April 22, 2008. I am now beginning to work full time on the Namibian dolphin project which I have spent a large part of the last 8 months setting up. I will be leaving Scotland for southern Africa on the 10th May
So far, setting up is going well. Enough funding has been secured to cover the basic field costs for the winter season. Housing and flights are sorted out for both myself and my colleague Ruth Leeney. The buying and borrowing of equipment is coming along and we have a student interested in joining us for the season.
The Namibian Dolphin Project is a research, conservation and education initiative. We collect data on the abundance, distribution and habitat use whales, dolphins and turtles in Namibia. The project is being run by Simon Elwen Tess Gridley and Ruth Leeney. The NDP is working with Oceans Research and is funded by a series of small grants from the Rufford Small Grants Foundation, the British Ecological Society, the Nedbank Go Green Fund, The Mohamed Bin Zayed Fund and NACOMA.