While the first two blogs are overwhelming and exciting, they were also incidents. A big leap into the unknown and an adventure at night. And there are many more incidents, but let’s gets get a basic setting for you here. Today marks 3 weeks and 2 days in Chad and 3 weeks and 1 day in Zakouma National Park, a pretty isolated space. We’ve been rolling with the waves, trying to find some solid ground. Here’s a general breakdown of a ‘normal day’.
Alarm is at 4:40AM, at Tinga. Tinga is the budget accommodation in Zakouma National Park. It’s basic and under construction. Breakfast used to consist of 1 mini bread roll per person which by now we have managed to negotiate to more bread, some fruit and supplement it ourselves by the bread rolls served at dinner. By 5:30 we start our morning commute to the office, the Zakouma HQ about 8KM away. There, a circle of the heads of departments discuss what’s happening that day / week. Next up is a line up of all employees, including a delegation of the rangers / guards of the park are lined up. There is a salutation and a brief welcome from the Deputy Park Director, a general ‘Salaam Aleikhoum’ and we all shake each others hand. A bit over the top maybe, but a nice gesture. At 6AM we’re in the Tourism Office which we share with Tinga Management and the Head of Tourism, Bienvenue (very appropriate).
Commute to the office!
The HQ is a permanent hustle-bustle of people and radios chatting. There are trainings underway so the conference room is bursting out of it’s seams.
Our first guest aren’t due until December 31st, so it seems almost ridiculous to be here 6 weeks before that. But ah, there is no camp. Everything that makes the camp is still packed away. In different store rooms, houses, hangars… Some even in use. And the location of the camp is still pretty much under water. And the road that leads to the camp is still a marsh. Every few days we pop our heads around the corner (only a 15KM road - well, road…), testing how far our boots still sink in mud.
There, at the horizon, is Rigueik, the location for Camp Nomade.
Before we start ‘building’ Camp Nomade, there’s a lot to prepare from reservations & accounts to doing inventory of everything that makes the camp: the Gypsy wagon that turns into storeroom & kitchen (foodtruck avant la lettre), tentpoles, rugs, chairs, linen, pots, pans and even cutlery. There is some single use stuff too, like the woven ‘walls’ for the en-suite bathrooms…
Our Camp Nomade staff, a team of 12 very eager, proud men of all ages and backgrounds, have started gathering all the camp equipment for inspection, repair, varnishing and testing. Their enthusiasm is tangible and for them to build up an entire guest tent so we can ‘see’ is a treat! We’re also improving our French by the day. Nothing a half English, half broken French description and a smile can’t fix. And when we find the word, there’s always the question: ‘Que est que c’est en Anglais?’. And so we learn…
Gypsy wagon, chairs and freshly varnished tent poles!
Lunch is served at about 1PM and by that time we’re seriously hungry. It’s a hot and dusty route back to our temporary ‘home’. The short afternoons are spend working on planning, e-mails. And, and this is big, we have to prepare for shopping…
Almost every night at Tinga we are joined for dinner by people from HQ taking a break from cooking their own food. Bedtime? Usually before 9PM.
A la prochaine!
X IRIS
Yes, every sunset so far looked like this. No, I wasn’t always watching it with a beer in hand.
