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We were up bright and early for a 6am game drive through Addo Elephant National Park. While we didn’t see any of the big predators, we got to see some antelope such as kudu and see more of the park! We had a filling breakfast after our morning drive where we were able to express our gratitude to Dr. Dan Parker and Jess Comley for all of their help the last few weeks. Then spent the next few hours exploring the new sites such as the interpretive centre where we were able to learn about the history of the park and the animals within it.
After lunch we received lectures from various national park employees about general park information as well as the management techniques currently used and future plans for their expanding elephant population – they have over 650!

We were lucky enough to be surprised with the chance to see 5 Buffalo who have been living in the bowma, a smaller contained area, where they await an auction to start their new genetic purpose on other reserves and conservation areas. We had a couple of hours for last minute souvenir shopping and to soak in the last of South Africa.
We had a lovely supper at the park’s restaurant to celebrate our last night away. We had an early night to finish packing and to get plenty of sleep in preparation for our long travels that await us! See you soon!

This morning we woke up with heavy hearts because we were leaving Amakhala today. It was our home away from home for two weeks and the memories we made there will never be forgotten. We all hold this place close to heart and with great reluctance, we loaded up in the vans and headed out to our next and final destination. We stopped at Nanaga farm stall again to pick up meat pies and roostekoek for lunch to-go. We also stocked up on snacks for the drive ahead, particularly the chutney corn nuts we learned to love from Amakhala, we nearly cleaned them out!

The Addo Elephant Park is huge, we entered at the base and had to drive two hours to get to the main camp accommodations, forested cabins. This park doesn’t use guides for game drives, you just drive through in your own vehicle. We saw so many elephants and they were so close! Addo is estimated to have over 650 elephants over three of the seven sections of the park. We had free time until dinner to settle into our forest cabins or explore the main camp. We gathered at the main guesthouse for a delicious braai of buffalo steaks, kudu sausage and corn on the cob. We spent the evening relaxing on the porch and listening to music, discussing our favourite moments during the trip thus far. We can’t believe how fast the time flew, tomorrow is already our last full day in South Africa.

 

Signing off – Callie

**Internet access is limited, so we will post as soon as we have access.

We started the day with a hot breakfast of eggs, bacon, homemade cheese bread and sausages. After breakfast we all headed out to Carnarvondale (a zone of the reserve with no predators) for horse back riding. In two groups we were all assigned a horse and got to ride them in and around animals, like impala and zebra. It was a really fun way to explore that side of the game reserve and also relax.

After lunch we put the finishing touches on our project presentations. At 5 pm we all presented about our individual research projects. The presentations were only about 2 minutes long and presented to all the cohort members and some staff from Amakhala. It felt great to finally get the last bit of “work” out of the way. We de-stressed around the fire and made more s’mores. Then we all gathered in the lounge for one last supper at Amakhala. It consisted of 3 courses: cream of mushroom soup, lamb shank or stuffed chicken and berry cheesecake. It was all delicious! The meal was followed by a slide show of pictures taken over the duration of the course (basically a gag reel) and Dr. Dan Parker all gave us each a “theme song”. We are really going to miss our extended family here at Amakhala.

Happy Father’s Day!!

Brought to you by tent 4 (Marissa, Taylor and Emily)!

Beach Day! We got up early this morning, had breakfast and headed to the beach to swim in the Indian Ocean. It was a huge empty beach with basically only us there (since it is winter, we probably looked crazy). Bailey and I plus a couple others went into the water, which at the time felt a lot warmer than the air and sand. The waves were huge and fun to body surf through. We relaxed on the beach until 11, when we packed up and headed to the Rat & Parrot Pub in Grahamstown for lunch!

 

 

We had delicious pizzas cooked to perfection and then had free time to walk around the outside mall area. Everyone ended up getting milkshakes and walking through Pick n Pay (local grocery store) for a bit until we had to head back.  Most shops are closed Saturday afternoons in Grahamstown.

We had a tour of the Anti-Poaching Unit and met the wondering Ella the Tracker bloodhound/Doberman mix who loved to be petted . After our tour we relaxed over at the Sidbury Sports Hall until supper time and taught all the South Africans about s’mores and even made them some! Safe to say they enjoyed and are addicted to them!

