Weeks 7 & 8: Tembe National Elephant Park, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Tembe Park website (including webcam of one of the hides): www.tembe.co.za

Tembe Elephant Park sits right at the top of South Africa, beneath the border with Mozambique.  

The park was set up in the 1980s as a safe place for elephants from both South Africa and Mozambique.  Many elephants had been killed or injured during the Mozambican civil war, and those that survived were left quite traumatized by the war and understandably aggressive towards people.  The park was set up to both give the elephants a safe and peaceful home and to protect the local people from being attacked by them or by the lions living around the community.

The park is home to over 200 of the largest elephants in the world, including some of the largest 'tuskers' (A 'tusker' is an elephant whose tusks weigh over 100lbs - that's over 7 stone!)  As well as elephants and lions, a lot of other species live within Tembe, including Africa's smallest antelope, the Suni.  It is also home to a protected 'sand forest', which is an extremely rare type of forest home to some unique animals and plants. 

Tembe is known as a 'Big 5' Park.  The term 'Big 5' is used to refer to 5 species that most people hope to see if they go on safari - lion, leopard, elephant, (black) rhino and buffalo. 

Our home at Tembe is in a fenced camp set up as a research centre.  We sleep in mini chalets and have our kitchen, lounge and bathroom in a separate building.  (This makes going to the toilet in the middle of the night very exciting - a head torch is essential!)  I am sharing my chalet with Heidi from England and the other volunteers here are Alice (also from England), Sam (from Canada) and Helen (from Australia).  

The two monitors here are Clinton, who monitors the lions and wild dogs and Leonard, who monitors the elephants. 

Our days at Tembe start quite early!  Here is a typical week day:

2.30am:      Get up (ouch!)
3am - 9am:   Lion / Wild Dog monitoring session with Clinton
10am - 1pm:  Elephant Monitoring session with Leonard
1pm onwards: Time to relax, eat and get an early night!

At weekends, we have an extra lion / wild dog monitoring session in the evening, instead of an elephant session.  (This is not because the elephants go away for the weekend, but because the monitor doesn't work on Saturdays and Sundays!)

As those of you who have shared a house with me will know, I'm not a huge fan of getting up in the morning...so this timetable has been a bit extreme for me! 
But it is completely worth it to see the lions and the dogs and we always take coffee and tea with us in the jeep to help with the waking-up process.

Driving around the reserve is a little like being on a beach because of the sandy ground and there are areas of swamp, as well as areas that look like you would imagine a 'jungle' to look.  The vegetation is really green and lush here, so it looks beautiful, especially with the sun shining on it.   However it also provides very good camouflage for elephants who hide in the bushes and step out right in front of the car!  They are very, very good at hiding.

As with the project at Zimanga, some of the lions and wild dogs at Tembe have collars fitted that emit an electronic signal, so we are able to find out whereabouts they are in the park using the telemetry and then follow the signal to hopefully find them! 

We also look closely for tracks in the sand, which can tell us who has been walking where and when!  When we find the wild dogs, it is important always to count them to make sure that the whole pack is present (there are 15 in the Tembe pack) and check they are all ok.  

We can then enjoy watching them and noting their behaviour.  The dogs here are quite used to seeing the Wildlife Act jeep and aren't worried by it, so they often come right up to it to give it/us a good sniff! 

The elephants don't have collars at Tembe, but they are pretty easy to find as there are so many of them.  When we do find them, we get as close as we can (without upsetting them), so that we can identify them.

Like the rhinos at the Zululand Rhino Reserve, elephants are also identified by their ears. But whereas rhinos have had notches made in their ears, elephants are identified by the natural shape of their ears as well as any tears or holes in them.  This is much harder than identifying rhinos, but luckily Leo the elephant monitor knows all the elephants in the park really well, so often recognizes them without our 'help'! 

With all the animals, we spend a lot of time taking pictures of them to form part of their identification kits and to use to identify them later if we haven't managed to when we are out.

