What not to do on Game Drive

Just got back from the most exciting and yet scary drive. It all started with the fact that I was driving if that doesn’t tell you something. Helen, my boss, hurt her foot and all the other staff at GVI are on Christmas holidays so Kaggie, who is also training, and myself have been doing the research drives taking turns driving and working the radio. Kaggie drove the morning drive and I the afternoon. I was very nervous to begin with because it was our first time out on drive without any help and the radio is very daunting because the other lodges depend on us to locate the animals and call in sightings for their guests not to mention they are very strict when it come to radio procedures such as how things are described and using Shangan words for the animals so guests can’t understand what is going on.

Kaggie and I started out looking for the female lioness and cubs because we didn’t find them in the morning. We were driving along the Northern River road and come to a puddle, well what I thought was a puddle. It turned out to be as deep as the Grand Canyon and we were Stuck! Even in low range 4 wheel drive and Differential lock turned on there was no getting out. We maneuvered back and forth for a few minutes in the hopes we would find away but it was of no use. Kaggie got out to tear off some branches and put them under the tires with the hopes of getting some traction. Just as she was in front of the vehicle a herd of Elephants decided to show up for a visit.

As beautiful and intelligent as Elephants are they are extremely dangerous and unpredictable. I would not feel comfortable driving that close to a herd of Elephants on solid ground with escape routes all around us and here we were stuck with nothing to do but pray that they didn’t get angry at us for being there. The young calves were very curious coming right up to the vehicle. This brought the females who came and sniffed us but carried on around us. Then a big Male, Mr. M, noticed us and came over. He pulled a big limb off a tree right in front of us to eat then preceded to suck the muddy water from the lake we were stuck in and spray himself with it. I was sitting behind the wheel with my foot on the clutch and the gears in reverse in case he decided to charge us for then he would at least push us out so we could quickly reverse away. We sat there for at least 45 min with Elephants all around us. Elephants were making growling noises on either side of us, a large female was browsing off a tree behind us while the young were showing how tough they were by trumpeting, not to mention Mr. M in front. Finally, they moved off without incident and Kaggie and I got out to work on getting unstuck losing a shovel in the mud in the process. Luckily the tree that Mr. M pushed over allowed for some traction and it wasn’t much longer before we were out. We drove on only to encounter another puddle thankfully we could drive around but then further down the road a massive tree had been pushed over and lay blocking out way. The only option was to turn around and go back. Not only through the puddle but also towards the elephants!

We managed to get through the puddle with some fantastic driving skills on my part and we never encountered the Elephants again. I almost forgot to mention that I had to call in the daily activities at 4:00, which was right in the middle of our encounter with the elephants.

Photos: Mr. M in front of us (taken from the driver seat, you can see the hood of the car along the bottom), a young calf walking by, and Kaggie and I once we escaped the puddle!

More photos on FACEBOOK

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Well Christmas has come and gone and although I am away from home I was lucky enough to be able to spend it with my great friends.

Went down to Nkambeni where many Bushwise students, Suzie, Ruth, KC, Dario, Katie, and Chris went for placement. It was great to see everyone and where they work. I arrived Christmas Eve to a scorching temperature of 48˚C; luckily I drove down in an air-conditioned car. We spent Christmas Eve catching up around a Bon fire drinking nice cold cider and listening to some Christmas tunes. One of the local guys taught us how the locals dance, very similar to 2 stepping but with more shuffling of your feet, KC said it looks a lot like your wind surfing and I have to agree. Christmas day was spent by the pool after a nice big breakfast. For dinner the lodge put on a big feast for us with some very tender ham in a creamy mustard sauce, roast potatoes and homemade tarts for dessert it was so good! They brought in some carolers to sing some local Christmas songs and decorated the lodge in tons of lights and candles. Even with all the decorations and food it still did not seem like Christmas. It’s hard to believe its Christmas when it’s hot and you haven’t had to do any Christmas shopping and there is no snow which is good when you can’t be home for Christmas because it is just like your not missing it.

Best Week Yet!

