Leonie Joubert
@leoniejoubert.bsky.social
Science writer, journalist, disobedient woman. Quit business-as-usual to report from the frontline of the climate crisis is Africa - from a van. Follow the @StoryArkDiaries
Fabulously flotsam, the latest Captain's Log from the Story Ark journey.
Read it now on storyark.co.za 🌞
www.storyark.co.za/captains-log...
Read it now on storyark.co.za 🌞
www.storyark.co.za/captains-log...
November 13, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Fabulously flotsam, the latest Captain's Log from the Story Ark journey.
Read it now on storyark.co.za 🌞
www.storyark.co.za/captains-log...
Read it now on storyark.co.za 🌞
www.storyark.co.za/captains-log...
Story Ark was featured on Sarah Kent's Substack, A Field of Dreams: open.substack.com/pub/sarahlke...
“My dream is that every woman listening here can be fired up to push back against the social norms that try to tell them to dress, groom, think, behave and comport themselves in certain ways.”
“My dream is that every woman listening here can be fired up to push back against the social norms that try to tell them to dress, groom, think, behave and comport themselves in certain ways.”
October 22, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Story Ark was featured on Sarah Kent's Substack, A Field of Dreams: open.substack.com/pub/sarahlke...
“My dream is that every woman listening here can be fired up to push back against the social norms that try to tell them to dress, groom, think, behave and comport themselves in certain ways.”
“My dream is that every woman listening here can be fired up to push back against the social norms that try to tell them to dress, groom, think, behave and comport themselves in certain ways.”
Then this happened. Just in case anyone thought #StoryArk is #ElizabethGilbert doing an #EatPrayLove tour of Rome's pizzeria, it most certainly isn't. Far more gritty, living extreme weather while reporting on it. @coveringclimatenow.org #daillymaverick #storyarkdiaries #climatejournalism
October 21, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Then this happened. Just in case anyone thought #StoryArk is #ElizabethGilbert doing an #EatPrayLove tour of Rome's pizzeria, it most certainly isn't. Far more gritty, living extreme weather while reporting on it. @coveringclimatenow.org #daillymaverick #storyarkdiaries #climatejournalism
One year and 20,000km in. #StoryArk is still 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years, all the stories. But now, with a stowaway.
#climatecrisis #mobilejournalism @henrynxumalofund.bsky.social #schoolforclimatestudies @TEDx #TEDxCountdown @coveringclimatenow.org
#climatecrisis #mobilejournalism @henrynxumalofund.bsky.social #schoolforclimatestudies @TEDx #TEDxCountdown @coveringclimatenow.org
October 8, 2025 at 8:26 AM
One year and 20,000km in. #StoryArk is still 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years, all the stories. But now, with a stowaway.
#climatecrisis #mobilejournalism @henrynxumalofund.bsky.social #schoolforclimatestudies @TEDx #TEDxCountdown @coveringclimatenow.org
#climatecrisis #mobilejournalism @henrynxumalofund.bsky.social #schoolforclimatestudies @TEDx #TEDxCountdown @coveringclimatenow.org
Traditional healer Malibongwe Ndovela collects plants for medicines and mystical charms that grow in the grasslands and forests at the Mtentu River mouth, a popular overnight stop for hikers.
Read: news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
Read: news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
September 30, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Traditional healer Malibongwe Ndovela collects plants for medicines and mystical charms that grow in the grasslands and forests at the Mtentu River mouth, a popular overnight stop for hikers.
Read: news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
Read: news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
Mouse has a sister-by-another-mister. How do you weigh a kitten to work out their formula needs, when one is in the middle of nowhere? Kitty in the left hand, 400g of beans in the right. Meet Birdie. #vanlife #adventurecats #storyark #storyarkdiaries
September 29, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Mouse has a sister-by-another-mister. How do you weigh a kitten to work out their formula needs, when one is in the middle of nowhere? Kitty in the left hand, 400g of beans in the right. Meet Birdie. #vanlife #adventurecats #storyark #storyarkdiaries
When trees have navels.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
September 26, 2025 at 1:27 PM
When trees have navels.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
Xolobeni’s rusty titanium-rich coastal dunes are synonymous with the amaMpondo’s 20-year battle to keep extractive mining out of their ancestral lands.
