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What progress does Alex make in the month of June? There is still no sign of his camera getting used . . . Friday, 03 June 2005 "So I return to the valley after another few days in Lusaka slowly progressing two steps forward and one backwards. My only error on this trip was the door to the kitchen store which on close examination back in camp is a pile of scrap metal and won’t do. I didn’t even bother trying to progress my Investment permit this week but at least did get a letter from the bank confirming my deposit is in place and asking for the Investment Centre to assist me in my enterprise. I know that I shall be back in town again shortly for the CLZ AGM and will concentrate on paperwork on that trip. "Camp is still nowhere near complete and this is beginning to be a major frustration. Cement takes time to dry, blocks time to set, and it does have to be done right. Fortunately Mweemba knows his craft and the foundations for the office tent look pretty good. It will be as the concrete sets and cracks start to appear that I shall get upset. "It is now nearly three months since I got here with the optimistic view that I would be up and running quickly. It seems like everything is just taking so long. The guys are working pretty hard though and there is no evidence of slacking. Any delays are not due to laziness or inefficiency on their part. I am learning much every day about construction and doing business but very little about the environment or conservation or the ways that individual members of the community live. "In fact at this stage in the project I am inclined to think that there is no relationship between the community and conservation. For the huge majority of the people who live here in the Lower Zambezi, life is a daily struggle to survive. Struggle is too strong a word. Nobody here is starving or destitute, at least not that I have seen so far. Illness is rife and AIDS has a large impact in the area. AIDS is a problem endemic to the lifestyle of promiscuity and male dominance. There are so many young children here that it is incredible to think that there are enough incomes to feed them and support them through their education. For those that do not get caught in the AIDS trap there is malaria which also haunts every village and hamlet in the valley. These people do not even think about conservation as an issue. For them an elephant is a threat to their crop, a hippopotamus a potential feast, a lion a threat to their livestock. Fishing is a staple source of food and the idea of monitoring stock levels and restricting the take from the river are entirely alien concepts. Life is tough and always has been; sometimes the fishing and crops are good, sometimes not so good and occasionally things are bad." Tuesday, 07 June 2005 "In my distraction . . . I have not forgotten that I am writing a book and have been researching a location that has inspired my curiosity in this particular little region. When I applied the data from the gazette into my GIS one ancient site planted itself on the road near the pontoon. The site named in the data as Namulinga is quite near Kanyemba and I have asked around there to receive only blank looks in return. Nobody that I have asked has been aware of any ancient site or curiosity in the vicinity. The other day I remembered to track it down with my GPS and Kelvin was in the car with me. We tracked its location to near a village just outside Chiawa Estates and made a decision to track it down once things are settled in camp. "Yesterday, Kelvin remembered a story about some trees. When land was being cleared for the construction of the irrigation a group of trees that were due to be cut down started protesting loudly in human voices as the workers approached them with their axes. The workers went and told the farm manager who did not believe his staff but when he himself tried to chop the trees he also heard the protests and ordered the area fenced off thinking that maybe there were spirits there. I am jotting this down now as an unconfirmed single source story because I may otherwise forget to follow it up. Saturday, 18 June 2005 "Getting back to camp today I found all well, a little surprisingly. The tents are up and they fit perfectly on the bases. I just hope that the gum-poles are deep enough to withstand the weather come the rainy season. Kelvin assures me that they are and I am not going to dig them up just to check. "I am actually sitting in my office now with Mweemba laying the patio out front. The view will be fabulous once the building junk and staff tents are out of the way. It will soon be time to think about the electrics and I am looking forward to my own little piece of the project. Tuesday, 28 June 2005 "I just got back from a go-come trip to Chirundu happy that I had accomplished all the tasks I had set out to complete and wandered down to the office to greet Ian and Lea. Their sombre mood told me that something was up. This morning, Ian found two elephant carcasses while out flying where three gunshots had been heard last night. One elephant had been butchered and both had had the ivory removed." |
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