I love South Africa! I know this because everyday I find myself saying this is the best day. Each day seems better than the last day. For example on Monday night drive we found the two lionesses we were tracking (Maggie and Lisa) with their cubs right in the middle of the road. Lisa was cleaning one of the cubs and the other two cubs where play fighting. It was such an amazing sighting. We sat and watched for about 30 mins until they lions walked off.

Tuesday morning we were tracking the Cheetah boys (Jabu and Djuma) and I got out of the truck and onto the back to do telemetry. I had just turned it on and was hearing very strong beeps but it was not from the Cheetah boys it was from Zero, the old Male lion. He was right there in the bushes, not even 5 feet from us, and neither of us saw him. He then got up and started walking away Roaring very loudly. There is nothing like a Lions roar to send chills down your spine. After this we tracked down the Cheetah boys. They were stalking some Impala and so we walked alongside them hoping to see them make a kill. Unfortunately they entered an area we could not follow but other game drive vehicles later saw them kill to Impala right on the road in front of them.

Wednesday was still another great day. We tracked down Zero and like always called in the sighting on the radio so the other game drive vehicles can bring their guests. When the one vehicle arrived at the sighting the guests thanked us again and again. Then we found the Cheetah boys, again called it in and the same vehicle arrived to the sighting the guest were so amazed by our “tracking” abilities. They looked on us with awe and were so impressed that we found these animals for them to see. If only their guide would share his tips with us.

Thursday brought us to the Elephants. We were driving along trying to track down the Lionesses when we pretty much ran into a herd of Elephants walking down the road toward us. They walked right on past our truck sniffing it with their trunks. There was 8 of them that passed 3 of these being calves and they walked so close to us that if I was brave enough (or stupid) I could have reached out and touched them. We turned around and followed them down the road until they went off into the bushes.

Like I said best drive yet!

1st Week at Karongwe and it ROCKS!

It was my first week of placement at Karongwe and I can’t help but be thankful that I did not go to Bonamanzi and although I was regretting coming out on my own I know I made the right choice. Karongwe researches the feeding behaviour and movements of the predators on the reserve. They have collars on 2 Cheetah, 2 Lion, & a Hyena. The collars help us to track them by Telemetry and see how they are doing. So everyday I get to see lion, cheetah and hyena. Volunteers come to help us out with the tracking and data collecting and stay for either 5 or ten weeks. When I arrived the volunteers were on their last week before heading home so I got to take part in all the leaving activities. We had a Braai on Monday where we spit roasted an Impala! Tuesday the local school kids came around and we took them on a Safari. They were so excited to see Giraffe and Zebra it was incredibly cute. Wednesday we did volunteer work and picked up garbage along the highway and ended up with our picture in the paper. Thursday we had another Braai where we cooked Poikie (basically stew cooked in a cauldron on the fire). The poikie meat was Hippo, tastes a lot like beef. Friday morning got a lovely breakfast at a local restaurant and spent the afternoon cleaning up the camp as all the volunteers left early Saturday morning.

My training started Sunday morning out on drive learning the roads and the area as best as possible. The cheetahs we have collared are very much habituated to humans so we can walk very close up to them. We arrived to find them just finishing off a baby Impala and sat watching them as they licked each other clean then wondered off into the bush. Next we tracked down the Lions to find them sleeping lazily in the middle of the road. On the way back to camp we passed 2 rhino and a herd of elephant. I have not see this many animals in one day yet.

The next few weeks I will continue training, as the next group of volunteers does not arrive until January 4th. I plan on heading down to Nkambeni for Christmas, that is where most of the other Bushwise students ended up going for placement, and we are going to have a big Christmas feast.

Last day at Bushwise

Well my time here at Bushwise has come to an end. I’ve passed my Level 1 exam with a 93% and my course average was a 91%. We wrote our Trials guide exam on Wednesday and will find out next week if we passed. Everyone on the course passed their assessment drives and their level 1 exam as well. Friday was a sad day as most people left for their placement. First to leave was Ruth (my roommate) and Dario followed by Barry and Declan then Tom, Kimball and Trey and all too soon Suzie, Katie, Chris, and KC. It was heartbreaking to say good-bye to such wonderful people but I know I will see them again. By the end of the day there were only 4 of us left here. Saturday we dropped Tim off and Marty, John and I leave on Monday all to go separate ways.

