UPDATE ON JIM CLARK'S AFRICA TRIP

DIAMOND ADVENTURES - London, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia!

Jim Clark and his wife, Carolyn, recently went on an adventure to to explore diamond mining operations.   He and five other jewelers from the United States were guests of DeBeers in London and Africa along with one of the world's largest sightholders and cutters of large diamonds.

The first stop was London, where the Clark's were able to pay a rare visit to DeBeer's Diamond trading Company with a tour of the sorting operations at the famed Charterhouse Street headquarters in London.  Next was South Africa where they visited a day care center and brought toys to the children.  Later they visited an orphanage with gifts and a cash donation.  The group was also able to take several "camera safaris" which resulted in some fantastic pictures!

During the trip the group saw various aspects of diamond mining: sea floor mining and open pit mining.  One day the group was flown to Namibia, where they were taken by helicopter to a ship.  The ship literally vacuums up gravel from the ocean floor and processes and sorts it on board to find diamonds.  They "can" the rough diamonds in metal cans, put the cans into locked metal suitcases and helicopter them to shore.  While in Namibia, they also visited the Presidential Palace where the jewelers were invited to tell their own stories to the Prime Minister, the U.S. Ambassador and the President of Namibia.  Another day they took a trip into Botswana where they saw the world's largest open pit diamond mine and the giant earth moving equipment it takes to find the diamonds, American-made Caterpillar!

To see the full photo gallery of this amazing adventure go to FACEBOOK.COM/BCCLARK JEWELERS