Mariepskop

Last week I was able to spend the week as the intern for our Mountain Project in Mariepskop. The mountain project is a side project run by us and each week a group of our volunteers goes up to the mountains to help with small mammal trapping, reptile trapping and butterfly catching. Kaggie who manages the mountain project usually has an intern but for this group she didn’t so each of the staff has been taking turns being her intern up the mountain.

We arrived on Monday afternoon after stopping in Hoedspruit for supplies and lunch. After unpacking Kaggie gave us a demonstration on the traps we would be using and we headed out to our trapping sights to set out the traps for the week. One sight is in the grasslands closer to the bottom of the mountain another is in the forest near the top of the mountain. We are trapping in different areas to see what kind of animals we catch and if the logging that is going on upon the mountain has disturbed them. Once the traps are set we headed back to base for a warm meal and card games around the table.

I must mention the view from base is absolutely gorgeous and the cabins are so quaint I feel like Heidi.