Local knowledge

Explore Gorongosa Camp, Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique

Woke to heavy cloud cover and some wind.  Most other days made me compare the Mozambican winter with late Spring in San Diego.  Pleasant days with cool nights.  Sitting by the campfire as the morning bird sounds rose around us I asked the guide Jeff about rain.   The question was passed to Jinga, the scout, and he took a quick glance around and said “Tempo moron”, or warm weather.  Not cool enough for rain at the moment.  Once more this pointed out the importance of local knowledge, something I have heard again and again from Greg Carr.  It has been mentioned here that many outside experts are in the Park at this time, but they are not rooted in this place.  Most of the local Bantu DNA goes back nearly 2,000 years.

After a coffee preto by the campfire it was time to head out along the Msicadzi River with Jeff and Jinga.   Jeff had his field glasses for birds and Jinga his bolt-action rifle for larger animals.  The grass was high and the weather was possibly warm of enough for snakes so most our time was spent on trails or the sterile soda pan along the upper river bank.  Since many of the animals we hope to see will startle easy, quiet feet were important.  It was a hunt, but the telescoping lens strapped to my side was a Canon 100-400 mm for the documentation of life not the destruction.

We surprised some solitary bushbuck and impala in the high grass.  It is the dry season, but there is plenty of vegetation for them here.  Also good places for predators to hide.

Along the Msicsdzi are deep channels running down the river bank to the water’s edge.  These are the entry and exit points of crocodiles and hippos.  There is not enough water for hippos here but we come upon tracks of crocs up above the channels.  While searching the river vegetation for birdlife we also scan the brush above to make sure we won’t surprise a croc.    The tracks of the largest reptile in the world stand out from all other in the region.  The scale-like pattern looks more like a portion of Japanese fishprint than animal footprint.  The tracks so high above the water make us more vigilant as we move through the dense forest growth.  Several large crocs are spotted along the water’s edge but they quickly slide in and disappear into the brown opaque water.  Incredible how such a large animal can be lost from sight in seconds.  We skirt the water’s edge but maintain some distance from this reptiles that are known to run 35 miles per hour.

Some of the more spectacular birds along the thickets and forest undergrowth are the small Peter’s Twinspot.  The belly has white spots on black that remind one of the back of a barbet.  They are elusive but manage to see a few deep inside some brush.

Sitting along the bank I spotted a flash or large brown wings.  The white head cleared some brush and I can see it is a fish eagle, with a fish in its talons.  The river teems with catfish which also sustain the crocodiles.  Wonder if these predators have ever met while going for the same fish.

Returning to camp Jeff gave an exclamation pointed to his side as a dark slender shiny dark-green body shot through the grass.  A startled cuckoo bird shot from the grass.  “Maybe a Green Mamba” Jeff said.  We followed it as it raced through the dry straw.  We poked with a stick and searched a stand of grass below some trees it disappeared into.  “Must have found its hole” he said.  The speed of the snake was impressive.  The venom is even more impressive.

In the afternoon we were back at Camp Chitengo.  We found Ed writing his piece for National Geographic.  The article with his words and Joel Sartore’s photos will be magical.  Ed seemed in good spirits, but his voice was hoarse from delivering so much on camera.  

A gratifying and quite interesting moment came when I sat down with Ed to have a ceverzha and to show him a high definition video clip I shot that day.  It was an ant video of course.  The termite raiding hissing ants have grabbed my attention more than any other animal so far.  They form tight columns as they travel together like a very organized army marching across the forest floor.  They are also quite large – nearly a centimeter in length.  I have noticed the ants can detect one’s breath if sitting too close.  They sense the carbon dioxide.  Once they sense the breath they will scatter out of formation.  I showed Ed the footage on a wide screen laptop which was shot with a macro lens bringing the ants in to fill the frame as they marched into their hole in the foreground.  At one point they scattered out of formation and Ed scooted back thinking he breathed on them.  We looked at each other and laughed.   I’ll take this as a sign.   If we can continue to produce this kind of content for the Life on Earth project and create a visual that can trick the world’s authority, then we will have accomplished something.