I will be going to Karongwe, a research camp just 30 min down the road. I regret choosing a placement where I will be going on my own as I wish I had more time to spend with most of these people but I know it will be amazing and I will soon make friends. I will be taking around volunteers and we will be researching lions, hyenas, cheetah, rhino, and elephants. I will be guaranteed to see each of these animals almost everyday. I know the next 7 months will fly by and I will be able to see my friends on weeks off.

It was an amazing 5 months to say the least. I have made life long friends of all these people and we have become a little family after all that we shared. We’ve spent every moment together, going to class, on game drives, studying, eating, and cooking. Sharing, not only, bathrooms, bedrooms and living spaces but also thoughts, fears, worries and memories.

I could not have asked for a better group of people to spend these exciting 5 months with. We all got along and even though we annoyed each other once in a while no one was ever left out or disliked. We all tried to encourage support and help each other every step of the way. I will miss having them around everyday but am happy to know that most of them are still around here so we can meet up on days off.

Good Bye Bushwise it's been a BLAST!

Photo(left to right) Ruth, Me, Suzie

Capturing Rhino!

Bonamanzi is looking to have more animals on there reserve and another reserve is looking to get ride of it’s rhino and buffalo so Wednesday Suzie and I got to go help capture rhino and relocate them to Bonamanzie

There were three rhino’s that need to be relocated 2 female adults and 1 calf. We arrived at the reserve at 4:00am and split into 2 groups me and Ewerd, a guide at Bonamanzi, and Suzie went with Rebecca, the other guide at Bonamanzi, We drove around the reserve trying to see any sign of rhino or rhino tracks while a helicopter also flew around looking.

The guys in the helicopter spotted it first and darted it with a tranquilizer. We headed over to where they landed to make sure it was laying correctly and had not fallen in a bad position. This rhino had fallen to one side and we needed to turn it over. The tranquilizer does not put them to sleep but just makes them very groggy so the rhino can still walk and hear but doesn’t have the energy to charge us. Four of us gathered round the rhino pushing it onto its feet as they tied a rope around its mouth and blind folded it so it would be less dangerous and more relaxed. We then had to steer it into the trailer by pushing against it when it stepped too far left or right. A few times the rhino backed up and almost stepped on us but we were quick enough to get out of the way and with in 10 min she was loaded into the trailer and we were off to find the next one. All of this has to be done quickly because if they leave the tranquilizer in the rhino too long it will die.

About an hour later we spotted the calf with its mother. They darted the calf and then used sirens to scare off the mother. The trailer was not big enough for them both so they had to take one at a time. This time we had to be even quicker as the mother was around and she was extremely angry so it was a very dangerous situation. They also had to implant a transmitter in the calf to monitor where it was so they could drop the mother off near it when they captured her. This is done by drilling a hole in the horn and implanting it there. This does not hurt the calf as the horn is made up of the same thing as our fingernails are. It all went smoothly with the calf but we ran out of daylight so unfortunately had to leave the mother and they will capture her tomorrow.

It was amazing to touch the rhino’s they have incredibly soft ears but the skin on their bodies is like super tough leather. Both of them were also covered in mud, as rhino’s like to wallow, and hundreds of ticks. The ticks were all grouped in clusters, one cluster on the but was about the size of my hand. It was gross and I had to watch where I put my hands when pushing the rhino.

After all this amazing stuff we got to ride back to the lodge in the helicopter that they used to dart the rhino’s. That was the cherry on top.
Only downside I never had my camera with.

