by Ria Olivier | Sep 17, 2024 | Announcement, Marion Island, Newsletters>Marion Island Newsletters
In this Issue of the Marion 81 Newsletter
Download The Wanderer
- A message from the Team Leader.
“It’s a great honour and privilege to be M81 Team Leader. We are done with the first quarter of our expedition and so far everyone is doing well …… I want to express my gratitude to all those who are cheering us on in this journey; our families, our colleagues and our friends back home. It is not an easy journey but it is a rare and beautiful experience. With courage and determination we will continue and we will finish stronger than we started. “ Read more in the newsletter
- In a nutshell.
- An ode to Duct Tape.
- Meet the team.
- A true endemic – Marion’s flightless moth.
- How many people does it take to change a heater?
- A killer-whaler’s magical world.
- Explo Roundy! A new word for Island or Round Island exploration!
- A birder’s introduction.
- The ESSENTIAL guide to escaping a mire.
- World Albatross Day.
- An Over-island Tale.
- Lastly… a weather update by SAWS.
Read the answers by team members to the following:
Why did you come to Marion?- Best thing about Marion?
- What do you miss the most?
- Worst thing about Marion?
- What do you wish you had brought?
- What is the best food here?
- What food do you miss?
Weather on Marion Island
by Ria Olivier | Apr 19, 2024 | Marion Island, Newsletters>Marion Island Newsletters, Overwintering Team
Message form M80 leader to the new team: “I and many will forever be grateful to have been part of the South African National Antarctic Program (SANAP). ALL THE BEST TO M81!!!” – Sandile Nkebe
Marion Newsletter now available
From the Editor: “We would like to dedicate the third and final issue of M80’s cohort of the Wanderer to M81. Marion is anything you want it to be, so make it special. It goes quick.” = Zafier Maurier (right)
- Conversations on the Rock
- Class of M80
- Spot the difference by Zafar Monier
- Poem by Dylan seaton
- Peanut Butter Squares
- The Looter’s Guide to Marion Island
- The Realm of Mythical Marion
Field Assistant’s Guide Marion Field Hut Recipe Book
The Field Guide and Recipe Book update by Marion 80 Overwintering Team.
by Ria Olivier | Feb 14, 2024 | Marion Island, Newsletters>Marion Island Newsletters, Overwintering Team, SANAP, Uncategorised
The 2nd issue of The Wanderer by the Marion80 Overwintering team is now available online. It is a bumper issue with 64 pages to read and to enjoy the amazing photo’s taken by the team members.
Read the editor’s note by Zafar Monier “about the experiences of the people living one of the most extreme lifestyles, unexpected guests, new(born) arrivals, and even some goodbyes” .
Great message by the team leader Sandile Nkebe “Being on Marion Island has taught me to persevere, to be patient and to master the use of “alternatives”.
The Edition includes the visit by the Scientific team to Prince Edward Island.
Click here to Download
In this Issue:
- Clockwise vs Anti-clockwise by Zafar Monier
- Roaring winds by Yinhla Shihlomule
- Ode to the Paddy Counter by Michelle Risi
- How to Samsara by Michelle Risi
- There’s always another one by Zafar Monier
- Natures Midwife by Dylan Seaton
- Whatever Doesn’t Kill You Makes You a Beachmaster by Tammy Eggeling
- Gear Maketh Man by Zafar Monier
- Unexpected Guests by Kelly Mogotsi and Williem Krige
by Ria Olivier | Oct 5, 2023 | Announcement, Marion Island, News, Newsletters>Marion Island Newsletters, Overwintering Team, Prince Edward Islands, SAPolarRI, Science, Southern Ocean, Stations, sub-Antarctic, Team member
The 80th Marion Island overwintering team has published their first newsletter.
Content included in The Wanderer Spring Edition:
- Editor’s Note and Message from the Team Leader
“Hello from the little swampy volcano in the Southern Indian Ocean we call home, or Marion Island. The year has kicked off and the overwinterers have settled into their routines, just in time for it all to change. The Spring Edition of The Wanderer marks the beginning of a massive influx of wildlife onto the island, eager to breed and moult on this isle of paradise. Follow on as the chaos descends for field researchers alike and the hustle continues at the Base at Cabbage Point” ‐ Zafar Monier.
- Meet the team
- Marion’s Magnificent Birds
“Marion Island is home to 40% of the world’s Wandering Albatross population” Zafar Monier.
“M80 has the opportunity to conduct upper air ascends on our expedition twice a day, everyday of the year. Weather balloons are released simultaneously from different locations worldwide! On Marion Island we release the balloon at 12H00Z and 00H00Z (15H00 and 03H00 Marion local time)” – the 2023/2024 South African Weather Service Meteorological team members on Marion Island.
