I have finished my time at the Makalali Game Reserve. I
loved it there and did not want to leave! I had so much fun, learnt heaps and
made new friends. The park itself is approximately 25,000 hectares of old farm land,
the cattle have been removed and the fences taken down. The trees and bush have
grown back and the more traditional African animals have been reintroduced. Now
they have the Big 5 (the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt) which are elephant,
rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo as well as many other animals including
cheetah, spotted hyena, giraffe, zebra, many antelope species, and smaller
animals like honey badgers, civets and aardvarks.
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| Cheetah. |
I spent a total of 3 weeks there as a volunteer, going on
game drives to collect animal numbers and sexes, identifying birds, learning
about reading tracks and poos, bush clearing (and getting to intimately know
the many plants with thorns), going on walks, general maintenance, data entry
on the computer and during the last week took part in controlled burning of
large sections of the park. Justin, who had been diving on the coast, joined me
for the last week so also got to burn and fight fires. The burning is done as
some plant species need fire and heat in order to germinate as well as to
eliminate grass and dry, dead undergrowth that would otherwise be a major fire
hazard if left alone. Bush fires are often started by lightning strikes which
occur in spring after a long dry winter.
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| Burning at the end of the day, Makalali. |
One night we also had a sleep out. All the volunteers and 2
rangers spent the night sleeping under the sky in a dry river bed. It was cold
and windy, but the stars were amazing. During the night we had to take turns on
watch to keep the fire burning and to wake everyone if animals entered camp.
Unfortunately I had the 2-3.30am watch which really reminded me of night shifts
as a paramedic.
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| What are you looking at? |
There is another incident I should mention. The elephants
had been hanging out around camp for a few days. And by camp I mean several
brick building, a small pool (usually empty), a fire place and BBQ area. One
night we heard and saw them close by, tearing off branches and pushing over
trees to eat. There is a high wire around the perimeter of the camp which is
supposed to discourage elephants from entering, but they can get in if they
really want. The next morning we found one of the small trees in the middle of
camp was on a terrible lean which could only have been done by elephants.
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| Male elephant. |
The next night we were driving back to camp when we crested
a hill and found ourselves in the middle of a herd. Elephants are amazing
animals and can understand the tone that you say things in. If you talk calmly
to them they usually leave you alone. To start with the herd left us be, and we
sat in the dark for about 20 minutes watching and listening to them all around
us. It was sooo cool. However, as we slowly drove through the herd we ended up
next to a teenage elephant that was not so happy to see us. She mock charged us
several times to the point that she was actually going to touch the car. It
almost turned into a serious charge but Alex, the ranger who was driving us
started yelling and getting very angry at the elephant. Luckily the elephant
took notice and eventually backed off.
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| Spotted hyena and cub. |
Unfortunately it was not the only run in with the elephants
that night for Alex. Jamie and Kara, 2 of the other rangers, got their car
stuck in the sand just where the elephants were grazing. As they didn’t want to
aggravate the elephants by getting out and digging, Alex had to drive back
through the herd to pick them up and was mock charged again. Then all 3 rangers
had to drive back through the herd again to get back to camp. I was standing in
camp when I heard a massive trumpeting, yelling, swearing and a car revving
about 200m away. When the rangers got back they told me they had been charged
by 6 elephants that were all standing in a row behind the car. We left the
elephants alone for the next few days. I think we all needed to calm down from
that episode.
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| Bird in flight. |
So now Justin and I are back on the road again. We have
spent the last few days at uMkuze Game Reserve, relaxing and looking at
animals, and now we are at Sodwana Bay to do some diving. This is where Justin
was diving earlier, and he liked it so much that he wanted to come back. It
reminds me a lot of NZ west coast beaches, but the wind is warmer and the sand
is golden.
We will be heading
back to Jo’burg in a few days and then heading to Poland where we will be
meeting up with my parents. So the next time I write it will probably be from
Europe.
More photos!
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| Buffalo. |
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| Traffic jam at Kruger National Park. |
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| Male Impala. |
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| Sunset at the end of a long day. |
