10.17.09 - Okay, I’ve been slacking for a while. Dial-up, and really bad dial-up at that, ruins the motivation to get on-line unless absolutely necessary. So does relentless, oppressive heat! My eyeballs are sweating! I arrived with Handsen in Feira on Wednesday, at the confluence of the Luangwa and Zambezi Rivers – the lowest place in the country, right in the corner bordering Mozambique to the west and Zimbabwe to the south. We will be heading back to Nyimba tomorrow morning. I was told there would be A/C at the guest house here, but was misled, and it has been a sweaty, fitful four nights. Tonight will be no better. Luckily, the room is a thatched roofed, and there has been a breeze starting after about 4am that has provided a couple hours of good rest, and the view from this place almost makes up for less than great sleep. I haven’t gotten to fish, swim, or see the Lower Zambezi National Park, but it’s been a nice and scenic stay on the two rivers. I did get out on a couple of the little banana boats of fishermen who offered me a little scenic paddle. Otherwise, for the past 4 days we’ve been meeting with fishermen from most of the villages along the Luangwa Road, discussing fishing methods, trends, and the market to see if there might be some role for COMACO in terms of supporting a more sustainable use of the Luangwa River fisheries.
Handsen and I have been staying at the Imyala Lodge, perched on a rock outcropping a few hundred feet above above the Zambezi. There are two picturesque fishing villages below us on either side, that offer the sounds of village life that make this place feel homey; roosters, children playing, women laughing. The best part is that our meals are made for us here, by the wife of the lodge manager. We buy everything from mealie meal to cooking oil, veggies and relish, and at lunch and dinner we have a homemade plate of n’shima. I’ve felt like all I’ve done since arriving in Feira is ride around in the Cruiser and eat! On
Thursday evening, the 14 year old nephew of Protazio, one of the COMACO extension agents that I’ve been working with was taken by a crocodile in the Zambezi while fetching water. We spent time with Protazio today after arrived back in the boma after the funeral. He told us that the kid had just set the bucket down when the croc burst out of the water and grabbed his leg. The younger brother tried beating it with a stick, while the father rushed from their hut about 100 meters to try to rescue him, but he was pulled under before he could make it there and hasn’t been found. He was supposed to be writing his 7th grade exams very soon. So was his older brother when, in 1991, he was taken by a croc at the very same spot. The things we take for granted when we tell Africans to protect their wildlife!
Charles, the 10 year old son of the lodge manager has become my new best friend, attached permanently to my hip whenever I am around. I met him while taking my obligatory sunset shots a few nights ago, when he and his friends mistakenly thought I was “snapping” them, which I subsequently did at their request. Charles has not been hard to find ever since. Yesterday I left him at the lodge for a meeting, came back three hours later, and he was asleep on my porch. It’s 6am now and he’s sitting on the floor next to me as I write this. Problem is he can see me moving in my room from his spot, a rock outcropping over the Zambezi. He is a budding photographer and took some pretty hilarious shots. I will add new photos within two weeks, but unfortunately the dial-up connection will not handle them! Hopefully you will be able to tell who took what pictures.
10/3/09 – Right now the weather at home must be perfect!?! I wish I could say the same for here, in the valley, where it seems to be getting hotter by the day as I start 18 days of field work. This was really poor planning on my part, ending in October in the lowest lying, hottest part of the country, around the confluence of the Luangwa and Zambezi rivers. Today was my first day back in the field – a short one at that – and I can only describe it as miserable. 46 degrees? I’m not even capable of doing the conversion at the moment, but I’m guessing 110? I chopped off my hair, and that at least has been some relief. I had been telling everyone that Zambia is no hotter than NC, and less humid at that, but today as my brain started to boil I had to concede. Zambia wins the prize for excruciating heat – Ryan loses!
I arrived here in Nyimba last Wednesday afternoon and quickly found my way to the COMACO office, aided by the tell-tale teal green paint job of all Community Trading Centers. There I found Handsen, the Nyimba/Luangwa Regional Coordinator, who gave me a tour of the facilities and town. Nyimba is southwest of where I’ve been thus far, near the border of Mozambique. It’s a small town. I’ve got a room IN the Trading Center, which entails emerging into the workplace in the morning to use the bathroom and bathe. No running water inside – bucket baths - and food and toiletries quickly disappear from the work kitchen and bathroom respectively. And yet somehow I am taken with Nyimba. Handsen is great and has quickly introduced me to all the staff and programs COMACO is running and explained the issues facing the area.
