Taking the pangolin for a walk

First of all….what is a pangolin?

A pangolin is a spiny anteater that is native to Asia and Africa. It looks like this…..

Unfortunately, they have the dubious trait of being the most trafficked animal, surpassing elephants and rhinos.

Why are they so valuable?
The animals are trafficked mainly for their scales, which are believed to treat a variety of health conditions in traditional Chinese medicine, and as a luxury food in Vietnam and China. In Africa, pangolins are sold as a form of bushmeat, for ritual or spiritual purposes, and used in traditional African medicine.

The Mozambique government is cracking down on the trafficking but they needed someplace to send the pangolins that were discovered.

Enter Mark Haldane and Zambeze Delta Safaris!!

They agreed to helicopter to the areas where the animals were found and bring them back to the Delta.

When we were visiting, they had received one smaller pangolin and were rehabbing it and waiting for it to gain a bit of weight before it was released.

Since they are nocturnal animals, they sleep during the day and scavage for ants/termites during the evening. Since the researchers don’t want to lose the animal as it feeds, they take it for a 3-hour “walk” each evening!!

Michael helped to lift it out of the cage and place it on the ground. It reacts similarly to an armadillo in that it curls into a ball to protect itself. In this photo, it is slowly uncurling…..

For the next hour, we followed along behind the little guy as he foraged his way thru the brush….

Pangolin Walking

In one sense, it was akin to “watching paint dry” but there were other compensations….

We were in the Mozambique bush and the sky was magnificent…..

It had been a full day and we were treated to an amazing appetizer at dinner….

The presentation was gorgeous with the fried noodles and vegetable relish. The chunks are bit of fresh fish that had been flown in that morning……YUM!!

It had been a busy day, with airplane and helicopter flights, Cheetah feeding and Pangolin walking…..what a life!!

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

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The Iconic African Photo

Since we are currently in South Africa, I thought that you might enjoy an iconic photo of Africa……

Wouldn’t it be fun to use this color palette?

It might be a bit challenging…..

What do you think??

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Cheetah dinner

I am THRILLED that we have decent internet in camp this year which means that I can post while we are here!!

We flew out of Johannesburg and headed to Beira Mozambique. The flight was easy with gorgeous cloud views….

We were met at the Beira airport by our helicopter pilot, Heather…..

and after a 1-hour flight…..

We arrived at Coutada 11 and immediately went to work (if you can call it work!!)

There is a long story about the re-development of the ecosystem in Coutada 11 (Coutada is the Portuguese word for hunting concession). If you are interested in the full story, check out this post, but I will warn you that you may have to think about things in a different way…..

Thinking in a different way

The posts that come after this one tell more about all of the good work that Mark Haldane and his crew have accomplished over the last two decades.

They are in the process of re-introducing Cheetahs to the area and we were here in 2021 when the original 12 were brought in. Unfortunately, one of the male Cheetahs had broken his foot and has now had surgery and is living in a Bouma (natural pen) for a couple of months. Fortunately for us, he has to be fed and we got to be there for the feeding time!!

Tamar is the scientist who is the “keeper of the cheetahs”……

As we drove up in her vehicle, the male immediately rose up out of the grass and bounded to the fence, knowing that food was coming…..

He made a crying noise, indicating that he was VERY frustrated that it was taking so long!!!

When Tamar pulled out the first hunk of Reed Buck, the cat tensed and got ready to catch it when it flew over the fence….

Once he had “captured” his prey, he ran off to eat in peace…..

While he was engaged, Tamar entered the pen and put out two more meat chunks.

He finished one and then stealthily approached to capture the next one….

Once he had finished “din-din’s” we headed back to camp for the next part of our day…

Stay tuned!!! The next post contains Pangolins!!!

IF you have come to the post via a facebook group, you might consider subscribing to the blog so that you get future posts. Since they aren’t about quilting, I won’t cross-post them in the future.

A Walk in the Garden

Our first morning in the bush, we ended up in a garden area…but probably NOT the kind of garden that you are imagining!!

In previous years, the villagers were not in a centralized area but lived in small family groups. The village consisted of a few huts and maybe a pen for chickens or animals. Each small village would create a “garden” area near their houses. This garden would have a few acres for millet or sorghum and maybe a few banana or cassava trees.

Unfortunately, they would clear large sections of the forest for these gardens using a technique called slash and burn……

After the field was used for a few years and its agricultural effectiveness had passed, they would move on to another spot and do it all again!!!

NOW….the villagers have moved (with the help of Zambeze Delta Safaris) to a central area where they have agricultural fields that are well maintained and can produce two crops a year.

That is a long backstory, but here we go…..

The garden that we were strolling thru had been slashed and burned but the villagers had moved on before it could be developed. It was a sad sight…..

BUT, there were a lot of things to see in this area.

I have always loved fungi and these orange ones just lit up in the sunlight….

These rice-looking granules appeared on many of the burnt-out logs…..

….and this green one was really cool……

We passed tobacco plants…..

….and Dylan (our guide) told us that the seeds would drop from the villager’s cigarettes while they were clearing the area!!

I kept seeing this weed……

….being careful to avoid it at all costs!!!

There was evidence that the area was well visited by the local large animals…..

….and the insects were out in force.

Dylan told us that this is a biscuit spider…..

It was interesting to look at and we figure that all of the other spiders make fun of him!!

I know that I am weird, but I love to watch dung beetles……

….and especially as this one attempted to move a ball of Wart Hog dung that was FAR bigger than he was!!!

There was also some other interesting flora.

I loved this flower…..

…..and these leaves were cool……

It was a good start to our time in the bush!!!

Come back next week for the next two installments!!

Getting there is half the fun!!

If you have been following along, I have been writing about our first trip to Mozambique. Now that we have finished with that trip, it is time to move onto the 2nd one!!!

My plan is to post a couple of stories every week (on Tuesdays and Wednesdays).

So….let’s get going!!

Our flights to DC and then on to Addis and Beira were, for the most part, uncomplicated!!!

In DC, we went back to Capital Grille for our send-off meal and were treated to amazing food and a wonderful ambiance. We took a quick walk along the National Mall, and then returned to the hotel.

We are always concerned about the weight and amount of our baggage but when you stand in the line for Ethiopian airlines, you feel as if you are carrying a mere pittance of luggage. The airline allows 2 checked bags per person and 3 if you are a member of their flight club. Believe me, the passengers make good use of this perk!!!!

This was the luggage for ONE family…….

As we watched more and more large carts of suitcases arrive, we began to wonder if the plane would be able to get off the ground!!!!

We also kept seeing people checking boxes holding 60+ -inch TVs!! One of the gentlemen that we talked to told us that Ethiopia had recently removed the tariffs associated with these TVs so EVERYBODY was bringing them home!!!

The funniest thing about the flights were 5 guys (I THINK that they were male) in full contamination gear……

It was a bit disconcerting to have them board our flight and we debated about running, screaming from the plane!!! We finally decided that they were just hyper about COVID contaminations!!!

The helicopter was waiting for us as we left the airport in Beira and we once again enjoyed the views….

I love the way this river winds around……

When I saw this, I was concerned that the camp might be super flooded as well…..

…..but pilot Pete assured me that the camp was much dryer than it had been the last time we were there!!

We were once again greeted by the camp staff and made to feel welcome in our tent.

It was good to return so soon after our last trip and we both felt like we were coming home!!!

LET THE ADVENTURES BEGIN!!!!