into the heart

a tent with a view

so far i've visited upemba twice.  first in early october and again just now in late november.  the change was dramatic.  the rains started the day we arrived the first time and have not let up.  the plateau at lusinga headquarter went from a golden brown, almost toasted looking, to brilliant green.  i took these panoramas to show just how huge the difference is.

right now our team stays at the fzs camp.  when the buildings are completely rehabilitated, in a couple months, we'll stay in rooms in the guest building.  but for now, it's small safari tents on the ledge overlooking the zebra's grassy plains and i'm not complaining!

zebras!

upemba national park has faced a lot of challenges over the years.  neglect and lack of funding, occupation of military and rebels, and intense hunting by all sorts of groups to the point that nearly all the large mammals were wiped out.  the antelopes and small mammals were hunted for food, the zebras shot down en masse by the military and, rumor has it, even some UN peacekeepers for their skins, and of course, with scarce prey, the predators like lions and leopards largely disappeared.

but a few individual zebra, as well as a small number of antelopes of different types, monkeys, baboons and small animals made it through the worst periods.  the zebras are the most visible example of what's left, and a good indicator of some types of threats (though they aren't as impacted by bushmeat snares as other species). 

once down to less than 10, the zebras are bouncing back.  in the rainy season the herd, broken into family groups, spends its days quite near the park headquarters on a high, green grassy plateau. in the photo above you can see how close they are to the staion!  this past week when i visited the park we took a walk to see them, spotting them first in the distance from the station.  they let us get surprisingly close and i was able to get a few good shots, albeit under an overcast sky and with a telephoto lens.

to be honest, i've never been a big hooved animal person... aside from the obligatory pony phase every girl goes through, i was much more into the predators, elephants and odd creatures like bats and ant eaters.  but i have to admit, there is something intensely compelling about zebra.  when you really look at them their patterns dazzle and appeal to some very basic aesthetic.

their stripes play with your eyes as they outline a body of pure muscular heft.   you can really see how they blend the herd together and make it difficult to spot individual animals... a great defense from predators that aim to pick out a single target to isolate from the herd.  when you stare at them a while sometimes it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.  in the photo above you can barely even see the foal against it's mother and aunts!

and of course a little stripey foal bouncing around by it's mom is pretty darn cute.  i mean look at that funny little tail and adorable whiskered chin!

most expensive salad on earth

the up side of lubumbashi:

there's a very fancy hotel with a very fancy pool.  i've gone twice now to get out of the house/office and cool off on a hot sunday afternoon.  there's a congolese funk band that plays and the place fills up with an assortment of locals and hotel guests.  great for people watching and trying to forget about work for a few minutes.

the downside:

check out the bill...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$16 for a salad, $3 for a coke (small glass bottle, this ain't no supersized unlimited refill situation) and $2 for a "small water."  yes, that's US dollars.

and that doesn't include the $20 i paid to get in to use the pool.  

now, if that isn't enough, please refer back to the salad.  i had not yet eaten a single bite.  4 pieces of lettuce, a few chunks of tuna, half a tomato and an egg.  seriously?

now, i know, i know... you have to pay to live the fancy shmancy muzungu lifestyle and i could have just eaten fufu and tomato sauce with palm oil for $5 down the street.  but still.  lettuce doesn't cost THAT much.

 

 

rainbow beans

beans make up a pretty big part of the diet here... though the exact preferences vary throughout the country.  often they are cooked fresh, like these, rather than dried first.  i am constantly seeing new colors and patterns of beans... red, pinks, marbled, grass green, grey, zebra stripes, purple, black, polka dot, yellow, orange... literally a rainbow of beans in every market.  sometimes sorted by type, other times all thrown together like this.  pretty, right?

among the volcanoes

this is one of my favorite places on earth.  a bit of paradise tucked into the corner where congo, rwanda and uganda meet.  surrounded by mountain gorilla forests, high altitude lakes and black volcanic soil fields, these brilliant green hills are simply stunning.  not to mention that up here the climate is cool, the air is fresh and the view, of the virunga volcanoes, takes my breath away every time.