 

This is Bailey and Vincent signing off for Day 14!

We started our day by returning to our routine of a 6:30 breakfast – we were all thankful that it was not 5:45 again…

In the morning we had a lecture by Ms. Tammy Smith, and ecology personnel here at Amakhala Game Reserve. Tammy taught us all about vegetation management within Amakhala including how it is measured and what the measurements mean. We then put this information into practice by completing our own vegetative analysis. We performed a grass survey in one section and another browsing vegetative analysis. This took us approximately 3 hours, much slower than the traditional time it takes !

While trying to fill in some time before lunch, us students were shown a traditional South African game. The premise of the game is to see how far you can get an object. The twist? The ‘object’ is a piece of Kudu dung and the process of ‘throwing’ it, is via your month – aka spitting! The students were given a piece of Kudu dung to participate – 5 students participated! What an experience. The name of the game? Bok Drol Spoeg which directly translates to buck poo-pellet spit.

In the evening many students worked on their individual study projects by completing data entry, performing data analysis and project literature research. One group of students also went into the field to finish collecting their data – the ungulate people.

Those who went to collect field data made a pitstop at the Amakhala bowma where their newest cheetah is acclimating to her new home. This pen allows new animals to become familiar with their surroundings and new ‘house mates’ in a safe way. She will be released freely into the park soon. The bowma also drastically reduces the stress levels of the animal being acclimated by reallocating their homing instinct so that the cheetah won’t instinctively return to her previous home.

To finish off the night we had another braai and a bonfire!

~Katie, Katie & Stephanie

 

Today is another day closer to the end of the trip. The entire trip has being a life changing experience. It is hard to pinpoint what my favourite moment was during this 3 weeks…..

On the day that we went for horseback riding, I admit I was physically exhausted and ready to sleep for the entire afternoon. However, when Giles offered to drive myself, Megan and Dan in the land cruiser behind the group who were horseback riding, I perked up. It sounded a lot better to me. During this drive I think I realized how well I had bonded with all of my peers. I was instantly no longer tired bouncing in the back seat while going off roading. The trails that Giles took us on were amazing, Megan and I could not stop smiling and laughing. The exhiliration of sitting in my seat and going up a hill so steep I was staring at the sky was so much fun. I am currently thinking about taking up some vehicle off-roading at home! It is bitter sweet right now, knowing that the trip is coming to an end.

Ashley

 

This entire trip is honestly the trip of a lifetime. It’s absolutely amazing  to wake up to the African sunrise and stay up till the sunset. The beautiful scenery and wilderness surrounding the camps is the most exciting thing about being here in South Africa. Coming back from lunch and seeing a giraffe outside your tent, or going to classes and seeing elephant just outside the door is an experience in and of itself. Getting sightings of the more reclusive predators like hyena, cheetah and lion are the moments of pure awe that I look forward to on game drives. I really enjoyed the opportunity to experience nature up close and personal through the various hikes, walks and trail rides on horseback. Having that opportunity to experience and learn hands on what it is to work in conservation and knowing that it’s not just looking  at cute animals all day, it’s research and passion and a lifetime of work towards the protection of these animals.

Jessica

Megan and I have been tasked with writing about the favourite aspects of our time in South Africa. I could write forever about our experiences here, so I’ll write about the favourite critters that I saw. I am a big amphibian and reptile fan. I know plenty about the species at home in Canada, so it was really exciting for me to come to a new country and learn all about the species here. Unfortunately, a lot of them are venomous and I couldn’t catch/pick up any unknown snake-likes creatures which may not have been safe. I also enjoy insects, even if most people find them yucky. South Africa has large and beautiful insects! The favourite one I have found is the millipede. These insects are slightly poisonous when they bite, but it doesn’t have a large affect on humans. Besides, the usually curl up in a ball as soon as you pick them up. I loved finding these docile insects under logs and rocks and seeing how they vary in size. In Xhosas, it’s called a, “Shengololo”. Coincidentally, this is also my favourite Xhosa word.

