Dom Cram joins the project as an ERC postdoc based at the University of Cambridge. Dom’s previous post-doc work investigated cooperation in Kalahari Meerkats. Timm Hoffman, eminent landscape ecologist from the University of Cape Town, joins us as well. Dom and Timm bond on a particularly gruelling Land Rover journey to the field site. Wet season travel! Dom is rewarded with dozens of honeyguide captures, and Timm with stunning Sterculia trees. Here are Timm, our Mariri colleague Rachide Herculano, David, Claire and Dom, and Malangaranga Mountain in the distance.
Tragic attacks in the Niassa Special Reserve, Mozambique
On 29 April 2025, armed insurgents attacked the Mariri Environmental Centre in Mozambique’s Niassa Special Reserve, resulting in the tragic loss of two anti-poaching scouts, Domingos Daude and Fernando Paolo Wirsone (please see statement from the Niassa Carnivore Project). This followed a prior tragic attack at Kambako Safari camp on 19 April. Mariri and the nearby village of Mbamba are at the heart of our work on human-honeyguide cooperation, made possible by the knowledge and partnership of the Mbamba honey-hunting community. We grieve alongside the people of Mariri, Mbamba, and the wider Niassa community, and stand in solidarity with the enduring spirit of conservation and unity.