Week 9 - Mkuze Camp

Only 4 weeks left.  I can’t believe how fast 2 months has gone by.  The first 2 weeks seemed to take forever, but these last 6 have really passed quickly.  Myself and 2 other volunteers arrived to Mkuze camp on Monday.  The other 2 girls with me are Tania (New Zealand/England) and Viviane (Germany).  The monitor here is Liam, but Kevin is arriving on Tuesday/Wednesday so Liam can go on holiday.  Tania also left today, so the rest of the time it’s just Viviane and I.  It will be nice to see Kevin again – he’s been so lovely and it’s been nice to have something constant during my time here. 

This camp is a bit like iMfolozi, but with lots of electricity and hot water J.  There is one building with 2 bedrooms (5 beds total) connected by a breezeway to another building that has the kitchen and bathrooms.  There is no fence around this camp, but that’s because there are no lions at this park.  We are located near the park’s lodge, but there haven’t been many tourists this week, so it’s been very quiet.  The focus of this park is on wild dogs, cheetah, suni, black rhino, elephants and spotted hyena.   

Monitoring here is really focused on the wild dogs.  There are 9 dogs in the one pack at Mkuze.  Liam is asked to check on their location and get a visual every day, twice a day.  One of the reasons for this is because this park has a lot of poaching for bush meat in the form of snares set for antelope.  These snares catch a lot of other animals, wild dogs being one of the most common by-catches.  The snares can do a lot of damage in a short time and getting a visual on each dog is important so, if it is snared, the snare can be removed as quickly as possible.  The week before I arrived, one of the dogs had a snare through its mouth and around the back of the head – they were able to successfully remove the snare and the dog is healing nicely.

I haven’t seen as many critters at this park as I have at the others.  Part of that could be because I’ve been spending more time working on the data at this park then going out monitoring.  We did have a very cool encounter with a black rhino on Tuesday evening.  He came pretty close to the vehicle to try to figure out what we were, but then he turned around and went back into the bush.  We were also able to be a part of a wild dog collaring on Thursday night.  We went out with one of the organization’s founders and he was able to successfully dart and collar the alpha female of the pack.  It was wicked cool to watch the pack move in on the bait and see how they interacted with each other over food.  It was also wicked cool to be able to get close to the dog while it slept and really get a good look at it – amazing!  Then this morning, we had a very good sighting of a female black rhino and her calf.  We accidentally surprised her and she mock charged the vehicle and then turned around and ran off into the bush – quite cool!

I won’t be posting again until September 10^th, so I hope you all enjoy the next 10 days – and GO GATORS!!!!

Love to you all,

Stef

This lovely male black rhino hung out near the car for a good 5 minutes.  They usually run away pretty quickly, but this one was VERY chill.

All 9 wild dogs from the Mkuze pack.

We had a dead male impala as bait to bring the dogs in close so one of them could be darted with a tranquilizer so a radio collar could be put on her.

Dogs feeding on the bait.

 This is the alpha female of the pack, Thandazile.  She is tranquilized so the collar could be attached.  It was VERY cool to get up close and personal with these amazing animals :-).

Week 8 - Tembe Camp

Two of the volunteers (Regena and Michael) left on Monday, so it’s just Doc, Duncan and myself at camp this week.  I feel most at home at this park.  The sand forest reminds me a lot of Florida, there aren’t very many tourists and there are no paved roads.  It’s a much more “in the bush” kind of a feel and I wish I had been here for more than just these 2 weeks.  Definitely a place I could see myself returning to again.

I can definitely tell that spring is starting here.  The weather is getting warmer in the mornings and down-right hot in the afternoons.  The humidity has gone up a bit, rain clouds form (but no rain yet) and the plants are starting to get fresh green leaves.