Some people have asked me how safe it is sitting on the back of a jeep that has no roof and only bars for sides when there are lions or other wild animals very close by. The answer to that is that (hopefully) it is pretty safe as long as you act sensibly and follow the monitor's instructions. 

Apparently lions and many other animals do not recognize people in the jeep as individual people or as potential prey, but just see the shape of the vehicle as one big animal.  However, it is always important to stay as still and quiet as possible and not change the shape of the vehicle by standing up.*  If someone does that, the lions will probably realize that we are separate, smaller animals in the vehicle, which might make them see us as prey.  Which wouldn't be good, obviously!  

*You will see in the photo of me doing the telemetry, that I am standing up.  You need to do that to get a good signal, but as soon as you get a reasonably strong signal for or see a lion, leopard or elephant you sit down!

The monitors are very experienced at reading the behaviour of the animals they monitor, so are very skilled at avoiding potentially dangerous situations or getting us out of them if they appear to be developing. 

My Tembe highlights:

• watching two young ambitious male lions stalk a rhino - they decided it was too big to kill in the end and gave up
• being chased in the jeep by the wild dogs who obviously just wanted to play!

Language - Zulu

Lion - Ibhubesi

Wild Dog -Inkentshane

Good night - Lala kahle


Interesting Fact:
The term 'Big 5' was created when people from all over the world used to come to Africa to shoot and kill wild animals as trophies.  (Yuk)  The 'Big 5' species were those that were the hardest for the hunters to kill, either because they were so hard to find, so big or so dangerous. So they became the ones that all hunters wanted to find and kill, as it showed they were very skilled and brave hunters.

I don't like using the term because of its links to hunting, but it is a very well used term.

More recently, the term 'Little 5' has started being used.  The 'Little 5' are five much smaller creatures who share part of their name with the 'Big 5'.

The 'Little 5' are:

• Ant Lion (insect/fly)
• Leopard Tortoise
• Elephant Shrew
• Rhino Beetle
• Buffalo Weever (bird)

:-)
X

Weeks 5 & 6 - Zululand Rhino Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The Zululand Rhino Reserve was created 10 years ago when 17 different landowners all agreed to drop the fences between their land and their neighbours' land in order to create one large reserve.  It was created initially as part of a project to conserve the black rhino.  However the reserve is also home to many, many more species.  
You can read more about the reserve here:   http://www.zululandrhinoreserve.co.za

We are staying in a lovely house in the middle of the reserve - rented from one of the landowners.  It's a big house, set in a beautiful garden and has incredible views of the reserve and the surrounding mountains.  In the house at the moment are Zoe and Michelle (wildlife monitors), Vincent (a trainee monitor) John and Marie (the volunteers I was with on the last project) and me!   

The house doesn't have any hot water, so it's cold showers only, which certainly wakes you up in the morning!  We also have a 'tree shower' in the garden which is lovely in the middle of the day when the sun is hot.  The house runs on solar energy, so we have to be very careful that we don't run out of electricity - particularly if we have had a cloudy day.  (Yes, sadly there are cloudy days in South Africa...)

'Wildlife Act' has only been working on the reserve since July, so it is a very new project. Because it is so new, the monitors and volunteers collect and record information on a huge variety of animals and birds to try to build up a picture of what species are living here.

This means that there is a lot of work to do - including setting up and checking camera traps, counting buffalo (harder than it sounds!), searching for and monitoring lion, cheetah, leopard, elephants, hyena and black and white rhino and taking and labelling lots and lots of photos of individual animals in order to create 'identikits' for them so that they can be recognized when they are seen again.

Many of the rhino on the reserve have been 'notched'.  This means that they have had small notches made in their ears in order that they can be identified.  A rhino can have up to four notches in each ear and no rhino on the reserve should have the same combination of notches.  Each notch relates to a number, so when they are added up, the total becomes part of the rhino's unique identifying number.  Some rhino also have names!  