Bonamanzi

Went off to Bonamanzi on Wednesday and had a great time. Just moments after we arrived one of the guides told us they were releasing a new rhino onto the property and so off we went Suzie and I, 3 guides and 2 other staff members to watch the release. The drive to the area where they were releasing the rhino was very nice but Suzie and I were not impressed with staff members we went with. They were talking about shooting the monkey’s we passed and talking really loudly and smoking on the vehicle all things Suzie and have been taught are not done even if it is just staff with us. We arrived at the release point and watched as they opened the door to the trailer to release the rhino. It was a large female and they had cut of her horn as a way of protecting her from being poached. From what I have read this doesn’t work as poachers will just get angry and kill the rhino anyway and then the rhino doesn’t have means of protecting herself against other predators. The rhino was not impressed with all this and came charging right for our vehicle as soon as she was released, but we shouted her away and she turned at the last moment. Otherwise it could have been disastrous.

Headed back to the lodge and hung out with the other guides while waiting for the head ranger. I got on great with the other guides and they would have been fun to work with but the head ranger was a complete wanker for lack of a better term. He was an ex army guy and had the biggest ego. He just sat there and talked at us for 3 hours about his life and how many qualifications he has and how great he is. Suzie and I were both put right of from going there. Later we talked with the other guides about him, deciding if he was really that bad and the general consensus was yes. As we got to know more of the place it seemed as if no one liked it there and over half the people we talked to were already quitting or looking for another job. It sounded like the head ranger made life quite difficult. This was more reason not to go there.

On the upside the next day 2 of the guides were going out to help capture rhino from another property to release it on theirs and we get to go help. Awesome

More Birding

Tuesday we went out on an early morning birding tour with one of the local guides. It was very good. Just us 2 and the guide. She took us around a park naming all the different bird calls and birds we saw. I’ve been come a real nerd with all these birds ticking off the ones in my bird book that we have seen. Barry, one of the guys back at camp, and I have a bit of a competion on who will check the most birds off before we leave for placement. I was already kicking his butt and after this week I will have 163 birds.

The afternoon we went back to the nature park and drove up to the cape where Suzie put her feet in the Indian ocean for the first time! It was a cloudy day and not to warm so I kept my shoes and sock n and stupidly stood too close to the waters edge so I also ended up with wet feet.

Wednesday we are off to Bonamanzi. The head ranger is putting us up for the night and we are going to be treated as guests. Can’t wait.

St. Lucia

Just got back from our last week off before we go on placement as I had spent the last 2 weeks off here around camp I really wanted to go somewhere for this one. Suzie and I decided we would go down to St. Lucia, a coastal touristy town near where we wanted to go on placement. St. Lucia is a great birding destination with hippos and croc that swim in the ocean and Turtles that come along the beaches to lay their eggs. Also, Our placement was going to be at Bonomanzi a reserve near by and we could stop in meet everyone and see what it was like.

We left early Sunday morning preparing for a 10-hour drive ahead of us with lots of snacks and good music to listen to on the way down. The drive is beautiful with windy roads through the foggy Drakensberg mountains then on to vast stretches of forest that lead into rolling hills and grasslands. I much enjoyed it even though we encountered much construction along the way. The landscape was nothing like you would imagine South Africa to be. We arrived about 4 in the afternoon to St. Lucia without a hitch. The room we were staying in was like a little apartment with a kitchen, TV! and even a Bathtub in the bathroom. Now for us this is luxury.

Monday Suzie and I went for a drive in the local park and within minutes came across Rhino sleeping under a tree 2 females and a calf escaping the heat of the day just relaxing by the water’s edge. As we drove on we came across so many different birds I can’t even begin to list them all. The next outlook brought us to a boardwalk where we could stroll up to the water’s edge and see the Flamingos and Hippos in the water. We decided to stop for a picnic lunch and then head back as we had booked on to a hippo and croc river cruise.

The river cruise was very good getting extremely close to the hippos (I got some great pictures). Suzie and I spent most of it taking notes on anything new the captain would say about things we would see along the way. We learned tons and it was worth it just for that not to mention everything else.

That night we stayed in and watched a movie, when there was a knock on the door. Who is that? We wondered. Well it was the security guard. He came to tell us there was a hippo on the grounds and we could come see if we want. So out we went and right there, not even 10 meters from us was a hippo happily munching away on the grass. What a cool way to start off the week.