Pawaga Camp.

Pawaga Camp was the other camp that belonged exclusively to the project. It was set up by project staff. Situated about 2.5 hours from the Park gate, it was quite far but concentration of villages around this area made it necessary for project to set up camp here.

Pawaga camp is situated right on a small meander of the Little Ruaha river. Through tropical rainforest, dusty roads and many villages later, you reach Pawaga though a maze of fields. One tent houses the kitchen, storage and staff sleeping area (which was actually the volunteer sleeping area, but a dysfunctional zipper allowed snakes and scorpions and bugs inside, hence the volunteers, in my time there, moved to the boss' tent) and the volunteer tent which was pitched under a band. (actually the boss' tent).

kitchen and staff tent

The view from my tent in Pawaga was unbelievable. I awoke to the most beautiful sunrises and farmers working the fields in the distance. The days were spent organizing camp, sorting staff issues, planning logistics and ofcourse dealing with research data. Park days were long, starting at 5 am and ending at around 9 or 10 as reaching the park gate from Pawaga took 2.5 hours one way even though the park boundary was no more than 20kms away.

Days at camp were wonderful. The remoteness and independence of this camp meant that we had to do/overlook everything ourselves. A camp helper assisted with cooking, cleaning and other chores. We would ration the food and supplies and would constantly be teaching the helper how to go about things. Turns out the boy who was first there when i got to pawaga was a thief. He was caught stealing from Michelle and also ripped the project off of a good 100 odd dollars. Sadly, he left us no choice but to fire him. We learned that things and money had gone missing in the past and he was also suspected of trying to sell off the solar panel!!! (it went missing and then when Sarah, project head/boss, announced a reward, it was mysteriously found!!). He was making a good living for himself, much more than the average village man's earnings, so it was unfortunate that he got so tempted. He was replaced by another very sweet girl, who was eager to learn, but English was a slight impediment. Once she left, Asha, an extremely competent woman took over. She was enterprising and smart. Meals definitely got fancier and more elaborate. She became a friend quickly and her good conversational skills made it much easier. She had worked as a translator with the WCS and on the same project earlier. She told me a lot about how it was for an average African woman. She was still studying at university and lived in Iringa (main town around Ruaha). She rented a small room there and lived there during university days. She had a baby girl that she left with her mother in the village and her boyfriend was working in Saadani Game Reserve. It was very inspiring to see such a hard working, intelligent young woman, determined to make something for herself. She was studying gender issues and the role of women and womens rights.

asha

Mornings in Pawaga were spent reading a book or writing a journal sitting on a chair facing the river and the reeds. There was always so much activity in the morning in the reeds. Weaver birds in their hundreds chattered as they feed on seeds and insects. Crocodiles basked in the sun on days the river didn't engulf the banks. We always had to be careful fetching water from the river (until we got a manually operated mechanical water pump) and this water was used for everything from cooking, bathing, cleaning to drinking. Once i had procrastinated enough and spent enough time chatting with Asha or reading/writing I began project work and continued late into the afternoon, breaking only for lunch and shower.

shower

Using the toilet in Pawaga always made me anxious. And we were later told that spitting cobras were often seen there and recently many baby spitters were spotted there.

toilet

One evening Sondra was walking back from our tent when she suddenly started screaming. She had almost stepped on a spitting cobra and it was very agitated. Not knowing what to do in a situation like that, she slowly began to back off shouting across the short grassy patch asking what to do, but even as she retreated unsure of where to throw the light, the snake rose high above the ground and let slightly forward. Felisto and Rowland ran into the darkness to try and help her. Felisto almost stepped on the snake and it retaliated by spitting venom that missed his eye and landed on his hands. Rowland then came with a big stick of wood and killed the snake. It was so so sad. I mean we were the intruders here and all it did was be alarmed. But snakes are always killed in these places. It was so surprising to learn that villages did not stock anti-venom as it was expensive and had a very short shelf life. Hence, snakes were feared and were killed on sight. Sadly, this one was beaten to death and thrown into the river. It made me feel so sorry for the snake. However, this was not the first time a spitter had been around. And after i left they discovered one large spitting cobra that had made its home under the kitchen tent!! And in my time there, i saw another spitter and a baby puff adder. Clearly a lovely place for venomous snakes!!

Evenings, weren't always filled with drama like this. On most evenings, we sat under the stars, the volunteers, camp helper, night askari Juma, Rowland and sometimes Julius and Felisto, all eating dinner together and having a beer or wine sometimes. It was beautiful because the moonlight was all we had besides the one lamp we got later. We laughed and exchanged stories until it was time to sleep. And then the balmy air made it too hot to sleep comfortably in the tent. When it rained, it was wonderful; everything cooled down and a lovely breeze passed through the tent mesh-windows.

Rafiki also provided much entertainment in camp and often had friends over.

I was definitely very sad to leave this beautiful camp i preferred in many ways over Chogela.

view from my tent (sunrise)