For the work in two of the villages I stayed in camps of the wildlife division of the Forestry Commission. These are complexes for 6 rangers and their families. The rangers have several tasks to do in the area, including patrols through the National Park from time to time to make sure that noone violates the preservation of the forest, including plants and animals. Since not all of the rangers have a family yet, or they are not staying with them in the camp there was always a spare room with a mattress for me. The camps are build from concrete and connected to the power grid. Washrooms are in a separate building and in one of them there was actually a working shower. After weeks of showering with a bucket it felt like such a luxury to stand under running water. I made sure to schedule my hair washing so that I could take advantage of the shower. I guess this is one thing I will take home with me: the realisation that running water actually is a luxury eventhough we tend to take it as a matter of course.

I thought it interesting that they still have small huts out of wood next to the building where they cook on the traditional three-hump-stoves using firewood. Somehow by the looks of the buildings I had expected something like a kitchen like I know it, but the camps actually consist only of empty rooms. They have running water, but not in the flats but besides the washrooms there is only one tap in the courtyard. Staying there felt like being in an even smaller universe, without the sounds of a village close by.

On the way to one of the farms in Mesomagor we passed by a huge tree. They couldn't tell me what type of tree it was, though, but it was fascinating. A tall naked trunk with bushes of leaves on top. Nearing the soil the trunk fans out and ends in thick roots. I cannot even name the perimeter of the trunk on the ground. Huge.
On a free day while I was waiting to get picked up I went back to the tree alone to look at it and sit beside it. I am in awe of what nature creates sometimes. It is amazing what different kinds of plants and animals evolved, what kind of differences in size and shape and colour exist.

Another time I made an experience that I try not to repeat. In the evening, when it was already dark, I came back from the washroom and decided that the moonlight was bright enough and to switch off my torch. I stopped in the middle of the concrete path leading back to the house to look at the sky and to admire the stars. After seconds I felt something at my toes, like stitches. I looked down and turned on the light and saw that the ground was black. Ants over ants over ants, on the whole width of the path and me standing right in the middle. Adrenaline shot through my body and I started running and stamping until I left them behind. Luckily they did not manage to climb up my legs but my toes were bleeding where they bit me. It was suddenly not that hard to imagine how ants are able to make whole carcasses disappear within a short period of time... The next morning there was no sign of them, nothing to proof that they had ever been there. Ants are daily conpanions here. They are usually everywhere, in different sizes and different numbers. I don’t mind them and they don’t harm you unless their numbers are high and you are stepping right in their center when not taking care of your surrounding. In the forest there are huge gangs building paths halfway in the ground. It is not recommended to step on them but rather just step across. If you don’t disturb them they won't disturb you.The second camp is located close to the village Kruwa. For the interviews on my first visit we walked to the village to visit the farmers in their homes. One of them had a house inside a garden. There was a real fence around it with a small gate and inside were some neat bushes and flowers as well as a small lawn. It felt so different to be in this garden, coming from the usual red dirt roads of a village. I felt the power that this form of cultivated land has on your mind. It immediately calmed me down and made me feel at ease. It seemed to me like an oasis of calm in the middle of a desert of dirt and poverty and noise.
The way back led again through the main street and somewhere in the forest over a bridge that desperately needs maintenance. The ranger told me to place my feet where he did to avoid the rotten planks.

While waiting for the car there I was reading on a bench under a tree in front of the camp. It gives me peace being far away in the world of my book, forgetting for a moment all the difficulties and poverty that is surrounding me daily. Still, I am aware that it is important to aknowledge it and to make sure to not forget what I have seen and learned here when I will be back in the comforts of my life in Germany. It is still one world and our actions wherever in the world have implications in many parts of the world and on the lives of many people, eventhough we don’t directly see it. Globalisation tied the world and the fates of people close together.