South Africa Email 1

We arrived in Johannesburg on schedule and spent the night in a local Southern Sun Hotel. It was very nice for an airport hotel. That same day we arranged for a car to take us to the local mall and sporting goods outfitter to locate and purchase sleeping bags. We were successful and headed back to the hotel for a little R&R, dinner and then we were off to bed. We had a wonderful buffet breakfast at the hotel before heading back to the airport to meet our expedition mates and the long drive to the Karongwe reserve.

The ride was advertised as a 5 hour drive but actually was more than 8. We were greeted by the staff and other volunteers from the prior 5 week expedition and had a cold beer around the camp fire before finishing up last minute paper work and heading off to bed about 10:30. No one slept more than a few hours and all were tired at the 6:30 wakeup call for our first day in camp. The first week in camp was filled with daily training on the local wildlife and our role in conservation for the Karongwe Wildlife Game Reserve.

Karongwe is an 8,000 hectare private reserve formed by landowners who banded together to restore a part of South Africa to its original “wild” state. Over the course of the past decade or so, the reserve has grown to a managed state of beauty. The major focus the research here is to monitor the large predators on the reserve (Cheetah, Lions, & Leopard) so that a natural balance is maintained. The GVI staff perform two research drives each day, one beginning at 5:30 am and the other at 3:00 pm. On our first pm drive we saw: Giraffe, Impala, Wart Hog, The Cheetah Boy’s (more on these guys later), Nayla, Vervet Monkey, Elephant, Bushbuck, Waterbuck, Kudu, Black Back Jackal, and a Scrub Hair.

Each drive is invariably focused on locating and monitoring the large predators. One or more of the species is fitted with radio telemetry (either an implant or a collar) that allow the staff to locate and gather data on their daily lives. GVI tracks their location in the park, daily kills, full rating (how much they’ve had to eat), and general health. Our first day we tracked down The Cheetah Boy’s – Shungu and Koba. We located them via Shungu’s T-Lem implant (radio becon) to within 20 meters of one of the roads in the park. Kelly actually spotted them lying under a tree in the bush. We then walked in on them and spent more than 45 minutes observing and following them from about 3 to 4 meters.

On our way back to base camp we encountered a small herd of elephants. We stopped and watched them graze till they decided it was time for us to leave. After watching for about 30 minutes a large female appeared from the bush to our right. She was soon joined by an equally large and bothered female from the left. The two came together and formed a barrier to protect their two young elephants and shoulder to shoulder they did a mock charge on the truck. That’s when we cranked it up and retreated for safer ground. There is nothing like 5 tons of living raging gray mass to motivate a quick exit.

We returned to base camp for dinner and sharing with staff and other volunteers. What a thrilling first day. We continued our daily training for the first week focused on the inevitable “exam.” This is a much dreaded affair mostly because we don’t know what to expect. We have been crammed so full of details and facts on the animals of South Africa and Karongwe that we are not sure what to study in preparation. Alas, all our time is up and the exam is presented. We are all happy it is over and eventually are informed that we all passed. Hurray, time to celebrate and get on with daily life of animal study and game drives in Karongwe.

The second week in the Bushveld (meaning savannah) brings daily am and pm research dives collecting data for the long term study already in place. We are but a small part of the larger picture that weaves together the 25+ people operating from base camp. Highlight sightings this week include a group of hippos including a very small baby that just wouldn’t move out of the road. The mother hippo had to come back out of the water to coax the little guy/gal into the lake. Also on one the way back to base on a night drive we saw two huge porcupines; these guys were more than 2 ½ foot tall and we have some large porcupine needles to prove how dangerous they can be.

Then there was the Pangolin; this is one of the rarest of African animals. It is a cross between a reptile (because it is covered in huge outer scales) and a mammal (pointed noise and short stubby feet. We stumbled onto the sighting after triangulating the lions near dusk. The whole pride had this thing cornered and were playing with it trying to open it up for an easy dinner. No such luck. This thing wraps itself in a very tight ball that even lionesses cannot penetrate. After the lions tired of the “game” we hung around to be sure it was OK. Some of the staff eventually got out of the truck and picked this thing up. It weighed more than 40 pounds and withstood attempts from two grown men in opening it up. Eventually we retreated and it slowly walked away. Even the staff was astounded at rare sighting of this mythical animal.

Another morning we were on elephant observation and located a large portion of the mating heard. We sat with them for over an hour and observed the babies playing and doing what Kelly calls “trunk skills.” They would try to pickup rocks and larger logs until successful. One juvenile made its way to the truck and eventually put its trunk near the driver window to give Anton (staff) a sniff. It then moved down the truck to smell the other people in the back. You could hear it sniff and see inside its mouth. It eventually touched one of the staff sitting on that side of the truck. Then moved away and returned to eating with the rest of the heard.

The one down side of it all is the dorm life. Both of us are accustomed to life to ourselves and find it difficult to cope with spending every minute of every day with at least 20 other people. The nights are especially difficult as we share a room of bunk beds with the rumblings, coughs, and snores of 12 other volunteers. To counter this closter-phobic feeling we took refuge at one of the 5 lodges located at Karongwe. At Edeni River Loge we enjoyed endless hot showers, electricity, and civilized dining for the first time in two weeks. This could be heaven! We will get something of a break from base camp as we travel to the Mountain camp next week with our small group of 5 volunteers. More to come soon.