Observação de pássaros

I went with Antonio, one of the birdwatching students, for a few hours this morning. It was slow-paced, as with the two ornithologists staying overnight in the mountain, we had foregone the typical 4.30am start, and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before setting off. Our bird count was low and I'm not sure we contributed much to the biodiversity assessment data, but it was enjoyable walking slowly in the bush and spending time by the river. When I used to lead groups in Southern Africa, they generally used to scoff at the idea of birdwatching, but birds genuinely start to appeal after a while in the bush, when seeing large mammals starts to feel more the norm than a novelty. My bird ID skills are highly rusty so I've been enjoying testing the waters again.

I'm standing on the main bridge before you reach the Chimanimani Reserve HQ. Now the water is pretty low as the rainy season is just beginning. A few years ago a vehicle attempted the crossing when it was flooded after heavy rain, and 11 people died. As in many other places I've worked, surroundings are often beautiful, but tragedy is never far away. Usually in Mozambique poignant stories revolve around the civil war, which ended in 1992. References crop up often, especially this week in relation to Mozambique's under-researched flora and fauna. It's stating the obvious that the country would be radically different if it hadn't had a few decades of crisis. Scientists would know more about it, large mammals would likely have been better protected and globally the country may be associated with more positive things than instability and poverty. It's a country very off-radar, at least in the UK, where the most famous news story ever to emerge was the woman who gave birth in a tree during the cataclysmic flooding in 2000*.

Mozambique needs some serious PR work, as it's bloody incredible, and every conversation I have about it whets my appetite for more.

*Unless you happen to be an athletics fan and you'll know that Maria Mutola from Maputo was a slum kid who turned out to be an utter badass in the 800 metres.