SKP Guy (@skpguy.bsky.social)

SKP Guy

@skpguy.bsky.social

Writer, Geographer, Traveller. Human human being

7.1K followers 2.2K following2.4K posts

SKP Guy

@skpguy.bsky.social

alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife on Mars – Fishing with NoddyThe other use for the Pier Head is as the focus of the island’s fishing industry. On our first full day Edsel and I were looking around Georgetown and ended up at the Pier Head just as a cou…

SKP Guy

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/a...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comAirplanes – Kibondo and Leg TwoDespite this being a tiny flight, we were told in his best hostess manner that for those passengers in transit we shall be on the ground for twenty minutes and please do not leave the plane. So wh…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/10/04/a...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comAirplanes – Looking for the stripThe GPS was now reading less than five minutes to go. The pilot had already started to lower the craft out of the sky. I put my hand to my forehead to shelter my eyes from the sun and peered out …

SKP Guy

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/19/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife on Mars – Georgetown discoveredThe stone buildings down by the pier head have survived much better. The St Georges Tank pokes up above the rest, where water from Green Mountain was stored for use in the town. And the Main Stor…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/18/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife on Mars – In Gentle DeclineAnd so the island’s infrastructure, where not directly fed from outside interests, tends to decay. Ascension’s history is lying all over the place. The bric a brac of ruins is the leg…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/a...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comAirplanes – Leg OneHe handed me a small Tupperware box with several Cadbury Eclair sweets inside. I passed them back into the cabin and everyone took one. “Breakfast” said the pilot. He looked around the aircraft o…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/10/02/a...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comAirplanes – A very important jobI said goodbye to the driver, who had been a good ally over the last few days, and wandered as nonchalantly as I could manage around the nose of the plane. I couldn’t suppress the wide eyed grin c…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife On Mars – No right of abodeThis whole issue of Ascension being a working island makes for a bit of a quandary. Everything seems so temporary on Ascension. Nobody owns any property, everything is leased through the US or UK …

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/16/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife On Mars – Business and RightsThe Conservation Office where Edsel and I would work was on the main strip coming into town, so very little escaped us unless it came down the hill from Two Boats Village down the one way ro…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/a...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comAirplanes- Weighing up the passengersThe pilot walked immediately off, and everyone took that as their cue to offload the bags and march behind him up to the plane on the hard. The pilot went straight into the business of preparing t…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/a...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comAirplanes – Waking up the AirportWe arrived first and when the noise of the engine stopped the deathly quiet was disturbing. Then it was immensely pleasurable as I remembered a sequence of beautiful mornings in Zimbabwe several …

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/15/l...

SKP Guy

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/14/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife on Mars – Getting into the NightlifeFor a bit more money, attending one of the Tasty Tucker Wednesday Food Nights was a treat. A set three course menu was put out, with everyone sitting down together and proper table cloths and napk…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/a...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comAirplanes – Change of planUnfortunately there was one part of the equation that had been omitted; the efficiency of Air Tanzania. I was disturbed to find out when I reached Bujumbura in Burundi that my Air Tanzania flight …

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/28/a...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comAirplanes – Early Morning Call“Knock Knock”. I was already up but Leonard wanted another tip. I struggled to put some trousers on and went to the door. My half naked self met Leonard’s half naked self. “Yes” “your early mo…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife on Mars – The Obsidian and Tasty TuckerWe were booked into the Obsidian Hotel, the only true hotel on the whole island. It was once an Officer’s Mess and, apart from the RAF commander’s house and the Administration Complex…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife on Mars – Welcome to Georgetown30 minutes later we repeated out taxi to the runway. Every single person had their fingers crossed and were daring to hope we might leave. It was now about 70 hours since Edsel and I had first le…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/27/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – Won’t do this againIf you want to read the first post in Sand in the Sandwiches, click here After Mauritania, I did one more trip for NRI as an employee, and two further trips as a consultant for them. Then I moved …

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – Soaking up others’ relaxationWe walked along the strand for a good half mile, joining many families from the city out doing the same. It was the first time in Africa I had really seen people out daytripping. In most places I …

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife on Mars – Will we ever get there?About 150 people gathered under the portico of the hotel, but no buses arrived for nearly half an hour. We contemplated walking to the terminal and in fact we saw some head off alone, but in the e…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/l...

SKP Guy

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – Trip to the Port Au PecheWe had little time to explore the country outside of work. With just two short weeks we had to hit the ground running. Additionally we got our weekends confused. Mauritania, being Muslim, had Fr…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/s...

SKP Guy

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/09/l...

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife on Mars -Trouble from the startAfter several months of waiting for approval, we finally were allowed to travel to Ascension around mid summer of 2005. Now Ascension Island has no commercial flight; it is in many regards a close…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – Changes in CommunicationMauritania was one of the last trips I did with NRI, and I found it incredible how my work had changed since that first trip to Harare in 1993. In those days a new technology was just becoming ava…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – Vignettes and LogjamsAll the buildings had little to merit them architecturally, they were simple square concrete flat roofed blocks. Some were three storeys, most were one. Apart from the Europcar rental place oppos…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/07/l...

