Into the Wild...Field Gemology Expedition to East Africa...

For those of you who aren't familiar with Vincent Pardieu B.Sc., GGA, G.G. - he is the self proclaimed "Shameless Travel Addicted Gemologist" . Vincent is "Supervisor, Field Gemology" at GIA Laboratory Bangkok. He is a gemologist specializing in "origin determination of gemstones".

His site Field Gemology is where he posts details of his travels and is also home for Vincent's regular traveling companions: David Bright, Jean Baptiste Senoble, Richard W. Hughes, Guillaume Soubiraa, Walter Balmer, Michael Rogers, Kham Vannaxay and many others like recently: Philippe Ressigeac, Oliver Segura , Flavie Isatelle and Lou Pierre Bryl.

Currently he is on a GIA Field Expedition to East Africa...an excerpt follows.

GIA FE09 (GIA Laboratory Bangkok Field Expedition 09): Part 01: Aug. 29 - Sep. 02, 2009: Tanzania:

This is the first part of the GIA Field Expedition to East Africa, I'm leading for the GIA Laboratory Bangkok: I arrived in Arusha, Tanzania from Bangkok with Canadian gemologist Lou Pierre Bryl on Aug. 28th 2009 in the morning. We were joined there in the evening by Swiss gemologist Stephane Jacquat.

Our first task was to prepare the things for the coming expedition to Mozambique and Tanzania scheduled for Sept 2009. We met our usual local Tanzanian contacts: Mark Saul from "Swala Gem Traders", Abdul Y. Msellem, a Tanzanian broker I had already as guide in 2005, 2007 and 2008 and Moussa our driver (from Fortes Safaris). Thanks to their support after a short visit to the Arusha mining officer and few phone calls to different miners, we got rapidly everything ready regarding our vehicle, our schedule, the necessary paperwork to enter the mining areas.

Few hours after our arrival we could start our visit with the Arusha market and the "Tanzanite Experience", a very interesting museum dedicated to Tanzanite located just opposite of the Tanzanite One office in Arusha. There we could have a very interesting visit. That museum really worth the visit as at the end we had the pleasure to be able to see and manipulate a very fine and large Tanzanite crystal which is used for demonstration.

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For more go to FieldGemology.org - the journey continues...

Make the time to check out this information --- whether you are an adventurist, climber, collector, jeweler or gemologist you will find a story here that will thrill you!