Travessia do rio

Luís washes his hands during a river crossing in Chuilexi; the river from which the Conservancy’s name is derived. Although Chuilexi represents only 15% of Niassa Reserve, it is still vast, and it took all day to drive across it even with a relatively small number of obstacles along the way (some fallen trees, an exhaust pipe stuck in the mud and tyres needing to be deflated to cross soft sand).

We arrived in the most perfect wild campsite on the northern Mozambique border with Tanzania, which is marked by the Rovuma River. Wim thinks this may be the northernmost point of Mozambique. The channel is too full to cross for an illegal dart into Tanzania, which is a shame, so we settled into chairs on the sandy riverbank to reflect on the Conservancy’s priorities and issues with the visiting donor. It was a useful discussion, especially around tourism potential, which is this donor’s key area of interest. When Niassa was carved into management concessions, some were awarded for touristic purposes, including Chuilexi. The donor is helping to sharpen our focus to improve the speed of exploring tourism in Chuilexi, which is no small challenge. The cost, remoteness and logistics all present barriers to developing an easy, attractive product, which has to be sufficiently different to more well-trodden areas. Adventure tours could be well received here, by clients who are experienced travellers with no diva-like sensibilities. Low incidence of viewing game, tsetse flies, long distances and basic infrastructure all act as deterrents. We need to prioritise more thinking around this and find funds for some piloting. It was an evening of stimulating ideas around the campfire, with some beers to lubricate the mind.