SKP Guy

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/06/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife on Mars – Proposition over a daiquiriBrendan put together some great projects for BVI and we discussed at length the overlap between our pet subjects, GIS, environmental management and conservation. I had done a lot of work in Africa…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – the Mosque and the ApartmentThe most beautiful building in Nouakchott was outside my bedroom window. The Central Mosque, one of two major mosques in the city, was not made out of the nearly ubiquitous concrete, but a warm r…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/20/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – Living in the CityThe best place to see it was the Locust compound itself. It was situated on the far side of town, beyond one of these sprawling squatter settlements. Although nicely shaded by acacia trees, on t…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/05/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife on Mars – Turtle Hunting on AnegadaAnother time with Brendan I accompanied him to Anegada, the second largest island in the BVIs; a flat coralline landmass amongst shallow turquoise water. At that time there were no regular ferries…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2016/04/04/l...

alanpmills.wordpress.comLife on Mars – BrendanThis tale starts with a strawberry daiquiri. Or soon gets to the strawberry daiquiri. I had been working as the National GIS coordinator in the British Virgin Islands (or BVI) for about four mont…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – the Milton Keynes of the DesertNouakchott was a kind of Milton Keynes in the desert. This was partly due to the nature of colonial rule in the former French colony. The old city of St Louis on what is now the border between Se…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – Ba, Bob and RoseSo Mauritania was the first time I really saw a working locust centre. Ould Babah commanded an impressive set up, with field stations out in the desert hundreds of miles from Nouakchott. Ba, the…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/acknowledgem...

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/about/

alanpmills.wordpress.comIntroductionI have got into a horrible habit. I spend so much time abroad that travelling becomes an obsessive topic of conversation. I always want to start a sentence with those dreaded words “When I went t…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches -The little cog at the endI skirted the edge of this work, as NRI had no major involvement in campaigns and research when I first arrived, but instead were given to advising on biogeographical matters. But the work starte…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – Digging into the archivesIn the massive ranks of plan presses next to the record archive were thousands of survey maps; one a month, overlaid with strong tracing paper, the intersections of a few latitudes and longitudes …

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2017/11/04/t... Keep on travelling #travel #roadlesstravelled

alanpmills.wordpress.comWhen I Went ToTHE END

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2017/11/03/b...

alanpmills.wordpress.comBeating off the waves – A country worth savingThe answers were all around me. The true Maldives is a bustling, proud and possibly unique nation. Although Male was a heavily urbanised capital on a tiny space, it had an amazing life force insi…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – Science against the locustIn terms of intervention in locust plagues, there were many aspects of research and activity. Some focused on lab work in locust biology; seeing how long they could fly without food, how they cou…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – Learning about the locustsLocusts, like a whole bunch of insects, have two distinct phases which are crucial for determining how much damage has been done. In their solitary phase, they hang around in small groups, spaced…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2017/11/02/b...

alanpmills.wordpress.comBeating off the waves – Beating off the wavesThe little area of grass I was on was inundated with sea water. It was not from the earlier rain; this had all dried up. The little swell there was allowed waves to cross the low footpath and sat…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2017/11/01/b...

alanpmills.wordpress.comBeating off the waves – Where Maleans go to play in the seaThe next evening I explored the south east quadrant. Again I weaved through the tight streets to start with, and found that the buildings rapidly changed from the usual mix of apartments, offices …

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/13/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – Getting used to the customs and the Great Locust ArchiveMauritania blew away so many of my preconceptions. Before my arrival, I had always had some concerns about visiting a devoutly Muslim country. Although I know how to check myself, I am prone to …

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches -how to forget a bad journeyAll the time, Ould Babah sat amongst the group absorbing the effect of his own benevolence. The talk switched from locusts to Mauritania to our own efforts at getting to Nouakchott. I had been s…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2017/10/31/b...

alanpmills.wordpress.comBeating of the waves – Rush for the sunsetIn the low sunlight of late afternoon, I marvelled at the colour in the scene. Not just the produce on the roadside or the colourful outfits of the Maleans, but the array of paint used on the boat…

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alanpmills.wordpress.com/2017/10/30/b...

alanpmills.wordpress.comBeating off the waves – The tapestry of the harbourI walked the whole north coast that evening. From the bustle of the ferry terminals with shuttles heading out to other islands every couple of minutes, I passed the relative calm of the Male coast…

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alanpmillsuk.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/s...

alanpmillsuk.wordpress.comSand in the Sandwiches – Savouring the dinnerFrom one corner of the rooftop, bright lights emanated from a corridor no doubt leading to the kitchen. A whole host of people kept emerging from this hole with all manner of plates and bowls. F…