Okay so it has been a long time since my last post
So here is a quick precise of some of the time from looking at my good old fashioned journal, thanks Sylwia! I know it's not everything, but I had managed to pre type this when the lecturer left his laptop in the camp over night
Monday 13th MarchNature walk in morning. Animal lecture in the afternoon followed by going out and collecting tree and bush shrubs samples which we labeled up back in the lounge. The evening was spent reading and writing my journal.
Tuesday 14thCraig the owner of Spring Vale Farm and the reserve that Esingeni camp is on gave us a talk on the local farming history and about his Olive farming. This was held whilst walking around his olive groves and and the farm building that he processes them at. Back to camp and read some of the FGASA study guide and prepared for a nature trek that we were going to have to give Wayne. In the afternoon we had a plant lecture and checked our tree specimens against a previous list for the camp, updating it with any new ones we had found. An evening playing gin rumey.
Wednesday 15thThis morning we had a game drive on Shamwari reserve from 7 to 11. Before we left said hello to a few people I recognized at Long Lee Manor from two years ago. The highlight of the drive was coming across the Lioness ‘CC’ calling for her cubs (quite big as over a year old), who duly turned up and greeted mum by jumping all over her, before they all laid down and dozed. We then had a quick tour of three Shamwari Lodges. Eagle's Crag, Lobengula and Bayethe. Abigail showed us around the latter and we recognised each other from the Day Centre two years ago when I bought a bottle of wine for the students and she told me I was being ripped off! After lunch back at camp we created a new dichotomous key for IDing our tree specimens. In the evening I drove us to Alicedale where we went to Louis' bar and I caught up with the man himself, his wife Carine and also Niko and Claire who were there (what a surprise not!)
Thursday 16thAfter breakfast we had a Bird ID and ecology lecture and then out for a nature walk to ID birds in the reserve. In the afternoon we read the FGASA guide chapter on grasses and then Wayne gave us a lecture on them. In the evening I started the FGASA work book, answering the questions on grasses whilst it was still fresh in my mind.
Friday 17thA lecture on how to survey grasses and then out into the field to do a practical exercise doing just that. Then went out on the Nature walk that I had prepared earlier in the week just so Wayne could see how we were getting on. More talk about grasses in the afternoon then we finished early and we headed off to Port Alfred for the weekend. We stayed at the Station which was open; we had failed to get through on the telephone all week. The original owner had taken control again and the previous tenants had not paid the phone bill etc. Matthew the guy running the place recommended us somewhere to eat and thus dinner was at the Buck and Hunter with a couple of Aussies we met at the backpackers. I had a wonderful Kudu steak. We made our way back to the Station were I stayed whilst the other students went off to see what else there was in PA. I ended up drinking and chatting to quite a few of the locals in the Station bar and staggered back to my dorm at 2 when they shut up. The others got back later from there bar.
Saturday 18thAnother weekend starting with a hangover so after breakfast took the day easy lazing in the sun and reading. In the evening we went out for a pizza at some bar and I had an early night.
Sunday 19thAfter breakfast went to Pick and Pay to get some lunch and then drove off to some dunes that the boys had found yesterday. More shopping later whilst people checked email etc. Drive back to Esingeni.
Monday 20thWe had this day free. The 21st March is a public holiday in SA but Wayne switched the days so we could have a longer weekend. We had decided to go back to Addo Elephant NP as we thought we could have better sitings. So early start and we left camp at 6:25 and I drove and got us there by 7:25. Paid our money, washed the dust off the windows so we could see out of them and then into the park proper. We took a different route than when we were with Wayne and we had a very good / lucky day. Came across one elephant in the spekboom and then a male kudu, and then another. Next were six buffalo that nicely crossed the road in front of us. Saw warthogs chasing a black backed jackal around at a waterhole and then while driving near Zuurkop we saw groups of vehicles in the distance so decided to go and investigate. First we came across 15-20 elephants by the side / on the road. We watched these for quite a while until they moved back off into the bush and then we made our way further down the road and came across a herd of 50+ and we stayed and watched these for nearly two hours. They had loads of young and I overheard a ranger on a landie say that one was new, so about a week old maybe. At one we made our way to the picnic area and had a late lunch. Head back at 3 and have a snooze when we get there. Rosemary our first aid teacher arrived around 6 that evening so had dinner and then chatted with her and Miriam; the boys went off to Louis' as the Shamwari girls would be there ...
