Babe in the Bush

"Shaving the Rhino"

2010-05-17T05:43:00.000-07:00

The surge in demand for rhino horn is driven by a combination of poverty, the existence of a lucrative black market niche in South East Asia and the availability of sophisticated channels to ship the ‘cargo’ out of South Africa. A lot of work is underway to stabilise the situation but how and where does one begin to curb the trade in traditional medicine that has a history of 23 centuries and is worth billions of rand a year? Traditional medicine might be an ancient practice but organized crime employs cutting edge technology to track and poach rhino. Policing is an integral part of this war but many other elements are needed if we are to succeed and private rhino owners are finding their own solutions. In this week's episode of 5050 (17 May) a game farmer proposes that the most effective way of reducing poaching is to open up legal trade from naturally harvested horns and thereby force the price of rhino horn on the black market down. This in turn should cause organised crime to shift from poaching to more lucrative opportunities. His idea is somewhat controversial but desperate times call for creative counter-measures!

In the meantime, stakeholders have been hard at work formulating a new website as a central data collection point for rhino poaching-related information and support - intelligence and tip-offs can be reported here, financial support pledged and information gathered by any related or interested party. http://www.stoprhinopoaching.com/ is a must visit if you care about the plight of our planet's rhino!

Rhino: Extinction Countdown

2010-04-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

High demand from Asia is driving rhino poaching to its highest level in more than a decade. Throughout South Africa, between two and three rhinos are being poached every week. In the past, ruthless poachers targeted South Africa's National Parks but now private game reserves have become easy pickings for brazen crime syndicates. But is enough being done to stop the clock on Rhino extinction. 50/50 follows the bloody trail of the latest victims and investigates…watch SABC2 Monday 26 Apr 2010 19h30 http://www.5050.co.za/

To learn more about rhino…read on

White rhino are the second largest land mammals on earth and as such enjoy a position amongst the ‘Big 5’ – historically those animals most dangerous to hunt but now the most sought after by tourists.

The shape of the lips led to the naming of this rhinoceros as Dutch settlers referred to the ‘wyd’ mouth (meaning wide) and colonialists misinterpreted this to mean white. The wide muzzle (20cm) comprises a more sensitive upper lip (which is used to manoeuvre grass clumps into the mouth) and a hard lower lip (against which the top lip presses to severe the grass). Both lips are swiped upwards to effect the neat cropping of grass. No incisors are involved at all in ingesting grass but broad, intricately enamelled molars inside the cheeks provide a grinding surface for mastication. A rhino crops the grass continuously moving its head in a semi-circle and then stepping forward to repeat the action. White rhinos maintain their own neatly cropped pastures in stands of favoured grass species (like Themeda triandra, Panicum maximum and Urochloa mossambicensis) which are often well concealed amongst taller grass. They rotate the use of their favourite feeding areas so as not to obliterate them. Rhinos practice geophagia (chewing of soil) to supplement minerals deficient in their all grass diet.

Because of the large quantity of fibrous grass that a rhino must consume to satisfy its energy requirements, it requires daily (if not twice daily) access to drinking water to assist with digestion. Rhino usually make their way to water late in the afternoon or even after dark. Because of their reliance on water, bulls that do not have a water source within their own territory will have to leave their turf and enter other bulls’ territories in order to drink. So long as an intruding rhino behaves submissively, territorial bulls will tolerate water-related visits from neighbours. A bull rhino shows its submission by urinating in a stream (on his own territory he would spray). He may also flatten his ears and squeal to reassure the territory owner of his innocuous intentions. If water is scarce, rhino can only go for up to four days without drinking.

White rhino are fond of wallowing in mud in order to help them cope with excessive summer heat conditions. A good caking of mud prevents sunburn and keeps a layer of moisture close to the skin to assist with keeping cool. The mud once dried also acts as a parasite-removing wax treatment that the rhino will rub free of their skin against trees, rocks or termite mounds. Rhinos are prone to reusing their rubbing posts that eventually become quite smooth and polished. They may also use these posts to scratch in hard to reach areas such as the inner legs and belly. While they wallow in the mud, terrapins will also pluck parasites off the rhino’s hide.

They have massive necks with a large nuchal hump over the shoulders. The thick albeit short neck supports the large head which is held low to the ground in order for the rhino to feed on the lowest-lying form of vegetation, grass. Having its head close to the ground also facilitates the use of its nostrils to detect olfactory (scent-related) clues regarding territory and the location of other rhino. Rhino rely on their sense of smell since eyesight is limited. The powerful neck also provides the force behind the defensive horns.

The most prominent feature of the rhino is its horns. These are weapons of defence used to protect itself and its offspring from predators or during bouts of combat. Horns are made of keratin (the same substance as fingernails) and grow 2-6 cm in a year and continue to grow throughout life. They are often worn down through usage and tend to be longer and thinner in cows which do not engage them as frequently as the bulls. The record horn length for a white rhino is 1.58m.

Rhino are active throughout both the day and night and spend at least half their time feeding in order to satisfy the nutritional demands of their huge bodies. They prefer to rest during the heat of the day which they will do under the cover of dense bush. They also take refuge in thickets should the weather turn particularly cold or windy. When they sleep they do so relatively soundly breathing heavily. During sleep the ears may be seen instinctively flicking in all directions and rhino can react to disturbing sounds with impressive speed if the need arises.

