Volunteer Diaries

A Perfect Day in Africa........


The morning was spent in the blissful sunshine. The day previous we had made a rather large dent in the sickle bush encroachment on the grassland plain. Now all we had to do was to spread the broken branches across an area which was severely degraded and eroded.

Wow trampling and rain can make a real mess!!!

So we started work. The sun was great, not too hot but enough to try and get a tan on my extremely pasty shoulders and maybe even enough to tan my even whiter legs!! In addition, today was a good day as I had remembered last night to put my juice bottle in the freezer, so today I had a orange oros ice pop!! It was thirsty work, not to mention a little bit rough on the arms and legs! This sickle bush has a demon mind of its own!!! A few hours later, half an ice pop and a well compacted erosion site we were done for the day! As it was Saturday we only had chores to do in the morning so now we were free to do as we pleased.

We had been promised a game drive this afternoon and we were not about to let them forget it!! After a fantastic lunch on the veranda it was starting to get late as Joe decided we needed to get ready for game drive.
Sun downers, binos, bird book and coat fro later packed we were off. Joe had decided on a simple circle drive. The sun was already starting to get rather low in the sky but this time of day is always the most exciting as it is full of promise!

We had only driven for about 5 minutes before we came across 2 bull rhinos sleeping the day off under a large tree. At first they seemed to not be too bothered by our presence but after a short time one got up and decided to wander off into the thick bush, shortly followed by the other.  As we were driving off our ears pricked up at the very distinctive sound of a loan lion, making sure all around knew he was there! Not only was this exciting but it was rather loud, therefore it only took us a few moments to find the big guy.

Lion Roar
He did not stick around for long, as he made his way off into the bush vocalising and scenting. But I managed to get the above shot before he disappeared.
We took the river road and as we turned the corner we pretty much drove into a rather large breeding herd of elephants!! Now this really was exciting, we had only been driving 20 minutes and we had already seen 3 out of the "big 5"!!! We were all smiles and in awe of what we had seen on the amazing afternoon drive.

Breeding Elephant Herd

The elephants were very relaxed and were feeding all around our vehicle. We sat with them a while and as the sun was just starting to dip, we decided to crack open the cooler!
The sounds of the end of the day and beginning of the evening in Africa is truly wonderful.

Seriously, I hear you say this drive could not get any better?! Well in that moment it did!! Just as we were about to pack up we heard another russel and another and another and then the unmistakable snoring and mooing of the cape buffalo. A small herd was making their way down  on the other side of the river for an evening drink, just as the sun as turning a bright orange. I managed to grab this shot below.

Cape Buffalo

As I was taking numerous shots like this one. I heard Joe mutter, "No way". As I turned about I saw a large grey shape and a smaller grey shape emerging from the bushes right in front of the car! It was indeed a mother rhino and her rather small calf. They bolted across the road and quickly were hidden by the thick bush of the river bank.

WOW!!! 4 out of the "big 5" I actually had to pinch myself. This was unheard of on this reserve! And in such a short space of time. My cheeks had started to hurt I was smiling so much.

The sun had nearly gone down and the last rays of sun were fast dripping down past the horizon. We decided to make our way back as we had to be the braai going. The car we full of chatter and excitement. What a drive!!!

Then, yes you guessed it, the one thing I never even had dared to dream of actually happened............................................. we turned a corner to be greeted by a female leopardess hastening crossing the road!!!! Well I cant repeat the comments can came out of many of our mouths! This could not be happening. We had spent 3 weeks here and not a sniff of a leopard. But of course it had to happen on this drive. Unfortunately the light was nearly all gone and my ever faithful point and shoot was just not up to the job and I could only manage a pitiful shot below, but you get the idea!

Leopard *terrible photo!*

All this followed by a traditional African Braai. THE BEST DAY OF OUR AFRICAN ADVENTURE AND THE BEST DAY OFF MY LIFE SO FAR.

And it is all thanks to Blue Lizard Adventures and their team!!

http://www.bluelizardadventures.com/



The Best Week with the Lion Ecology and Monitoring Research Team!


So the past week has been rather epic! As a volunteer at this project I have had the best time of my life! I have seen some incredible wildlife! I have been the worlds most infamous "big cats" nearly every single day! We have watched them and studies them. Lions are so lazy but lead a very complex life with "issues"!! I have come to have a great ifinity for these creatures and their world.

Lions!


Now not only have we seen and had some of the most fantastic encounters with the lions but this weekespecailly has been crazy good for other sightings! We have seen, aardvark which you never see! They are such crazy aniamls. The staff here said that it was so rare to see these guys that most people who work on the reserve havent seen one! We have also seen the rare and endangered African Wildcat, spotted hyaena and porcupine.

However, particular highlights for me was our waterhole visits! There is a small waterhole near the volunteer house at the lion project. It is visible from the boma area. This week a gorgeous leopard came down to drink. Eagle-eyed Koos spotted its tail flicking in the long grass as he enjoyed a cup of coffee on the verandah!! After we thought it could not get much better a few days later a serval was spotted at our wtaer hole!!! Now that is special!!

