A little past 6:00 a.m. this morning, those hearty and dedicated souls who were attempting to combat the magnificent, but rich, food we have been enjoying on board found themselves in the Wellness Center. In the early morning hub of activity, guests enjoyed a spectacular glow of orange, pink and purple as the sun peeked out over the sea horizon and welcomed us. Unfortunately those who slept in missed this as the warm and moist air and clouds quickly settled in for this full but overcast day at sea.
The full days at sea offer us a chance to relax, catch up on some reading, or attempt to process and edit our photos and videos before we forget where they were taken. They also offer a full roster of presentations from the staff and guest lecturers. The first of two morning presentations introduced us to the painful history of the Congo River basin. In his lengthy presentation, Marty Klein suggested the region may have witnessed more suffering and misery than any place else on earth–an unfortunate historical legacy that continues to the present in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Bryan Shuler then made an interesting presentation about three successive kingdoms that dominated inland portions of western Africa from the sixth to the sixteenth centuries: the Kingdom of Ghana, the Kingdom of Mali and finally the Kingdom of Songhai, in which the fabled city of Timbuktu reached its zenith.
After a delicious meal of hamburgers for lunch, Michael Watts presented a lively discussion of problems associated with urbanization and urban development in modern Africa, in particular how Africa will deal with the explosive growth of cities like Lagos and Kinshasa, where millions live in slums and thousands more arrive daily. After this, I spoke about some myths and realities associated with Creole languages and how they developed as a direct result of the colonial slave trade, and the role they play in reggae music.
Jacob Edgar continued the musical theme as we journeyed through the soundscape of the central African forests and the modern urban centers of Equitoreal Africa. His music lecture in the evening, which followed the typically excellent dinner we have come expect on this voyage, provided us with a wonderful array of songs and a fascinating selection of music from Congo, Gabon and Cameroon, both contemporary and traditional. We will all without question keep these sounds in our minds and hearts as we reach port in Congo tomorrow.
Without a doubt the highlight of today was the visit at the bow by first a pod of dolphins and followed by a very accommodating and large Bryde's or tropical baleen whale. The Bryde's whale sped along side the ship for quite a while so that anyone who wanted to snap a photo of this magnificent creature in action had the chance. All in all, an eventful and entertaining day at sea.
