Zimbabwe Reflections

Jessica Mathon, MS student

My blue sleeping bag and me, we've been through a lot together. All I have to do is pull it out of its storage bag and the memories come flooding back. The silky outer cover, soft downy insides, the smoky mopane fire smell…

I'm thousands of miles away, back in Zimbabwe. I'm the only female out with a bunch of men tracking Lycaon pictus, an endangered tri-colored wolf–like canid. We've set traps to catch and radio collar a pack, now we wait… and wait. I've just returned from collecting firewood. The joke is that I'm going to get eaten by a lion tonight because I don't know the correct wood for a fire. But it's a friendly joke and I now know mopane—it's hard, hard as a rock, and burns all night. I don't get eaten by a lion, although there are tracks less than 100 meters away in the morning. We don't catch any dogs—they stay clear of lions.

My sleeping bag accompanies me on our chilly pre-dawn searches for signs of L. pictus. I can feel my racing heart and the adrenaline rush as two individuals appear on the road right in front of us. They lead us to an impala kill. We watch them and the rest of the pack feed but never get a clean shot to dart and collar one. The pack remains collarless, but I am blessed with a long, sustained view of these graceful, sleek, and powerful animals. We search again as the sun begins to set, but all we find is a black mamba crossing the sandy path that serves as a road. It rears a meter straight into the air, telling our land rover to STOP!, and let it cross. We obey, and watch it's sleek, long, stick-like body glide into the bush. After ten days, only one animal has a collar. We have endured long cold sleepless nights and tick infestations, rescued a hyena from our snares, startled zebra, been gazed at by giraffe and elephant, and been awoken and sung to sleep by a myriad of birds. It's time to return to base. For me, that means an arts and crafts center in a town on the border of Hwange National Park. My sleeping bag accompanies me.

It's time to design new products, standardize sizes for rings, bracelets, and necklaces, create display boards, and inspect quality. Wire art, beaded jewelry, and paintings are the main products produced here. We are preparing for the grand opening! Children and adults alike teach and learn from one another, create and socialize here. I spent many weeks in this community, laughing and working, developing relationships. I came to move easily among this group of men, as it is almost all males at this center. I accompanied a bamboo artist on a gathering expedition, I participated in an awards ceremony, I shared sadza and nyama, a corn porridge and meat, for dinner. I fought a forest fire all night alongside National Parks and Forestry employees. Just ask my sleeping bag—you can still smell it.

This was my second trip to work with the Painted Dog Conservation Trust (PDC). This trip was to explore how PDC's recently developed community outreach programs, of which the arts and crafts center is one, fit into the communities they were designed to serve. What I discovered is that this is a very large question, and further exploration into this has become my thesis. What I achieved over the summer was a familiarity with the community, a sense of trust, and a working relationship that has paved the way for my return. And my faithful blue sleeping bag will return with me, to bear witness again to the warm-hearted people, the stunning sunsets, the fascinating wildlife, the smells and sounds, and the ever present human-wildlife conflict that takes place along protected area borders.

For more information about Painted Dog Conservation:
http://painteddogconservation.iinet.net.au

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Last Updated: 7/24/09