Time Flies

I can't believe after this weekend I will have been in Africa for 3 weeks and will only have 7 weeks left! Everything so far has been absolutely amazing, from the quiet star filled nights to the heart pounding buffalo hunt Africa continues to surprise and awe me!

As I mentioned before one of the students, Keenan, from Bushwise, the photographic safari school across the road, and his family had been staying with us earlier on in the week. On their last day here Susie and I got the opportunity to go on one of those guided safaris with Keenan, his mom and dad, his girlfriend Cara (who is from Chicago), and a couple others from Bushwise as well. We were mainly going to be looking for one of the two prides of lions that live on the 46,000 acre Makalali reserve. It started of a little slow just seeing some interesting birds and a few blue wildebeest. As the tour went on the Bushwise members continued to radio each other and look for signs of lions. We saw quite a few nice kudu, waterbuck, impala, and even some common duikers along the ride. We got to one point where we had to almost do a straight upwards climb to reach a new part of the reserve. As we moved forward we came across a group of 9 "teenage" giraffe! They started to freak out and run up e steep road bumping into each other and ducking trees along the way; it was my first ever seen giraffe stampede. We had to stop and wait for the, to reach the top so they wouldn't scare too much and cause themselves to fall down the steep slope. Once we got to the top they had all settled down and it was truly a spectacular sight to see me all together like that. Soon after we crossed a river and drove along some trees that are famous for leopards to hang out in. No leopards were seen so we stopped at a few areas to take some of the most beautiful sunset photos I have ever taken! As the sun went down we got out the spot light and decided to try and spot some animals that way. We ran across a few blue wildebeest, a crocodile, and eland (the first one I've seen here and the largest of the antelope family, a mother and her 2 kid giraffe, and a lot of impala. It is the impala's mating season so the males are as dumb as can be and make these grunting noises that sound as if they had come from a lion. Right before the end of the safari we shut off the vehicle and turned off all the lights. The starts were absolutely amazing! They were very bright, but I still don't think they can beat the stars of the deep north woods of Wisconsin.

Wednesday was our tourist day. We started off the day with a little cleaning and maintenance. I then got to shoot my bow for the first time since I've been here since Roelof dropped off some targets. Since the animals are a bit larger than the deer back home I switched my muzzy broad heads from a 100 grain to a 125 grain. My shooting from 20 yards was dead on with my groupings all being in within an inch or less from each other, but my 30 yard shots were a completely different story. I can tell since I haven't shot in a while I wasn't used to the distance or the repetition, so it looks like I have some practicing to do. Soon after Hannes and Mandi took us to the shooting range. My rifle shooting was much better than my pistol shooting, which didn't surprise me.

After the shooting practice Mandi went to fetch the kids and then we were off to the reptile park. This place was very unique. It was fairly small and wide open, like almost everything here, since the temperature year round is ideal. They had mostly snakes and lizards, but there were also crocodiles, alligators, turtles, tortoises, and some amphibians as well. It was a short stop, but still interesting and the kids seemed to enjoy it.

After that it was time to go visit the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Center. I was told by Mandi that they do do some rehabilitation there, but their biggest contribution is informing the public. As we entered the gate there were warthogs to pet and Marabou storks, which are huge, walking around everywhere. The first stop on our tour was very cool. We got to pet a full grown cheetah! It's eyes were gorgeous and up close it was amazing just how big it was. All I could think of is how powerful this killing machine must be and also just how beautiful it was. No offense to the Americans here, but there was a large group of American girls on the tour, and although some were attractive they were possibly the most annoying group of girls I had encountered. Luckily we got split up from them throughout the tour. Nest we got to see and pet a baby giraffe. It was in a strange mood so not many could touch it and it actually almost knocked one older lady down. We also got to see some baby lions that were about 4 months old and very playful. Next we moved onto the birds. Almost all of these birds seemed to have wing problems and that was why they were there. We started with the black eagle, which is Africa's second largest eagle, and then moved to the ground hornbill. This guy was rather big and is almost extinct. He mad the coolest sound, id suggest looking it up if you have the time, and kept trying to offer us a clump of dirt. They do this in nature to attract the females. If the female accepts the gift then the two birds are mates for life. Even after one of them dies the other will never find another mate, which is extremely rare in the animal kingdom and I think very cool! Next came the vultures. Although quite ugly they are very useful in the wild. They clean up a lot of rotting meat and they can do this because vultures and hyena are the only 2 animals in Africa that are immune to all diseases. We then got to go into the vulture enclosure where they put a big glove on us and set a piece of meat on it. One of to vultures would then land on our arm, and they were surprisingly heavy for a bird, eat the meat and then fly off. Both Susie and I got to try this out. The last couple stops on the tour were the large predators. The lions were magnificent. They were huge and once again I could only image what kind of power these animals must harness. Next we saw a small leopard that was that way due to malnutrition earlier on in its life. Then to finish things off we got to see the endangered wild dog of Africa. These guys were mu h larger than I thought they'd be and had extravagant coloring ad well. The wild dog is probably the most efficient hunter if all predators for several of reasons. To start things of they are nomadic, so they travel large distances and don't really have a home territory. They are also extremely smart, powerful, and hunt in large packs.

