Tree climbing step, not always!

Tree climbing step, not always!
Here is another hole made to climb the tree! I interviewed some fulanis about the use of these hole and its appeared that it is not always used. young people, learning how to climb, or unexperience fodder harvesters use that techniques mostly than experienced people. when i was conducting the fruiting study on Khaya senegalensis, i'have witnessed fulani people (my team members) climbing Khaya trees to pick the fruits for me, without making holes on the trunk!
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# Posté le dimanche 26 juin 2005 21:23

Sabi,..climbing without making holes

Sabi,..climbing without making holes
i was looking for someone to climb Khaya tree and help me with picking a sample of 10 fruits per fruiting trees with a minimum of 30 fruits on the top! yacoubou (one of my field assistant, and a very knowledgeble botanist) and i went to couple fulanis camp to get some people. We met Sabi at Sakarou, who turned out to be a keen tree climber. He has an unbelievable technique of climbing this 100 feet tall tree, and locating in some branches to collect the fruits. he did not make any hole on the trunk when climbing the trees.
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# Posté le dimanche 26 juin 2005 23:14

not easy to climb

not easy to climb
when you watch Sabi climbing the tree, you feel like it is an easy job. it is not and although sabi will tell you that it is, this is a very hard work to do. look at the muscles of Sabi when he is climbing and you will realise how much energy (a part from the techniques to use) you'll need when you'll be trying in on my samples Khaya trees somewhere in Benin.
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# Posté le dimanche 26 juin 2005 23:17

participant observation

participant observation
i was trying to climb the tree like the fulani people do when they want to feed their herd. it was really hard as you can see. this picture was taken in Boukoussiera dry forest in Tchaourou district (Central Benin, Dec 2004). i use to climb trees when i was kid. maybe staying in America and eating hamburgers did not do me a good in term of climbing skills! i'm training and the next time i will try it, i'll do it and you'll see the picture.
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# Posté le dimanche 26 juin 2005 23:21

Modifié le mercredi 29 juin 2005 07:43

yacoubou "yac" boni, distinguished field botanist

yacoubou "yac" boni, distinguished field botanist
have you seen someone who can tell you the scientific names, and ethnobotanical uses of every single plant you show him in the forest? are you looking for someone who know the key forest ecosystems in Benin? are you looking for a hardworker, very talented field assistant, good at setting research plots, playing the interpreter role, etc? you're certainly looking for yacoubou boni aka yac. i did my field work in 2004 with yac. here is the face you should put on the name! he's simply a great guy! we spent months, surveying Khaya senegalensis in Benin. we used to walk about 15 Km a day, along gallery forest, savannahs, looking for suitable Khaya populations.
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# Posté le dimanche 26 juin 2005 23:29

Modifié le mercredi 29 juin 2005 07:45