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
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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