May 18th. Today, we had bush clearing at 730. They are systematically clearing areas of small trees to open up the vegetation. Once you start clearing an area from the thick brush to a more open woodland, wildebeests will move in and clear out the shrubs, and predators will start using those areas to hunt the smaller animals because they can see more clearly. We worked until 10, and it actually didn’t get too hot because it was cloudy today. Toko had me assist him for most of the time, sawing large trees, clearing all the brush he was sawing, and clipping smaller branches so we could get to the trunks. At one point, he tied a rope around a big tree trunk, tied the other end to me, and told me to pull! He made me into a human oxen and stood over me with a twitch, and told Gail to take a picture. He said, “We should put this on the website to show how we treat the volunteers!” It was so funny! And later, I got some knobthorn stuck in my hair, and he was telling me he was going to shave my head like his so it wouldn’t happen again. He is really funny, and reminds me a lot of my grandfather. He served in the SA’can army for 13 years and has done everything imaginable. He has got to be in his 60s, and he runs ultra marathons and can wield a machete like you wouldn’t believe! Afterwards, we headed back to camp and had some downtime. I finally got to sit in the hammock for about ten minutes and read a book. Then I went to see about helping with lunch, which was French toast today! Yumm! Afterwards, I finally entered my predator data into the camp computer from the week. I also spent a few hours talking to Lukas, one of the rangers who had been on leave at Kruger for the past week, about research and conservation work. He wants to be a vet and has applied to a few vet schools in Germany and is waiting on a result (He is German, but is in South Africa to be trained as a ranger/guide). We also worked for a good while on IDing that young male lion I saw walking down the road on Wednesday. It’s very hard because the ID kits are VERY out of date. All the animals have changed sine they got older, some have died, and there are many new young one. Apparently they have been updated on the computer, but that was a few years ago as well. Also, the family lines are a little confusing and the prides keep mixing and re-sorting themselves, so the lions basically give us the run-around. I think I am going to spend a good bit of time re-creating the family trees, as well as establishing updated ID pages for all the adult lions in the prides. It is vastly needed, because a lot of the notes were taken in a confusing way. After that, it was time for out night drive. I was introduced to a lovely game called “Buck Sh** Spit”, which basically means, the crazy South Africans put a piece of kudu poo in their mouth and compete to see how far they can spit it! I did not participate! Haha. We spent some time tracking the leopard, which is so aggravating, because we know they are here, but we cannot find them. We found a set of fresh male tracks and a set of fresh female tracks in two different areas. We drove around for a bit, and discovered a lot of lovely areas to continue leopard hunting. Andrew and I are determined to get a visual soon! We also tried to find some collared hyenas with the radio telemetry system, but they were out of range. We saw We returned to camp to freshen up a bit before going out to Mahlahla Game Lodge, which is a hunting lodge nearby. We actually took the open safari vehicle there, in the cold open air, brrrr. It’s about a 25 minute drive over most bumpy roads! They have a nice restaurant there that they open to local rangers and volunteers when they don’t have a lot of guests in the slow part of the season. I got steak and chips, which was only R90, which is less than 10 dollars. Very yummy! And according to the Australians and South Africans, I had a fillet, pronounced FILL-it. We hung out there and chatted until about 10, then took the cold road home. On the way home, we saw a small cat like creature cross the road. We think it was either an African wildcat or a genet, some of the nocturnal mammals. After dropping my leftovers from dinner in the frig, I was crossing the yard to my room. Everyone else had already gone into their rooms, so I was alone in the garden. I stopped to take a moment to gaze up into the clear South African night sky and see hundreds of stars. And right then, a nearby chorus of lions started calling. It sounded like at least 3 adults, calling and calling, overlapping each other in the most beautiful chorus you could imagine. And I just thought, "Wow, our Creator made all the constellations I can see, as well as these magnificent animals I can hear, and I get to enjoy them all." So blessed!! Even in my bedroom as I type this, the lions have started up again, twice more. Their chorus continues for near to a minute each time, and they are CLOSE! It’s absolutely incredible. I opened my window so I can enjoy it as I get ready for bed! Tomorrow is our “day off,” which means no road clearing or scheduled drives. I’m assuming that I will spend the better part of the day just working on lion stuff. Not like its work to me anyway :)
A beautiful view the wild areas.
How I have to plug in my hairdryer here! haha
No comments:
Post a Comment