Jessica and Célestino Dauda from the Niassa Carnivore Project set off to interview honey-hunting communities across the Niassa Reserve. For Jessica this was a perfect opportunity to practise the Kiswahili she learnt as a child in Tanzania. It soon comes back! Despite car breakdowns and numerous punctures, she and Dauda interviewed 141 honey-hunters and recorded their honey-hunting vocalizations used to attract honeyguides. Thank you ANAC for your permission for our travels, and thank you to all the communities who so generously shared their time and expertise.
Cultural Evolution Society grant awarded to Jessica van der Wal
Jessica van der Wal was awarded a grant from the Cultural Evolution Society Transformation Fund for her project entitled ‘Cultural mosaic of human-honeyguide mutualism’. This will allow her to grow the pan-African collaborative to document Africa’s remaining diversity of endangered honey-hunting cultures with honeyguide birds. Thank you to the CES for this wonderful support! The growing Honey-hunting Research Network currently exists of researchers in Cameroon (Dr Mazi Sandi and Jacob Wandala), Ghana (Wiro-Bless Kamboe), Eswatini (Sanele Nhlabatsi and Dr Celiwe Ngcamphalala), Malawi (George Malembo M’manga), Nigeria (Anap Ishaku Afan), and Tanzania (Eliupendo Alaitetei Laltaika, Amana Kilawi). Other partners in the project are anthropologist Dr Brian Wood and database manager Farisayi Dakwa.