Since D returned I have received a very different type of communication. He has not dashed to Mareja but instead seems to be resident in Pemba gathering intelligence from Augusto the administrator at Mareja, and various other trusted sources. It seems the timber operation we uncovered in the summer has gathered momentum and is much larger than first imagined.
But the surprising bit of Ds approach, is rather than going out with his rangers as an environmental foot soldier, he is knocking on doors, uncovering all the NGOs he can and meeting community leaders to gather support to tackle these illegal operators together. He doesn't enjoy the politics and has rarely found comrade in the past...but these times seem to have changed he is lining supporters up shoulder to shoulder.
It seems extraordinary after years of battling the illegal timber operators
just as ivory is waning...as the large elephants have all been killed...
ebony should be back on the poaching menu. Those gnarled slow growing trees that pepper miombo forest have weathered all storms, and particularly fires, only to be singled out and severed at the base.
Dominik possibly feels most passionately about the need to keep the trees standing. They are like majestic knitting needles and once fallen all the biodiversity, like intricate stiches, are unpicked beneath their canopy.
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