124
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125
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life anæsthesia and darting have
Elephant, Rhino and Buffalo are,
options in the desert than to find someone who could
and give something back to a culture or country you want
been briefly touched on above.
apparently, what tourists want
help. One of the Arabs who ran the camp, Ali, used
to experience. Learning a language at the same time is not
So, with the possibility to
to see, so they get preferential
to regularly tell terrible jokes about bakheel, or misers.
always easy, especially when you need to speak a third for
support a wide range of animal
treatment and other rare and
Being a cheapskate is frowned upon in Arab society, and
day-to-day life, but the effort is worth it and despite some
species the choices of what
endangered species get slotted
families will go out of their way to be hospitable even
hysterical media and the odd notable exception Arab North
in around them, so long as they
when they can hardly afford it.
Africa is an intriguing, safe and, despite its proximity to
to stock was again a heated
discussion between the three
Surveying population numbers the old fashioned way.
would live in an area a bit like
corners of: 1, “These species live in this area naturally, lets
Europe, very different place in which to travel and live.
this naturally. It’s not a perfect system, but it has worked
put them back.” 2, “These species will bring in the most
I would recommend teaching as an easy way to travel
so far.
tourists, lets keep them.” 3, “These species are rarest
globally, they need keeping most.”
This expedition was made possible by financial
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backing from Selwyn College, Cambridge University
And, as with all other park discussions you tend to
end with a compromise. The “Big Five” of Lion, Leopard,
Commonwealth Trust and, importantly, the Bevir Memorial
Fund at Wellington College.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? [ ? ? ? ? ? – ? ? ?? ]
turtle watch which was conducted in three shifts; 9:00
onto the bay of Bubbles Dive Resort on Pulau
p.m. till midnight, midnight till 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. to
Besar, the largest of the Perhentian islands off
8:00 a.m. This consisted of sitting in the restaurant playing
cards and drinking tea, taking hourly walks up and down
wox we were to stay at Bubbles Resort for one month
the beach to see if any turtles were nesting with a torch
to learn about turtle conservation. We were a group of 3
with a red filter so as not to disturb the turtles. If we
boys and 7 girls, ages ranging from 19–26, all of whom were
? ? ? ? ? ??? ? ? ? ? [ ? ? ? ? ? ? – ? ? ? ? ]
n 5th June 10 volunteers stepped off the boat
the north east coast of Malaysia. Through the company
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? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? , ????? ? ?
came across a turtle, we had to sit and watch over it to
travelling around Asia either before or after the project.
make sure it wasn’t disrupted, the process normally taking
O
ith the money I was given by the Bevir fund I
difficult teaching is, with lesson plans, exams and tests to
took part in a five-week residential project run
write as well as returned papers to mark and comment
As part of a turtle conservation project, the main aim
about two hours, but sometimes up to five or six. We
astvs, a small charity run by Moroccan lo-
on then go over in the following lesson. Levels of ability
of our month at Bubbles was to learn about the human and
would then record data including the length and width of
cals to educate and entertain the town’s children in the de-
also varied, with some particularly bright students having
environmental threats facing turtles, the threats facing their
the turtle, given by its track marks, whereabouts on the
bilitating heat of a North African summer. Temperatures
learnt English from films with Arabic subtitles. Teaching
habitats, and methods in which these could be prevented
beach and how far up it lay its nest etc.
were around 45?c (115f) from midday to around 3:00 p.m.,
could be difficult, and although most of the pupils spoke
or minimised. The first week entailed us obtaining our
Our second and third weeks were dedicated to
W
by
and this was described as rela-
good enough English to be able to
Open Water
padi certificates, enabling us to explore and
researching and staging presentations concerning turtle
tively cool for that time of year !
understand, communicating out-
further learn about the coral reef that sustains 85% of
and coral conservation to the gue sts of the resort, basic
Due to the heat, teaching would
side school was almost entirely in
marine life, as well as the different species that live there.
Malay and Chinese language courses, and fish id scuba dives.
take place from 9:00–midday, we
French or Arabic.
Scuba diving in Malaysia’s coral reefs was incredible,
Our fourth and final week at Bubbles handed us the
would eat a heavy lunch and then
One of the most striking
diving with and identifying hundreds of different species of
task of creating a game, either a card game, a board game
sleep in the hottest part of the
things of all is the Moroccan sense
fish, including bumphead parrotfish, pufferfish, titan trigger
or an outdoors game, which could be mass-produced and
day, then have Arabic teaching in
of hospitality and generosity. It
fish, as well as turtles, sharks, crown of thorns starfish,
taken to schools around Malaysia to teach children about
the late afternoon.
was a common occurrence to
nudibranchs and moray eels. Completing my Advanced
turtle conservation and ways in which to minimize human
Morocco has fairly recent-
be invited to someone’s home,
Open Water padi enabled me to take a night dive, as well
damage and maximise awareness and support. By the end
undergone
with
as people would stop us in the
as a wreck dive at the Barge, a large boat wreck whose co-
of summer, Bubbles will have 6 different games to select
vi coming to power
street and talk, curious as to
ordinates are known only to two dive resorts, and a deep
from. We took this final assignment incredibly seriously
dive, diving to 30 metres.
and genuinely felt the need to make a change by increasing
ly
Mohammed
upheaval,
in 1999. Since then he has been making strides towards
where we had come from or how teaching at the school
democracy, one of the most significant being increasing
was going. Often this would lead to being invited to
Every afternoon we took bin bags up and down the
women’s rights, especially in the areas of marriage and
eat or to drink mint tea at their house. Arab culture is
beach collecting litter both from the guests at the resort,
work. This meant that my class was almost entirely made
strongly based around hospitality, a welcome tradition
and also washed up from the sea. We also cut back tree
All in all it has been an incredible month, and I’ve
up of women of school-leaving age or older, who wanted
from the days when the Arabs as a people wandered the
roots and moved big pipes and rocks to make it easier for
learned so much more about the environment and the
to improve their English to take advantage of the burgeon-
deserts and spread Islam through Africa on horseback. If
the turtles to lay their nests.
impact of mankind, and I’ve also been hugely inspired by
ing tourism industry or travel. I had never realised how
a traveller was hungry or thirsty, there were few other
After dinner of pak choi, rice and chicken, we had
understanding. In fact it really motivated a lot of us, and
I’ve certainly come to re-evaluate my own career path.
what I’ve learned.