Conferencing

Under bright Southern Africa winter sunshine (temperatures around 15 degrees) several hundred people descended on this hotel and conference centre in Harare. We are here to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the first transfrontier conservation area in the Southern Africa region. Since then many landscapes have developed successful cross-border initiatives between neighbouring countries, including the programme I work on. The week will contain a mix of formality and more practical sessions and this group of people is always a pleasure to be with as there is a great spirit of collaboration between government focal points, donors and NGO bods like myself. These are some of the most pleasurable work times I have in my role, and a nice escape from internal processes and politics.

Someone today noted that my name is the same as Zimbabwe’s previous leader. Quite. Not sure which association is worse. That, or the countless times (mostly before he was known to be an abuser) that people used to inform me that my name was similar to that of Rolf Harris. Then they’d invariably find themselves hilarious and start laughing.