It's the end of week one in Karongwe (care-ong-way) Reserve in South Africa. It's odd because part of me feels like the week has gone by in a flash (minus a few lectures that were uber boring and wouldn't end) and another part feels like I've been living here forever. I'm even pretty good at game tracking and now comfortable while walking through the bush instead of keeping my head down, afraid that I'll trip over some nasty branch or fall into a collapsed termite mound. The house and my mossie (misquito netting) covered-top -bunk-bed feels like home after a long day of tracking, and I'm even used to walking everywhere with my headtorch or a parafin lantern since the electricity here is generator run. The only thing I'm not a huge fan of is the cold showers. Hot water exists but is hard to come by which means I'm down to about three to five minutes of a freezing trip to the nth level of Dante's Hades (Kate, I'm sure you'd be able to figure out which one that is). I am not a fan but that's how things go.
I'm having some issues adding my pics to the comp (one of the staff Sandra is gonna help me in a bit so they will be up eventually... but since I pay by the hour for internet time I'm gonna make the most out of it now and add them later) so I'll put up some of the pics that the staff have taken through out this post.
Thus far I have seen a rhino (and her calf which was attacked by jackles and had it's ears ripped off- and is now at a wildlife rehab center getting them fixed), hyenas (the cubs are ADORABLE!), zebra, giraffes (including a baby suckling!), wildebst (stampeed!), leopard, cheetah (two "walk in"s where I was less then 10 meters away!), and lions, as well as a ton of different types of antelope and other game.
Imagine if you will waking up at 4:30 in the morning, lighting your way to the kitchen with a headtorch and making a cup of tea on a gas stove so you have something warm in you for the drive ahead. Then about seven people pile into jeeps with a staff member (one in the front, six in the back) and shiver as you head out into the blackness of the reserve at about 5am. As the sun rises you begin to telem (telemetry is a method that picks up the radio signals from the collars on most of the animals), hands go numb and shoulders ache as you keep your arm high in the air searching for the newest leopard's signal whilst using your other hand to balance on the jeep and dodging three inch thorns on sickle bushes and other trecherous plants that have over grown into the dirt path that is the road.
Eventually you find beeps... not for the leopard who is being as elusive as their nature implies, but the lion Maggie. She has three (we think) cubs. Off through the bush for about an hour and the sun begins to rise... so why does it feel colder? You can see the breath rise from all in the back of the jeep - mildly jealous of the one who gets to sit in the warm(er) cab doing data recording. Right when you feel as though you'll either go mad from the excessive ammount of static on the telem equipment or freeze to death from the cold who walks out onto the road right into a patch of sunlight but Lisa. Another lion. She is beautiful and exudes power as she walks around the road, looking for a patch of sunlight in which to warm herself in. Not only does she lay down about 15 meters (tops) from you but soon after the big male Zero and Maggie appear out of the bush and they all lie down together. Zero himself is enough to make you lose your breath. He is huge. With a mane that is golden rimmed with black he is an imposing sight and it is no wonder that he is world renowned. They all look hungry and head off into the bush to hunt, we attemt to follow suit but are stopped by a fallen tree (thank you very much bull elephants)and have to head back to the road. Hopefully they will make a good kill and we can see them and the cubs (only a few months old!) later on.
It is now about 8:30, time has flown by just looking at those amazing animals, but now it's time to get back to tracking Shiloini (sho-lou-en-y) the leopard. The reserve manager is afraid he will escape and so it's our job to find and track him as much as possible. Back on telem you pick up beeps pretty strongly right away, but the static is loud and so it is difficult to tell the directionality. There are clues enough in the land....
Not even 100 meters of driving off the road into the bush do we find an impala (type of antelope) half eaten and up a tree. It pretty much is a neon sigh saying "Shiloini is here" and not 15 meters past that do we find him, lying in a shady patch beneath a grove of trees. He looks away from you, watching the heard of impala that still dare to graze near the hungry leopard, then straight at you. He is a bit more dangerous then other leopardsd because he is habituated to humans. Good for the tourisim that funds the conservation here, but dangerous because he has no fear of humans. Sandra (the staff member driving) has a rifle but it is behind her seat so it isn't much good. Shiloini gets up and streaches, looks around, and begins to trot towards the jeep. Everyone's heart stops as he comes nearer and nearer, his easy loping strides eating up the distance between you. Then, at what seems like the last second, he goes around the jeep and off into the bush on the other side, perhaps to do some more hunting.
Only then do you realise that an animal that can carry an impala in it's mouth about 40 ft straight up the trunk of a tree (no low branches to jump on) could have easily lept into the jeep if he felt like it. Adrenaline rush sets in and you only then realize that you were snapping photos the whole time. Hey, if you're gonna get eaten, might as well have some awesome shots of it right? All joking aside, it was a memorable morning drive and as you head back to the GVI house for breakfast (it is now about 10am-ish) you know that you have a new found respect for this big cat... and that you can't wait till evening drive to see him again.
This was my morning today. It's now almost 2:30 pm here, which means in half an hour I'll be heading back out to do it all again. Sweet.
All my love from the bush,
Mia
ps- I will haunt anyone who hurts any lion, you know who I'm talking to. :p
pps- I tried ostrich steak... it tastes like a really tender filet.
ppps- Hyenas ate our super soaker.
ppps- TWIN! Hope your exams went well and you kept up your over achiever tradition. <3
*Nap time before evening drive*
No comments:
Post a Comment