It’s only been a week since harvest started, and already, it has changed the landscape dramatically. It’s not that I have not seen a harvested field; it’s that it feels quite different to see what used to be vast expanse of sugarcane turn into fields of dried cane leaves, flat on the ground, one hectare a day. The sound of the wind as it rustles through the tall cane is no more. I no longer hear the sounds of the birds shuffling under the cane, nor do I see them perching amongst the leaves. It is unsettling to walk through these fields without the cane overshadowing me. I remember taking shelter amongst them, when one rainy transect day, lightning hit close to the ground. What if we have another one of those lightning-happy days? There will be no more cane to take cover in.
As I gaze upon these harvested fields, I am frustrated by my continued inability to answer one of the fundamental questions of this research: where do the leopard cats go?
No comments:
Post a Comment