We went up to Nyungwe on Monday to deploy a trial set of the camera traps. In the exact same spots that Okan and I had deployed them earlier. This time, a park gaurd, Eoste, came and helped me instead since Okan doesn't yet have a permit to touch his tinniest toe into the park. They are hard core here with the permits. Okan went for a 10k run through the public park roads instead. The camera deployment was successful despite a little rain (it is a rainforest after all) and Eoste was super nice and very helpful. I hope he can help me with the next set of cameras I want to deploy in early April (seventeen in total).
Today I am headed back to Kigali to meet with the permit officer. My permit is only half approved right now as he wants proof I'm not some lunatic from American who wants to kill all the animals I trap. I've called on my veterinary friend Chris to help by writing a letter of support and assuring them I'm competent to immobilize carnivores. Aside from a veterinary degree, I'm not sure what other kind of assurance I can provide! I've been very anxious about this glitch in my permit for weeks now and have been dreading this meeting. Wish me luck!
Starting in early April I am moving up to Nyungwe full time to start my field work/trapping (if I get the rest of my permit approved). I'm really looking forward to that. In the meantime have been trying to enjoy all that Butare has to offer, which frankly, isn't a lot. But they DO have a really great national museum here that I went to last weekend. Lots of fascinating cultural and political history and artifacts. A really well done museum.
They have their own special way of writing the history of Rwanda. For example, instead of writing that the president's plane was shot down by opposing militants before the genocide began, they wrote under his picture that he died "in a plane crash". I suppose it's technically correct! But also lots of fascinating crafts and pictures of Rwanda from the early 1900s. Amazing stuff and I'm hoping to go back and visit again.
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