Just a quick note to let you know I will be leaving early in the morning for Kianjavao, the field site where I will be joining the Prolemur simus team. That means no internet for probably a month, and no internet means no google so any information that is not in my brain or in a book there I will have to do without.

I am looking forward to getting out of the city and into the rainforest. Tana has terrible heartbreaking poverty and the acrid exhaust fumes hurt my throat whenever we leave our little rich people's compound. I see people without shoes and people picking discarded vegetable scraps out of the trash and it just makes me want to cry. It is not all bad though: most people seem quite cheerful and friendly. People are amazing in their ability to adapt to different situations and they are just going about their lives. It doesn't make the unfairness of it all OK though. This is something everyone should see, something I will never forget. If you live in a proper house and have enough to eat today, you are lucky. I know I will never feel poor again.

Love,

Sarah