UEM

Photo of the main campus area at the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique’s foremost university, where I’d been for a meeting. Eduardo Mondlane was an anthropologist, independence fighter and political activist murdered in 1969.

I was given late notice about a drinks event at the British High Commission compound. My colleague Rob and I thought it might be in honour of the new British government being ushered in this week, so we went along. Purely for the irony, you understand. It turned out to be a hobnobbing event for various embassy bods, so I’m baffled as to why I was told about it. A Russian diplomat called Natalya couldn’t escape quickly enough when we revealed we were wildlife conservationists. It was apparent there is little opportunity for collaboration between the Russian state and elephant conservation.