The bushsnob living up to his nickname and pretending to write something interesting in the bush at the beautiful Nkwichi Lodge in Mozambique. (see http://www.nkwichi.com/)

Three main reasons convinced me to start writing.

The first reason is that my parents did not leave a structured record of their lives and I would have liked to know more about them. This blog is an attempt at leaving information about my life to my children so, if they are interested, they can consult these notes.

The second reason is to share my thoughts and knowledge with interested readers. Many years spent working and traveling in Eastern and Southern Africa allowed me to gain valuable experience on its people, its ways and its wild places. Visiting the latter has been my hobby over these years and I was lucky to find a job that enabled me to do this, a family that loved it and friends to share it with.

The third reason is a purely selfish one. I retired 12 months ago and I am having a great time away from a conventional job in an office as I did for the last years of my employment with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Although I do not rule out becoming engaged in a job that interests me, I am told that I should remain mentally active to avoid becoming “brain lazy” and gradually become “brain-paralized” to probably end up “brain dead”. The blog is, therefore, my way to counteract this threat to my mind. I trust that the readers will keep alert to let me know if they detect signs of this decay creeping in…

Being a retiree now I can blame my failings on old age! Here we go. I am not experienced in blogging but I am told that I should start and things will improve as I go along. Believing this to be the case, here I am. The plan is -now at least- to have various sections. I will be posting pieces from current activities or thoughts as well as trip reports, past memories, interesting facts and events. Further on, a “Pages” section will contain general background information that the reader can consult to know more about the reasons for this blog (this document), my career, the title, etc. I will include room for comments and other sections as soon as I become familiar with their use.

There will be links of interest and relevance accompanied by an explanation of their presence and I will provide you with a contact e-mail so that you can contact me with comments and questions. Things may evolve in this front and I may include a forum later on.

I write in English although it is not my mother tongue. I do this as I am quite familiar with it and because I believe that what I will say is more amenable to an English language audience. I will see how things go and I may decide to translate the entries to Spanish if time allows.

All information I provide is mine and I am responsible for any errors and prepared to amend them. Before writing I get as much information as possible from the sources available to me (internet, books, magazines, family and friends). I often find myself reading Wikipedia and I will acknowledge references as well as I can.

All text and photographs and other graphic materials used are mine, except when otherwise acknowledged. I am not a photographer and I do not modify the pictures. If you wish to use the material found in this blog, please ask me for permission.

As the situations I describe sometimes involve people, I decided to give all of them fictitious names or mentioning them as “children”, “friends” to maintain privacy. If they read this blog, they will identify themselves and I am sure they will understand.

I hope you enjoy it and look forward to your comments, suggestions and observations in due course.