I have been out with the large mammal team every day, we have been walking a lot. We have heard a lot of monkeys, we tried to photograph them in the forest but my one shot was too dark, and they were quick as usual, so it’s hard to capture them in a photo. We have seen a buffalo within distance but he ran into the forest tout suite; the other buffalo we saw was beyond the distance of any zoom lens available to mankind.
Maybe the large mammals are hunted (though not the monkeys) or maybe it is just the environment. There is a lots of savanna with patches of forest but poor nutrient soil. If I had some camera traps this would be a piece of cake, but I did not have time between obtaining the job and leaving to find/make/borrow some camera traps.
I am seeing more landscapes and starting to understand the area better. When it is the rainy season the savanna floods, lots of fish rush in, and the fisherman show up. I wish I had a chance to return during the rainy season, the drastic change would be great for the photo story.
It has been tiring, but fun with the large mammal team. I had no idea the savanna could change in looks so much, not to mention the gallery forests. It is a whole new environment every day. The trees closer to the beach have a lot of character and the savanna stretches on like a great landing strip.
I also learned some more history about the area. It seem Mouloundo is an old village that was abandoned. The area also was logged many years ago which surprised me, they used the Nyanga river as a exit point for the lumber and the town where the families (one really) of Mouloundo relocated is where the old logging camp is. An old burned up cessna sits in the savanna outside of town. Legend has it, the salary man of the logging camp had the cessna crash so he could hide all the money and say it was burned up!