Archive for January 23rd, 2001
Day 20
We went for a walk in the wild this morning, which is now becoming one of my favourite activities. There were many animal tracks around, which Tyse identified as lion and leopard, which was slightly worrying! But in terms of mega-fauna wildlife, there wasn’t actually much about.
Tyse taught me about ropes and knots today, an incredibly useful skill to have in the wild. If you can tie anything to anything else, you can build constructions, devices, shelter, hang things off the ground, make hammocks, the list goes on.
The other thing I learned today was about collecting water, which is an even more essential skill, because we can’t go for more than a few days without it. If there isn’t any large resource of water, such as a stream, there are various roots and edible plants to eat which contain water.
There is also an ingenious thing called a solar still, which you can make by digging a shallow hole (take your time, and don’t do it in the or you will expire more water than you will gain!) about 3 feet wide. Then dig a smaller hole at the bottom of the bigger hole just wide enough for a container such as a saucepan or a can. Lay a sheet of plastic over the hole, and weigh down the center by placing a small rock in the center of the sheet. Water will condense on the hole you have made onto the plastic sheet, and will run down the incline made by the rock, and drain into your can.
If you have a clear plastic bag, you can put some leaves into it and seal it up. Left in the sunshine, water will be drawn out of the leaves and condense at the bottom of the bag.
Colin and Elisa’s post-graduate tutor arrived today, along with his wife and a lab technician, all staying at Nungu camp. For the first time Nungu seems alive, populated. It’s great to have company, and we had a barbecue and talked into the night.
I finally worked out what that scratching sound is, coming from the roof of the kitchen (see day 3). A rat! Only it must have been pregnant, because there are now 3 distinct pairs of feet scurrying around up there.