Antsy

Where we're staying is basic, with a generator a few hours per day and mattresses on the floor bombarded by flying ants. Dead insects and shed wings litter my bedsheets. A shelf to put things other than on the floor would be handy, but at the moment I'm finding myself not missing the comforts my flat, however 'Scandinavian chi-chi' it might be. This may be due to Leigh's most recent report that there has been a building-wide hot water failure. Here we're getting delightful hot buckets heated over a fire, which we douse ourselves with using a jug. The swishes of water wash away the cockroaches that crawl over the shower floor.

It may be basic but the scene looks pretty when the late afternoon sun is strong and the rainclouds are imposing and heavy.

Today conversations with various partner organisations with staff in this fairly remote outpost have been varied. They have ranged from how to rehabilitate old cocoa farms to the lack of central government budget available for forest authorities to patrol, and from the corrupt judiciary system that permits perpetrators of wildlife crime to walk free to the added value to farmers of grinding cassava to sell.