This past month has been filled with the little stories and everyday goings-on that make life in the African bush what it is. I still love it here, though admittedly, I am starting to yearn for some of the creature comforts of home. Turning on the tube to see my Montreal Canadiens blow yet another lead, while Don Cherry tells me how he predicted this on the last Coach’s Corner, or coming home to be mauled by Chester and Dobson and making peanut butter and honey sandwiches in mum and dad’s kitchen. It is the simple things I miss.
A Long Lost Friend
In my first post I wrote briefly about the resident male Snouted (Egyptian) Cobra (which I wrongly labelled a bottle nose cobra) that lives on base with us. Well, shortly before I started here as a staff member, Chris (base manager) relocated the snake 4-5km south of the base. Yesterday, six weeks after relocation, it reappeared – amazing. It went right back into its hole where it’s always been. The snake is too large to handle (~ 2 m in length) with the snake stick, and due to its habituated nature around people, we will probably leave it for the time being (that is unless it starts going into the tents again). The snake doesn’t react to people as one would normally expect, it doesn’t stand up or make any aggressive movements, and it just slithers back into its home below ground. I will try to get a picture if I can. For now, here’s a photo from the web to give you an idea:
A Long Lost Friend
In my first post I wrote briefly about the resident male Snouted (Egyptian) Cobra (which I wrongly labelled a bottle nose cobra) that lives on base with us. Well, shortly before I started here as a staff member, Chris (base manager) relocated the snake 4-5km south of the base. Yesterday, six weeks after relocation, it reappeared – amazing. It went right back into its hole where it’s always been. The snake is too large to handle (~ 2 m in length) with the snake stick, and due to its habituated nature around people, we will probably leave it for the time being (that is unless it starts going into the tents again). The snake doesn’t react to people as one would normally expect, it doesn’t stand up or make any aggressive movements, and it just slithers back into its home below ground. I will try to get a picture if I can. For now, here’s a photo from the web to give you an idea:
Call Ups and Dartings
Last week we had a vet staying near the reserve to help us dart and collar some new predator individuals on the reserve. The week started with the wild dog pack in the reserve being introduced to the two new males that were brought in last month (see April blog). The reserve dogs were tranquilized and put into the bomas. The Venetia reserve females were put in with the two new males, and Rory, the younger Venetian male (son of alpha female Fender) was separated into a neighbouring boma for protection. Since Rory has been ‘the Man’ around Venetia, he has started to take on the alpha male role, covering the female’s defecations with his own markings, etc. The concern was that if Rory was in the boma with the other four, the two new males, both bigger than Rory, would kill him. The dogs will all be released together next week, and we are all hoping that the pack accepts Rory. I am hopeful that Rory will be unharmed because the pack is small, and acceptance of an additional wild dog will only help their hunting success. Hopefully they see it the same way as I.
After the wild dogs, we attempted to dart and collar a brown hyena. Brown hyenas are relatively understudied and not a lot is known about their ecology. The previous brown hyena on the reserve, Thor, was killed earlier this year. We haven’t been able to ascertain how he died; we only found his collar torn to shreds in the grass. To collar a new brown hyena we observed a ‘call up’. The call up process starts by baiting a trap in the days prior to the call up. Chunks of meat are left out around the trap, and the trap door remains shut. A freshly killed, aromatic impala stomach is dragged behind a vehicle near the trap area to spread the smell of a kill around. In the days prior to the call up, brown hyena spoor (tracks and scat) was found in the area around the trap, so we knew it was working. On the evening of the call up, the sounds of a dying wildebeest calf was played over loud speakers, and the trap was baited and set. The intention was for the brown hyena to get trapped (humane trap, no leg hold traps or anything), darted by the vet and collared. Almost immediately after starting the call up, we got a glimpse of the brown hyena on the road, head down, sniffing along the trail of blood left. Everything was going to plan. It was going to be an early night. That is until an adult bull elephant decided to join the party. I am not sure of everyone’s fascination with elephants. To me they’re annoying, giant, baby-making, crapping machines. They eat and eat, love to knock down trees for apparently no reason, are curious about anything human related (which usually ends in them destroying something) and are just a plain nuisance. Anyway, so you probably know where this is going. Instead of calling up a brown hyena, the bull elephant trashed the trap, ate all the carefully cut Mopane branches around the trap, and then proceeded to charge our vehicles. What’s the old adage “ask and you shall receive”? We asked for a brown hyena and we got a bloody elephant.
