As my second month in Zimbabwe comes to an end, I’m getting a bit more clarity on life and work here.
Work wise, it’s all evolving as I go along…What I do know is that I’ll be helping manage Imv
elo’s philanthropy and community projects, not just the conservation projects. Imvelo is the safari tour operator here that has brought us in to set up this community wildlife sanctuary. It has six lodges in and around Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park but their real ultimate goal is to uplift the communities on their frontline and look after Hwange’s wildlife; so we’re setting up a Trust here in Zimbabwe to be entirely dedicated to this cause.
Part of the Trust’s work is what Dan and Will are working on; training a group of local scouts to be anti-poaching rangers and protect the wildlife. They’re all from the local villages, some speak English but most don’t, most love playing football and some have the coolest names. Over the last few months they’ve been learning about the bush, protection, tracking, animals, vegetation, maintenance, devices, first aid, … They live on their own camp a few kilometres away and you can often hear them singing through the bush.
As for life, Bomani has been home for the last month or so. It’s a tented lodge in the forestry lands just outside Hwange National Park. It’s regularly visited by tourists from around the world but because it’s the rainy season, it’s now closed to guests. So there have been just a few of us here, enjoying it all to ourselves! Khombu, the chef, cooks us four (yes, four) amazing and hefty meals a day, while Stanley, Nico and Hussain do laundry, maintain the camp and make sure hot water is always available for tea. As you can imagine, it’s been awful.
We’re sleeping in a big fancy tent…with the windows wide open (but with mosquito netting) so that you get woken up by the sun rising or by the rain spitting in sideways. You can hear all the sounds of the night bush - the crickets, the birds, the occasional lions. You get elephants coming for evening baths and hippos “hmm hmm hmming” you awake in the middle of the night. You get monkeys sneaking into the bathroom and lizards pooing on you from the ceiling as you’re doing a yoga shavasana.
One of my friends reminded me that sometimes, it’s important to share the ‘less good’ things too…so with that in mind I’ll admit that the transition from Cambridge to bush life has, so far, been quite tough. It’s striking a balance between trying to absorb everything and make the most of it all and thinking ‘this is the new norm’. It’s building up the confidence again when you’re going in to an entirely new job, lifestyle, culture, climate, country with so many questions and things to learn. It's wanting and trying to do lots but struggling to find out how. It’s finding a new routine and ways of spending your time when you’re not doing the things you’re used to doing. It’s enjoying being remote and autonomous in the bush while also missing having friends and colleagues a walk away.
Change and compromise are never easy - hopefully a bit of optimism, a heap of determination, some time and a hint of patience should do the trick.
Elephants coming in to drink at night; the scouts maintaining one of the Park's pans; the tent with elephant tracks running past it; the main lodge area; camping and seeing 2019 off!