I'm not sure how easy it sounds to identify a rhino by the notches in their ear, but it's not easy at all for a number of reasons.  First, they are pretty hard to find (especially black rhino as they are very shy).  Second, they're not that keen on getting close to cars with humans in (and can charge them) Third, they don't tend to keep their ears still.  And fourth, they often have extra little natural rips or tears in their ears which look a bit like notches too.  So it's a huge sense of achievement when you do manage to identify one! 

I can't post any photos that show rhinos' horns - due to the risk of poaching - so you will only get a back view in this blog and won't be able to see their ears to test your rhino identification skills!  Still, a rhino's bottom is still pretty impressive i think.  :-)

We see so many different animals and birds on our sessions here, that every session is an incredible experience. However, my highlights so far have been getting very close to a really curious black rhino, spotting snakes (a puff adder and a vine snake - see photo), seeing 21 vultures all feeding at the same time, watching dung beetles roll their balls of dung (sometimes with a passenger on board!) and watching lions snooze in the sunshine.  The range of species and the beautiful scenery definitely makes this my favourite reserve so far.


Language - Zulu

Rhino - Obhejane

Snake - Inyoka

I'm lost! - Ngilahlekile 


Interesting Fact:
Some species of dung beetle use the stars to navigate.  

:-)

x

p.s. Julie - you probably won't want to look at the last photo.  

Weeks 3 & 4 - Zimanga Private Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Zimanga is a small, private reserve owned by a large sugar-cane farmer (the farmer isn't that large, but his farm is!)  The reserve isn't open to the public, so the only people on the reserve most of the time are the owner and his family, the security guards, a photographic guide and the Wildlife Act monitors and volunteers.  

There are two monitors on the project - one main monitor and one photographic monitor. I am one of 4 volunteers - the others are Luke from England - a photographic volunteer, Marie from Sweden and John from England. 

On this reserve, the main job is to monitor the wild dog pack as well as the two resident cheetah, Kalahari and Scarlet.  However there are lots of other animals here too.  The dogs and cheetah are monitored using telemetry.  This means that they either have an electronic implant or a collar fitted to them, which emits a signal.  We then use an aerial to listen for their signals, work out which direction the signal is strongest and then follow the signal until we find them.  We leave the house at 4.30am every morning (!) to find them as the dogs wake up and get moving early.

There are six dogs in the pack and they are amazing to see close up.  African Wild Dogs are also called 'Painted Dogs' which I prefer, as their coats are so pretty.  There are only 450 wild dogs left in South Africa, which makes them 'critically endangered' and in need of close monitoring.  Our job is to find the dogs every morning and every evening to make sure they are ok.  

We also pay regular visits to Kalahari and Scarlet the cheetahs - to make sure all is ok with them too.  Kalahari is very cool. For the fastest animal on land, he is surprisingly lazy and likes nothing better than snoozing under a tree!  That's him in the photo.  He seems to like sitting by the fence of the reserve which is next to quite a busy road and watching the traffic go past!

We got to watch a very special event a few days ago.  A lappet-faced vulture chick (another very endangered species) was tagged on the reserve and fitted with a special backpack and we were invited to watch.  The tag and backpack mean that the vulture can be identified and 'followed' by the signal the backpack sends out (a bit like with the dogs and cheetahs)  The chick was taken out of the nest (using a cherry-picker!) weighed and measured and fitted with its backpack before being put back into the nest.  

During our time at Zimanga, we also got the opportunity to take a mini-break to St Lucia - a small town on the coast.  It was beautiful.  We stayed two nights and booked on a hippo cruise and whale-watching trip.  Whale-watching was AMAZING!  We saw a  young hump-back whale jump out of the water ('breach') over 60 times!  Definitely one of the highlights of my trip so far. :-)

Language - Afrikaans

Elephant - Olifant

Mongoose - Muishond

Thank you - Dankie

Interesting Fact:

One of the main reasons that whales 'breach' is to exfoliate their skin!