As far as the critters go, this week started off beautifully.  On Monday afternoon we went out with Leonard to check on the elephants and we were able to see both Isilo (biggest tusker) and Mkadebona (2^nd biggest tusker) at the same watering hole with a lot of other huge bull elephants.  It was really cool to watch the elephants demonstrate who was the most dominant and how they arranged themselves around the waterhole accordingly.  Just prior to that we spotted 2 beautiful male lions sleeping in the shade next to the road.  Also on Monday night we went on an evening drive and saw a young male lion resting in the shade.  We sat and watched him for a bit hoping to see other lions he usually hangs out with.  Much to our surprise, one of the lionesses (Dee) decided to show up – with her 3 cubs!  She slowly approached the male lion and we thought they may all lie down next to each other, but no – the lioness quickly showed the male who was dominant and she picked a fight with him, chased him away and took his resting spot.  It was SO cool!  While we were watching them, a suni also decided to poke his head out of the bush – he quickly ran away once he got wind of the lions J.  Tuesday morning we were at another watering hole tracking lions with telemetry when 2 other lionesses (Kampa and her daughter) showed up to have a drink and then walked off into the bush.  We saw Dee and the cubs again on Thursday morning – she didn’t seem very happy that we stopped to watch her, so we left quickly before she got too mad.  We also had a very brief sighting of Mufasa, the dominant male lion in the park, on Thursday morning.  He is HUGE!  I wish we had another better sighting of him, but that didn’t happen.  We were also not able to be a part of a call-up this week.  Circumstances just didn’t work out, so I hope they are able to complete it next week instead.  Finally, on Sunday evening, we were able to spot 3 of the wild dogs as they were returning to the den from a hunting excursion.

Socially we had a bit of fun this week as well.  One of the Wildlife ACT staff, Christy, came to visit us and get some photos/videos so she can update their website and social media.  It was cool to talk to her and see how the organization promotes itself.  Leonard also had some friends show up and we, of course, had to have a braie J.  Then on Sunday, we all went to the beach in the afternoon to have a bit of fun in the sun and pizza.  It was nice to get the monitors away from camp and have a little chillax time.  Tomorrow morning I’m being picked up at the park gate and taken to my next site – Mkuze.  I’ve heard good things from Doc and Kevin about this camp and am looking forward to meeting Liam, the monitor, as well as seeing the resident cheetahs – Tim and Tom.

A complete list of critters I’ve seen at Tembe:

Animals: African elephant, African wild dog, banded mongoose, blue wildebeest, bushbuck, Cape buffalo, common reedbuck, giraffe, grey duiker, impala, kudu, large-spotted genet, lion, nyala, plains zebra, red duiker, samango monkey, slender mongoose, suni, tree squirrel, vervet monkey, warthog, waterbuck, white rhinoceros

Birds: bateleur, chinspot batis, dark-capped bulbul, golden-breasted bunting, black-bellied bustard, yellow-fronted canary, Burchell’s coucal, pied crow, red-eyed dove, martial eagle, cattle egret, African fish-eagle, fiscal flycatcher, southern black flycatcher, Natal francolin, Egyptian goose, crested guineafowl, African harrier-hawk, white-crested helmet-shrike, black-headed heron, grey heron, crowned hornbill, hadeda ibis, brown-hooded kingfisher, black-shouldered kite, yellow-billed kite, Afrian wattled lapwing, crowned lapwing, red-faced mousebird, fiery-necked nighjar, pearl-spotted owlet, red-billed oxpecker, black-backed puffback, white-starred robin, red-capped robin-chat, lilac-breasted roller, white-browed scrub robin, black-chested snake-eagle, African stonechat, woolly-necked stork, scarlet-chested sunbird, black-crowned tchagra, purple-crested turaco, Cape turtle-dove, African pied wagtail, blue waxbill, village weaver and emerald-spotted wood-dove

Love to you all and talk to you again next week!

Stef

Tembe Elephant Park - a lovely scene :-).

Sand Forest - a unique habitat in South Africa.

Martial Eagle - this one perched for us for quite a while.

Reedbuck - a great sighting for us one morning.

Suni - endangered antelope, we finally saw a few during the day and I was able to get a much better picture :-).

Elephant blocking our path - his name is Ukhana.

Elephant giving itself a dust bath at Mahlasela Pan.