It took me exactly one poorly planned night here to buy a fan, set up a mosquito net, and take the plastic wrapper off the mattress. That first night boiled down to a choice of a) suffocation and dehydration, cocooned inside my sleeping bag liner to avoid the mosquitoes, or b) bearing myself to the skeeters in an already uncomfortably hot and still room. I chose c) all of the above. In the end it was a false choice, as I was bitten through the sleeping bag liner while boiling in a pool of my own sweat on a crinkly plastic mattress cover! Hell, why not throw in a 4am delivery to the CTC and a nice, long, outside-voice conversation between the security guard and delivery man who might as well have been hanging out in my room?
After finishing what I expect to be 18 days of field work in Nyimba and Luangwa I will bee-line it for Lundazi for follow-up meetings and report writing, as well as running water, a private house, and the company of some friends. I should at least get up there for my Mzungu radio show on Radio Chikaya, with PeaceCorps Ryan and VSO John. I had prepared a set-list for the show on my last Sunday in Lundazi, only to have it cancelled by a prolonged power outage. Despite the heat I’m looking forward to starting the field work because my books aren’t going to last and there ain’t nothin’ productive to do to pass time in Nyimba!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Flatdogs - 9/29/09
Flew back to Lusaka on Saturday morning after a wonderful meeting with my TNC Africa advisor, Patrick McCarthy in Mfuwe (pr: mmm-phoooey). Wasn’t thrilled to be here all weekend but had to pick up my temporary permit from Immigration. The mosquitoes in Lusaka are horrendous, and all I can do in the evening is ! I tried to get to Livingstone for the weekend but flights were all booked. Ended up meeting a couple of guys from the States - John and Sam - who are doing PhD research with COMACO and had a good time when I wasn’t working. John is starting a project on Climate Change in Africa out of University of Cape Town, and Sam is studying Economics out of Cornell. We caught the South African Breweries Beer Festival in town on Sunday afternoon, which was a good time. Yesterday I picked up my temporary permit from Immigration, and I will move on to Nyimba at 6am tomorrow.
Mfuwe was amazing. We lodged at the Flatdogs Game Camp on the banks of the Luangwa River, which was an incredible deal at $70/night per person for a nice chalet. Patrick expressed his comfort with my fellowship progress to date and we developed a plan of which we’re awaiting feedback and direction from Dale Lewis before I move ahead with the next phase of field work. I organized a tour of the COMACO facilities and some farming activities for Patrick, and Kristen and Danny who are also visiting from TNC’s Africa Program for a Zambezi River Restoration Conference. It was good for them to see how the project works on the ground, and I actually learned quite a bit myself - constant reminders that many things are happening that I have not been told about. For instance, I was unaware that COMACO is working with conservation farmers in Mfuwe to plant a million trees in the coming year. In Lundazi I was told that COMACO was not currently involved in reforestation programs. In Chama I found out that Zambia’s Department of Forestry does indeed have native tree nurseries that COMACO may or may not be involved with or utilizing. So I refine my previous insight to reflect need not only to “ask the questions” but to “ask them over and over and over again.”
The highlight of the Mfuwe foray was undoubtedly our game drive into South Luangwa National Park on Friday evening. We had a great guide named Robbie, who gave us amazing sightings of a male lion (gazing out over the Luangwa), a leopard (gearing up for the nights hunt), as well as giraffe, elephant, hippo, crocs, and a score of smaller stuff including a civet. The Park has one of the highest concentrations of leopards anywhere, and an amazing assortment of endemnic faunal sub-species that, for habitat-related reasons, tend to be slightly smaller than their cousins elsewhere. The Thornicroft giraffe, and Crawshay's zebra to name just two…… the only two I know.
Back in the real world, I have realized how much my lack of internet access as of late has started to wear on me. Before Saturday I had only two days of contact with you all in three weeks. Unfortunately, I just found out that Nyimba, the town I head to tomorrow for the rest of my field work, has little if any connection. While I am aware that this is what I signed up for and should expect and accept, there is no reason why I have to embrace it and my plan for Nyimba is to bust through the field work, and move somewhere with access to the world, for the report writing and the remainder of my fellowship. In the meantime, I’ll be looking for travel partners from November 21 – Dec 2.