Leopard Drinking
Serval Drinking
So all in all we have had an amazing week and cannot wait for the coming weeks as a volunteer on this Lion Research project!
http://www.bluelizardadventures.com/volunteer/south_africa/lion-ecology-and-monitoring-programme.html


Lion Monitoring Ecology Volunteer Update

A quick round up of the weeks drives and reserve goings on!.....
On Tuesday afternoon there was a commotion at Galon Dam. Zebra were alarm calling for over an hour with strong signal for Matumi. The volunteers were finally rewarded (having circled
the Dam a number of times!) with a visual of Matumi and Mfuti on a zebra kill. It appeared that Matumi had done most of the hard work as she was resting close by but Mfuti didn't have the manners to wait and was seen enjoying her meal...a relief to all of us as she had looked so skinny on the past couple of visuals. The two were still at the dam the next morning and it was great to see that Mfuti's belly score had jumped from a 2.5 to a 4 overnight! Matumi still seems a little shy around the vehicle (she's the new Selati, with similar hunting skills too!) but Mfuti spent 30 minutes with the car, enjoying the admiration from the vehicle.
Lion Cub
Fantastic last drive for our volunteer Zoe last night (Sunday) The adverse weather conditions meant that we had rather lost track of the lions and picking up their signal was proving tricky. We did however get signal for some of the collared elephants and so decided to head in that direction as Zoe had yet to see the elephants in the day time. We followed the signal to South River Road and Liz spotted a small herd grazing in the long grass on the northern bank of the river. As they were so relaxed and at a safe distance everyone was able to get off the car and observe them on foot from the southern bank…an amazing experience! We had a visual of 10 individuals including Sahara and Bossie and some un-collared sub-adults and juveniles. When they finally disappeared into the bush (unbelievable how elephants can just disappear behind what seems to be a thin wall of trees!) we made our way to the BVB Airstrip for a hot drink as the sun was setting. While at the airstrip we had an equally fantastic sighting of a much smaller animal. We witnessed the nuptial flight of the alates from a nearby termite mound as they began their journey to establish new colonies. Finally we picked up signal for Mbhurri and Matumi but they were in the middle of the biggest block on the reserve. As if to make up for this Mbhurri began roaring so Zoe got an audio of the lions for her last night at the project! 
Zebra - Travel South Africa
 
 
 On Tuesday afternoon there was a commotion at Galon Dam. Zebra were alarm calling for over an hour with strong signal for Matumi. The volunteers were finally rewarded (having circled
the Dam a number of times!) with a visual of Matumi and Mfuti on a zebra kill. It appeared that Matumi had done most of the hard work as she was resting close by but Mfuti didn't have the manners to wait and was seen enjoying her meal...a relief to all of us as she had looked so skinny on the past couple of visuals. The two were still at the dam the next morning and it was great to see that Mfuti's belly score had jumped from a 2.5 to a 4 overnight! Matumi still seems a little shy around the vehicle.

Matumi and Mfuti - Volunteer Lion Monitoring Programme


Lion Monitoring Ecology Volunteer Update March 2013



This weekend was a great one, as we had a spectacular sighting of the lions. We went out on afternoon drive with Simon and saw lots of neat things from the start. It began with a shy little jackal hopping in and out of bushes. He was very curious about the volunteers, and we had a few minutes to admire (and adore) him. We also saw lots of birds, including a flock of yellow-billed hornbills flying just above the car as they drove along. The group was flying along with their feathered friends!

From there, we continued to follow signal for the lions, getting closer and realizing the family all seemed to be hanging out together - Selati, Mica and Mbhurri. We off-roaded a bit when they had the lions on a signal 7 in a clearing, and finally spotted them all lying under a tree as the sun was going down. As it got darker, all three became friskier and began walking around from bush to bush, lying down, and then moving again after a minute or two. Eventually, with Mbhurri in tow, Selati and Mica started playing! They were pawing at and jumping on each other and running along the road. Mbhurri followed everywhere they went and the group watched their movements and interactions for quite a while. It was amazing!
The stunning lioness Acacia

We've had another leopard sighting, and this time it was the collared female, Cleo, who we haven't seen for some weeks. We'd been tracking her and trying to get a visual, so this was a really exciting night! It was dark, and we had been following her signal for a while. We finally got a strong signal but did not expect to see her as easily as we did. With the spotlight, we spotted her sitting far up the road ahead of them. It was dark, but we could see that it was definitely a leopard. We watched her for a bit, but soon she stood up and walked off into the bush. It was a short sighting, but we were very happy to have found Cleo again! It is always a great satisfaction!

Two days ago, Liz and the volunteers went for Matumi, as we didn't have signal for her on or near her koppie the previous day. We hoped she would be there with her cubs, but there was no signal. They could hear one of her cubs calling out for its mother, which gave us even more motivation to locate Matumi. On the afternoon drive, Simon and the group did pick up her signal, but she was still not near her koppie. We hope she will return to her cub, as it will need to be fed and taken care of again soon!

Yesterday, Simon found Mbhurri and got a short visual of him following after his mother and aunt, Selati and Mica, who they had strong signal for. At least we know where all of the lions are, and we will keep our hopes up that Matumi goes back to her cub :) 

The team looing for lion tracks#

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