Elephant taking a mud bath at Mahlasela Pan - this one was very cute when it brushed its ear with it's trunk.

 Lion resting in the shade - one of Langa's sons.

 Second lion we saw resting in the shade - the other of Langa's sons.

 Kampa and her daughter having a drink at one of the pans.

Dee and her 3 cubs showing up one evening - this was right before she picked a fight with a young male.

My last sighting of Isilo at Mahlasela Pan - one of the most amazing elephants I've ever seen.

 My last sunset at Tembe.  This is a very special park and I can't wait to come back here again.

Week 7 - Tembe Camp

This camp is quite posh.  There are small cabins for each volunteer, a kitchen/living room area (with a TV – how nuts!), a separate toilet and shower area, an office area and a braie area.  There is loads of electricity, plenty of water (including hot water) and it’s all in the middle of a sand forest (most similar to Florida’s scrub).  The volunteers with me are Regena (21, Canada – with me during week 6 as well), Johannes “Doc” (19, Germany – with me during week 5 as well), Dustin (18, England) and Michael (18, Canada).  The permanent monitor for this park is Clinton, but he was only with us a couple of days and then had to leave to go on holiday, so Kevin (the relief monitor with us during week 6) came to camp on Wednesday to take us on the morning and evening drives.  There is also an elephant monitor here, Leonard, who works for the park and he takes us out on elephant monitoring sessions during the midafternoon.  With 3 monitoring sessions a day, life at camp is very busy.

The main focus of this camp is the lions and elephants.  Staff check on the prides and herds every day to make sure they stay inside the park.  Since Clinton was busy our first 2 days, we only went out with Leonard until Kevin arrived – but we had quite a sighting!  On our very first afternoon drive on Tuesday, we were sitting in a blind at a watering hole watching the elephants, when out of the bush comes Isilo – the biggest “tusker” in all of southern Africa! This animal was IMPRESSIVE.  Each tusk is estimated to weight about 150 pounds and a little over 11 feet in length.  He is estimated to be in his late 50’s, possibly early 60’s, which makes this a historic sighting since he is probably going to die of old age very soon (elephants don’t live much past 60ish).  We also had very cool sightings of suni antelope on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.  Suni are one of the, if not the, most endangered antelope in the world – they are also about the size of a small rabbit J.  There is only 1 pack of five wild dogs in this park and they are denning right now, so tracking them was easy as they stayed close to the den site, and we got a glimpse of 4 of them on Friday evening as they were returning to the den after hunting.

The lions here are also impressive.  They are some of the biggest in southern Africa and when they get close to the truck it makes you realize just how puny humans are.  We’ve been able to see them fairly regularly and we hear them roaring almost every night and morning.  We are anticipating a “call-up” in the coming week, which consists of a carcass tied to the back of the truck and using a distressed buffalo call to bring the lions in close to the vehicle.  This is done so the lions can be darted with a tranquilizer by the park veterinarian and then fitted with radio collars.  I’m hoping to be able to report back to y’all on that event if it happens next week J.

There aren’t many pictures this week due to a really slow internet connection, but hopefully next week I’ll be able to post more.

Love to you all,

Stef

Isilo - the biggest tusker in southern Africa.  He is AMAZING!!!!!

This is the only sighting of a suni that I was able to get a picture of.  We have seen them in daylight, but they are so small and fast that by the time I get the camera up they are gone.

One of the lions seen during the week.  I hope to get good pictures of the others - they are ENORMOUS!

Week 6 - iMfolozi Camp

The iMfolozi camp is quite a bit different than the Hluhluwe camp.  It is basically a house with a fence around it in the middle of the bush.  There are 2 rooms for sleeping, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a living room.  The power is operated by solar panels and is shared with another nearby camp for park staff, which makes us use power at a minimum.  Water is available, but the pipes sometimes get damaged by elephants before it enters our camp area and it can be out for a couple of days before it gets fixed – luckily this didn’t happen while I was here.  There is no washing machine, so I used my clothes sparingly until we visited Hluhluwe again where I was able to do my laundry before going to the next camp site.  It is a much more intimate feel at this camp since the only people around are the other volunteers.  I appreciate this other perspective, but I found myself missing Hluhluwe and the lovely people I got to know.