Read: ‘Everything is a being’ for South Africa’s amaMpondo fighting to protect nature.
news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
Read: ‘Everything is a being’ for South Africa’s amaMpondo fighting to protect nature.
news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
September 25, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Xolobeni’s rusty titanium-rich coastal dunes are synonymous with the amaMpondo’s 20-year battle to keep extractive mining out of their ancestral lands.
Read: ‘Everything is a being’ for South Africa’s amaMpondo fighting to protect nature.
news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
Read: ‘Everything is a being’ for South Africa’s amaMpondo fighting to protect nature.
news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
In the presence of the elders. #Emkhuze #mkhuze sycamore fig forest, KZN. #storyarkdiaries #storyark #climatecrisis #climatejournalism #SchoolforClimateStudies @henrynxumalofund.bsky.social
September 24, 2025 at 7:38 AM
In the presence of the elders. #Emkhuze #mkhuze sycamore fig forest, KZN. #storyarkdiaries #storyark #climatecrisis #climatejournalism #SchoolforClimateStudies @henrynxumalofund.bsky.social
Trade in your cute little kitty heels for some no-fun flats. They’ll take you places your city shoes never could.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
September 23, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Trade in your cute little kitty heels for some no-fun flats. They’ll take you places your city shoes never could.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
The amaMpondo want economic development, but on their own terms, with many preferring light-touch tourism over extractive mining.
news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
September 22, 2025 at 11:34 AM
The amaMpondo want economic development, but on their own terms, with many preferring light-touch tourism over extractive mining.
news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
One person’s whimsy is another’s weed. Aliens, everywhere! We shipped them around the world, now they’ve gone feral. Our bad, not theirs. Now are we counting the tally.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
September 19, 2025 at 10:58 AM
One person’s whimsy is another’s weed. Aliens, everywhere! We shipped them around the world, now they’ve gone feral. Our bad, not theirs. Now are we counting the tally.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
Herbalists burn imphepho, African sage (Helichrysum odoratissimum), as an incense during prayer. This fragrant herb grows wild in the Mpondoland grasslands.
Read: ‘Everything is a being’ for South Africa’s amaMpondo fighting to protect nature.
news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
Read: ‘Everything is a being’ for South Africa’s amaMpondo fighting to protect nature.
news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
September 18, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Herbalists burn imphepho, African sage (Helichrysum odoratissimum), as an incense during prayer. This fragrant herb grows wild in the Mpondoland grasslands.
Read: ‘Everything is a being’ for South Africa’s amaMpondo fighting to protect nature.
news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
Read: ‘Everything is a being’ for South Africa’s amaMpondo fighting to protect nature.
news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
When a professional recording studio is nowhere to be found, and the wifi is slower than early dial-up (cue: that dialup sound), find a kindly hotel and hire their board room when you patch through to the BBC’s Wales office.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
September 17, 2025 at 12:04 PM
When a professional recording studio is nowhere to be found, and the wifi is slower than early dial-up (cue: that dialup sound), find a kindly hotel and hire their board room when you patch through to the BBC’s Wales office.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
When traditional healer Mamjozi Danca was born into a violent apartheid state that tried to dispossess her people of their land and culture, the amaMpondo fought back. Now, they are fighting to protect their heritage from mining corporations.
Read: news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
Read: news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
September 16, 2025 at 11:17 AM
When traditional healer Mamjozi Danca was born into a violent apartheid state that tried to dispossess her people of their land and culture, the amaMpondo fought back. Now, they are fighting to protect their heritage from mining corporations.
Read: news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
Read: news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
When a professional recording studio is nowhere to be found, and the only place to get good phone signal is parked under a tree on a side road in #Hluhluwe, do your live radio interview thusly. With chief navigator and plucky comic relief, the Cat Called Mouse, supervising.
September 9, 2025 at 11:38 AM
When a professional recording studio is nowhere to be found, and the only place to get good phone signal is parked under a tree on a side road in #Hluhluwe, do your live radio interview thusly. With chief navigator and plucky comic relief, the Cat Called Mouse, supervising.
A spiritual connection with “the land” fuels the amaMpondo’s resistance to extractive mining on South Africa’s Wild Coast, and it is this same force that fuelled a peasant revolt against the apartheid government in the early 1960s.
