Humanity

We meet lots of nomadic shepherds but one today certainly made a huge impact on me. Usual friendly greetings ensued and he insisted on making a pot of tea by gathering some sticks to start a small fire. Typical translated small talk ensued, and was all smiley, then came an awkward moment. There was clearly tension between the shepherd and the translator. Eventually I was asked,

“America and Scotland like brothers?” No I said, “not brothers just friends.”

“One million dead, one million dead”, then a pause “Why?”. I knew exactly what he was talking about. Nervous, I was slow to answer and he said “Iraq. Why?”

“Greed” I replied after a minute of pondering, not wishing to discuss politics (something we have tried to avoid throughout), and this was passed on. Again an awkward silence and then the shepherd stood up. He stared deeply into my eyes, then suddenly grabbed me and hugged me, following up with a hearty handshake and pat on the back.

“F*ck Bush” he said. His first and only English of the encounter. Kind of says it all.

Out and about: In the desert 2

Even the desert has boggy bits!

Typical desert houses

Meeting nomads

Nomad children

Tea in the desert

Splendid isolation

One for Troy

Here is a Syrian school we passed at a village called Eiwa. The kids were all in blue uniforms, shirts and trousers, and were charging around the playground. The girls were wearing head shawls and playing football while the boys seemed to be playing tag. With often ten children in a family no sign of falling school roles here.

School playground

Jabbul

What a place. Surely one of the largest, best and most important wetland sites in the Western Palaearctic. We spent a day here and only managed the NW area. The site really deserved a week. Here it wasn’t just quality, but quantity.

Jabbul Wetlands

Near on 12,000 Greater Flamingos was stunning, nearly 10,00 Shoveler and 298 of the globally endangered White headed Ducks was awesome. 18 chicken like Purple Gallinules stomping about the reeds added a bit of character while the general birding was non-stop.

Flamingoes

White headed duck

Purple Gallinule

Part of the lake is saline and salt is being extracted. However, due to contamination, the salt is currently condemned from consumption – perhaps an early warning about this site if something isn’t done about the effluent pouring into it from surrounding villages (and Aleppo?). There is also a threat of a large chemical works being built on its shores.

The two local wardens took us back for tea and we had a good chat about the site and birds in general. Two guys who need all the support they can get.

Waders on the Jabbul

Family day out

Came across a car in a petrol station. Mum, Dad and 7 kids all sharing the two front seats of a pick up truck, with all their gear in the back. Impressive!

No room for seat belts!

Return of Mohammed 1

The going got tough when various logistical problem and security problems manifested themselves. Mohammed 1 came to our rescue and smoothed things out. A feast at Mohammed's house to meet his family helped us relax.

The feast

His son Bashar, who is just six, impressed us by writing out the alphabet in English. Each night he learns five words of English, so that he can get a better start in life. Pretty damn impressive.

Bashar

Next day was Mohammed’s 40th birthday which meant more gorging on food……….

Heading for the hills

When you read this John Wills and Graham Rebecca will be back in the UK. Thanks guys for a great trip. Myself and Hywell Maggs are staying out to work on another conservation project for the Global Environmental Fund (a UN project), all about Biodiversity in Protected Areas in association with the Syrian Government again.

A week in Jebel Abdul Aziz (a remote mountain range about 40km SE of al-Hasake) is then followed by a week in the NW near the Turkish border and the city of Latakiya. Both are labelled forestry projects and it is a new team of Syrians we’re are working with and training. Back to basics, but hopefully logistics might be a tadge easier this time in the north east.

Quick initial thanks

Just a quick thanks to all for the help with the Sociable Lapwing Project. Primarily Rob Sheldon for being patient, when we often weren’t, and being bombarded with queries in previous months and pulling it together for us (beer is due), and all the other UK RSPB staff (especially GC and Eilidh the other day when it hit the fan). Special mention to Richard Porter and Tony Marr for helping out with contacts in the early days.

In Syria special thanks to SSCW (especially Akram Darwish, Osama Al-Nouri, Roula and Sala) and Mohammed 1, Yassen, Hussein, Ibrahim, Mahmood, all the drivers, Ahmed in Deir er Zor, and Sharif at Birdlife Middle East in Jordan. I have probably missed some folk, so apologies.