The girls I am with are all very nice and cheerful.  There are 5 of us ladies: Claire (20, France) – my roommate from weeks 3 and 4, Bettina (25, Austria), Michelle (19, Netherlands), Regina (21, Canada) and myself and Antoine (our monitor).  Kevin (the relief monitor) showed up on Sunday night since Antoine was going on holiday for most of the week.  Both of the monitors are very nice and knowledgeable and made life at camp pretty chillax.

On my first afternoon of arrival to iMfolozi camp, we saw an elephant drinking and 4 lions sleeping on a sandbar in the river.  There are many wild dog packs on this side of the park and tracking them with the telemetry takes a lot of time.  There is also a large wilderness area on this side of the park.  There are no roads in the wilderness area and the dogs seem to like to hide out there where we can’t check on them.  Antoine is a birder, so I’ve been able to stop and see all the little birds and try to get pictures of them.  On Monday morning, we were very lucky to get a wonderful sighting of a large male leopard as it walked down the road for a full 5 minutes – he was beautiful!  Friday was our “Big 5 Day”.  We saw all big 5 (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, rhino) in one day! – among other critters of course J.  It was a beautiful day with great weather, terrific animal sightings and we finished it off with a braie.  Saturday we went to Hluhluwe to have an afternoon braie with the other volunteers – and also had a chance to get on internet, do laundry and charge all our batteries.  It was great fun to see Cathy and the other Research camp folks again.  Sunday was the best day for me though.  We were cleaning up at camp when Kevin got a radio call that there was a cheetah kill at a nearby bridge.  We dropped what we were doing, got in the vehicle and rushed to the kill site.  When we arrived we saw an adult female cheetah with her adolescent cub feeding on an adult male impala they had just killed.  We didn’t see the chase/kill itself, but watching the 2 of them feed and look out for scavenging vultures, lions and hyenas was really cool J.  They were very close to the road and caused a bit of a traffic jam, but that didn’t seem to affect their behavior and we were able to watch them for 3.5 hours.  Luckily no scavengers showed up while they were eating and they were able to get very full bellies by the time night fell.  This by far is the best sighting I’ve had.

Today I am being transferred to another park, Tembe, and have heard nothing but great stories about the park and the camp site.  Since my time at the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park has come to an end, here is a complete list of critters I’ve seen during my 6 weeks.  If anyone is coming to Africa, I would definitely recommend this park as a good stop in your journey.

Animals: African elephant, African wild dog, banded mongoose, black rhinoceros, black-backed jackal, blue wildebeest, bushbuck, bushpig, Cape buffalo, chacma baboon, cheetah, crocodile, giraffe, grey duiker, hippopotamus, impala, kudu, large-spotted genet, leopard, lion, nyala, plains zebra, red duiker, samango monkey, scrub hare, slender mongoose, spotted hyena, thick-tailed bushbaby, vervet monkey, warthog and white rhinoceros

