Inyas Blog

It´s been already two years since I finally handed my diploma-thesis and managed to get my exam – 24 months of great work and life experiences abroad in Asia and now in Southern Africa. And during this time I realised how much I owe my motivation and experiences from non-formal education but especially how much I owe as well my university. Therefore I was honored as the OSI Club, the alumni-network of the politicial science faculty for FU Berlin, asked me to contribute to their newsletter. Will be nice to give something more back to my university – but first the adventures continues in Southern Africa…

OSI Newsletter_SADC

As I am working already nine months in the GTZ Transboundary Water Management programm supporting the SADC Water Division with monitoring activities, donor-harmonisation and diverse public relation activities I wanted to share some results and impacts of our work for better understanding. Often regional integration is not easy to explain and benefits are indirect and coming slowly but as the region depends on more than 70 percent of transboundary rivers the work directly effects people in the fifteen, very diverse, Member States.

Our teams recently finalised the four-part documentary “Bridging Waters” about transboundary water-cooperation within the region. We aim to broadcast them in public broadcasters in the region but uploaded them also to the WaterChannel.tv. Please have a look at: “Water for Peace” (general introduction to transboundary water-cooperation within the SADC region, “Water for Economical Development” (focus on Orange-Senqu basin between Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa), “Water for Poverty Reduction” (focus on Limpopo basin with Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe) and “Water and Climate Change” (focus on the Zambezi basin with Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe). Additionally you can find an overview about the donor-activities online at the SADC Water Sector ICP Collaboration Portal, that I compiled to support cooperation between international donors and the SADC institutions. And last but not least I would like to share the slide-show about our work and impact on flickr.

Tags: Bridging Waters, donor, GTZ, SADC

Southern Africa is a great place for holidays – especially, when the grey November-days starting in Europe and Germany. That why my father and my brother and his girl-friend decided to visit the region for a two-weeks roundtrip to South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique and Botswana in the beginning of November and I joined them for the first leg to Swaziland and Mozambique and welcomed them afterwards in Gaborone for their final stay. We had great days experience Southern Africa in very diverse ways – starting with the huges malls and the skyline of the mega-city Johannesburg, over the traditional dancers and their mud huts in Swaziland to the white beaches in Tofo (Mozambique) and their indian-influenced “Bunny Chow” delicacy. Specially Mozambique surprised me again with their lively athmosphere and rich cultural background and of course the great beaches in Tofo – where we had a house on the beach. And as the whale-sharks were too shy this time to show up I definetly have to go back there next year. Please find pictures from our trip and see more of them on my brothers picture-gallery of the whole trip.

Tags: Bunny Chow, Johannesburg, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tofo

The Okavango-delta in Botswana is famous all round the world as one of the pristine areas with an overflow of birds, mamals, trees and flowers – also it is one of the rare areas, where a strong river simply silt up with an enourmous delta in the middle of the Kalahari desert. As I am working together with the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM) I got introduced to their challenges while conducting a journalist-training by Inter Press Service (IPS) in Maun – please find their publication over here.

Afterwards Susi and me got lost in the delta on a Mokoro-trip, which is a canoe made to get through the delta with its reed and water mixture. For two days we were catch into the beauty of this pristine nature where silence was only interrupted by birds, elephants and spiders – that entered our boat frequently for a ride. And as we went on two nature-walks we experienced how big and magnificient elephant-herds can be if you stand only 20m away from them, which is an astonishing and reverential feeling after all. And too top this feeling the Okavango delta awarded us with a stunning sunset in the end of the day. Find here the video-file from Susi live from the Okavango.

Tags: Botswana, Elephants, IPS, Maun, Okavango, terraviva

We made it to the “Mother City” – Cape Town and its beautiness. Last time when I was there – four years ago – she was hidden in clouds and rain but this time the capricious city showed herselfs from her best side. We had an amazing week caught between the majestic table mountain and the great ocean while experiencing the magic mixture of Africa, Europe, Asia and the rest of the world in a nutshell. We visited beautiful neighbouring markets, had late breakfasts in one of the relaxing coffee-shops, climbed the table mountain and survived downhill the famous “Skeleton Gorge”, visited the gardens of Kirstenbosch and the Cape of Good Hope and saw the whales mating at Hermanus. It had been remarkable days on the cape and the city definitely  caught me with its vibrant but relaxed charme and needs further visits to dive into. Credits to Susi for her pictures and please find more stories about us in Cape Town at her blog.

Tags: Cape Town, South Africa, Table Mountain, whales

As my probation period ends I am now officially allowed taking holidays again and so the next months are packed with diverse get-aways and proper leaves to all the exotic countries around us to dive deeper in the African adventure. As I liked the amazing Namibian country-side in March so much we started end of August again to this magic mixture of desert, mountains and beach. First stop was the Soussusvlei-desert were we managed to catch the sun-rise at 6 (!) o´clock in the morning and got a good sunburn. Afterwards the Naukluft-mountains provided not only an amazing panorama and camping-spot but also a great “Olive Trail” day-hike, where we were walking a full day without seeing human beings but stunning mountains and dry river valleys.

