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Only three months later than scheduled, Alex takes off on the road again . . . Friday, 02 December 2005 "It is seven in the morning here in Mongu, and I am up and set for the trip across the Zambezi onto Liuwa Plain later on today. The sky is a beautiful clear blue following the rain that plagued our journey up here all yesterday." Sunday, 04 December 2005
"On Saturday morning our scout, also called Alex, arrived and we started to draw up a plan of attack for the next few days, then we heard that Tom Turner was dropping by on his way up to the Matmene administration centre. We had a good chat and I outlined to him what the book is all about and my aims for this particular trip. He agreed to set up a visit to the Chief and so we will get the community thing done as well which is great. There is also going to be a chance to visit a school inside the park and see what goes on there. "The whole African Parks set up here looks to be working well although I have only heard the sales talk so far and wait to get an impression from the teachers and the Chief later. They have gone about the whole thing with a focus on the community rather than on the conservation the second intending to work alongside the benefits for the first ... "That all said, it is still early days. African Parks have been involved for just two years and the camps have been functioning only since August." "As the car is not putting enough juice into the computer I am going to minimise my use of it and shut down shortly." Saturday, 10 December 2005
"The facilities in the park also impressed me, the campsites which are run as partnerships between the local Chief and African Parks seem to work well. Moral among the scouts seems high. Though they are all ZAWA scouts they – OK Alex Liseli, in particular – feel that they are part of the partnership. "I asked Chief Mundandwe some quite searching questions on Tuesday. In particular I was interested in how the relationship with African Parks was working and how the locals had felt about their becoming involved. He was quite frank in saying that there had been many doubters about the plans initially and there was an active rumour mill against the partnership. Stories were spread of the park being fenced and communities moved out but the local Chiefs were reassured at a workshop where African Parks explained what their aims and aspirations for the park were.
"He further went on to tell me of their particular little problem with politics. It seems that a number of the better off community members have moved away to Lusaka but still feel that they have the right to influence what goes on back in their home community. It is this bickering kind of small town politics that has made it impossible to establish a CRB in the area and so African Parks have dealt directly with the Barotse Royal Establishment in making their deal ... "The rain has now arrived here at Nyala Tents. There is greyness to everything as a gentle rain drops and thunder rolls overhead. Every day now I look at the old dead acacia and wonder if it will finally drop into the river. I will miss the ugly old thing when it does go because that is where all the interesting birds perch." Sunday, 18 December 2005 "It has been a week of mixed up weather for sure. Today I had intended to leave for Lusaka but the rain set in during the night and looks to be staying for at least the morning. This will make the already difficult stretch of road between Ndorochena and Kiubo impassable for the time being. "Lovemore was hoping to do a patrol transfer by road as well and has had to switch to using the boat which ZAWA have not got the miles for. It is bloody difficult for him at the moment because he is getting no executive support from Lusaka on making operational decisions. Fortunately we have sufficient food supplies for another week here if necessary so I can defer my trip for a few days if necessary but the car does need to get to Toyota for its 110,000 kilometre service urgently. The rear brake pads are pretty much stuffed and need urgent replacement before they close for Christmas. "Yesterday I finished the sixth story, the one about the Barotse Royal Hunting Ground. I am pretty satisfied with it and it can sit for redrafting with the others now. I want to get on and write Radar’s story but it feels too close and personal for some reason and without a body the conclusion is messy. Maybe he will be found but in the vast wilderness of the escarpment it is not very likely." Tuesday, 27 December 2005 "I decided to take Kelvin out with me on the drive to Lusaka and am very glad that I did. To get through to Kaila Gate was an adventure in four-wheel driving using all the skills that I have learnt in this last year. We got stuck in mud at the bottom of the Nymangwe river gully and had to winch our way out. Thank goodness I bought a car that can handle this sort of thing. In one gully I actually used the differential lock for the first time in “real life” and got us out of a very slippery section of loose soil that had been washed down from the escarpment. It was a spot where the vehicle from Royal Zambezi Lodge had previously been stuck for two days and there was no way I was going to allow that to happen to us. With rain water forming long puddles up to our thighs it took a little bravado to drive through in low ratio second gear and hope that we would not stall in the middle of a hundred metre stretch of floodwater in the middle of nowhere and with no assistance likely to come. "Everybody else, except Lovemore at CLZ considered the road impassable. It took us over three hours to cover a stretch that normally takes one and there was no way I could have done it on my own. When I radioed Lovemore to confirm my arrival at Chiawa, he decided to defer his own trip out for a few more days."
