The morning began at 6:30AM when we headed out to check the small mammal traps to see if anything was found, only found one vleirat. Following that we all settled in for a delicious cooked breakfast of bacon, scrambled egg, mushrooms and beans, to start off the day. We then had a lovely lecture about the reptiles in the area from Mr. Chad Keates. After this we were able to get up close and personal with a number of reptiles, both venomous and non-venomous snakes, and a gecko. It was so exciting to be able to handle such fascinating animals, just to let you know we were only allowed to handle the non-venomous snakes and gecko. The gecko lost his tail for Marissa, and the tail carried on moving for a while after it fell off, providing a distraction for the potential predator (Marissa in this case).
The students getting a look at some of the venomous snakes
Bailey with a brown house snake…she wasn’t too sure in the beginning.
Jenna with a snake!
Katie and Taylor also getting up close to a snake
Marissa with a Bibrons gecko
After we enjoyed lunch on the deck we learned about the surrounding community and the importance of connecting the community to the game reserve from Mrs. Jenn Gush. She talked about the many different ways the reserve tries to include the community in an attempt to educate them about the importance of conservation. After a quick game of red rover, which our team won we headed back to the classroom to plan the upcoming ‘World Environment Day’ at the reserve. It is all about reptiles, so very appropriate. We are all very excited to meet and teach the local children about some of things we learned today.
After heading back for supper we all bundled up for our very first night drive. Hoping that we get to see hippos!! we did get to see lions!!!
This is Bailey and Vincent signing off after another action packed day! More to come tomorrow with community work for the World Environment Day.
So happy to see my niece and all the new things your doing