Dear colleagues,

There are now 14 months left before the 13th International Hibernation Symposium in Swakopmund, Namibia, and a progress report is perhaps in order. The conference website – www.ihs2008.com - has been active for some time, and is now being regularly updated. First, and most importantly, the venue (Swakopmund Hotel) is confirmed and the deposit paid. Our original venue, Mokuti Lodge, fell through because the parent company wanted a deposit equivalent to 25% of the total accommodation bill by November 2006, nearly two years before the booked dates. Since they were not prepared to negotiate this exorbitant deposit, we decided to move the conference to another Namibian venue. Swakopmund is a charming town on Namibia’s Atlantic coast, and was a very close second to Mokuti Lodge on our original list of potential venues.

We will be opening registration in July this year. However, a more important date right now is the submission deadline for book chapters – 31 October 2007. We realize that this is an early deadline compared to previous meetings. Please understand, however, that we have based it on worst-case scenarios in terms of the time required for a) the review and editing processes to be completed, and b) the book to be printed and delivered to us.

We will post travel information on the website as it becomes available. Swakopmund is served by an international airport in the nearby town of Walvis Bay, and this will be the major access point for the meeting. There are daily flights to Walvis Bay from Windhoek, Namibia and Johannesburg, South Africa. The latter is likely to be the most feasible hub for most delegates, since most major airlines or their partners fly there. We appreciate that getting to southern Africa can be expensive, and are approaching South African Airways and Air Namibia for discounted package fares from North America, Europe and Australia. Also please note that the company organizing the conference logistics, Turners Conferences, have their own in-house travel agency, and will be well-positioned to obtain the most competitive airfares.

Finally, a reminder that there are two other conferences taking place in Africa a few weeks before the Hibernation Symposium. The first is the International Congress of Entomology in Durban, South Africa (http://www.ice2008.org.za/) and the second the 4th International Conference in Africa for Comparative Physiology & Biochemistry (http://www.natural-events.com/mara/) in Kenya.

We look forward to welcoming you to Swakopmund next year.

Best regards,

Andrew and Barry