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.”