One of the important things that Zambeze Delta Safaris has done is to encourage the locals to raise their own crops.  ZDS has selected areas near the village and set them up as agricultural plots. They will plow them each year so that they are ready for planting.   The villagers are given seeds to plant, and once the seedlings start to appear, they are given fertilizer to quicken and further the growth.

After that first helping hand, the villagers are left on their own to tend the crops and harvest them when they are ready.

As we were driving to the rice field, we passed four women headed there to work.  They happily joined us on the truck and saved many miles of walking for the day.  A half-mile down the road, four others joined the group.  It was fun to listen to them talking and laughing….probably about me!!!

I look at their lives and think how hard of an existence the have but they seem happy and content! 

As they hopped off of the truck, they headed for the shallow well to fill their water jugs for the day’s work….

The water table is close to the surface so they don’t have to dig far to find the life-giving liquid….

This woman is Elizabeto, one of Zakarea’s wives…..

….and she is busy harvesting the rice.  She uses a sharp knife to snip the rice stalk before she adds it to her sheaf. 

Once the sheaf has reached the appropriate size, she ties it off with a long strip of leaf and adds it to her harvest…..

I can’t imagine how long it took her to harvest all of this…..

The rice itself is gorgeous….

….and apparently it has a wonderful flavor!!

There was a young boy who followed us into the field, and I finally asked if I could take his photo….

I love the pose that he struck!!!

He stayed close to us for the entire time we were at the field and when we left, he and his two friends….

…. chased the truck.  The other two boys faded out after a short distance, but he kept on running for at least a mile, all the while pushing a wheel at the end of a stick….

I LOVE the look of sheer happiness on his face…..

When he finally pooped out, he gave a little laugh.  I turned and waved, and he responded in kind!!  These are the interactions that make my travels SO wonderful!!!

This post includes some trophy hunting and I know that it could be offensive to some of you. But, before you move on, I would encourage you to read this post….. thanks!!

On Wednesday afternoon, we went out looking for Nyalla and Michael took a nice trophy.

CLICK HERE IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE TROPHY SHOT

Lest you think that the animal is just left there, I want to tell you about what happened to this particular trophy.

Francisco and Dolish loaded him into the truck and we headed to the skinning shed.  There the coat was removed and salted, ready to be cured for the trophy mount….

ALL of the rest of the meat was then taken to the kitchen to be used in our upcoming meals.

A portion of it was ground for mince but the two backstraps (the long pieces of meat that lie just to the side of the spine)…..

…..were kept for a special meal…..Nyalla Cordon-Bleu!!

The next day we had the opportunity to watch the meal being prepared and it was an interesting process.

The camp chef, Lorenzo,  has worked there for 27 years….

 He spent 6-months at a cooking course in Maputo to learn his trade, and he has perfected it well!!

He alone worked on the meat while one aide washed dishes and his “sous-chef”, (Shiku) chopped green beans for the vegetable rice that would go with the meal….

Watch as he stuffs the meat and prepares it to be marinated.   I apologize for the flashing thru the video, we were trying to get still photos at the same time as the video!!

The female voice in the background is Poppy….the camp manageress. 

As he finished stuffing the second piece of meat, I enjoyed a wander around the kitchen.   First I found all of the ingredients that had gone into the marinade…..

…followed by these cabbages that were waiting to be chopped into coleslaw…..

We have coleslaw at every meal, and it is a cool, palette cleansing addition.

I loved this basket….

….and am wondering if I can find one when I travel into the nearest town, but I have NO idea how I would transport it!!

Finally, they have a jar of garlic paste used on many things, and I was not surprised to see a LARGE bag of cloves waiting to be peeled and chopped.

Dinner is served buffet style and the first dish contained the meat specialty…..

There was a gravy/sauce to pour over the meat and the meal was finished out with vegetable rice, roast potatoes, and steamed vegies….

Desert were crepes….yes, you heard that right.   In deepest, darkest, Africa, we have eaten flan, crepes, apple crumble, cake with custard and other amazing “puddings” (the British term for sweets). 

Thus ended the saga of the Nyalla hunt.   It started out as looking for a trophy to hang on the wall and ended as a meal fit for a king!!

As I have mentioned before, the Zambeze Delta Safaris operators are extremely interested in the reintroduction and preservation of the wildlife that was lost during the fifteen-year Mozambique Civil War.

They quickly realized that, unless the villagers were properly fed, they would continue to kill the animals so that their children would not be hungry.  As parents themselves, they understood this desire, so the first step was to find a way to provide meat and other food to the villagers.  As I mentioned in THIS POST, they have solved that problem by providing meat throughout the year.

The second problem were professional poachers….those who killed the animals and sold the meat and hides at local markets or even those who were part of a broader poaching syndicate.

To battle this, ZDS hired some of the village poachers and employed them to set up an “Anti-Poaching” team.  In their duties, this team of “rangers” use every resource available to them, including electric motorbikes, helicopters and satellite technology.

Their goal is to provide a “fast-response” to any poacher sighting with the goal being the arrest of such individuals.

Michael and I were invited to go on a training run with the APS (Anti-Poaching Squad) and it was an interesting experience.

They started by using their GPS systems to locate the general area where the poacher had been sighted….

They started walking slowly down the road….

watching for these footprints in the sand……

The squad was interesting to watch as they used almost imperceptible signals to relay what they were seeing.  When one signaled for them to duck, they all went down…..

Funnily, Michael and I did as well.   I guess that we have been well trained!!

They finally reverted to crawling the last few yards….

…before bursting into the “poacher’s” camp…..

The poacher ran away but the APS captured him and returned him to his camp in handcuffs.

After taking photos of him and the killing tools that he possessed, he was told to show them all of the traps that he had set.

Do you see a trap in this photo?

This is the hiding place for a gin trap……

And, this is what happens when an animal steps into the trap…..

Then the “poacher” went on to point out several snares that had been set.   These were pieces of entwined wire that circled the path.  When the animals get stuck in them, the wire noose closes on the animal and it is held there until the poacher can kill it with a spear or knife.

Honestly, the setting of these snares is an art form as the poacher uses vines and branches to hold the snare in place and to camouflage it, but the art side of it fades when you realize how much pain it an inflict on the unsuspecting animal!!!

Once the traps were cleared….

…..the training exercise was over and it was time for a curtain call…..

This team provided us a front-row seat into the world of poaching and the efforts to stop it.

Now it was time to release the “prisoner”.   But where was the key???

They searched everywhere but couldn’t find it and even tried to pick the lock with a stick!!  I felt bad for the man who was supposed to be holding the key!!

They finally found it on the ride back to camp and the prisoner (ie….APS member with the least seniority) was set free.

We appreciated these guys allowing us to experience their work…..

As we were driving back to camp, I snapped a selfie with everyone in back of the truck….

They didn’t smile in the photo but laughed after it was taken!!

It was great to see yet another example of the great work that Zambeze Delta Safaris is doing!!