Christmas Holiday in The Gambia

Christmas is by most people associated with traditions and certain practices and rituals. Every year we do the same things in order to get into the 'right' spirit. Pinnekjøtt (rack of lamb ribs, Norwegian Christmas speciality), big family gatherings, Christmas concerts, Santa and angels, going to church, gingersnaps and a bunch of other cookies, presents, dressing up, candlelight and, of course, the Christmas Gospel are all part of the Dale family's tradition. However, last year we decided to skip most of this and just fly away. The choice, more or less by coincidence, fell on the African mainland’s smallest country, The Gambia. The 'party of tourists' were my mum and dad, my older brother Andreas and his wife Edel, my younger brother Preben and Katrine (my fiancé) and me. Here are a few photos showing our Gambian Christmas holiday.

Here we are!

Our women ...and the men

The closest we got to a white Christmas

Sunset Cruise on the River Gambia

A touch of African magic...

Some kids near the Aslaug School

...and we all agreed that it had been a relaxing, enjoyable, exciting and very memorable Christmas.

One Semester in South Africa

From July to December 2006 the city of Durban in South Africa was my home. Here follows a few snapshots from that experience. Enjoy...

From one of the townships outside Durban centre

Watering the South African flora


The University campus - University of KwaZulu-Natal

One of South Africa's coolest places; Coffee Bay. Me, Øystein and Semund

Surfing the famous Super Tubes of Jeffrey's Bay (it's unfortunately not me...)

As a first-timer on a horse-back, climbing the mountains of Lesotho was in the first place pretty stupid. But afer two days of intense horse riding I basically became one with Snip...

Little Miss Froggy and Mr. Beetle

Our guide, who was walking in front of me, was just a few inches away from stepping on this giant Python (between 4 and 5 meters long)

Snapshots from Southern Africa

As part of my Bachelor degree in Development Studies I did a fieldwork in Zambia. It was a group assignment about the concequences of the privatization of the Zambian Copper Industry. We also got to travel quite a bit around Southern Africa. What follows are a few snapshots from Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa.

The first picture is taken by Per Arne Juvang right before entering one of Zambias biggest copper mines, Konkola Copper Mine in Chnigola. The white guyes in the clean coveralls are me, Solveig and Heddy.

Hard work over 700 meters underground (photo: Per Arne Juvang)

Kids playing outside one of the copper plants in Kitwe, Copperbelt


Xhosa kids turning home as the sun sets behind Coffee Bay


Xhosa kids singing and dancing


On top of the magnificent Victoria Falls (Zambian side)


Traditional Zambian village


Cape Town seen from the infamous Robben Island

Og plutselig var jeg en blogger...

Hei og velkommen til min nye blogg!!

Etter hva jeg har forstått så ble blogging hipt allerede i 2004; her er jeg fire år senere...

Blogger kan brukes til så mangt. Tanken bak opprettelsen av denne bloggen er hovedsakelig å fornye min korrespondanse med dere mens jeg er ute på mine reiser. Om det blir i tilegg til eller i stedet for mail vil tiden vise. Det som er sikkert er at her kommer jeg til å legge ut en del bilder underveis. Det er vanskelig å si hvor ofte jeg kommer til å oppdatere siden, og kjenner jeg meg selv rett så blir det nok ikke så veldig ofte... men jeg kommer til å sende ut mail med beskjed om oppdateringer.
Noe som er veldig fint med blogg er at DU også kan skrive til meg. Dette kan du gjøre ved å bruke 'kommentar'-feltet under hver post. Postene som jeg legger ut kommer til å bli en salig blanding av norsk og engelsk, dette er av den logiske grunn at en del av dem som forhåpentligvis kommer til å besøke siden er sånne utlendinger.

Som mange kanskje vet så reiser jeg til Canberra i Australia i midten av februar. Her skal jeg fullføre min påbegynte Mastergrad- Master in International Affairs / Peace & Conflict Studies - ved Australian National University. Katrine, min forlovede, vil flytte ned til Canberra i løpet av høsten 2008, og hvis alt går etter planen så er jeg ferdig i desember 2008. Planen er da å backpacke sør-øst Asia i ett par måneder før vi returnerer til Norge og starter jakten på jobb og bosted...

Dette får holde for nå. Håper dere liker det dere ser, og igjen;

Karibu sana!!