I just spent the last three days in Kasungu National Park,
home to the baboon release site and where I’ll be living for most of the next
year. After a 3 hour journey in a bus crammed full of people, and a very bumpy
two hour drive along dirt roads, I finally reached the park. Firstly, this
place is REMOTE. I think it will be the most remote and rustic living I’ve ever
done, if you can even imagine that. There is no electricity (no lights, no
fridge, etc), with just one small solar panel with one plug from where to
charge things. Keep in mind as well, that this is the start of the rainy
season, so the sun might be scarce to power the solar panel! I will have my own
large tent which is great. We
share the space with the campground of a nearby lodge, which apparently
scarcely has visitors. The “stove” is gas-powered. Hot water for showers is
heated by making a fire and waiting an hour and a half. The camp itself though
is situated right on a dam, which is home to loads of hippos and tons of birds.
It is very, very beautiful.
I spent my first day up there walking around the release
site with a guide/assistant and a park scout. We walked all around the area
that the baboons will likely use, pointing out where other baboon troops are,
which trees are good to sleep in, and which plants and fruits they will most
likely eat. The forest there is beautiful. The trees are not too tall, maybe
about 8-10 meters and there is a fresh layer of secondary growth trees
sprouting from the ground. I kept expecting to see a unicorn walking around or
something; it is such a beautiful place.
My second day was once again spent getting to know the area,
and also learning how to drive a manual 4x4 truck. Prior to this, I had spent
two afternoons driving a manual car. Ever. Let alone a rusty truck and on dirt
roads that could barely be called roads. For those of you who understand this
reference, I would say the road is worst than the Grietjie/CARE road, and for
the even fewer of you who will understand this
reference, not as bad as the Lajuma road. But luckily, Dan was patient with me,
and I seemed to do okay! I only stalled the vehicle once or twice, didn’t get
stuck in any ditches or potholes, and didn’t completely ruin the transmission!
I drove for a few hours and again the next day as well. That afternoon was
exciting because as I was driving all the workers back to camp, from where they
were building the release enclosure, the scouts in the back spotted some
poachers. Kasungu NP has a big problem with poachers. They sneak into the park
and kill everything from hares and small antelopes to elephants, of which only
about 40 exist when there used to be thousands. It’s a real shame that Kasungu
now has virtually no wildlife. While I was walking around it seemed like the
perfect place for elephants and rhino and buffalos and cheetahs, but sadly non
exist anymore. I kept expecting to run into something around every corner,
similar to what I experienced in Botswana, but there was nothing. It’s a real
real shame. So I slammed on the breaks and the two scouts and the workers
jumped out of the back of the truck and ran across the field chasing and
shooting at (or around) the poachers, who dropped their supplies and ran. We
saw that they were carrying the larger pellets which indicates they were
looking for elephants. But those of you who are now worried, don’t fret; I will
be accompanied everyday by a scout with a gun for this exact purpose. Besides,
poachers aren’t really looking for baboons.
Release Update
Now, unfortunately, there hasn’t been enough rain in Kasungu
yet. We want to release when there is water in the river (dambo), so that the
baboons don’t go too far from the release site, and potentially get trapped on
the other side. So the release, which was supposed to happen on the 8th
is going to be postponed at least a week. This also means that I’ll still be at
the centre / civilization for another couple of weeks.
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