From the bench of a European academic researcher to the field there is a huge gap I began to fill with my first secondment in Algeria. I had several objectives for this secondment, from the comprehension of the local complete life cycle of Leishmania (sand fly-reservoir-host) and the exposition to the field working conditions (capture of sand flies and rodents, sampling from human patients), to the training on the analysis of captured animals and last but not least the networking to strengthen relations with the partners of this consortium. All these points being detrimental for me to fulfill the task 1.1 of the WP1 I am coordinating. After a workshop on leishmaniasis reservoir in Algeria that took place at the IP annex of Sidi Fredj we were almost 15 to embark for M’Sila, 250km SE of Alger for the training in the field. We were taught on technics to capture rodents and insects and on how to analyze the collected samples. I could meet patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis, mostly kids. For the first time in my career on Leishmania I was in real contact with all the actors of this disease. I learned a lot from this experience and not only about science. I met nice and talented people from the LeiSHield-MATI network in a friendly and working atmosphere with food always on time.