Ewaso Lions

Category: Other news | Date: Aug 18 2009 | By: ewasolions

I traveled to Beijing, China, in July 2009 for 10 days.  My main aim was to attend the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) annual conference and to receive an award but I was fortunate to travel for a few days prior to the conference.

I arrived in the very smoggy, crowded city of Beijing and spent 3 days exploring the area and visiting a few of the sites.  After getting used to the spotless, easy to figure out subway system, I traveled from place to place armed with a map and some good walking shoes.  After feeling like I had walked the entire city and being totally overwhelmed by the large numbers of people, the pollution and the strange foods at the night food market, I moved over to the conference centre for the SCB conference which was definitely a relief!

Views from the New Summer Palace

I had attended one SCB conference prior to this one; in South Africa a few years back, and was excited to meet colleagues and professionals working in the same field.  The awards ceremony took place on the 11th of July.  I have to admit - I was a bit nervous giving a 2 minute speech in front of more than 1000 people!  It was a privilege to receive the award for “Africa’s Young Women Conservation Biologist” of the Year and I am extremely grateful to the SCB for this great honour.

Receiving the award from Georgina Mace, the President of the SCB

With the other awardees

The conference took place between the 11th and 16th of July.  I attended numerous talks and sessions which were all very useful and interesting.  We had a day off on the 14th and took a tour to the Great Wall of China.  This was a fantastic day and it was amazing to walk up a small section of it.

On the Great Wall of China

A huge thanks to WWF, SCB and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, for funding my trip to China and enabling me to receive this award and attending the conference.

Tags: , Biology, Conservation

2 responses so far

Category: Donors | Date: Aug 08 2009 | By: ewasolions

Stacey, thank you so much for your donation! I am sorry its taken me long to reply.  Lots of news to report on China and the award ceremony and conference and also much more from the field too.

I will write soon with all news but in the meantime, wanted to say a huge Asante Sana for your donation!

Shiv

Nashipai in May this year

2 responses so far