Mozambican blessings from afar and African heads over the bar

Washington, DC

The Embassy of the Republic of Mozambique is only two blocks from the DC hotel, but this place could not be further from Mozambique.  The pale sweating tourists are staggering from their trip down the National Mall, their sunburned skin glistening in the late-afternoon summer sun.   We yearn to cross the equator and transition to a welcoming African winter.

Surprisingly there are aspects of East Africa that dot the city besides the embassy buildings.  Stopping by the Old Ebbits Grill adjacent to the White House are the longstanding trophies of a former United States president.  There they are over the bar in the oldest saloon in town. 

The heads are from Teddy Roosevelt -- hunter, naturalist, and 26^th President of the United States. The trophies symbolize conquest and man’s ability to dominate nature.  Roosevelt’s legacy is great.  He was hunter indeed,  but also a naturalist and champion of preserving wild places. He was a tireless advocate of National Parks of the US and the wildlife and spaces they protect :

“There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods , the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children’s children forever, with their majestic beauty unmarred.” T. Roosevelt, Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter,  1905.





Teddy Roosevelt, Mt. Meru, Tanzania  (photographed Edward Van Altena).

 

During our journey to Mozambique the Life on Earth team will also attempt to shoot big game, and the smallest of game with cameras and telescoping lens.  The animals won’t be mounted over a bar, but proudly displayed within the textbook “Life on Earth” and within the digital field guide “The Encyclopedia of Life.”  The creatures we shoot will not represent “conquest”,  but they will represent biodiversity and what is worth saving.

On the visit to the Embassy of the Republic of Mozambique today, Antonio Tauzene, Second Secretary, was briefed on the Life on Earth Project in Gorongosa.  He praised the successes of the Carr Foundation and the Gorongosa National Park.  With a slight grin on his face he asked if he could join our expedition and then  gave his blessing on our project.  Senhor Tauzen  said it is challenging when others hear a Mozambican claim the wonders of Mozambique.  He expressed “why wouldn’t one praise their own country? When others experience the country and show the glory of the land it holds different meaning. “  Soon we will have a chance to do just that.