:-)

x

Weeks 1 & 2: Emakhosini Ophathe Heritage Park, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

I’m in Africa!  Woohoo!  J

My adventure began with a tense hour and a half at Heathrow airport after being told (along with 4 other passengers) that we didn’t definitely have seats on the flight because they had overbooked.  Ahem.  Following some kind volunteers giving up their seats and one very quick sprint to the plane  with only 30 minutes before take-off, I was in my seat – sweaty and a bit breathless – but in my seat at least. 

Following quite a smooth flight in a large plane, we landed at Johannesburg airport where I caught my (delayed by a few hours) connecting flight to Richard’s Bay.  By contrast, a VERY bumpy flight in a VERY little plane!  Eek!  On arrival at Richard’s Bay airport, I was transferred by minibus with 2 other volunteers to my home for the next 2 weeks.

So, home is in the Emakhosini Ophathe Heritage Park – a huge park which is looked after by Ezemvelo, a government-run organisation that looks after all the parks in KwaZulu-Natal. The park is right in the heart of Zululand and has important Zulu historical sites within it. 

There are four of us on the project at the moment.  Lisa is the wildlife monitor in charge and Kasper (from the Netherlands) and Ann (from Germany) are the two other volunteers here.  We all get on well, which is great.  We live in a big house (see picture) in the middle of the reserve, so often have wild animals in our back garden!  (nothing too scary though!)  We have a big pond at the end of the driveway too, which is full of bullfrogs.  They are ridiculously noisy!  When we first heard them, we thought they were motorbikes! 

The project we are working on is a leopard survey, organised by Panthera (http://www.panthera.org/) and run by Wildlife ACT. (http://wildlifeact.com/) 

The aim of the project is to identify and count the leopard (and other endangered species) living in the area by setting motion-sensor cameras at points throughout the park to take photos of whatever walks, runs, flies or slithers past!  The survey has been running all year in a number of different locations.

Our work involves getting up quite early (4.15am for the last few days!) and driving out on the back of a jeep to the various camera sites in the park.  There, we take down the cameras (see picture), change the batteries, download the photos on to memory sticks and then fix the cameras back into place.  It’s amazing to be out and about in the park and to see and learn all about the animals.  Lisa, the monitor, knows SO much about every creature – big or small – and is great at giving us interesting information about them.

The park has been really dry, but as there has been a little bit of rain, the green leaves are starting to appear on some of the trees, which is really pretty.  There has only been one storm since I’ve been here, but there is more rain due, which the park really needs.

When we get back to the house after our drive, we upload all the photos on to the laptop and look through them to see what animals we have captured.  It’s pretty exciting and some of the photos are very funny when animals get really close to the cameras to have a good sniff.  We see a lot of Warthog selfies!

I can’t tell you about all the animals in the park -  poaching is a real problem here, so we are asked not to share too much information on the internet - it’s safest for the animals if the poachers don’t know where they are.  It makes you mad to see photos of animals who have been caught and injured by snares. 

But, here are some that I can tell you about – giraffes, wildebeest, zebra, kudu, impala, honey badgers, hyena, aardvark, caracal, warthogs, mongoose, baboons and many, many more!  I’ve got very good at identifying animal poo now – I should be an expert by the time I am finished with Wildlife Act in December!  As you can see from the photo, I’ve also enjoyed getting close to the little critters!  J

So, I’ve decided to end every post with some useful words or phrases (well, probably more useful to me than you!) in the local language and an interesting fact!  Here goes:

Language – Zulu:

Hello – Sawubona (pronounced saa-wu-b’aw-naa)

Do you speak English? – Uyasikhuluma isiNgisi?  (u-yaa-see-ku-lu-maa ee-see-ngee-see)

Hyena – Impisi (ee-m-pee-see)

Interesting fact:

Vultures can see for 70km and have been recorded as flying at the same height as Boeing 747s.

J

X

p.s. especially for my Champions – I hope you appreciate the font I’ve used! – it took me ages to find an acceptable one on this blog site!  ;-)