Mfuwe was amazing. We lodged at the Flatdogs Game Camp on the banks of the Luangwa River, which was an incredible deal at $70/night per person for a nice chalet. Patrick expressed his comfort with my fellowship progress to date and we developed a plan of which we’re awaiting feedback and direction from Dale Lewis before I move ahead with the next phase of field work. I organized a tour of the COMACO facilities and some farming activities for Patrick, and Kristen and Danny who are also visiting from TNC’s Africa Program for a Zambezi River Restoration Conference. It was good for them to see how the project works on the ground, and I actually learned quite a bit myself - constant reminders that many things are happening that I have not been told about. For instance, I was unaware that COMACO is working with conservation farmers in Mfuwe to plant a million trees in the coming year. In Lundazi I was told that COMACO was not currently involved in reforestation programs. In Chama I found out that Zambia’s Department of Forestry does indeed have native tree nurseries that COMACO may or may not be involved with or utilizing. So I refine my previous insight to reflect need not only to “ask the questions” but to “ask them over and over and over again.”
The highlight of the Mfuwe foray was undoubtedly our game drive into South Luangwa National Park on Friday evening. We had a great guide named Robbie, who gave us amazing sightings of a male lion (gazing out over the Luangwa), a leopard (gearing up for the nights hunt), as well as giraffe, elephant, hippo, crocs, and a score of smaller stuff including a civet. The Park has one of the highest concentrations of leopards anywhere, and an amazing assortment of endemnic faunal sub-species that, for habitat-related reasons, tend to be slightly smaller than their cousins elsewhere. The Thornicroft giraffe, and Crawshay's zebra to name just two…… the only two I know.
Back in the real world, I have realized how much my lack of internet access as of late has started to wear on me. Before Saturday I had only two days of contact with you all in three weeks. Unfortunately, I just found out that Nyimba, the town I head to tomorrow for the rest of my field work, has little if any connection. While I am aware that this is what I signed up for and should expect and accept, there is no reason why I have to embrace it and my plan for Nyimba is to bust through the field work, and move somewhere with access to the world, for the report writing and the remainder of my fellowship. In the meantime, I’ll be looking for travel partners from November 21 – Dec 2.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
9/9/09 Happy nines
9.2.09 - Come on…. two straight days of ‘Night Nurse’ on constant loop??? IN THE
OFFICE??? Thanks for at least choosing Gregory Isaacs, but for the love of Jah! This should not be surprising considering that the same six ZamPop songs blast on HEAVY rotation from every establishment with a sound system in Lundazi. I’m in the office transcribing data from our Zumwanda data logs into the GIS shapefiles that I converted from the GPS data we collected over 4 days in the field. Tomorrow I head to Magodi Chiefdom to continue this same work there, which should take two days, maybe three, as the area appears to be significantly smaller.
9.4.09 - I just wasted an entire day of my life working off of bad information, and gained a nice sunburn as a physical reminder of my pain. Yesterday I spent a good 15 minutes explaining to Billy, COMACO’s Magodi Area Manager, and our designated point person for navigating the region, the exact purpose of the project we would be working on, and what specifically we need to accomplish, and was assured that this could be done entirely in the Land Cruiser in two days. The only hitch was that Billy doesn’t know the area he was talking about. Huh, you would think someone would mention that? So today, after a two-hour late start that can only be explained by saying that everything went wrong, we left frustrated on the 45 minute drive to Emusa. I should have put my foot down and said that it was a waste of time and resources to leave at 10am for such work, but I wimped out. Even if I had we would have had to find out at some point that the places I am trying to go can only be reached by motorbike or foot. It wasn’t until halfway through the hour and a half trip westward from Emusa that Alfred spoke up about this slight catch, and after confirming this at the last village accessible by vehicle on two separate roads, I cancelled the rest of the day and we dropped of Alfred in Emusa and rode home - three smelly, dusty men, crammed in the hot, dusty cab of the Cruiser, brooding in silent, sweaty defeat.
Counting Hefta and Mwangala’s time, I actually wasted three life-days, although maybe since driving is his job, Hefta’s time should only count as half a life-day….. not to mention the wasted diesel. The best part is that instead of having a half-day of work and starting my weekend, I head back to Emusa tomorrow (Saturday), and ride as Alfred’s motorbike passenger to all the remote villages that we couldn’t reach today. It’s looking like three, if not four days in Magodi now. Time to revise my budget.
9.9.09 - Happy nines! Happy World Cup qualification day! Zambia got knocked out by Algeria a couple of nights ago, saving themselves from humiliation next Summer.
