Rio Lugenda

Lugenda River.

This morning I attended a training workshop focused on poisoning. A common strategy of poachers and those involved in the illegal trade in wildlife is to poison a carcass (of livestock), leave it in the wild and allow other wildlife to consume it and die. It’s a way of harvesting valuable animal parts such as vulture heads (used in cultural traditions) and lion claws (highly sought after as curios and status symbols). Some species have taken a real nosedive thanks to these strategies and they are some of the major issues field rangers have to deal with. The images and videos used during the training were gruesome but I can now identify a vulture which has undergone a mild poisoning versus one taking its last breath.

In the afternoon we went by air to Chuilexi Conservancy, the area of Niassa that I used to visit on work trips. It’s under different leadership and it was valuable meeting and talking about some historical issues, and I think the new manager found it beneficial. The absolute headache of coming into an organisation brand new in a remote place and having to figure out how best to communicate with people mostly based in the UK, whilst confronting numerous daily challenges of poisoned wildlife and countless other logistical issues.

After we departed Chuilexi we flew along the Lugenda River until it meets the Ruvuma (Rovuma in Portuguese) River and the border between Mozambique and Tanzania. My colleagues from the Reserve conducted a river survey along a length of the Ruvuma, monitoring trends in crocodile and hippo numbers and the prevalence of livestock on the banks. Generally the border area is confronting numerous issues related to human-wildlife coexistence and in my role I hope to promote more cooperation between the focal points in Tanzania and Mozambique to tackle the problems.

Back in my tent at the Reserve headquarters, the cicadas were going absolutely crazy in the evening with very loud noises. I am hypothesising that this is because it’s a very hot time of year, and they are known to get louder in hotter weather.