Only The Rugged Survive

The tents we’re using state the above slogan on the branding. They’re actually very spacious and much more comfortable than the norm. To illustrate, I can stand up straight inside one, and I’m 6ft1 tall. For me the branding is a little too over-dramatic and screams of an insecure man in a marketing department somewhere.

We drove out in the morning to a hill in the area known as Mapanda (pictured), which is where Wim has installed a repeater station to provide radio communications across the Reserve. This is proving essential for such a large expanse, to enable the half a dozen scout posts to speak to each other and react to issues. This northern part of the Conservancy, which borders Tanzania, is vulnerable to poachers coming over the river, and this is the source of most illegal activities recorded in Chuilexi. Impressively, all the materials including fencing, sand, cement and water required to erect the repeater were carted up by hand. It’s knackering but not as brutal as it sounds, because the few communities living in the Conservancy welcome the opportunity to provide labour and gain employment. Two scouts up the hill guarding the repeater station were hardy creatures, sleeping in a cabin nestled in the rocks. Barbed wire fencing and guards are necessary around the repeater to mitigate the temptation of Tanzanians to come across and steal expensive parts.

We also checked out the nearby Mapanda scout post. One scout is recovering from an infected boil, which Wim checked. Another is requesting transport back to his home village several hours’ drive away, within the six-week window of recenseamento de eleições (election registration), which closes at the end of May. Normally scouts are posted for two-month periods so may miss the chance. Wim was annoyed that the scout hadn’t been organised enough to complete his recenseamento whilst recently on leave, but knows that the scout has him somewhat over a barrel. If the scout reports to local government contacts in his electoral area that his employer didn’t help facilitate him registering, it will be a bad political move for Chuilexi if the main party candidate then accuses Wim of depriving him of votes. As a result, Wim will have to shuffle cars, scouts, pay and rest days to satisfy this request.

The other scouts may be focusing on their main task of patrolling, but who knows what other issues may crop up. These diversions are very reminiscent of organising patrols in South Sudan, when drunkenness, dysentery and complaints about rations would all detract from the core job at hand: being in the bush and deterring poachers.

The Rovuma campsite we’re using is very sandy and when there it feels natural to switch into flip flops, aka being on a tropical beach. Acapulco likely has fewer tsetse flies and a lower risk of being ambushed by a lion, but otherwise must feel pretty similar. The campsite is a very pleasant place to spend the evening learning about Wim’s 17 years of experience in Niassa, and valuable context for my steep learning curve in this place.