Last weekend I did a bird count in the Ndindi marches. Close to the village Ndamera, in the southern most tip of Malawi, on the border of Mozambique. The Ndindi marches cover an area of more then 40 km long and several km width. The data will be used by Wetland International, but above all it was just a very pleasant morning in a beautiful area. In a traditional canoe, watching and counting birds, visiting fisherman villages; the poorest families of Malawi. Villages without clean drinking water, latrines or access to schools or hospital. And those people were welcoming us by giving us sweet potatoes. Just because we were there.
The marches are hard to reach. To get there I had to take a bicycle taxi for 30 km, stay the night at a friends place to be able to go to the marches early morning. The next day traveling back again by bicycle taxi, with a detour this time, experienced a flat tire on the way back and saw a Malawian cycle repairer at work. His wife would not let me go without giving me bananas and ground nuts. Why? Just because I was there.
And the results? A total of 360 birds, 42 different species in 3 hours time. I was happy! (and I had a sore butt from the taxi's....)
The marches are hard to reach. To get there I had to take a bicycle taxi for 30 km, stay the night at a friends place to be able to go to the marches early morning. The next day traveling back again by bicycle taxi, with a detour this time, experienced a flat tire on the way back and saw a Malawian cycle repairer at work. His wife would not let me go without giving me bananas and ground nuts. Why? Just because I was there.
And the results? A total of 360 birds, 42 different species in 3 hours time. I was happy! (and I had a sore butt from the taxi's....)
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