Tuesday 21stFirst aid with Rosemary during the day, talks and practicals; and FGASA work in the evening for me.
Wednesday 22ndMore first aid and I passed with 39 out of 40, only one daft mistake. Head braai in evening and whilst the boys went to Louis' Miriam and I chatted around the fire until it got too cold, then it was reading in the tent.
Thursday 23rdAs SciFest was going on in Grahamstown whilst we were here, we decided to take advantage of this and went along to a few lectures and talk shops for three days. Today I went to a bird ringing session given by the dept of Zoology of Rhodes Uni. A lecture by Dr Sherylle Calder called visionary Sport (she helped the English rugby team win the world cup in 2003). The best talk of today was the last, it was a snake talk shop by Bill Branch from Bayworld (in PE in case you want to go). Back to camp and after dinner I drove us out to the new Born Free building that had just been built in the north of Shamwari where Nilo and Claire were going to live. They had invited us along to a braai and it was good to chat with them and other people from the area, including a 'mature student' at Amakala. At 34 Simon was nice adult conversation!
Friday 24thBack to Grahamstown. Today’s talkshops were 'Fishing for Data in Marine Reserves', Visualise, lunch and a bit of shopping to replace the top I lost when I arrived. The afternoon was a talkshop on Climate Change but it was all obvious and a lecture about torpor, which rose interesting questions. That evening a read up the Astronomy chapter in the FGASA guide, actually found the Southern Cross and alpha + beta centuri, and then Orion's belt and sword. A bit more reading then bed.
Saturday 25thAfter Ben and AJ bailed on us as they had a 'once in a lifetime' chance to rock climb ... er yes with the Shamwari girls me thinks I drove the rest of us to Grahamstown; we were staying late in town. First up was a geology tour of the local area by two of the Rhodes Uni Geology lecturers. We had lunch again in the Botanical Gardens and then in the afternoon we bailed on the astronomy workshop as it was aimed far too low, but had a really interesting talk with Brian and Natalie from the SA OS about maps and how it works here in SA. They even gave us each a free map of SA, I guess it made a change from school children! After this Wayne headed back and Miriam, Eamonn and I went for an iced coffee and then a walk round town. Back up to the monument for an evening lecture by Jane Goodall on her work now with her ‘Roots and Shoots’ initiative, which was very inspiring. Ben and AJ did make the lecture about 5 minutes late. Back into town for a wonderful meal in a restaurant.
Sunday 26thAfter a lie in and breakfast the others headed of to Bushmans Sands in Alicedale to make use of their swimming pool / to see the Shamwari girls in bikinis and I stayed behind grateful for the peace. Wrote journal, did washing and then I walked out to Wasgat about 1km into the reserve. Yes it's a water hole and I went skinny dipping as it was scorching. Miriam came back in the late afternoon and the heavens opened for much needed rain. We cooked ourselves bangers and mash and I did some more FGASA work in the evening.
Monday 27thFree day as we did stuff on Saturday. As Wayne was going into PE Miriam and I went with him. Still raining so no beach but ended up in Greenacres shopping Mall while Wayne had an afternoon meeting. Miriam let the side down and didn't buy a thing there, whilst I bought a nice pair of jeans for R180 and some Levi baseball boots for R220. I didn't manage to catch up with Louisa which was a shame, but next time. Back to camp, dinner and a few drinks and talks.
Tuesday 28thAfter breakfast a nature walk to see how much we were remembering followed by FGASA work book. After lunch I did a bit more workbook and then a lecture of Fire and burn management. The evening was spent catching up with my journal and doing more FGASA workbook before having a drink and chatting.
Wednesday 29thFGASA workbook until 10:30 then a lecture on insects. After lunch it was off to Hopewell Reserve just south of the N2 close to Alexandria. Bruce little one of the co-owners greeted us and we were introduced to two students there on a six month placement with Bush Academy, Allie and Paul. Allie drove us off in the landie to collect firewood for later and gave us a small talk as we drove. After we had collected the wood we noticed we had a flat so rang the others to tell them as we had no spare on the Landie. While we were waiting I got chatting to Allie about what she was doing: 33 originally fromn Dorset but had lived in London for the last eight years working for a NGO, but had even got fed up of that. She had always wanted to work in conservation so quit her job and rented her place out. She had thought about doing something like I’m doing but she had found that she could do something with Bush Academy (think that was it) that was 12 months for R55,000. This was six months training to get the full FGASA level one, ie she has done the practical as well as the theory exams, and then it included a six month placement. She was sent to Hopewell and though this means that she will not get her level two as she will not clock up enough client game drives (this is not a commercial reserve yet) she is happy as she prefers the conservation management side of it rather that the guiding side of the work. Eventually everything is sorted and we get our gear to the raised platform where we slept and managed to get out for 1 to 2 hours driving round the reserve looking at the work they are doing and the game they have here. This included coming across one of the bull elephants on the track on the way back who turned round and gave us a vigorous head shake and trumpet to let us know to keep our distance! Back to our make shift camp where Wayne cooked over an open fire, had a few beers and then settled down in our sleeping bags on the platform under the stars.
