Zimbabwe Wild Dogs

Hello all,

I’m finally back in the conservancy now.  It’s great to be out of the city and back in the bush where, instead of waking to car horns or an alarm clock, we are woken by bird calls (or even in the past leopard calling or lions roaring).  The car is looking super-smart now: it has front bull bars and roll bars at the rear of the cab for safety, a seat in the back for the scouts, proper wheel brackets so we can carry two spare tyres, and (most usefully) an extra 110 litre fuel tank! 

Our newly kitted out vehicle

The extra fuel tank is especially useful on the long drive to and from Harare – we ran out of fuel on the way in last time, despite having a full tank (before this new bigger tank).  It’s situations like that - when driving past enless empty, deserted fuel stations with your fuel warning light on – that you really notice the collapse of this country. 

And speaking of collapse – I did get my hands on a 25 billion dollar bill the other day!  I’ve posted a picture of it here.  It was worth about US$20 when I got it – now it is worth less than $12…

I only got back to the field late last night, so I havent got much wild dog news to report quite yet.  But the scouts have been working hard while I’ve been away and we have plenty of sightings to follow up on.  We’ll be putting the collars on in the next month or two, so lots of photos of that coming up…

Lastly HUGE thanks to all those who have donated to our project – money goes a long way out here in Zim, and with the support we have recieved so far, we have managed to do an awful lot.  Many thanks.

Rosemary xx