Campout Day 1

We started out first thing with a bush walk from one side of Imire to the other before the sun had a chance to bake the earth beneath our feet and fry our skin. We took 3 and a half hours, treading softly and observing everything from the smallest beetle tracks to the balletic silhouettes of bee eaters circling overhead. We encountered mongoose tracks, jackal paw prints and even an adder sitting quietly in its nest just inches off our path. It's only when walking amidst nature that you actually realise your place in it, how every berry and grass stem and insect all play their own vital roles in balancing an ecosystem and you are no more important.

Marupiya gave me some berries from a tree called camelfoot (so named because the leaves unsurprisingly look like a camel's foot). From the broad grin on his face, I was expecting them to be lovely and sweet but once on my tongue they were a bitter, earthy surprise. After seeing my face he chuckled, "Yeah they're disgusting aren't they?" Brilliant. Later though he gave me some chocolate berries to try - thankfully aptly named. Much better.

 chocolate berries (Vitex payos)

Tired, hungry and very hot we arrived at our camp mid morning and after a quick snack we were whisked off to learn some bush craft skills with a guide called Maurice. I was amazed at the string he taught us to make by chewing and weaving the bark of a msasa tree; it looked exactly like the string you'd buy in a ball from a post office. Next he showed us how to carve fire starting sticks and how to kindle a flames. It proved easier than I would have thought to make smoke, but extremely hard to get the wood hot enough to actually catch a spark on dried grass! Eventually with Marupiya proving to be the hero of the moment owing to a childhood of having to start fires every day in this way in order to eat and survive, we got a flame.

Afterwards we had an initiative test which we all proved to be rubbish at. The test involved having to make a pulley out of logs and ropes and lifting a large oil drum half filled with water over a rope between two trees, over which we couldn't cross as it was our 'electric fence'. It took us two hours all in all, after which we were more than ready for some beers around a campfire!

For dinner we were to cook a simple Shona dish over an open fire: sadza and cabbage relish. Maurice and Marupiya gave us instructions but were not allowed to physically help at any time, which I imagine must have been very frustrating for them watching us! Sadza gets thicker as it cooks and requires some serious arm muscle to keep stirring, resulting in us making a new disco move. Though simple, sadza and relish proved delicious and filled a hole after all the work.

That night I slept out under the stars. The moon was so brilliantly yellow and luminous it was as if someone had switched on a lighthouse up in the sky! I would like to write and say that it was the most beautiful and tranquil night I've ever had..but we were woken up at midnight by a bushbaby making its ear splitting screech for a full half hour. Sweet dreams.