Clear Skies

As things come to a standstill in the wild, Samantha du Toit muses about how clearer the air has gotten.

It could be my imagination, but the air seems so much clearer now. More often than not these days we can see from Mt Suswa to the North to past Oldonyo Lengai to the South, all in one turn of the head. The Ngong hills seem an arms-length away and I can make out individual trees on the Nguruman hills some 10km away. Perhaps it is just the time of year, and the rains have arrived again which might help. But it does seem different. Could it be the result of less air pollution? Who knows, but it seems likely, and perhaps there are some silver linings to every dark cloud?

In many ways our lives have not changed on the surface. We still watch the baboons making their way along the river bank every morning to wherever it is they go every day, and watch them come back in the evenings, arguing as to who gets to sleep next to whom as they settle down in the fig trees for the night. We watch the kingfishers catching insects on the lawn and the speckled bush snake basking in the morning sun on a branch by the dining area. We listen to the rain pound the roof of our tent at night, and watch the river swell throughout the day. The children entertain themselves collecting bugs and identifying them as part of their ‘homeschooling’ lesson for the day, as we reply to emails and catch up on the news online, trying to make out what is really going on in the world.

But of course, life has fundamentally changed for all of us, whoever we are, in ways in which none of us could have predicted. Many friends, family and colleagues had suffered from pay cuts and job losses in the last few months. Money for conservation was also fast disappearing, as our donors also suffered unprecedented losses in income. Tourism was at a standstill.

But we decided to take that time to learn. We agreed as a family to focus more time on becoming ‘local experts’, taking long walks with our Maasai guide and camp naturalist, Nixon, to learn more about the birds and plants. We have spent more time in the kitchen, learning how to make bread, pizza dough and shortcrust pastry. We have learned to rely on local food supplies and local medical care. We have, perhaps, become more a part of the community in doing so. We have learned to take less food at every meal, and think twice about waste. And we have learned that without reserves we are very vulnerable. This applies not only to finances, but to food, medical supplies and energy. In this ecosystem, it applies very much to livestock and to grass. Now, as things gradually change, we are coming out with a different world view, one that will teach us lessons that we hope will serve us all better in the future.

Samantha du Toit is a wildlife conservationist, working with SORALO, a Maasai land trust. She lives with her husband, Johann, and their two children at Shompole Wilderness, a tented camp in the Shompole Conservancy.