Click on the link below to download the first M80 newsletter.
M80 Newsletter: The Wanderer Spring Edition
The 80th Marion Island overwintering team. This photo was taken before the last helicopter flight to the S.A. Agulhas II, at the end of the 2023 takeover. The ship departed from Marion Island to Cape Town late afternoon of 12 May 2023. Image: Michelle Risi.
Anche Louw, Co-Principal Investigator of Antarctic Legacy of South Africa and Digital Marketing and Communications Manager of the South African Polar Research Infrastructure, 05 October 2023.
by Ria Olivier | May 18, 2023 | Announcement, Marion Island, News, Newsletters>Marion Island Newsletters, Overwintering Team, Research, SA Agulhas II, SANAP, SAPolarRI, SAPRI, sub-Antarctic, Team member, Team Photo
The 79th Marion Island overwintering team arrived on Marion Island on 21 April 2022.
They are back in Cape Town, after spending 386 days on the island and 6 nights on the S.A. Agulhas II for the journey home.
If you want to know more about the work this team did on the island, check out their newsletters (click on the link below).
Marion79 Newsletters
The featured image is the team’s official team photo and displayed on the wall inside the sub-Antarctic Marion Island research station.
Team Photo:
Top row (L-R): Banele Dosi (MIMMP Sealer), Samuel Peta (O & C Birder – DFFE), Sanele Action Mkhize (Diesel Mechanic), Siphesihle Faltein (Assistant Meteorological Technician – SAWS), Lucy Smyth (MAPRU/NMU Birder), Michael Ross (MIMMP Sealer).
Middle row (L-R): Monica Leitner (MIMMP Killer whaler/Sealer), Mndeni ‘Amani’ Hlatshwayo (Medical Orderly), Thendo Sikhwari (Senior Meteorological Technician – SAWS), Andile Ace Mdluli (O & C Birder – DFFE), Gladys Kemei (Communications Engineer and Deputy Team Leader), Tankiso H. Moso (SANSA Electronics Engineer and Science Team Leader), Ntlangemhlophe Sanele Sukude Nombekela (Chef), Mishumo Masithembi (Environmental Control Officer).
Bottom row (L-R): Gcobani Tshangana (Assistant Environmental Control Officer), Austin Acro Gumba (UKZN Astrophysicist), Tanganedzani Tshitavhe (Assistant Meteorological Technician – SAWS), Tshimangadzo Jufter Munyai (Base Engineer and Team Leader), Elsa van Ginkel (MFM Ecologist).
Inserts (left): Abuyiselwe Nguna (Geomorphologist); (right): Vhuawelo Simba (MFM Ecologist). These team members were evacuated from the island in July 2022, due to injuries obtained.
MAPRU/NMU – Marine Apex Predator Research Unit / Nelson Mandela University; MFM – The Mouse-free Marion Project; MIMMP – Marion Island Marine Mammal Programme; DFFE – Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment; O & C Birder – Oceans and Coasts Birder; SANSA – South African National Space Agency; SAWS – South African Weather Service; UKZN – University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Images taken on arrival – 18 May 2023
Featured image credit: Tshimangadzo Jufter Munyai (Base Engineer and Team Leader).
Arrival images credit: South African Polar Research Infrastructure research coordinators.
Anche Louw, South African Polar Research Infrastructure (SAPRI DPS Node), 18 May 2023
by Ria Olivier | Jan 28, 2023 | Announcement, Marion Island, Newsletters>Marion Island Newsletters, Overwintering Team, SANAP, sub-Antarctic
October and November were two enormously busy months. The elephant seals’ breeding season came to an abrupt end and immediately shifted to the moulting season. Brown skua nests and small chicks have started to appear widespread across the island. Flowers are in full bloom from the coast to the midlands; and the new Wandering Albatross breeding pairs have suddenly made their appearance on the Marion plains, while the past year’s Wanderer-juveniles have almost all fledged by now. The team is in high spirits as we approach the festive season and we are enjoying sunnier days. The wind speeds, however, have kept their ‘Roaring Forties’ name, respectably high. Enjoy this edition of The Wanderer! – Elsa van Ginkel
In this Issue – download Newsletter here
- A word from the editors
- Meet the Astrophysicist and the SAWS team
- Fashionable Field Gear
- Marion’s Marvelous Birds
- Memorable Shots!
- Battle of The Bulls
- A Job to ‘Killer Whale’
- Island Life
- Celebrations
- Circle of Life – Round Island for the Readers
- What have the team been up to in October and November?
- Memorable shots