The week ended on a high note though, as the vet was able to dart and collar a male cheetah. Again, the call up was actually intended for Blade (male lion) to change his collar into a GPS unit, but instead we got a cheetah. This is Venetia’s first collared cheetah, which is very exciting, and we have begun the habituation process. So far we only caught fleeting glances of him, as he and his brother (male coalition) are rather timid. It will take some time to get them adjusted to vehicles and people.Weird Noises in the Night Explained
Little over a month back, I was on base with one of the volunteers Natasha, and we were waiting for the evening drive to return. It was pitch black outside, it was only her and I, and we were playing cards in the kitchen while looking after dinner. Mid-way through an intense game of speed, I heard noises from the river bed which I had never heard before. At first there was a loud scream, almost like a terrified child, then a low rumbling growl. I couldn’t place it. Most sounds I know, and when you know there is a sense of security. This time my heart stopped a little. Both Natasha looked at each other as to say “did you hear that?” She asked if I knew what it was, but I could only say it sounded big (some biologist eh?). We sat listening intently, and after a few minutes had passed it happened again, a very low growl, this time closer. Now I was properly scared, worse than Blade walking by the truck, or an ele charging full out, this had me unnerved. Immediately after the growl, the sandy soil by the kitchen tent crunched, the familiar sound of something walking by. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I grabbed the rifle from the safe, and prayed I didn’t have to use it. It was absolutely the scariest thing to happen to me in Africa to date.
A couple weeks ago, Franco and I were cooking up a huge braai for twenty people. Beers in hand, the Canadian working the fire and veggies, the South African doing his bit on the meat, it was another fantastic evening. Right then, the low rumbling growl came back. The growl came from across the river bed and was identical to what I heard before. I looked at Franco and said “that was it man, that was the noise”. “That’s a male leopard Nick”. Both Franco and my eyes widened, followed by a bit bush language I won’t retype here, as I realized that night I heard the steps near the kitchen, a male leopard had probably walked right through camp. And the child like scream? One of the favourite food’s of a leopard is baboon, and he had probably just attempted an ambush on one (as we have many around).
Day to Day
The day to day life here is pretty fun. I get to be a nerd, and analyze data until I go cross eyed. The other day I and a volunteer here reverse calculated the prey density on Venetia by looking at the lions’ home ranges (which are mostly prey dependent). I can’t get enough of the analyses and sometimes I have to ask myself if what I am doing at that moment is really necessary for the research. It also seems like everyday I am tinkering with something, realigning the support axle in the Mahindra, fixing the world’s worst plumbing, or helping set up new solar power electrics. Franco and I exercise regularly with our series of tyres and steel that makes a pretty awesome home gym. Two days on, one day off has helped get back to the weight I should be. It is a little weird for me to think back on this time last year, when I was an underweight, stressed out guy, only weighing 175lbs. The other day I stepped on the scale and it came to 90kg (198lbs). I feel much healthier and I am much more relaxed.
Franco and I are also in a war with the baboons. They like to come into camp at night and defecate everywhere. Franco and I use the air rifle and sling shot to try to dissuade them. (For anyone who thinks this is cruel, you have no idea the flip side of a habituated baboon). The defecation from the baboons seems to have intensified around Franco’s and my tent, so we think they know we’re the ones shooting at them. On days when the base is abandoned, the baboons get brave and leave little presents on the chairs in the dining tent. These days it is not uncommon to see me running around in my underwear at 3AM with a spotlight and an air rifle, cursing at baboons; a sight I am sure.
Future Plans
Lots of work has been done by both Kathleen and I on two months of travel that will follow my departure from Venetia. I have set a plan for Southern Africa that will cover South Africa, Botswana, Victoria Falls, and Namibia. It will be 25 days of travel and camping in a fully decked Land Rover, across untamed and open savannah and desert. It will be challenging but very rewarding. I have included a map on the blog below where you can click to see where we will be when. The trip will include Kat and I, Sinead (fellow volunteer from Jan-Mar) and a close friend of hers.
After that Kat and I will be heading off to Europe to travel through France, Italy and Greece. We have tickets to U2 in Paris, which I am very excited about. Kat is working hard on the plan, and it looks as if we will be stopping through places such as Rome, Florence, Crete and Athens.
I am trying to live in the moment as much as possible, but it is hard not to get excited about these travels. The next blog I write will hopefully be from a breezy seaside Italian town, sandals and sunnies in full force.
I hope you are all well and enjoying the beautiful Canadian spring. Keep in touch.
What do I do?
