The world’s COVID experiences are changing on an almost daily basis; while Australia and New Zealand emerge from lockdown with an incredible record of virus containment and Europe starts to see the end of its awful peaks of deaths, Zambia’s cases increase at an erratic rate, largely due to the inconsistent level of testing here.
In many ways, we are fortunate to have been in Zambia during this period. This is our home so we would not want to be anywhere else, but it has given us unrestricted access to the South Luangwa National Park and unlimited outdoor time, luxuries that many in Europe have been without for a long period. We have never taken that fortune for granted. But I find myself increasingly envious of the situation in Europe; while times have been really tough (and I am not under-estimating it for a moment) EU governments have taken charge of the situation and enforced the necessary restrictions to protect the healths of the nations.
There has been no such leadership in Zambia, with a strong feeling that we are sleep-walking into whatever experience the virus will bring for us. This is not to say that it will be awful, as it may not; we have a young population here, most of whom will shrug off the virus, and very little movement of people compared to most developed nations. But we simply do not know what is coming.
Of course, people in developing nations are less able to deal with the restrictions that developed nations have enforced to protect themselves. But a ban on non-essential movement of people across provincial boundaries and the ban of large gatherings, especially for funerals, would have been manageable and sensible controls. By way of illustration, a woman who had COVID symptoms was recently tested in Lusaka. Before her results came back, she got on a bus, travelled across the country and attended a funeral with 500+ people. While at the funeral in Eastern Province, she received notification that she was COVID positive; more than 700 people are now involved in a contact-tracing process, all of which could have been avoided had there been tighter restrictions on movements.
Nevertheless, life in the bush continues as normal and I have had another wonderful week in Nature. COVID has brought much suffering and hardship across the world, but it has also allowed our planet to breathe and take stock, something for which I am very grateful. Many people have asked if there has been a change in the behaviour of animals without any visitors to the park. It’s hard to tell but suffice to say the animals are certainly showing themselves at least as much as normal! I am seeing more rarities as well, but that might be because I am spending a lot of time on my own where my attention is fully on my surroundings, rather than shared as it is when I guide guests.
So, as before, here is this week’s update from the South Luangwa. Thank you for following the journey with me.
Until next week, all the best and take care of each other.
