After 12 weeks of amazing encounters with beautiful creatures, it was time to say goodbye to Wildlife Act - well, almost.
Thanks to Bronwen and Vincent at Wildlife Act, I was able to spend one last night at Zimanga before setting off for Swaziland the following day. It was a lovely way to end my time with Wildlife Act, but also gave me the opportunity of seeing the newest wild dog pack - the two male uMkhuze dogs and their four Zimanga females - who were lazing together in the shade of a tree on my drive to the reserve gates In the morning.
My journey into Swaziland - and my first proper border crossing - was pretty smooth. It consisted of a 40 minute drive to the border post, a short walk across the border, some friendly border officials on both sides, a long queue at Swaziland immigration and a temperature test (Ebola screening - I was fine). As I walked through, my friend Myxo was waiting for me.
I met Myxo when I spent a month in Swaziland six years ago and we kept in touch. The plan was for Myxo to drive us from the border to his village - a 3-4 hour journey - but unfortunately his car was in the garage having work done on it, so we had to get local buses instead.
Local buses in Swaziland are called 'kombis' - they are minibuses that you can hail like taxis along the road and which drop off and collect passengers anywhere on the way. They are generally very crowded and hot and a bit of a challenge with a large rucksack! There were also none going directly to where we needed to go to, so we needed to get more than one - a total of five in fact! When we finally arrived at the garage working on Myxo's car to collect it and drive the remaining 1.5 hours to the village, we discovered the garage hadn't finished the work...
So, after some heated debate with the mechanic, Myxo decided we should stay at his house in town, give the garage a few more hours to do the work and travel on to the village in the morning.
Thankfully things had progressed a bit at the garage the following morning, so we were able to collect the car and drive to the village. Myxo's village is in an area called 'Kaphunga', which is right up in the mountains, so the last part of the drive was beautiful - full of winding mountain roads, red earth, lush green trees and incredible views.
Myxo lives in a traditional rural homestead in Kaphunga. It has several beehive huts for sleeping in, along with a small brick-built food preparation/store area, a covered cooking/fire area and a small outside toilet with an incredible view! There is no electricity or running water, but if you stand on the big rock behind the homestead, you can sometimes get an Internet signal! Kaphunga is a lovely place to have some peace and spend time just relaxing, visiting the neighbouring homestead and gazing at the stars at night.
On Christmas Day, we visited the neighbours in the morning. They were busy preparing the food and we weren't allowed to leave without eating, so I ate my first Swaziland Christmas Dinner at about 11.30am. There was a lot of meat involved, but they happily gave me a plate with just the vegetables and rice and didn't seem to think I was that strange for not wanting to eat goat entrails...
After eating, we drove to Myxo's family's home about 2 hours away to spend a couple of hours with them. There I met Myxo'a Mum, Sister, Brother, Sister-in-law, cousin's wife and nephews. We had a lovely relaxed afternoon - and a second dinner! - before heading back to the village.
After a lovely, peaceful stay in Kaphunga, I headed to the Ezulwini Valley for the last days of 2014. Ezulwini is the royal valley and is a much busier area with hotels, lodges, restaurants and shops. I stayed for a few days at a backpackers hostel called 'Legends', where I met other travellers and celebrated a fantastic New Year'a Eve out at a local club called 'House on Fire' - a wonderful way to start the New Year.
Swaziland highlights:
- Spending Christmas Day with Myxo's family
- Staying in a traditional rural homestead
- The warmth and friendliness of the people I met in Swaziland (okay, maybe apart from the mechanic fixing Myxo's car...!)
Language - siSwatisi:
SiSwati is closely related to isiZulu, so many words are almost the same apart from a difference in pronunciation.
- Monday - uMsombuluko
- Tuesday - Lesibili
- Wednesday - Lesitsatfu
- Thursday - Lesine
- Friday - Lesihlanu
- Saturday - uMgcibelo
- Sunday - Lisontfo
Interesting Facts:
- Swaziland has a King and a royal family. The king - King Mswati 3rd is an 'absolute monarch', which means that he has the final say in all decisions and no laws or customs restrict his power
- Polygamy (having more than one wife or husband at the same time) is legal in Swaziland. The king has 15 wives in total
iMfolozi is part of the oldest proclaimed Nature Reserve in the whole of Africa, the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi reserve. It was established in 1895 with the purpose of saving the Southern White Rhino from extinction, as at that time there were only 20 of them left in the world - all living within Hluhluwe-iMfolozi. (There are 2 types of White Rhino - Southern and Northern. More on the Northern White Rhino later)
The reserve ran a really successful rhino breeding programme in the first half of the century, which meant that by the early 1960s the white rhino population was much, much larger and the park was able to send many of its rhino to other reserves and zoos in Africa and around the world in the hope of ensuring the survival of the species. In the first few years of the program - named 'Operation Rhino' - over 600 rhino were re-located and it is seen as one of the most successful conservation programmes in history.
The fact that the reserve has been of such importance in the saving of the Southern White Rhino makes it a very special place to visit and makes having the opportunity to carry out conservation work here a huge privilege.
Sadly, just before I arrived at iMfolozi, the man that led the 'Operation Rhino' project died. Dr Ian Player was instrumental in the success of the project and in many other conservation projects, so it was very sad news. If you want to find out more about Dr Player, the program and the work still going on today to ensure the survival of all rhino, you can go to this site: http://www.savetherhino.org/latest_news/news/1166_rip_dr_ian_player
The other sad news I heard whilst here was about the Northern White Rhino. Unfortunately the conservation of the Northern White Rhino has not been as successful as that of the Southern and before I arrived at iMfolozi there were only six individuals in the world - all living in zoos. Whilst here, one of the six - a male living in San Diego zoo - died, leaving just five. The chances of those that are left breeding is highly unlikely, so it is really sad news. But it also highlights just how important the conservation and monitoring work that Wildlife Act and other organisations do is, in ensuring that endangered animals survive and thrive.