Overall it has been an exciting week so far and now it is time to start getting ready for our busy Saturday night behind the bar. Before we do that though, tomorrow we are going and darting 5 sable. I am extremely excited because I have some experience in this field being I am certified in chemical immobilization. I'm sure it will be a great experience and I can't wait to share the stories that come from it.

Days After the Hunt

After the big buffalo hunt things have kind of slowed down. I was fortunate enough to Skype my brother and family on the night of his graduation so that was awesome! It certainly was nice to see everyone and share stories from both sides. After Skyping Susie and I got the opportunity to start going in the Nyala breeding enclosure while they are feeding. For the next week or so we are just sitting in the cruiser while they feed so they get used to us. After they get used to us we need to start taking pictures and identifying them. Once we have enough pictures so identify each properly we will start creating a portfolio and this will count as my internship project.

I got lucky enough to get my first vehicle while I was here! It is an extremely old Toyota land cruiser. It has a five gallon gas can as a fuel tank, a giraffe's horn bone at the top of the stick for shifting, breaks that you have to pump furiously before they work, doesn't start quite often, and usually smokes under my seat when I shift. It may not be the best but I am getting rather good at handling it and driving manual, and it sure does beat walking the entire reserve looking for the animals. 

After the Nyala breeding we started getting ready for the busy night of bar tending. It will be my second night so I have a pretty good handle on things, we will be starting to train in Susie, Mandi will be doing most of the waitressing, and Justin will help out when needed. It was a lot less busy then the previous weekend, so Susie got quite lucky. I am starting to make some friends on the other side of the bar and even met another girl from America. Her name is Kristin and she is working on a conservation reserve nearby. She is going to be a senior at Florida State University and she is mainly studying predatory habits and here her focus is lions. She is a very nice girl and I am looking forward to hearing more about her research here. We ended up closing that night around 2 am, so even though it was a slow night it was very exciting. Next weekend a girl is having her going away party and we are guessing between 80 and 90 people will be here so it will be packed and I am looking forward to it!

Since the night of bartending things have been very slow. Th family of one of the students from Bushwise across the road has been staying with us and they are very nice. We have dinner with them and sit around the fire at night for an hour or 2, but other than that we don't see them much. Susie has been working on the website and I have just been exploring the reserve since Hannes is still on his 4 day buffalo hunt. I talked to Mandi about some of the things I hope to do here before I leave and I have to mention them to Hannes when he gets back. Mandi said this Wednesday there is a good possibility of her raking out Susie and I for a little fun. She said more than likely we will get to go see this huge animal rehab center that takes on about a 3 hour tour and then going up along the mountain side where vendors of all kinds of African memorabilia line up for miles. Later on in my stay here I also hope to visit Kruger, go on a hunt of my own, and hopefully some more surprising wildlife tours.

The animals are still rather hard to spot during the day due to the full moon at night, but hopefully I will be bringing in some better photos over the next couple weeks.