Back to amphibians and reptiles! I only found one frog on this whole trip. It was a river frog that I found in a pond during one of our hikes in Storms River Rest Camp. It is currently winter here (even though it ranges from 10-30 degrees) so most are in hibernation. You even have to work hard to find any reptiles. Most of the reptiles I did find were skinks such as the striped, cape, and variegated skinks. It’s hard to take a photo of these guys because they are super speedy. Another common reptile that I found were geckos!!! I have never interacted with geckos before and I discovered that this species is pretty cute. I found lots of spotted geckos who have large heads and eyes, short bodies, and fat tails. They’re not as fast as skinks, so I have photos aplenty. They also squeak in protest whenever I try to pick them up before they scamper away.
I also had the amazing opportunity to see some snakes. The first one I only saw a glimpse of. I was flipping over rocks and something with a snakelike tail slithered into its hole when it was exposed. It may have also been a legless skink (which resembles a snake) except for the fact that it was pretty thick and had a greenish colour. Perhaps it was a spotted bush snake, but they don’t usually burrow underground. Any suggestions from fellow herpetologist (someone who studies amphibians and reptiles) would be great! The second snake I saw was found embedded in the wall/roof on the side of the main lodge. This was a venomous but shy snake called a boomslang. They rarely bite, but in any case, we were safe because it was just looking for a comfy place to hibernate. The third snake we saw was one I was really hoping to see while in South Africa. The puff adder!! This snake has beautiful markings and has a wide head. It is also venomous, so we kept a good distance from it. Dr. Parker found it on a path about to chow on a large vlei rat. He ran back to the lodge to get the rest of us to see this.

I’m so happy to have seen this snake.

Tomorrow, we get the treat of having a herpetologist give us a lecture! I believe she is even bringing some species to show us. I’m very excited to add more to my list of findings and learn even more about the species here. Hope everyone enjoyed! Maddie :)

Maddie did a wonderful job explaining her favourite parts about the trip. Although we have experienced a lot, I personally cannot pinpoint one specific part of the trip that I can classify as my favourite. Therefore I’m going to talk about this experience as a whole. For me, this opportunity has opened my eyes by showing me how everything on this beautiful planet is connected in some way. It has showed me the importance of every individual living thing that exist, and the impacts that one missing individual has on not only its surrounding ecosystems, but the earth itself. The rhino is a perfect example of that. I learned that as humans, we all need to take a step back and realize how precious our wildlife are, and how important it is to appreciate them. And the group that I have traveled to South Africa with have realized that, making a strong connection between all of us. I can honestly say that I have gained amazing memories from traveling here, but I also like to think that this has opened my doors of opportunities in the future. I’m sad that this trip is coming to and end, but it’s just the start of our friendships.

Megan

We were all ready for breakfast at 7:00 this morning, like little solider ants, waiting for the cereal, fruits, and toast (with Marmite for Janine… gross!). We all had a great night’s sleep last night now that the winds settled down a bit, the temperature was however quite uncalled for: a brisk -3 degrees Celsius! Sarah, who had taken a shower the night before, had black ice on her bathroom floor!! It sure made for a brisk walk to the Amakhala Conservation Centre for our 8:00 lecture.

Today’s lecture was by Professor Adrian Craig, an ornithologist that just recently retired from over 35 years of teaching at Rhodes University, but who still took the time to come share his passion and knowledge with us. His lecture was followed by a “hands-on lab” during which we helped him put up bird mist-netting and clap traps to catch different types of birds. Once caught, a little ID ring was put on them, and data such as sex, age, and wing length were all taken. In a short amount of time we managed to catch and record data on a familiar chat, 2 greater double-collard sunbirds, a malachite sunbird, and a bar-throated apalis! Since research is, most often then not, a continual waiting game we filled our time with a friendly 4-VS-4 improvised soccer game that really got us working up a sweat!

 

 

At 1:00 we stopped for lunch and had an amaaazing butternut squash soup with the usual homemade bread that no one can get enough of! One pot of soup, 1 ½ loafs of bread, and 1 cup of butter later we were all quite satisfied and ready to charge head on with our next learning experience! After lunch we were all separated into little groups: Maddie, Lenka, David, and myself went for a drive with Jason and Dan to get some data for our projects; Jessica, Ashley, and Janine went on their own drive with Simone to collect some behavioural data for Jessica’s project (and they got to see giraffes and lions! So jealous!) . In the mean time, Megan and Sarah stayed at the camp to keep analysing some of the faecal samples (yayy poop!) from Warthog and Elephant. This brought us all the way to 5:30, just in time to take a quick shower and relax a bit before supper: we are lucky enough to have a South-African braai (a BBQ) on the fire pit, which is quite exciting for us!

