The month in two paragraphs
October was a month of tidying up my season in Canada before launching back to South Africa. The highlight was publishing a long piece on Namibia’s biomass energy opportunity, a story I’ve put together from my experiences and research in Namibia over the past two years.
Most days this month I was diving into the world of AI Agents, implementing systems for my writing, and building a biodigester for my mom’s garden. I started pulling lines of writing from my travels in Africa, India, and Canada over the last three years. Organizing past highlights keeps reminding me how much the road has shaped what I’m building now.
What was published
Some notes from projects and ideas on the go
Here’s some quick points from what I’ve worked on this month.
Nakawa
The logistics for Nakawa have proven to be the most tricky part of the whole project. The Mongongo oil press we bought through our Bitcoin crowdsourcing is ready in Windhoek, but getting it to a small town in Zambia is a different story.
The delivery to Nakawa is planned for the end of April 2027. It’s going to feel really good to finally get this project finished.
I’m also still working on the Nakawa children’s book. It’s tougher than I expected! I’m leveraging AI as much as I can, but I’ve had to restart the project from the ground up using more traditional methods. Still banging my head against this one and learning lots.
Mining Bitcoin on stranded energy
All my research in Namibia on biomass energy is based on a goal to leverage Bitcoin mining in a way that frees up energy for rural communities. The research has been rewarding, but the journey has been taxing.
That’s why I’m shifting focus to South Africa. More on that below. TLDR: I’m setting up a base in South Africa’s Northern Cape so I can better manage visa challenges and travel costs. Africa ain’t cheap!
BTC Mining as a Wildlife Conservation Tool
In Virunga, an existing run-of-river hydro plant was turned to Bitcoin mining after tourism revenue collapsed, generating the funds needed to pay rangers and keep the park’s operations alive so mountain gorillas stayed protected.
The same flexible ability to convert local surplus renewable energy into steady income can first support the people living around protected areas, with stronger wildlife conservation emerging as a direct result of that support.
For me, this is a use-case for Bitcoin mining that I’m most intrigued by. Bitcoin mining as a tool for wildlife conservation.
Some lines from the last three years
Packaging my entire life onto two wheels has become an obsession I love to iterate on.
As darkness fell soon after crossing into sparse southeastern Namibia, I felt the rush coming on.
Broke my ankle in a dirt parking lot in Windhoek. Somehow, I wasn’t all that disappointed.
Behind the scenes
This month I launched satsforbots.com (https://satsforbots.com), a directory and weekly newsletter for AI agents that pay with Bitcoin Lightning. View the X launch post.
I also built a biodigester for my mom’s garden that produces fertilizer and biogas from food and garden waste. I used blueprints from the Solar CITIES initiative.
One moment
Somewhere near Okahandja, Namibia, I found secret spot with a view I know I’ll be coming back to.
Coming next month: the Kalahari
I’m moving to the Kalahari, and I arrive next week. Wow.
There is a mystique that is universal about the Kalahari. It is a name that provokes knowing in many who know little else of Africa.
I don’t know how the Kalahari became so well known. It is as if everyone has heard of the Kalahari. You may have lived many lifetimes, or this may be your first. No matter, the Kalahari is a part of you.
What comes to mind when I think of the Kalahari is red and orange sand, Lions with black manes, Meerkats, Springbok, and the Khoisan (bushmen) peoples with their mystical stories and mysterious origins. I think of Laurens van der Post and his poetic books.