The Buffalo Hunt

I got up bright and early at 4:30 Friday morning for our hunt that day. It was at a free ranging reserve by the name of Klasserie. This place was a whopping 130,000 acres and is known for the big 5 hunts. For those that aren't familiar this includes buffalo, rhino, elephant, lion, and leopard hunts. Since I am the cameraman I am at the bottom of the food chain and got to ride and hour and a half to the reserve in the back of the buggy while it was only about 40 degrees out. Once we got there things started warming up and I got to meet the clients.

Today they had a tag for a female buffalo, so we were going to do our best to help him get a trophy. We stared out driving around looking for signs of a big herd. In that time I saw all kinds of animals. I saw probably close to 200 impala, a dozen giraffe, some waterbuck, bushbuck, blue wildebeest, zebras, baboons, and even a few hippos! Unfortunately I was not able to get hardly any pictures since we were moving too fast. 

After we got out of the vehicle for the first time we had our two trackers, Seepo and Paradise, start following the herds trail. We followed it for about 20 minutes and then ran into a Hyena! This was very strange because it was during the day and it did not run. They thought either it was close to its den, was much to tame for safety, or it was sick. I was thinking sick because when I zoomed up on it it was dripping a lot of saliva. Soon after that encounter we had to go back to the buggy so we could cross a river.

We followed the tracks for probably the next 4 hours and then due to us moving to fast we spooked up a large bull which alerted the rest of the herd and they ran off making all kinds of snorts and bellows. We then took a hour break and had some lunch. During that time I learned about the greater honey tracker bird. The natives would listen for the sound of this bird and follow it to a honey hive. Pretty neat right? There's and old legend though that says after you collect the honey you must leave some for the bird or it is bad luck and next time that bird will lead you to a black mamba.

After another couple hours of tracking and no luck the day was drawing close to an end. We got in the truck and started driving around in hope we would run across the heard and we did! We backed up and Hannes, the client, paradise, and I grabbed our materials and started looking for a trophy buffalo. After a while we spotted a huge one that didn't have a calf with her and was angled slightly looking right at us. The client got on the tripod and took aim. After about 2 seconds he pulled the trigger, there was a loud bang, the animal jumped a little, and the whole heard tore through the brush along with the target. There were bellows and snorts and huffing in all directions. After things settled down a little our trackers went to work. At first there was a good blood trail with bits of lung splattered on the ground. We followed it for maybe half an hour and then lost the track. Everyone was very weary since an injured buffalo is extremely dangerous. Then about 50 yards behind us we heard an odd bellow. As we approached I had the camera up, but was not filming because I wasn't sure what everyone was saying due to them talking in the Africana language. Then in the blink of an eye everyone stopped and this huge animal stood up. Everything went into slow motion for me as it began to charge only a mere 15 feet away from us all. I  jumped to the side and Hannes pulled up his rifle and shot the raged and charging buffalo right between the eyes stopping it 5 feet from his feet.

My heart hadn't beat that hard in a long time!  I got the truck and many pictures were taking. The buffalo was huge weighing around 1,300 lbs. Loaded it into the truck and went to get it processed. The client was extremely happy with his trophy and will be getting s shoulder mount done. This was the thrill I was hoping I would get coming to Africa. I learned a lot and, didn't die, and partook in my first extreme African hunt that will leave me with memories until the day I die. I'm just thankful Hannes has good aim and a quick trigger finger!

First Hunt and New Comings

On Thursday I got the opportunity to partake in my first hunt here in Africa. It happened here on Hannes reserve and we were looking for a big bull sable; preferably with a antler length around 40 inches. The hunt was run by Roelof and his tracker Eddy. The cool part is the client is the US congressman for Alaska! Congressman Don Young is also our oldest congressman at the time at the age of 80. His age definitely doesn't represent how he acts though, this man seemed as young as ever and looked much younger too. 

We started the hunt off slow, just driving around in the buggy see if we could spot one of the 4 sable that most fit the congressman's tastes. We didn't see much for the reason that there is almost a full moon this time of the month. Since the moon is full the animals can see much better at night so they rest during the day and feed at night. About 4 hours into the hunt I spotted the first sable that had nice length but had a crooked horn and Mr. Young didn't like that. We continued on our hunt and about an hour later Roelof spotted the largest and oldest sable we had there on the reserve.