"The rain continued while I was in town. I decided to stay at Kanyemba and Riccardo kindly agreed to put me up for a couple of nights before Christmas and to take the supplies down by boat. I am still paying for that little trip with a nasty case of sunburn that I got from not wearing a hat or sun-block.
"We had the turkey feast in the evening and it was perfectly cooked making it delicious. "I made my way back into camp on Boxing Day, happy to pick up hitch-hikers in case I needed helpers on the road. In the event, the road was nowhere near as difficult as I thought it might be with only one point where I had to take the car over a blind cliff into a gully at a steep angle and stalled during the manoeuvre – insisting that I could achieve it in second gear. Kelvin was actually falling asleep beside me as I drove so he must have felt pretty relaxed with everything. He was not driving.
Wednesday, 28 December 2005 "I woke this morning to the sound of an elephant chomping on the trees in camp. I don’t think I know this large elephant but he is a mature male and seems to be fairly placid. It is a good sign that Radar’s legacy is being forgotten and time moves on. I just looked up to see a one metre long monitor lizard on the lawn and a few minutes ago over by the steps to the dock I noticed a slender mongoose. Things are getting back to normal at last." Friday, 30 December 2005 "An aardvark dug up our driveway last night. Of course I was fast asleep at the time and the guys did not wake up as it passed by the staff compound. It seems that the only activity I do get to see has to take place right in front of the office tent." |
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© Afrikeye 1999 - 2007 (certain items under permission of original copyright owner) |
"The
last two days have been a fascinating excursion into Liuwa Plain. We were
welcomed by Tom Turner and Jeroen Eichorn on Friday who agreed to let us into
the park a day early without a scout ... Our first night was spent at Kwale
campsite, a basic bush camp with minimal facilities but with a working ablution
block. Once we had set up we went for a sunset drive and picked up a large herd
of wildebeest and I managed to get a couple of decent photos.
"The
escort scout, Alex Liseli, proved to be a real asset for the trip. He has
written a manuscript that holds a lot of information about the place and filled
in a lot of background for me. As a piece of literature it was pretty worthless
but it certainly gave me sufficient knowledge to look intelligent when I
interviewed the district Chief on Tuesday.
"In
Lusaka, the main frustration was that nothing has happened with my immigration
papers. I had very much hoped that they would be processed by now but they have
not even been submitted to the committee for review ... The problem is that I
need that permit soon so that I can go back to the UK for a visit. My air ticket
will run out soon costing me an extra thousand pounds that I do not have right
now.
"Christmas
was fairly pleasant at Kanyemba. There were two groups of paying guests, a
family of German diplomats – a young couple with a small son and a baby – and a
larger Indian family from Ndola with their English son-in-law. Both families
were very pleasant though it meant that we did have to behave well. Riccardo was
his usual self, bouncing around from one spot to another unable to sit and relax
for one minute. I think he has a real need for conflict and drama or else he
feels without purpose.
"Last
night we had our staff Christmas bash. It was a pretty quiet affair really as
none of my staff or the guests wanted to drink beer but were happy with Coke. I
decided that my little competition would start from a game of pinball on the
computer. The winner, Chrispine, chose one of three identical envelopes, second
placed Patros chose the next and Kelvin took the remaining envelope. As a twist
I offered Kelvin the chance to swap his envelope for one of the others but he
refused. Patros also decided to keep his envelope rather than swap it with
Chrispine. This proved to be a good move for Patros because his envelope
contained the instructions for the radio cassette player that was the main
prize. Chrispine got the booby prize of fifty kwacha and Kelvin the fifty
thousand. It was completely down to luck and they enjoyed the game. We also had
John over from ChaChaCha and Boston from Community Camp. Chops and Oliver came
from CLZ so it was a reasonable group and they all enjoyed the food and drink."