How do I begin to describe what I saw today: awesome views from up top the highest hill over looking the Zambezi River, fish eagles crying in the distance, crickets starting clicking their wings by my feet.
Right now I’m searching for words to describe a beautiful sunrise. We were all action, speeding by boat to beat the sun to a spot directly opposite the wall of the Cahora Bassa Dam – a place where work ends as trade on the Zambezi can go no further from there on. We found our spot, moored the boat and waited patiently smokey mist arose from the water as it gushed out the sluice gates on the other side, the sounds of a feint roar in the distance – usually quite deafening up close and there, as she rose, the sun revealed the magnificence of the river, dam and foresty mountains that surrounded us in every direction.
I took a few photos but I don’t think they’ll quite depict exactly what I saw. Guess that’s what memory is for. We took a drive to the dam wall and I found myself staring at this mass of water and concrete for the better part of half an hour later.
I was mesmerized by the sheer power of the water as it gushed out of four holes in the wall as huge big spouts, spraying a fine mist as it poured back into river form. And the sound – I’ll say it again, sheer power.
Taz Wilde – Sound
Feel swak for Daz, getting ripped off all that cash. The production’s budget doesn’t exactly cater for theft of large lump sums of money. And there’s an alarming aspect that accompanies this experience. The context. And the fact that you can’t help but understand why these men are robbing you:
In Chimoio, the ATM’s are empty and currency is traded like a commodity. No one has anything, and everyone will try absolutely anything to get by. The thieves used no violence and no threats, no one was harmed, and they didn’t force anyone to do anything. They merely conned us with slight of hand. In Joburg, a man will shoot you in the head for your cellphone. It doesn’t make their crime any less wrong, but when you’re so close to it, it envelops you with an obtrusive realisation of how unimaginably difficult life must be for some of the people who live here.
And you know inside you that it’s not just here, it can be found practically anywhere in Africa.
Now to go out there and shoot it. Everyday. This has certainly been a challenging experience so far. In very many ways.
Danny Kodesh – Camera