Birds: black-collared barbet, crested barbet, bateleur, white-fronted bee-eater, southern boubou, dark-capped bulbul, grey-headed bush-shrike, black-bellied bustard, green-backed camaroptera, steepe buzzard, yellow-fronted canary, mocking cliff-chat, white-breasted cormorant, Burchell’s coucal, pied crow, African darter (anhinga), fork-tailed drongo, square-tailed drongo, African crowned eagle, long-crested eagle, martial eagle, steepe eagle, tawny eagle, cattle egret, great egret, African finfoot, African firefinch, common fiscal, African fish-eagle, southern black flycatcher, crested francolin, natal francolin, crested guineafowl, helmeted guineafowl, hamerkop, African harrier-hawk, grey heron, African hoopoe, African grey hornbill, red-billed hornbill, southern yellow-billed hornbill, trumpeter hornbill, hadeda ibis, African jacana, brown-hooded kingfisher, giant kingfisher, pied kingfisher, black-shouldered kite, blacksmith lapwing, crowned lapwing, yellow-throated longclaw, speckled mousebird, common myna, fiery-necked nightjar, black-headed oriole, osprey, red-billed oxpecker, three-banded plover, red-capped robin-chat, lilac-breasted roller, white-browed scrub-robin, black sparrowhawk, black-bellied starling, Cape glossy starling, red-winged starling, black-winged stilt, African stonechat, white stork, woolly-necked stork, yellow-billed stork, collared sunbird, eastern olive sunbird, lesser striped swallow, wire-tailed swallow, spotted thick-knee, Kurrichane thrush, southern black tit, purple-crested turaco, Cape turtle-dove, white-backed vulture, African pied wagtail, blue waxbill, spectacled weaver, Cape white-eye, white-winged widowbird and emerald-spotted wood-dove

The iMfolozi side of the park - much less hilly and more open savannah than the north side of the park.

A male Bateleur - he stayed in this tree with us directly under him for about 30 minutes.

A brown-hooded kingfisher - interestingly they were seen no where near water, they were getting insects and small reptiles off the ground.

A white-fronted bee-eater - such cute birds!

Male leopard seen on Monday morning - we also saw a female leopard a day or two after, but she was too fast to get a picture.  This guy walked down the road in front of us for a good 5 minutes before he ditched off into the bush.

Female cheetah and her adolescent cub eating an adult male impala they just killed - notice the blood on her face.  This was the most amazing sighting :-)!

Our group for this week - Bettina, Claire, me, Michelle and Regina.

Week 5 - Hluhluwe Camp

Two new volunteers arrived on Monday, Johan (19, Germany) and Toby (21, Canada) – very nice boys with good sense of humor.  Each of them has already been to two of the other parks I’ll be headed to in a couple of weeks, so it was nice to hear about the accommodations at the other camps.

Since this was my last week at the Hluhluwe camp, I spent a lot of time in the afternoons working on the GIS/data standardization, but Wednesday evening we were able to find the 2 dogs that got out of the park and then came back in.  Then on Thursday morning, as we were taking a coffee/tea break in the bush, they walked right up on us!  It was so cool to have them walk up to the vehicle and check us out and then they walked off and disappeared into the bush again.  Then on Thursday and Friday evenings, the Crossroads pack of 7 wild dogs walked across the road in front of us while we were having our coffee/tea again!  Apparently all you need to do to see wild dogs is break out the beverages J.

This week we were also able to setup cameras in the area where the female cheetah and cub were seen last week – 4 total.  I’m looking forward to keeping up with Facebook to see what pictures come from them.  I’ve also been concentrating on my bird watching skills this week.  Some new noteworthy birds I’ve seen include the African harrier-hawk, African firefinch, white-browed scrub-robin, Kurrichane thrush and black-collared barbet. 

Even though there aren’t many people at camp, we’ve had a chance to be pretty social.  There is a group of girls here from Berkley University that I’ve gotten to know pretty well, so we decided to have a braie on Thursday night.  We all had a great time with good food, funny conversation and a nice fire.  Then on Friday night the boys, Cathy (our monitor and the program coordinator) and I had a nice dinner and played pyramide de la mort – good times with good people J.  Then…this morning, on the way out of the park to go to town, we saw a large male lion walking along the side of the hill – roaring!  So amazing.

Now I’m sitting in a hotel in town waiting to be picked up and transferred to the camp in the south side of the park, iMfolozi, until August 13^th.  The monitor there is Antoine and I will get to see my old roommate, Claire, again.  I’m looking forward to seeing the habitat differences between the north and south sides.

Love to you all!

Impala in the morning.

The 2 escapee wild dogs.

The 2 escapees walking up to us as we were having our morning tea.

They are so beautiful!

Awesome sunset one night...

...and just opposite was the moonrise.

Putting up camera traps in the bush.

Friday night sighting of the Crossroads pack.