Week four at Ulovane

Another two hour exam to start off the week - this time from 7am (which I was not entirely prepared for!) This time on taxonomy, arthropods, amphibians and fish. It was the hardest one so far, but we already got the results and I did better than I thought! The previous exam's results have gotten misplaced somehow and we can't access it  at the moment as Seanie Sean is away with the Trails Guides so we're still in the dark about that - welcome to Africa! ;o)

This week Schalk (The Founder and Director of Ulovane) joins us for Weather and Climate, Biomes and then Kyle is doing Conservation Management. Schalk's passion for the bush and animals is contagious and his lectures were very informative.

We were incredibly fortunate to experience two game captures and relocations this week. Day one consisted of getting up at 4:15am and driving to gate one where we met up with the vets, anti-poaching unit and security, as well as lots of maintenance guys, students from Australia and all the hands we could get together! After a brief from the main vet (William Fowldes), he got into the heli and started darting 5 black wildebeest, 9 red hartebeest and 1 eland bull which we then had to go and pick up (where they dropped in the veld) with bakkies and had to hold on for dear life as the drivers literally bounced as quick as they could to the immobilised animals, we then had to load them (keeping their heads up) and race them back to the truck where the other vets were waiting to administer more tranquilizers, antibiotics and multivitamins before they were loaded. It was such an incredibly exhilarating experience!!

We couldn't believe that it could get any better, and then found out that the next morning we were invited to take part in a giraffe capture as well. We were very worried when the vet briefed us about the high fatality rate when capturing these animals, however we managed to capture a female and younger male without any injuries! It was an absolute sublime experience to handle these graceful animals. The procedure was completely different due to their size: After darting the runners had to manoeuvre ropes around their legs, criss-crossing until the animal practically fell down, obviously trying to prevent any injuries. Then a few of us had to fall on the neck, trying to keep the animal as still as possible while they are blindfolded and checked for injuries. A kind of a harness is then attached and the vet gets the animal to stand while the rest of us formed two sides with ropes essentially guiding the animal to where the truck is waiting (see below). This was a bit trickier with the first female as she ran deep into the shrubs before falling so we had to guide her a long way - all the while keeping in mind that this is a wild animal and one kick could easily kill a human! In any case, our excellent teamwork paid off and the two are now safe and sound in their new reserve.

Finally, on top of all the luck we had, we also stumbled across a jackal burrow on the way and were able to witness the gorgeous 2 week old pups (last pic).

Week three Ulovane

Week 3 started once again with a 2 hour exam on Monday morning on geology, human history and astronomy and directly afterwards we received our results for the previous week's exam - everyone passed which was great :)

This week we're getting into the interesting stuff covering taxonomy, arthropoda (spiders and scorpions), amphibians and fish all in one week! Lots of practical sessions as well of course, however after seeing a real life baboon spider and learning that the local scorpion (parabuthus granulatus) is the deadliest one in Africa a bit of paranoia set in and Nikki and I promptly found 2 big black spiders in our room! Luckily the gentlemanly South African boys were happy to remove them for us - bribed with chocolate of course!

Our plans for some game drives during the week were postponed due to some stormy weather from Wednesday to Friday, but we got lots of studying done and watched a couple of great movies and documentaries in the evenings. We also got spoiled with some of Mama Tub's comfort food including vetkoek and had a fire going most nights. To make up for the cold weather, we had a full day out in the game reserve on sunny Saturday (pictures below of gemsbok, greater double collared sunbird and southern pale chanting goshawk) and were lucky enough to borrow Doudou's car to drive into Grahamstown for some real civilization and great pub food and some shopping at Pick and Pay on Sunday.

Week two at Ulovane

Week two at Ulovane:

Monday started with a 2 hour test at 8am which wasn't too bad, although we haven't got the results yet so maybe I'll eat my words tomorrow. It was a balmy 38C and most of the rest of the day was spent indoors and waiting for it to cool down. At about 4pm we departed on our first night drive which was wonderful as we came across a male and female lion who were calling and moaning to each other. The female came right up to the land rover and it felt as if she was looking right at me(which was a bit uncomfortable as she definitely looked "interested"), but our guide Kyle managed to put her at ease and we moved our vehicle so that we weren't in the middle of the two of them. I will never forget the sound of them calling each other - it's absolutely spine chilling, exciting and has to rate as one of my top experiences :)

The next couple of days consisted of lessons in geology, human history and habitation in the mornings and drives in the afternoon to consolidate the information (whilst seeing lots of cool animals). Thursday was astronomy lesson and then a long drive to "bush braai" for our first sleepout in the bush. We made a tasty vegetable potjie and braai boerewors, then slept around the campfire - all had to take turns to keep watch during the night so not much sleep was had. We also did some stargazing and a massive

full moon, the southern cross, scorpio and later orion's belt were discussed.

Over the weekend Mama Thabsie (the cook) was away so everyone took turns in preparing meals - Kerim showed me how to make delicious garlic and oregano flatbread which we ate with salad and olive oil and balsamic dressing - yum :)

Week one at Ulovane Environmental training

One week doing Field Guide training at Ulovane:

Torrential rain and icy cold winds welcome us to Ulovane Environmental training. Everybody gets assigned to a room and roommate - I get a lovely English girl, Nikki, and we're lucky that our room is only 2 minutes walk from the main building with lounge, kitchen, study room ect. We have an outside toilet and shower which is lovely in warm weather, but icy cold when the wind blows!

A lovely big diverse group we are with ages ranging from 19 to 52 and nationalities mainly Italian, British, German and South African. And a gorgeous little cat called "cornflakes".
Next day we have a talk about the syllabus of subjects we will cover and everyone feels a bit overwhelmed as it is ALOT of information and we will be writing a 2-hour test every Monday at 8am!! Game drive in icy torrential rain (glad I brought my rain suit - even though I forgot the rain pants in my room) but we see a few animals and start to get familiar with the Amakhala Game Reserve. Eland in picture above.

Guy, one of the English "blokes" made a fire for us in the lounge after we returned soaking from the game drive which helped us cope with the freezing weather. Everyone agreed on a yoga session but Sean the instructor was feeling unwell so I ended up being the instructor! On Wednesday it started clearing up and a whole different unfolded. Compulsory First Aid course was run on Wednesday and Thursday which we all passed thankfully and in-between we were all cramming for Mondays' exam - history of Amakhala, communication skills for guiding, regulations and bodies in South Africa, rules and map of the reserve, vehicle skills and Xhosa names of the important animals - a lot to take in!!

Friday from 5am took us on a full day game drive which was amazing and nice and sunny - slowly starting to get our heads around the reserve. First time I saw a "gemsbok" and "mountain zebra" - below, note different subspecies than the plains zebra (and much prettier). Saturday was workbook Q&A, more study time and our first time driving the Land Rover. Washing, yoga, relaxing and more studying on Sunday. Reception isn't very good here and downloading pictures takes ages, but I will try to upload more next time :o)