So what does this process all look like? The volunteers (to which I was one from Jan-Mar) collect the data in the field. This is accomplished by tracking down the focus animal’s (lion, leopard, etc) location using radio telemetry. Each “collared” animal has a leather collar on its neck that broadcasts a very specific radio frequency which is the honed in on using a telemetry aerial. Once the animal is found, their position is recorded with GPS, and observations are taken (kills, full rating, behaviour, etc). Volunteers then take pictures and get to sit with the lions/leopards/cheetahs/hyenas/elephants and observe their behaviour (best part of the job). The data that they have collected then comes to me and I enter it into a big Excel spreadsheet from which I and the Science Officer make home range maps using ArcView software, analyze what the animal is eating, and any interactions it is having with other animals (which includes such fantastic conversations on which analytical method best depicts the home range of an animal Kernel home range, minimum convex polygons or local convex hulls – I truly feel for those who listen in). From this we write fantastic reports and articles, which should be read by everyone and their dog, but will most likely end up on a shelf somewhere collecting dust (oh well, at least I find it interesting).
Why is this important? Why go to all the work of tracking these predators? Why not just leave the reserve to function naturally? Good questions Nick. Unfortunately, no reserve or park ever function “naturally”, and in all cases it is there is always one commonality: fences. Fences create boundaries that are impassable to most animals, and prevent the important process of dispersion. Dispersion allows an animal to move to a more favourable location, whether it is for predator avoidance, resources or mating. Fenced in areas can also favour top predators especially lions. Lions excel in fenced areas because their prey is within a limited area, and readily available. Populations of lions can quickly expand out of control, which can decimate prey populations and even cause local extinctions. Lions are also intolerable of other predators, and can cause problems for the conservation of other predator species. For example, the wild dog population on Venetia was reduced from a pack of over twenty to three within a short time frame, almost all due to lion kills. This is just a minor example of how small reserves need to be managed closely to function properly. It is vital that these reserves do function, as most of the conservation in Africa is not through the big parks, but small reserves. These reserves are the last hope for many African species, as humans have divided and fenced most of Africa, and humans, like lions, are also very intolerable of other predators.
Since the dry season has set in, food for little rodents has started to decline out there in the wild. So what better for those little guys then come to a nice home with lots of messy humans with all sorts of goodies: toothpaste, gum, shampoo, backpacks, bar soap, socks, and all sorts of other tasty treats. So the “simple” solution is set rat traps, which are murderously effective, when they work. The traps work perfectly maybe 1 out of 10 times. Usually it’s a leg, broken back, or a stunned rat banging around with the trap and pretty much always at 2 in the morning. So the real solution is Nick or Franco waking up, loading the air rifle, and euthanizing the little buggers. This isn’t just our tent, we get the cordial call from next door in the girls tent: “Nick, our trap caught something”. But that’s the job here at Venetia for Franco and I: keep the volunteers happy. Usually this just requires lots of booze and inventive drinking games, or us driving all the volunteers and us to the pool at Mopane Camp, but sometimes it requires cleaning a rat trap.
Rodents also attract snakes. The other day Franco and I had a female boomslang sneak up on us while relaxing on our recently built hammocks. Boomslang are one the most venomous snakes in Africa. A single microlitre of their venom can kill a grown human, and in a most unfavourable way. Their venom is hemotoxic, and once in your bloodstream, prevents your blood from clotting. At first, old cuts and scrapes reopen and start to bleed, and the bite area will bleed without stopping. Then after a few days you begin to bleed from all of your orifices, eyes, ears, mouth, nose etc. After that, internal bleeding takes over, and eventually death. Sounds like fun, eh? Anyway, this little lady was better than a meter long, and once she had seen us, decided to “hide” in between the concrete base and canvas wall of our tent. Franco took the lead and was able to successful negotiate the snake with a snake stick and moved the boomslang into a garbage bin. Boomslang are actually very docile, and this one didn’t strike at us once. We released it across the river bed without harm. Both Franco and I were quite pleased with the result. In the past there have been knob heads here who would rather shoot the snake then try to move it.
The dogs were brought in a couple weeks ago and released into a 2 acre enclosed boma. I had the great experience of helping out first hand, and moving the transport crates into position and releasing the dogs. It went all to plan and the dogs left the boxes like a shot. John (wild dog guy) from EWT feeds them impala every two to three days which he has shot on the reserve. We have come down to watch the dogs eat every so often. For such a small body frame they have tremendous grip strength in their jaws, and it is simple awesome to watch them tear apart an impala hind end. They also ‘yip’ happily once they have ripped off a chunk of meat and run off into the bush each tugging at it. The ‘yip’ is nothing one would expect, it sounds much more like a bird, with high pitched short squeaks. I love coming to watch the dogs, and I really hope that their addition to the pack here goes well.
