Gin + apple

A morning in the office catching up on overdue tasks, followed by an afternoon jaunt to Mecula relating to a PhD researcher entomologist who is setting up some data collection on beetles and needed to meet some of the characters who will be useful contacts for her. I am mostly an observer and tagger-on-ner to activities whilst I am here but I’m enjoying it as an opportunity to soak up the environment of being in Niassa. Anything that takes me away from the day-to-day shenanigans of my regular office is welcome, especially as we near the end of a long year.

With my friend and counterpart Bastiaan who is based here I enjoyed a fun evening of wide-ranging discussions and dreaming about travels near and far. After several drinks he fried up various fridge leftovers which fuelled us for an extra few gins with apple juice. In the absence of other mixers this turned out to be a very satisfying combination, and a new one on me. One could accuse us of recklessness but we then embarked on a drive through the forest to see what wildlife would await us on the airstrip. A hartebeest herd, bushbaby, genet and some reedbuck. A reasonable haul.