Damn, Magodi is a BIG place! I mean vast. I see what the Chief meant now, when in our meeting on Thursday he said “I have laaaaaaaaaand! Do you have laaand?”, and why it must have seemed so ridiculous when I replied “Just a little….. about 2 acres.”. It’s been five days since my Friday of extreme frustration, and Saturday, Sunday and Monday were spent on the back of a motorbike. Yesterday and today I’ve spent recovering and processing data. 90km, 75km, and 120km respectively, which doesn’t sound like much unless you saw the kinds of roads and terrain we were travelling. Probably better represented in hours, of which we spent 12, 10, and 12 hours respectively on the bike. Add the 1 hour on each end riding from Lundazi to Emusa and back, and you may begin to understand the tenderness of my ass and tailbone! Enough about that. We finished the survey of Magodi Chiefdom and today I leave for Chama, where I’ll stay for about 10 days, probably 7 of which will be in the field. The focus area is approximately 60km x 40km
I’ve been told it’s going to be really hot in Chama, being in the valley. It’s already getting pretty hot here in Lundazi on the plateau, so I can’t say I’m looking forward to that. But, I’ve also been told that I’ll likely see wildlife including elephants and other big game which have been conspicuously absent in my first 9 days of work on the plateau. The closest I came was on Monday, on a winding, hilly, single track road in the Lundazi National Forest, when Alfred and I saw elephant droppings, which suddenly made me think about how such an encounter might unfold, and I realized I was be happy that we didn’t meet whoever left the pile. In fact, I would venture to say that we were lucky to just have one flat and no mechanical issues aside from fouled plugs, considering that there is no cell coverage and we were far from any roads accessible to 4-wheeled vehicles!
After leaving Chama I’ll stop briefly back through Lundazi for a day or two before bussing it to Mfuwe for a meetingwith Patrick McCarthy, my TNC fellowship advisor, and staying at the Flatdogs Game Lodge from September 24th to the 26th. If I fail to see any wildlife in Chama, this will be my opportunity. South Luangwa National Park is top-notch by all accounts, and I can’t wait for the visit. The Lodge is on the Luangwa River and the name “Flatdogs” is a translation of a local word for Crocodile. Patrick and I will be meeting with Dale Lewis, my advisor with WCS here, to discuss my fellowship progress as I approach the half-way point, and how TNC and WCS can best work together down the road. From there I move on to Nyimba for six weeks of similar field work there, by the end of which I will need to have most of my maps finished and recommendations written for the Environmental Assessments so I can take a couple weeks of vacation - location TBD - before heading home.
Lundazi is starting to feel very small. Luckily I have met some really cool people recently, a European couple, John and Betty, who are volunteering with Volunteer Service Abroad, and a few PeaceCorps volunteers, Jessica, Alex and Ryan. If any of you have accidentally gone to ryanINzambia.blogspot.com, then you know the Ryan. I can attest to his culinary skills, and am grateful for them. I met Jessica in Zumwanda and was introduced to the rest last weekend. It has been a nice change of pace from playing pool in a smoky bar for a little social interaction, and going home to eat, read and sleep in my spartan “guest house”. If Lundazi – the Boma or big town - is starting to feel small then I’m going to have to be creative in Chama.
Another day of Night Nurse….. “The pain is getting worse.”
OFFICE??? Thanks for at least choosing Gregory Isaacs, but for the love of Jah! This should not be surprising considering that the same six ZamPop songs blast on HEAVY rotation from every establishment with a sound system in Lundazi. I’m in the office transcribing data from our Zumwanda data logs into the GIS shapefiles that I converted from the GPS data we collected over 4 days in the field. Tomorrow I head to Magodi Chiefdom to continue this same work there, which should take two days, maybe three, as the area appears to be significantly smaller.
9.4.09 - I just wasted an entire day of my life working off of bad information, and gained a nice sunburn as a physical reminder of my pain. Yesterday I spent a good 15 minutes explaining to Billy, COMACO’s Magodi Area Manager, and our designated point person for navigating the region, the exact purpose of the project we would be working on, and what specifically we need to accomplish, and was assured that this could be done entirely in the Land Cruiser in two days. The only hitch was that Billy doesn’t know the area he was talking about. Huh, you would think someone would mention that? So today, after a two-hour late start that can only be explained by saying that everything went wrong, we left frustrated on the 45 minute drive to Emusa. I should have put my foot down and said that it was a waste of time and resources to leave at 10am for such work, but I wimped out. Even if I had we would have had to find out at some point that the places I am trying to go can only be reached by motorbike or foot. It wasn’t until halfway through the hour and a half trip westward from Emusa that Alfred spoke up about this slight catch, and after confirming this at the last village accessible by vehicle on two separate roads, I cancelled the rest of the day and we dropped of Alfred in Emusa and rode home - three smelly, dusty men, crammed in the hot, dusty cab of the Cruiser, brooding in silent, sweaty defeat.