Thursday 30thUp and after breakfast we went on another drive but before we really got anywhere we had another puncture so that put paid to that. Managed to get back and strike camp before it was completely flat. Went trying to find the male cheetah on the reserve using radio telemetry but after having no luck for over an hour we went back and saw the female cheetah that was at the moment in a boma as she was brought back in a week ago to fatten her up a bit. She was hand reared and she really didn’t get the swing of the hunting at times! I talked to Bruce for a bit while the other students started lunch as I was interested in the GIS software he was beta testing; okay a bit sad, but a topic that involved my degree, my career and one of my big interests was too good to pass up! Bruce is also a bronze sculptor / castor and he inivited my to a gallery showing he was having in London, as I was back in London for the last day of the showing. I also asked if he was taking any more students on, he said most likely not as he would like to keep the ones he has on. After lunch it was bask to Esingeni where I did my washing and then got stuck into more FGASA for the rest of the day.
Friday 31stAfter breakfast we had a reptile lecture and then went out into the field to find some. No snakes but quite a few lizards, a tortoise and scorpions. After lunch we went out looking for insects. An early start and at 4:15 I drove us all to J-Bay 200km away. Made good time and found Island Vibe backpackers easily, we even made it time to sign up for dinner. After diner after we retired to the bar and chatted to the other backpackers. I spoke to a German woman who was traveling the Garden Route to begin with. Then the cocktails flowed. The house speciality was a fish bowl. Basically it was 8+ of white shots including blue bols in a goldfish bowl with, tonic water, a sprite and orange juice. It certainly got the evening flowing as we shared quite a few! I got asked to play pool by an Irish lady around my age called Clodagh; she had been traveling around 18 months and had only three weeks left. It turned out she was in finance and had a brother in London and was toying with the idea of going there to earn some more money to go traveling … my kind of girl! Around 1 I took over the DJing for a while with my mp3 player. It was about 3 am that I finally decided maybe I should go to the dorm and crash.
Saturday 1st AprilI’ve felt better, I’ve felt worse. It was all going well last night what with drinking water as I went but Miriam walked off with the bottle of water I had stashed behind the sofa when she went to bed at 1. Anyway I dragged myself out of bed just after 10 and had a shower and made it for a full fried breakfast. Then went off to the Billabong factory shop and bought myself some shorts for R160 and then went down the beach with Miriam for some sunbathing and playing in the sea. Back to Island Vibes where I sat outside and wrote some journal and had a late lunch before going for a snooze at 3. Up and shower for diner out in town and then another night at Island Vibes. I decided to take easy tonight and stayed off the cocktails and went to bed early compared to the others. AJ never made it to bed till 6 as he fell asleep on a bench in the garden!
Sunday 2ndUp at 8:30 today and the morning was spent writing my journal and reading. Clodagh and her friends asked if we wanted to join them for lunch and AJ and I accepted. Talked about traveling in general and after lunch I joined them on the see front playing Crazy Golf, AJ passed on this. Somehow I came from behind in the last three holes and won which Clodagh took well considering she was warning us all how competitive she was! Back to the backpackers where after having to phone home it was hugs and handshakes to say farewell. I did the driving back and then had a large G&T, ate and then went up to cell phone rock to find out the news from Danielle and my parents.
Monday 3rd AprilDianne (30) from the UK joined us this morning; she is here for a week for the Bush Survival Course. Our first thing was to go out and collect tree samples so we could test the key we had previously made; it actually worked really well so everyone was pleased. After lunch it was vehicle maintenance; which was nothing new to me, but it was nice trying out Wayne’s 4x4 in proper terrain that justifies it. We had a braai this evening and after chatting for a while it was all off back to our tents where I read for a while.
