Born Free

Category: Born Free, Born Free Ethiopia | Date: Jul 28 2009 | By: bornfree

The rains are well and truly here. Most days, there are torrential downpours with incredible lightning and thunder. However, in between the rainy days the sun reappears. The combination of rain and sun causes every plant to grow rapidly. Ethiopians call this time of year their summer and traditionally this is when the countries food crops grow. Sadly, although we have the normal rains in Addis Ababa, I hear that other parts of the country still have not had any rain which does not bode well for this year’s harvest.

Although several members of the local community are still trying to chop trees on the site, the Major and his security team are doing an excellent job not just of preventing further damage to the trees, and also of building a relationship with the community.

We have promised the community they will see direct and indirect benefits from the Wildlife Centre and employing security guards from the local community was an important first step. Next week, we are contracting local labour to build a ‘secure area’ in the centre of the site. I have purchased a used shipping container as the easiest way to have a lockable store for equipment and materials (including materials like cement that need to be kept dry). We will now create a 200 metre fenced area around the shipping container. This will enable us to store the 3,800 fence posts and wire, sand and cement needed to build the perimeter fence. The secure area will be the interim headquarters with a site tent, water tanks and a guard on duty 24 hrs a day, seven days a week.

For those of you who have read the previous Blogs, you have an idea of how difficult it can be to do the simplest things in Ethiopia, so you will not be surprised to hear there have been a few set backs….

We have just purchased a used 4 x 4 Toyota Land Cruiser pick up that will be invaluable in transporting materials, tools and labour as we construct the perimeter fence. Once the fence is completed, the Toyota will be used for general maintenance and as a feed truck. Although I had had a mechanical check before buying the pick up, on my way back from the first drive to the site, the brakes failed completely just as I was approaching one of the busiest roundabouts in Addis at rush hour. Some rapid use of gears and handbrake and a prayer or two saw me safely through the traffic and straight to the garage.

Since the construction of the secure area is a priority, and with the pick up out of action, I commissioned an Izuzu truck to collect fence materials, cement and tools to be stored in the shipping container in preparation for the ‘secure area’ fence construction. We warned the truck driver that the track up to the centre of the site is waterlogged and very, very muddy, but he said he could easily drive up to the shipping container. The truck got stuck after 20 metres.

Anyone who has lived and worked in Africa knows just how capable humans can be in this situation! The security guard team and local farmers all helped. Within 30 minutes the valuable chain link wire, cement, empty oil drums and tools were all unloaded, iron bars used to support the heavy rolls of chain link fence and a procession had started to transport everything to the shipping container.

Meanwhile, back at the office compound the rains had caused the walls of the septic tank (that also are the foundation walls of the staff rooms) to collapse. A local builder took on the task of rebuilding the walls. A very smelly and unpleasant job. Although I have a permit to keep Menelik in the office compound, I have been very careful to keep him a secret so as not to have a mass of inquisitive people trying to get into the compound, disturbing office work and Menelik. In order to protect the Menelik secret, we needed to stop the builders from knowing we had a cheetah in the compound. We could not keep Menelik locked in his shed for a week, so we fixed tarpaulin around the cheetah enclosure (much to Menelik’s excitement). I told the builders that we have a very fierce dog, so not to disturb the tarpaulin. It took eight days for the builders to dig out the old septic tank walls and then rebuild them. Little did they know a cheetah was just a few meters away!

More news in a week or so, when hopefully we will have completed the secure area fencing and can get started on the main perimeter fence.