After several hours driving through full-fledged desert – where we are believed to approach the end of the world – finally Swakopmund appeared between Namib-desert and ocean. This curious city combines German culture and lifestyle in the middle of Africa with sand-dunes, beaches, great food and amazing sealife – a funny mixture, that feels almost home at the Baltic Sea. And as we did some boat-cruise at the ocean finally I saw them again: dolphins jumping next to the boat and racing up and down like crazy. After more than three years looking out for them in Africa and Asia I almost wanted to give up and there they were – elegant, amazing swimmers with mega-fun to watch. With all these impressions we managed the 12 hours drive back to Gaborone easily and look forward for all these trips still to come to explore this diverse continent, where one country looks different than the other.

Tags: Dolphins, Namibia, Naukluft, Soussusvlei, Swakopmund, Windhoek

FIFA World Cup in South Africa: So many words have been written and so many stories told but these were some extra-ordinary weeks over here in Southern Africa with great games & people, freaky vuvuzelas, amazing hospitality and most of all a great team-spirit. Before the games started everybody was nervous and also a bit afraid, if South Africa could manage these first World Cup on African soil but they did an extraordinary job – professional and with passion – and created an unforgettable event for the whole world. We bought some tickets for three games beforehand and it seems that the German team was keen playing for us, as we finally saw Germany-Ghana (Johannesburg), Germany-England (Bloemfontein) and Germany-Uruguay (Port Elisabeth) – that were all won by Germany as final Winner of the third place! As the World Cup happened in the SADC region please find here on YouTube and here on Vimeo (long version) also the video-files, that we produced with SADC to welcome the World Cup in the region and present potential investment opportunities.

Thanks for South Africa for this great event and hope you keep on the great spirit and team-work as rainbow nation! And thanks for the German team for their passion and great play with fresh attitude, it was fun to watch, cheer and see you winning. We´ll be there for sure, when Germany wins the Cup 2014 in Brazil!

Tags: Durban, Johannesburg, SADC, World Cup

Now it´s almost three months that I arrived back to Southern Africa – to this amazing continent full of extrems: amazing people and hospitality – chaotic and ineffective organisation … incredible landscapes – poverty and health problems … lots of work – but also great short-time holidays. Even if my pictures speak different languages and showcase only the holiday-part I am actually working and enjoy it a lot. At GTZ and our partner, SADC, I am responsible to further develop their “Monitoring and Evaluation” systems to report, what our projects are doing with German tax-payer money and what impact they have in the SADC region. Besides I am involved in different public relation projects (like the Southern African Water Wire), lately also one to the World Cup as you see here with SADC 2010 and I am supporting activities for donor harmonisation.

In addition I also managed to fully arrive in Gaborone – with own house, car and ‘weekend-get-aways’. As you see in the pictures I am not only driving an own car again – after ten years – with the wheel on the steering-wrong side but I also live in a small house in the suburbs of Gaborone. These are quite some changes from the small room in Singapore with its great public transport to this new adventure. But as you know I like challenges and especially if I have to adapt myselfs to new settings – that keeps fresh and was exactly what I was looking for. After these first weeks I feel also well introduced to the life of Gaborone with its braai-parties, cinemas, game drives and even theatre-performances (see article about No 1 Ladies theatre). In the end of this month the adventure is getting even more exiting, as Susi will join me here, and so I am looking forward for more great months to see and experience a piece of Africa together.

Tags: Gaborone, GTZ, SADC

Rain, rain, rain – these were the first impressions that Jona got, when he finally arrived on 22nd April from Germany in Johannesburg. As this time of the year in Southern Africa the short autumn starts and will be followed by winter in June and July – it is getting pretty cold in the morning (around 2-3 degress) and the rain is doing us very well. He started his Africa trip from South Africa, through Botswana and later on Zimbabwe and Mozambique – so we used the weekend to visit the Mapungubwe park. This game reserve is situated in the north-east of South Africa and famous for is ancient history as well as the scenic red rocks. Especially the Mapungubwe Hill was a great experience, as this “UNESCO World Heritage” was the base for some far developed African civilisations between 1200 and 1270 AD. These kingdoms became rich through trade with faraway places like Egypt, India and China – so you see, that globalization is not only a child of our age. This “Lost City of Gold” is the place where archeologists excavated the famous golden rhino and other evidence of a wealthy African kingdom.

Despite the rain and the long distances to drive – the whole weekend around 3.000km – we enjoyed our time a lot and were fascinated by giraffs, anthilops and the magic of nature sounds, while camping during the night. After our return to Gaborone Jona went on to the “Victoria”-falls and later on Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Tags: Johannesburg, Mapungubwe, rain, South Africa

Shortly before Easter my car, Toyota RAV4, arrived and so I therefore decided to spend these days with friends in Namibia. That was mainly an adventure for the car and me, as we didn´t know each others at all before we departed for this 3.000km journey from Gaborone to Windhoek, from there to Sossusvlei and back to Gaborone. But it went amazing well and it was an incredible trip to the “German” Windhoek where it feels like you´re back in Germany, as a lot of culture and language is still present. Together with Martin and Kana, both working for UN agencies in Namibia, we departed after my 10hours drive from Windhoek to the desert – to the famous Sossusvlei. And we simply had stunning views, amazing sunrises, nice braais and could wash the dust away afterwards in the natural pools at the Naukluft-mountains. It is amazing how much different landscapes and cultures are coming together here in Southern Africa and I am happy to dive into them deeper in the next months.

Tags: Namibia, Naukluft, Soussusvlei, Windhoek