The Fruits of Fig Tree Camp

Campfire meets bushfire

I haven't been able to get any of the locals to tell me what this long holiday weekend is in aid of, but today and tomorrow are both public holidays here in Zambia, so of course we are fully booked and the place is buzzing. Google tells me they are heroes day and unity day back to back - but what exactly that means I'm not sure.
I've just come back from a couple of nights at our remote bush camp, Fig Tree, which was so peaceful and quiet, if a little hair-raising at night, waiting for the guests to return from their night drive, listening to the bush fires raging across the river. My training has taught me that controlled fires are necessary for a number of ecological reasons and I understand them all, but I can't help feeling for the slower moving creatures of the bush like the tortoises and chameleons that simply cannot bury themselves underground or take to the skies to get away from the fatal flames and smoke.

Zebra studying something suspicious in the grass

Whilst at Fig Tree, during the quieter daytime hours, I spent some time with one of our guides walking the camp and studying the trees and plants in the vicinity... it stills amazes me what an abundance of resources mother nature provides, even in a small camp area... everything is there to make rope, cloth, and kitchen utensils, walking sticks, boats and snuff boxes. Not to mention the wealth of medical supplies, culinary delights, industrial strength glues and even chewing gum; bush gum is not something I'm desperate to try in a hurry, but I did manage to make a fairly loud whistle using the leaf of a Horn-Pod tree and send a Puku dashing for cover in alarm - oops.