting along a large 14 inch telescope.

Over the last few weeks I have been more of an 'at home' dad than a 'frantic naturalist' with the day tours really starting off slowly, so I am really happy for the chance to do a trip like this.  Once I have the feel of how it all goes, I hope that I get the chance to do more interesting things like this trip.  And what makes it all possible...this blog.  The astronomers that I am taking got hold of me through this blog!

I am really excited and hope to do some birding up in Etosha while I am there (and of course we will do some game drives.) Anyone who followed this blog last year will know that I saw 14 leopards last year - a serious record for me. But this year so far...zero. So I am hopping for just one little leopard while I am there.

That's the plan. If anything interesting happens, I will probably give updates on Twitter while I am away. Otherwise I will tell you all about it in a blog post when I am back.

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Astronomy on Namib Rand Nature Reserve

I have just returned from a stint as the astronomer at Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge. They use volunteer astronomers to manage the astronomy talks for guests. Most astronomers stay for a few months, but I just fill some of the gaps. It's a great way to keep in touch with astronomy and to have some time to do my own thing.

The astronomy wasn't to great for most of the time. September can be a little poor as they burn fires in much of the interior of the subcontinent in the late dry season. It makes the sky a little hazy. Usually not to bad though, but there are some days where it's really thick. There were also some cloudy days. These are the first hint of the rainy season that will start to appear. Usually early on there will only be a few days of clouds, then weeks between before more clouds. I just hit a spell with my astronomy unfortunately. However, I did get some viewing in, and spend one night up till about half past one, looking at the stars after the guests had gone to bed.

I did a lot of walking. Most days I walked both morning and afternoon. I love getting out early. In the evenings I usually didn't go to far with walking as I had to be back to set up for astronomy. I did some walking in the dunes and some in the mountains. It really gave me a chance to get back in touch with the pro Namib area that I love so much.

I also had the chance to do some guide training, which I always like. It always helps put a new prospective on one's own field knowledge.

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Recent tour completed

I have just come back from my most recent tour. This was my last camping tour. I will no longer be doing camping trips from now on. I am trying to focus on the tours that I aim to do with Frantic Naturalist.

Some sightings from this last trip include: Three Black-Rhino in the Palmwag concession, one old elephant bull there as well. Then a female lion, appearing to be on her own at the waterhole at the Hobatere camp. From there we drove through western Etosha and had a cracker day, with two lions, two cheetah (brief sighting,) Hyena (I thought it was brown...just getting excited, but the guests, who had the benefit of a better view, said it was Spotted,) two black-rhinos in the day time, and some elephants all in the one drive. This is amazing for that area. We carried on to have some good sightings in the park, though we had one day where the weather wasn't good for Etosha game viewing.

In a couple of days time I leave my family once again to go to Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge where I once worked, and doing Astronomy for the guests each night for about 10 days. Should give me some time to play with my camera.

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