Back in 2005, I was part of an expedition through Zambia.
Mussel Project 2005 Zambia
It was quite a team. Two mollusk scientists, three entomologists, one dad (of one of the mollusk guys) and one ornithologist. We traveled by two vehicles. Dan, Bill and I were in one and the others were in the other truck. We traveled through Zambia and visited several game parks. We conducted insect survey while the mollusk folks dug in the water for clams and such. This was tricky of course because that’s where crocodiles live. If you are raking the mud in a river bank, the muddy water doesn’t let you see the crocs. Stirring the water indicates to a crocodile that a meal has entered into water. So I would stand on the bank and watch for an approaching shadow. Then I would tell them the water was too muddy, time to come out. The local people would stare in awe, saying that there are crocodiles in there!
We traveled from campsite to campsite, always a bit irritated that the younger mollusk guys took too long to break camp. They would sit around, smoke a pipe and upload pictures on their computers. While Dan, Bill and I were packed and loaded up ready to go. They were newbies not concerned with how long it might take to get to the next camp. Or that there might be problems along the way. Oh. I don’t know like a short from the battery burned a hole in the steering column pipe. So on the way to Mfuwe from Chipata, that happened. Miles from any garage we were stuck and local people came around to watch us and see what we did. Fortunately, when making up the shopping list I made sure we got foil. I folded up the foil and the dad wrapped it around the hole. I pulled the wire out of my journal notebook and they used that to keep the foil in place. We were back on our way! Along the way we stopped at a market and Dan bought a strip of rubber to make a slingshot. We got some souvenirs and headed to Flat Dog Camp. Flat Dog Camp Looks fancy smancy now, but back then there were only places to pitch a tent on the ground and also platforms u in the trees to pitch your tent. It didn’t seem like a good idea to pitch your tent in a tree. We wondered why?
The answer came that night. While we were sleeping elephants came over from the South Luangwa game park and touched our tents. By the second night, the mollusks dudes, the Dad and the ornithologist put their tents in the trees. That night Dan was in a small pup tent and an elephant came right next to him munching on favorite bush. Dan was afraid the elephant would step back on him or poop on him. So by the next night, Dan also was up in the trees. That night we were still in our big tent, when a big male came and started to raid our food. The young scientists had partied and left food out and not locked up in a designate camp shed. Bill and I got out and hid behind a tree.
So the elephant took a bag of sugar and downed it, then next grabbed a bag of oranges and threw them in his mouth and ate them. Next the big guy came over to the truck where more food was covered by a tarp. He was about to wreck our vehicle! As he was reaching in the bed for stuff, a worker from the camp named Richard started to yell and clap his hands at the elephant. Bill did the same. So very absurd to see two people trying to shoo an elephant as you would a cat or dog. Bill had the keys to the truck and ran around jumped in and started the truck. That scared the elephant away and supplies were saved. Once he was gone, Richard said that he was known as the Naughty One. He could be identified by the fast that he was missing his tail which had been bitten off by a crocodile. Richard pointed up the the folks up in the trees and said, “Look at the monkeys!”.The next day more elephants came into the camp and trapped the dad in a building where he was washing his clothes.
We had fun watching Dan Otte use his slingshot shoot rocks at the monkeys. He didn’t aim at them but at the ground when they approached a coke bottle with an orange on top.
Then headed out to another camp. Need to write about Susan and her shells but that’s another story.
Bill and Dan and me
