Crow

This morning at 5am I was woken up by a deranged crow smashing its face against a glass door, making a horrendous racket. I chased it off but it was back every five minutes until I relented and gave up trying to rest. That’s twice I’ve used the word deranged on blip this week. Once to describe a crow, and once to describe the Tory party.

Despite the crow affecting sleep quality, staying in Cuamba is interesting from a historical perspective. It is an important rail centre and was previously more so, therefore it has a slightly more prosperous and buzzy vibe than other towns in northern Mozambique, with lots of well-preserved colonial era buildings. During the civil war it was the military hub for the north.

We spent the day in Mecanhelas District, which adjoins Malawi. We met government representatives and then drove to Lake Chiuta, a border lake shared with Malawi, to glean information about livelihoods, climate change and other environmental issues. We drove along the lakeshore from this point, and came upon the smallest border post ever I’ve seen, a reed shack marking a route into Malawi. It was here we noticed a slow puncture, although fast enough to be heard. Various negotiations with mechanics in nearby villages failed so after some hours two colleagues heroically handled the repair. I kept entertained with barely any signal and attempts to meet a deadline for a donor in Sweden, which didn’t really bear fruit.

The local government administrator eventually took pity on us and provided a meal of meat and nshima. We then drove back to Cuamba, arriving at around 9pm, which was much better than it had been appearing earlier.