Jorge Sousa and George Way, on May 28th, 2017 traveled from Lisbon, Portugal to Johannesburg, South Africa. The purpose of the four day trip was to meet with Alex Visser to review the location of next year’s 2018 Rubberized Asphalt Rubber (RAR2018) Conference. Alex has kindly volunteered to coordinate the meeting in South Africa. Alex met Jorge and George at the Johannesburg airport and drove them to the Conference game preserve resort located next to the Kruger National Park. The drive took takes about six to seven hours, however the resort can also be reached by plane from Johannesburg. The Conference is being held at the Marriott Protea Hotel which is very modern, with the unique quality of literally being inside of a game preserve, so the African animals can be viewed in the wild. The Conference will take place from September 25th to 28th, 2018. The Rubberized Asphalt Foundation along with Consulpav International are helping with the coordination of the Conference along with Alex’s South African support group. After reviewing the hotel accommodations, we drove to Pretoria and stayed overnight. While in Pretoria we met with the staff of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) which is a leading research organization supporting a sustainable future for South Africa. We encouraged members of the CSIR to participate in the Conference. This was a quick trip but very informative. For additional Conference information see the Conference website Consulpav.com/rar2018, or contact either Jorge Sousa at jmbsousa@aol.com or Alex Visser at alex.visser@up.ac.za.
Jorge Sousa and Alex Visser enjoying some quiet time after a long day of travel.
Wildlife as seen from Marriott Protea Hotel resort deck overlooking game preserve.