A fitting end to the the day here, is the staff mess at night and in particular seeing what will be attracted to the only lights for miles. Dazed bats are pretty regular, flying in, bumbling around, then flying out again but the insects tend to occur in once off waves of whatever has hatched at the time. There was the night of the kumbi kumbi (the flying termites), nights featuring huge numbers of single species of moth and then there was the night of the two inc...

Aside from the cool stuff I put in these blogs, it's far from non-stop excitement out here and there is plenty of time now that I have settled in, to relax and appreciate the place. I've started to venture out on my own these days too, which allows me time to slow down and photograph things without holding anyone up. The things I find on these trips are the sorts of things I came here for, like that "mongoose like creature" that turned out to be… a mongoose. An...

Hey folks, Just a quick update today to clear up some ignorance in an earlier update. I have to take back my statement of there being "not much to choose from in the way of unusual local food". I have now tried the dagaa and ugari and it's a nice combination. I had said earlier that the ugari (made from cassava or maize flour) was like a porridge that meat was dipped into. Well something got lost in the translation and now that I have tried it, I can give you a ...

The guys tell me, there is generally a gap in the rains out here for a few weeks in February in most years, before it gets wetter again in March. The brief window of warm dryness comes just as the regions maharagi plants begin to ready for harvest, so the local farmers are flat out in this area now including Mr Mlafu with his farming side project. He invited me along yesterday to see the way the harvest takes place and the techniques used for processing the bea...

So what exactly did I do today? Oh you know the usual, just chilling in the jungle working on my Jesus beard….. In truth, today was one of those days so fantastical that if I didn't have the photos to prove it, I would scarcely believe it myself. So bear with me as I try to do the today's events justice because this should be a good read. Perhaps a little notice though, this one is not a holiday blog so if you are feeling a little tender maybe leave it for ano...