As with many of the Wildlife Act projects, the priority at iMfolozi is the monitoring of the reserve's Wild Dog population. The reserve is unusual in that it is home to a total of seven packs (5 mostly stay on the iMfolozi side and 2 on the Hluhluwe side) which makes monitoring them all regularly much harder. The work at iMfolozi also involves recording sightings of other priority and endangered species - including elephant, leopard, cheetah and black rhino - through monitoring sessions and camera traps.
Our monitor at iMfolozi is Megan and the other volunteers here are Alistair (South African), Toby (Danish/German) and Jacobien and Cid who are both Dutch. We stay in a lovely camp in the reserve, which has a big rock in the back garden from where there is the most incredible view of the river winding through the reserve. It is beautiful.
This is my last project with Wildlife Act and is an amazing one to end on. The reserve is beautiful and we have had some incredible sightings of lazy lions, elephants and rhinos having mud baths, spotted hyena (including one in the garden), leopards and of course the beautiful dogs. I've also had a scorpion in my room, which was very exciting indeed!
Whilst here, we got news about the two uMkhuze dogs I mentioned in my last post, who left the reserve to go and find themselves some females. After visiting a few reserves, they have been spotted on Zimanga and seem to have persuaded the four females there to leave the Zimanga males and join them instead. It isn't clear how this will work out - particularly for the two original Zimanga males - but at least they are safely on a reserve now and more easily monitored.
I can't believe how quickly the first 3 months of my year in Africa have passed. I have had some incredible experiences and met some lovely people (and animals!) and will be sad to end this chapter, but I am also really excited about where I'll go and what I'll do in the next 9 months!
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uMkhuze game reserve became a protected area just over 100 years ago and is a government-run reserve. It is home to a wide range of animals and birds, including wild dogs, lion, leopard, cheetah, rhino, elephant and buffalo. It is open to day and overnight visitors.
The uMkhuze camp is an unfenced camp right in the middle of the reserve. Because it is unfenced, animals can wander in and around the camp, so you have to keep your eyes open! So far I've only seen baboon, nyala (large antelope) and a tortoise, but you never know who might come visiting...
Our two monitors at uMkhuze are Cole and Pippa. Cole has been the permanent monitor here for three years, but is about to move to Australia with his family so is handing over to Pippa before he goes. There are four other volunteers here: Andy, Neil and Lizzie who are English and Cynthia who is Swiss. We also occasionally have two camp dogs - Foxy and Maya - who belong to the reserve manager, but love coming to spend time with us.
The priority at uMkhuze is to monitor the wild dogs. There are two packs at this reserve - the main one with 25 dogs and a much smaller pack that has broken away from the main pack. Some of the dogs are collared, so we search for them using telemetry, then count them, identify them, check they are ok and observe their behaviour. The main pack has 5 adult dogs, 5 sub-adults (like teenagers!) and 15 puppies. It's so much fun to watch the puppies as they are so playful and curious.
On one session we followed the telemetry signal in the direction of the fence line between uMkhuze and the private reserve next door and realized that two of the dogs had gone under the fence and out of the reserve. This is why it is so important that they are monitored so closely. Wild dogs could choose to leave a reserve if there are too many other predators (especially lions) and not enough space for everyone to live side by side with enough food, but this was not the case at uMkhuze.
The two dogs that left were two male sub-adults who had left the pack to go and find one or more females with which to start their own pack, This is known as 'dispersal' and is very natural behaviour. However it also poses huge risks to the dogs because their quest takes them outside the safety of the reserve and by main roads or communities where they might get knocked down or shot. So this was a really worrying time.
Thankfully both dogs had collars and because some of the reserves are quite close together the monitors from the other reserves (Zululand Rhino Reserve and Zimanga) were able to use their telemetry to look for the dogs and keep an eye on the direction in which they were travelling. Hopefully I can give you an update on their travels in a future post.
It has been an incredible experience spending time with the uMkhuze pack as we have been able to get really close to them and watch them for an hour or more at a time. As they are so critically endangered, this is something that very few people ever get to do, so it is a huge privilege. It is very sobering to think that I have now 'met' one tenth of the entire wild dog population in South Africa.
Along with incredible sightings of the dogs, we have also seen so many other cool animals whilst on monitoring sessions or checking camera traps. In our first 8 days here we saw a total of seven (yes, seven) leopards! We've also had an incredibly close encounter with a male lion in the dark, who sat down about 20 metres from our car and roared and roared. When a lion roars that close, the noise vibrates through your whole body!
Whilst at uMkhuze we took a morning off to go on a guided walk through the fig forest. It was a beautiful walk through the forest and along the river bed and amazing to be out of the vehicle and on foot for a change. Lots of baboons came out to check us out and we were also lucky enough to see a Pel's Fishing Owl - the largest owl in a south Africa.
We also spent a couple of nights away from the reserve at the beginning of December at Somkhanda Reserve. Somkhanda runs a kids camp for local children to learn about the animals in the park and how important it is to protect them and conserve their environment. All the volunteers from all of the different projects (35 in total!) stayed at Somkhanda to experience the lessons that the children receive as well as holding a Christmas Party for children from the local school, which was quite lively!
My uMkhuze highlights:
- seeing leopards, leopards and more leopards!
- watching the puppies playing
Interesting Fact
There are different words to describe groups of animals - depending on the species, e.g. a group of lions is called a 'pride' of lions. Here are some others:
- A crash of rhinos
- A tower (or journey) of giraffes
- A wake of vultures
- A confusion of guinea-fowl
:-)
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