Counting Hefta and Mwangala’s time, I actually wasted three life-days, although maybe since driving is his job, Hefta’s time should only count as half a life-day….. not to mention the wasted diesel. The best part is that instead of having a half-day of work and starting my weekend, I head back to Emusa tomorrow (Saturday), and ride as Alfred’s motorbike passenger to all the remote villages that we couldn’t reach today. It’s looking like three, if not four days in Magodi now. Time to revise my budget.
9.9.09 - Happy nines! Happy World Cup qualification day! Zambia got knocked out by Algeria a couple of nights ago, saving themselves from humiliation next Summer.
Damn, Magodi is a BIG place! I mean vast. I see what the Chief meant now, when in our meeting on Thursday he said “I have laaaaaaaaaand! Do you have laaand?”, and why it must have seemed so ridiculous when I replied “Just a little….. about 2 acres.”. It’s been five days since my Friday of extreme frustration, and Saturday, Sunday and Monday were spent on the back of a motorbike. Yesterday and today I’ve spent recovering and processing data. 90km, 75km, and 120km respectively, which doesn’t sound like much unless you saw the kinds of roads and terrain we were travelling. Probably better represented in hours, of which we spent 12, 10, and 12 hours respectively on the bike. Add the 1 hour on each end riding from Lundazi to Emusa and back, and you may begin to understand the tenderness of my ass and tailbone! Enough about that. We finished the survey of Magodi Chiefdom and today I leave for Chama, where I’ll stay for about 10 days, probably 7 of which will be in the field. The focus area is approximately 60km x 40km
I’ve been told it’s going to be really hot in Chama, being in the valley. It’s already getting pretty hot here in Lundazi on the plateau, so I can’t say I’m looking forward to that. But, I’ve also been told that I’ll likely see wildlife including elephants and other big game which have been conspicuously absent in my first 9 days of work on the plateau. The closest I came was on Monday, on a winding, hilly, single track road in the Lundazi National Forest, when Alfred and I saw elephant droppings, which suddenly made me think about how such an encounter might unfold, and I realized I was be happy that we didn’t meet whoever left the pile. In fact, I would venture to say that we were lucky to just have one flat and no mechanical issues aside from fouled plugs, considering that there is no cell coverage and we were far from any roads accessible to 4-wheeled vehicles!
After leaving Chama I’ll stop briefly back through Lundazi for a day or two before bussing it to Mfuwe for a meetingwith Patrick McCarthy, my TNC fellowship advisor, and staying at the Flatdogs Game Lodge from September 24th to the 26th. If I fail to see any wildlife in Chama, this will be my opportunity. South Luangwa National Park is top-notch by all accounts, and I can’t wait for the visit. The Lodge is on the Luangwa River and the name “Flatdogs” is a translation of a local word for Crocodile. Patrick and I will be meeting with Dale Lewis, my advisor with WCS here, to discuss my fellowship progress as I approach the half-way point, and how TNC and WCS can best work together down the road. From there I move on to Nyimba for six weeks of similar field work there, by the end of which I will need to have most of my maps finished and recommendations written for the Environmental Assessments so I can take a couple weeks of vacation - location TBD - before heading home.
Lundazi is starting to feel very small. Luckily I have met some really cool people recently, a European couple, John and Betty, who are volunteering with Volunteer Service Abroad, and a few PeaceCorps volunteers, Jessica, Alex and Ryan. If any of you have accidentally gone to ryanINzambia.blogspot.com, then you know the Ryan. I can attest to his culinary skills, and am grateful for them. I met Jessica in Zumwanda and was introduced to the rest last weekend. It has been a nice change of pace from playing pool in a smoky bar for a little social interaction, and going home to eat, read and sleep in my spartan “guest house”. If Lundazi – the Boma or big town - is starting to feel small then I’m going to have to be creative in Chama.
Another day of Night Nurse….. “The pain is getting worse.”
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