Day 40!

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June 21^st. I was supposed to get up at like 6:30 today to work on my project, but of course, that didn’t happen! I got up at like 8am, and made myself some oatmeal and coffee. Then, I headed to the data room to work on my project. Andrew had asked me last week if I wanted to give a little data presentation to the group about my predator research. I told him I would, as it would be a good opportunity for me to bounce some ideas around and really figure out what my project is focusing on. But I have been SO busy lately, and since I went to bush camp the other day, I haven’t been home much. I haven’t skipped any drives this week, cause I don’t want to miss anything! Well, I decided to skip the ellie drive this morning, because I hadn’t prepped for the presentation at all. I spent most of the morning working on trying to show a trail following a predator, using all the consecutive sightings we had. I was stuck trying to figure out how transform data in a certain way, and Leon spent a few hours trying to help me. I finally figured it out, and then began to work on making some maps that I could show people this afternoon. The drive got home around 11, so I talked to Andrew about what I should emphasize this afternoon. They had seen the ellies they went for, plus the Tembe sisters from last night, which had apparently left the kill. After throwing ideas around with him, I created a powerpoint during lunch, with my goals and maps to show them. The presentation went pretty well, and I think everyone was pretty keen on my project. There were a lot of helpful questions, and we talked about the errors that are sometimes in the data, and how to make the data more accurate. It was cool to bounce my ideas off people and see their reactions to what I am doing, and see what they thought was interesting or cool. Then, we left for drive around 3. We went for lion observation, and decided to go check out that kill from last night. Leon and Lukas were quizzing us on trees and bird ID as we drove. But on the way there, Lukas suddenly turned around and steam-rolled back across the reserve. We didn’t know why, but we knew it was a predator! Judith and I were hoping for a leopard! Too bad, so sad. It was lions though, which was awesome! The Mahkutswi pride, complete with two sub-adults and 3 young cubs! Sooo cute! It was a little hard to see them well because the bush was thick, but we stayed for about an hour. We drove home along the river, looking for leopard or any other nocturnal species. We got home early, about 5:30, and it wasn’t even completely dark yet. When we got home, I helped the French girls make pizza, and Daniel, Lauren, Jon, and Lukas hung out in the kitchen and chatted with us as we cooked. Jamie and Phil came in as well, and it was just cool to hang out and banter like a family. We made really delicious pizza, and ate around the fire at about 6:45. We have a midnight drive tonight, for anti-poaching patrol. We will be gone from 8 to 1 am, and we are going to royally freeze! We are bringing food, coffee, and hot tea to sustain ourselves. It is definitely going to be a fun experience! ;D Hopefully, as we are driving around, we will see leopard or other cool nocturnal things!

Driving with the boys, airstrip and mountains ahead!

I spy a little lion!