We followed it for a while and kind of figured out where it would hang around. We ended up taking about a half hour brake and had some lunch. After lunch and BSing with the congressman a little we climbed back into the buggy and continued our hunt. We were having some troubles finding it at first, but then out of nowhere there it was! It was perfectly broadside and just staring at us. The congressman lined up his shot and "BANG!!" the shot went off. I couldn't tell if he hit it and neither could anyone else. Eddy started tracking the best he could, but there was no blood so he was having some troubles. We tried for maybe half an hour and then just figured he had missed it and just nicked a small branch instead. Congressman was quite disappointed, but the next day when I was on a different hunt I heard he had shot it late in the afternoon and was quite proud of his trophy with 41 in antlers.

Back to Thursday, Hannes and his family had just returned. Along with them came another intern and her name is Suzzie. She is from Arizona, but is studying fish and game management at Montana State University.  She is good with computers, so she will be working on Hannes's website for him and joining me in my project of managing the Nyala breeding enclosure. For dinner that night I got to try sable for the first time as spaghetti meat and it was damn delicious! It was a good day and I get to wake up at 4:30 for the next hunt and my first opportunity to test out my cameraman skills.

Random Side Notes

There are a lot of things that happen over here that I don't always think to include in my regular blog posts. So, I will be doing a little thing where I post random facts and thoughts of mine as they pop into my head every so often. If anyone ever has any questions they would like to ask about their curiosities of Africa feel free and I will do my best to answer them!

The most common vehicle over here is Toyota. There are other brands, but Toyota dominates for the most part and the Toyota models here are very different from the ones we have in the US. Also almost all vehicles here are stick/manual due to the rougher roads and terrain; the locals want as much control over their vehicles as possible. It is very strange for me having the steering wheel on the right side and driving on the left side of the road but I am getting used to it.

It is their winter here and the temperature ranges from about 50 degrees in the morning to about 77 as a high in the afternoon. It gets light at six and dark around 5:30. It is extremely dry and chances of rain and storms are slim to none.

The landscape in the area I am staying isn't what most people would picture Africa to look like. The bush here is very thick and the trees don't reach very great heights. It is relatively flat with tree covered smaller mountains in most directions. The earth here is extremely red and very rocky. There isn't much for water other than a few watering holes and one larger river filled with hippos and crocs (from what I have heard). 

Almost all patches of bush are separately owned and fenced off since each contains many valuable animals.

The bugs here are not bad at all. There are a few flies and spiders, but I have only been bitten by 3 mosquitos. The ticks here are very bad though. I have probably already picked off over 2 dozen. There are regular wood ticks like we have and then there are pepper ticks, which are very small. These guys lucky though only bite once and then hop off leaving many red itchy marks.

The birds here are always out and make a lot of noise as do the squirrels. 

The nights here are very clear and I have learned a few patterns to help me find my direction in case I get lost. The nights are not as noisy as I expected them to be. I thought I'd be hearing a lot of bugs and frogs, but since its their winter there just aren't as many.

Probably my favorite noise here in Africa is the sound of the zebras playing and fighting in the early mornings and late afternoons. It reminds me of the movies based off Africa I watched growing up and just has something magnificent about it in general.

I'm sure many more random things will pop into my head while I'm here, but I'm tired of typing at the moment!

Kind of Bored

The last couple of days have been kind of boring. Hannes and his family are still in Johannesburg due to his mothers passing. It is just me and Justin here and we don't do a whole lot because there isn't much to do. I do a lot of reading and a lot of walks throughout the reserve. You don't see as many animals on foot because they aren't as used to that and get spooked more easily. The animals I see most often are the blue wildebeest. They seem to be everywhere even around the lodge at night I found out when I nearly walked into a group of five feeding on the grass in the pitch dark walk back to my room after dinner. They definitely scared the crap out of me! For the most part when I see them during the day they snort and make all kinds of noises and sometimes even kick up dust to try and scare me away, but they seem to be fairly harmless.

Today was probably one of the more actively working days I've had since the night at the bar. Justin and I drove to a town about 40 miles away to pick up some cleaning equipment and other materials needed to straighten up the lodge. It was a very nice little town, but I definitely felt like a minority there. We got almost everything we needed with a two hours time and then headed back to the lodge.

Here are some pictures from my walk about the previous day.