Author Archives: caribiologist

After having completed my mission at Kalambo Falls Lodge, my wish was to set over to the other side of the lake and visit Ndole Bay which borders Nsumbu National Park. I’ve heard of a beautiful underwater world there and was keen to explore it. The cheapest way of getting there is the ferry fromContinue reading “Horror on the water”

Here in Zambia, many people have a lot more children than we do in Europe so they are quite busy with finding names for their babies. Often, people here have two names, one Bemba name (the local language) and one English name. Usually, the locals tell us Musungus their English names because they think it’sContinue reading “Creative parents”

Actually I wanted to do a post about fish and my work but today was an off day so I thought I should rather do an off day post. On days off me and my field assistants love to do three things: sleeping, diving, more sleeping. The second one was quite interesting today… One interestingContinue reading “Who does this shadow belong to?”

One thing that is striking about field work is that it makes me sleep like a baby. Sleeping that fast is lovely during night but it’s tedious during the early evening. I can easily fall asleep within seconds at 7 pm. The issue with that is that, often, work goes on in the evening. EspeciallyContinue reading “Sleeping like a baby”

During my three long stays in Zambia, I collected data of more than 800 fish belonging to about 57 species. Now that the project is almost finished, I am seriously excited about catching the last fish. One of the last species we need is called Sanga in the local language. It occurs close to riversContinue reading “(I)sanga bay”

The early mornings here at Lake Tanganyika are very special to me and my favourite time of the day. That’s kind of funny because back at home I am not at all an early bird. Here, things are different. Year round the sun comes up at about six and wakes up nature…birds start singing, insectsContinue reading “Good morning bream”

Recently, I was asked to describe a “normal” day of my field work in Zambia. It could be like the following… 6.00 am: Alarm rings, press snooze button. 6.30 am: after choosing the snooze option four times finally getting up. The sun is already awake and waiting for me. Matata (a black Labrador) as well.Continue reading “Field work in Zambia: from dawn to dusk”

The remote place where I am doing my field work is pretty much cut off from the world. A bit of wind is enough to extinct the signal completely. However, if you want to spread news the bush phone is very effective. I am having problems with catching some fish species that are quite trickyContinue reading “The bush phone”

The cichlids of Lake Tanganyika show many amazing behaviours. This little one (picture above) dives very deep during the day which makes it impossible to catch. Nobody really knows what it is doing down there. However, it comes up during night and, fortunately, shows up exactly at the place where I am staying for myContinue reading “The special tiny one”

After having spent much time on the African continent, I developed a special relationship with the sun. In the mornings I really like the sun. It comes up around six and creates an amazing purple and yellow sky. During the day, I like the sun a bit less. It’s merciless. It’s inevitable. The sun isContinue reading “Akasuba – the Zambian sun”