Overall another great day in South Africa, and can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring!
Nikki!

**Pictures don’t want to load right now…..stay tuned.

This morning our entire group looked like zombies when we woke up due to the fact that the wind was blowing so hard last night that our tents were shaking. We were up for six to checks he sherman traps to see if there were any rodents in them. We caught two different species of rodents, a veil rat and multimammate mouse. After checking the rodents, we released them, and headed up for breakfast. During breakfast, I decided to take a nap at the table, but not long after moved to the couch in the common area where Ashley and I took a team nap. After the little bit of rest that we got, we went for a lecture.

The lecture this morning was on the impacts that elephants had and have on the vegetation over 10 years. It was given by Gareth, who does his research on the vegetation of different game reserves in South Africa.  After the lecture, David, Janine, Jessica, and I went on a drive throughout the reserve with Simone to collect some data for our projects. This experience was a bit tougher than I thought it was going to be, as collecting poop is a time dependent activity, due to the fact that shortly after it hit the ground, it bakes. So finding fresh stuff was difficult. While Maddie and Lenka were searching for herps (not what you might think), amphibians and reptiles; Ashley and Nikki had checked the Sherman traps. Everyone got a start on their projects’ making it a very productive morning, and eagerly waited for lunch, and then got back to our research.

After lunch, David, Ashley, Nikki and I were on “poop patrol” and went back out to the reserves to collect samples. Practice makes perfect because this time, poop was dropping and we went running when Simone deemed it was safe. We saw an elephant who thought she was separated from the parade, because she was on the other side of the river. She was running and calling for them and had to cross the river to be reunited. It was an great opportunity to experience elephant socialization. Lenka, Maddy and Jess collected information for their research projects. We then all got together to discuss tomorrow, which will be very exciting so you’ll have to stayed tuned to hear more about it!

Megan!

This morning starts off with my roommate, Megan, jumping out of bed – we had accidentally slept in and were late for breakfast.  Once we actually made it to the main lodge, we had a good breakfast and much needed coffee.  Our first lesson of the morning was on the back deck that overlooks a beautiful view of the reserve.  Dr. Dan Parker had set up a songmeter last night and was teaching us how to read the data.  This equipment is used to record the echolocation of  bats, once triggered by a sound over 20 kHz it records the sound for a maximum of 5 seconds.  We then can analyze the results on the computer software.  This is a really neat device that has a range of 50 meters.  When we did analyze the output we could only find a recording for one bat call.  There was a lot of noise from the kitchen last night, and lead to a number a lot of false recordings.  The bat we did identify was a Cape Serotin, that has an echolocation of 40kHz, they have a modified echofrequency that resembles a hockey stick.  On of the students may complete their research project on bats, which would be a lot of work, but an interesting topic since we have few bats left in the maritimes.

Our second lecture of the day was by Dr. Parker, was on the topic of our research project designs.  He went through the scientific processes and what kind of statistical analysis we may select from.  I am planning to do my project on amphibians and reptiles, since I am very passionate on them.  I can’t pass up the opportunity to learn more about these African species.

 

Nikki set up her project today, which will be focused on camera trapping along animal highways.  So we all took part in testing and setting out the trail cameras.  For those who may not know, camera traps consist of these little camouflaged cameras with a white flash and an infrared beam.  When the beam is broken by a passing animal the camera will take a picture, this is a great way to count nocturnal animals.  We spend most of the day completing this task, seeing multiple species along the way.

   

Dazzels of zebra, sounder of warthog, congregation of baboons, herds of eland, kudu, blesbok, red hartebeest, black wildebeest and  numerous species of plants & birds.  Some students even stopped to pick up dung, for their research projects (namely David & Megan) this is called being on poop patrol.

 

Once we got back to camp in the late afternoon we got a hands on lesson on how to set up Sherman live traps to examine the diversity of small mammals for Ashley’s project.  We will be up extra early tomorrow to identify and release any small mammals caught.

~Maddie