FABI Professor Mike Wingfield recently had the privilege of joining a group of biologists and mycophiles on a visit to the strikingly beautiful Miombo woodlands in the Muchinga region of northern Zambia. The trip, initiated by mycologist Professor Peter Mortimer, was part of a CIFOR-ICRAF project, with internationally renowned fungi photographer Stephen Axford and documentary filmmaker Catherine Marciniak, tasked with cataloguing the biodiversity of the local fungi and creating a short documentary on the harvesting and use of mushrooms by local villagers. More details about the project and other participants can be found here. 

During his time in Zambia, Mike had the chance to experience the remarkable diversity of mushrooms in the region, which is largely due to the symbiotic relationship between many Miombo woodland trees and ectomycorrhizal fungi that fruit as mushrooms. The team was also given the opportunity to preview the movie Follow the Rain, which is set to be launched in South Africa this March. As expected, Mike took the opportunity to assess the health of trees in the region and inspect numerous fungi infecting them.