Read: news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
Read: news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
September 8, 2025 at 12:39 PM
A spiritual connection with “the land” fuels the amaMpondo’s resistance to extractive mining on South Africa’s Wild Coast, and it is this same force that fuelled a peasant revolt against the apartheid government in the early 1960s.
Read: news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
Read: news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ever...
There’ve only been three times in the past year where I’ve thought I might have to throw in the towel on the Story Ark voyage.
Each time, because of fear.
Fear, brought on by heat.
Read the full story: www.storyark.co.za/captains-log...
Each time, because of fear.
Fear, brought on by heat.
Read the full story: www.storyark.co.za/captains-log...
September 5, 2025 at 1:41 PM
There’ve only been three times in the past year where I’ve thought I might have to throw in the towel on the Story Ark voyage.
Each time, because of fear.
Fear, brought on by heat.
Read the full story: www.storyark.co.za/captains-log...
Each time, because of fear.
Fear, brought on by heat.
Read the full story: www.storyark.co.za/captains-log...
A Free State of mind: Clarens, where the cosmos is wild, well feral-wild. One person’s whimsy is another’s weed. Aliens, everywhere! Set feral by us, having shipped them around the world. Only now are we counting the tally.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
September 4, 2025 at 11:35 AM
A Free State of mind: Clarens, where the cosmos is wild, well feral-wild. One person’s whimsy is another’s weed. Aliens, everywhere! Set feral by us, having shipped them around the world. Only now are we counting the tally.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
Always have a second pair of eyes check your copy before you go to print. Lest you find yourself in the lingerie drawer, when you’re actually reaching for the coffee in the bleary-eyed dawn. Look close. No, closer still.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
September 3, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Always have a second pair of eyes check your copy before you go to print. Lest you find yourself in the lingerie drawer, when you’re actually reaching for the coffee in the bleary-eyed dawn. Look close. No, closer still.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
Have a place for everything, and keep everything in its place. Meticulously. Entropy is snapping at your heels.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
September 2, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Have a place for everything, and keep everything in its place. Meticulously. Entropy is snapping at your heels.
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
Story Ark: 1 van, 2 crew, 3 years... all the stories 🌍
#StoryArk #storyarkdiaries #sciencejournalism
Recent research shows that airborne microplastics are likely blowing in over the Katse Dam, one of the largest reservoirs in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project which feeds water to South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
Read more here: bit.ly/4mmgHnd
Read more here: bit.ly/4mmgHnd
September 1, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Recent research shows that airborne microplastics are likely blowing in over the Katse Dam, one of the largest reservoirs in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project which feeds water to South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
Read more here: bit.ly/4mmgHnd
Read more here: bit.ly/4mmgHnd
Young people like Tukulo Mtshayelo can protect their neighbourhood from the fallout of pollutants such as invasive trees or disposable nappies. But how to they safeguard themselves against airborne plastic pollution blown in from tens or hundreds of kilometres away?
For more: bit.ly/4mmgHnd
For more: bit.ly/4mmgHnd
August 26, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Young people like Tukulo Mtshayelo can protect their neighbourhood from the fallout of pollutants such as invasive trees or disposable nappies. But how to they safeguard themselves against airborne plastic pollution blown in from tens or hundreds of kilometres away?
For more: bit.ly/4mmgHnd
For more: bit.ly/4mmgHnd
Moeketsi Makhoali and his dogs tend to his flock (Mahlasela Pass, Lesotho, 3,222m ASL) at the headwaters of the Orange-Senqu River Basin. Recent research shows that airborne microplastics are probably settling in these remote high-altitude areas and polluting water courses.
More: bit.ly/4mmgHnd
More: bit.ly/4mmgHnd
August 25, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Moeketsi Makhoali and his dogs tend to his flock (Mahlasela Pass, Lesotho, 3,222m ASL) at the headwaters of the Orange-Senqu River Basin. Recent research shows that airborne microplastics are probably settling in these remote high-altitude areas and polluting water courses.
More: bit.ly/4mmgHnd
More: bit.ly/4mmgHnd
Tukulo Mtshayelo restored a spring on the outskirts of his village, one of three main sources that locals draw on for water.
More here: www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...
More here: www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...
August 22, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Tukulo Mtshayelo restored a spring on the outskirts of his village, one of three main sources that locals draw on for water.
More here: www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...
More here: www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...