What I've been up to
Trip Start
Jun 17, 2008
1
Trip End
Jun 27, 2008
Nzara, Sudan
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
OK, all set. I am in Nzara, which is right in the south of South Sudan, 20 miles from the border with Democratic Republic of Congo, and about 50 miles from Uganda. Those of you who enjoy Googling will learn that Nzara is where ebola originated, in the agricultural complex, thought to be spread by rats or their ecto-parasites. I am currently trapping rats on the agricultural complex in Nzara.
I am assured by my colleagues that it is the bats that spread it anyway, and I am not catching them. I am also trapping in the Equatoria Teak Company camp here (tarpaulin and netting topped bandas made out of teak), in a patch of degraded forest and in a reasonable bit. Normally I identify, mark and recapture the little darlings. this time, because no reseqarch has been done here in decades, if ever, I have to collect specimens for the Harrison Institute to identify, or to assign as new species (you never know).So, I have been peeling the rats I capture, preserving the skins, cleaning the skulls and taking a bit of liver for DNA analysis. All a bit gruesome really, but I'm sure it is all worthwhile. Give me a fungus any day...
One of the most interesting things about this place is the old British agricultural complex itself. I am doing the EIA for the company to move their sawmill here. The Brits left in the 50s when Sudan became independent, and left most of the machinery. It is a spooky and sad place. All these enormous and impressively engineered machines left to rust for 50 years. It is amazing to think that they came here from Manchester, Rochdale and Lincoln, down the Nile at a guess.
The other thing I have been up to is delivering a course in biodiversity with South African TV personality and colleague Dave, to 25 Sudanese employees. It has been very rewarding to watch them go from glazed bewilderment to pertinent questioning and lively debate. One chap, who I had interviewed in the social survey last year, said he had worked for the Forestry Dept since 1952, and this was the first time he understood about the forests. We were filling up! We finished today and had a certificate presentation ceremony to round the thing off.
The Boers who run this place are an interesting lot. Tonight we were going to have a brai, but then it started raining and there was panic. I said to them that in England it is traditional to light the barbie then wheel it into the garage because it is peeing down. they think we are all mad. Probably true.
Tomorrow I will collect in the traps, and maybe spend the afternoon with the sisters. The Comboni Sisters are a small group of nuns, mostly elderly and Italian, who run a school, a hospital and an AIDS community in Nzara. During the 20 years of civil war they were the only non-Sudanese group to remain in the area, and for that reason they are greatly loved and respected by everyone. I have brought them some parmesan, porcini and sun dried tomatoes, and some toys for the kids of the AIDS community. It is a wonderful thing to spend time with these ladies.
Comments
Hi dave you actually lied in some of your words there, it's great to do what your doing now, but Nzara is not 50 mile from Uganda first of all and Nzara does not Originated Ebola.
Thank Juan
Sorry, but it is and it did.