Fort Portal

Today was full of interesting presentations and discussions about financing and enterprise opportunities in our projects, trying to diversify ideas from the standard reliance on tourism ventures. The reality is that tourism is only viable in a limited number of places. I trotted out a presentation on the usual landscape stuff, and we all mulled over how to apply the ideas in our respective landscapes. It was a rare day of thinking time in a sea of fire-fighting and project management ‘admin crud’ (as my former dearly departed colleague Tony humorously used to describe large swaths of our work).

We are staying on the outskirts of a town known as Fort Portal, and I’m enjoying its fresh highland vibes. After the day’s sessions I walked a few kilometres into town with my Mozambican colleague Foloma and we located somewhere for a drink and some nyama choma (barbecue meat). In the most understated way that it would be possible to do anything, Foloma then announced that today was his 60th birthday, joking that he would retire soon. Retirement ages in Mozambique and Tanzania are adhered to quite strictly, so then I panicked about all the work we are doing together and hoped that he would push on well into the next decade.