White rhino females are fairly gregarious (live with others of their own kind) and it is quite unusual to find a cow alone. A female is most often accompanied by her latest calf but sometimes the previous calf (who would have been chased off when the newest one arrived) will also accompany her. Cows without calves will often pair up and newly independent adults may form groups of the same (or even mixed) sexes of up to five individuals. Where there is good grazing or localized water, white rhino cows and their young may form aggregations sometimes numbering ten or more. Most of the time, female rhinos live in undefended home ranges that overlap with one another. Sometimes these home ranges can coincide with the territories of up to seven different bulls. Where there is abundant food and water, these ranges may be as small as 6km² but may expand to 20km² during dry and difficult seasons.

White rhino bulls are fiercely territorial and are always found alone unless courting a female. Although they mature at around four years old, bulls are not usually able to contend with other bulls for territories until they are twelve years old. So long as they demonstrate submissiveness to the older and larger territory holders, younger bulls are tolerated.

A bull rhino defends an area between 0.75 and 14km² depending on the availability of resources. His territorial boundaries typically follow natural barriers like water courses, topographical ridges and even man-made roads.

To demarcate his territory a bull rhino employs a number of visual and olfactory signals. Patrols along well used paths take place to establish and reinforce boundaries. While patrolling, the bull will urine-spray backwards onto bushes and other conspicuous objects. Every 30m or so, the bull will also create visual scrape-markings with his feet that simultaneously become impregnated with his urine. As he continues his patrol, the scent is laid in the form of an olfactory (smell) trail wherever his feet touch. This is also achieved by kicking his dung with his hind feet after defecating. Intermittently along the territory boundaries, large accumulations of dung (known as middens) are formed and constantly added to by the bull and even by his neighbour. Cows (and subordinate bulls) will deposit their dung on a bull’s midden as and when they pass but refrain from breaking up their dung in the manner of the territorial bull. These sites provide important information to the territory owners such as when and who has passed through his turf.

When territorial bulls encounter one another along their boundaries, their responses are ritualized and posturing displays will satisfy one another of their independent statuses. However, when there is a new territory to claim or an oestrus cow in question, bulls will fight. Their primary weapons are their horns with which they will spar and attempt to hook one another. The skin over a rhino’s shoulders is 25mm thick to help reinforce this area against blows from opponents’ horns. Fights can be fatal.

Rhinos have relatively poor eyesight and can only really see well at close range. They do however respond to movement at greater distances. To compensate, the senses of hearing and smell are very well developed and both are employed for the purposes of communication and detecting danger. A rhino’s ears are constantly moving rotating independently in all directions to collect auditory clues. When a sound is detected, both ears focus in that direction. The ears are conveniently placed a top the long head to collect sounds while the low slung muzzle is optimally placed to smell.

The collective known for a group of rhino is appropriately ‘a crash of rhino’. Although they seem quite ungainly, rhino are able to charge at a speed of 40kmph if they need to. Rhinos that are stresses will perform displacement behaviour. This may take the form of curling up the tail, a nervous bouncy gait around the same spot, turning side on to the disturbance or rubbing the horn on the ground. Cows with young are especially protective. When a cow and her offspring flee from danger, the calf always runs ahead.

White rhinos differ from black rhinos in several ways. Black rhino are smaller than white rhino overall. They have shorter heads that are carried higher up on their shoulders than the white rhino to accommodate their browsing (not grazing) habits. The black rhino has a prehensile hook-shaped lip to help it secure leaves and twigs (compared to the wide mouth that the white rhino uses to graze). Twigs are cropped at a 45 degree angle due to the shape of the black rhino’s teeth and this angle is clearly identifiable in the twigs in their droppings. The ears of the black rhino are smaller and rounder and it lacks the large nuchal hump of the white rhino over the shoulders. The black rhino is one of Africa’s top 10 most endangered animals.

50|50 is back! SA's longest running environ show...

2010-04-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

I've been a little quiet lately but not for any reason except that it's been a month of new challenges which have kept me extremely busy...hard at work doing my bit for conservation! I joined the 5050 team at the start of March and we launch the new season on Monday 5 April 2010 (http://www.5050.co.za/). Below I have outlined the stories we will be featuring, all poignant conservation stories!

Lion’s Rock Sanctuary

Lion’s Rock is a sanctuary for lion rescued from atrocious conditions in zoos around the world. In the last season of 5050 we saw several Romanian lions brought to Lion’s Rock in an emotionally charged story. Wendy Willson now follows up on the rehabilitation of one particular lion “Caesar” and we have a look at how Lion’s Rock provides a second chance to these abused animals. Recently more lion were brought into the relative freedom of Lion’s Rock Sanctuary. The latest arrivals are rescued from various zoos in Arman, Jordan thanks to the valiant efforts of the Princess Alia Foundation and Lion’s Rock members. In this story questions are asked about the validity of zoos and 5050 explore the basic right of all animals to life.

Verlorenvlei (http://www.verlorenvlei.co.za/)

The main story is about another pristine wetlands area that has come under threat to mining. Verlorenvlei is one of the largest natural wetlands on the West Coast. It offers important bird habitat, houses unique biodiversity and is a RAMSAR site of international conservation importance. One of the rivers that feed into it, the Krom Antonies River, has its source in the Moutonshoek Valley. In this productive part of the otherwise water-stressed sandveld, agriculture produces export fruit and potatoes. But under the same soils is a rich deposit of tungsten, a metallic element used for things like light bulb filaments and hardened drill-bits. In order to access this, Bongani Minerals proposes to dig a hole much the size of the Kimberly mine in the middle of the Moutonshoek pivotal area. This will have huge implications on the lives of farmers, workers and conservationists alike in the region. A coalition has been formed to dispute the mining application, advised by the previous head of the Green Scorpions, but the process is a complex fight costing millions and potentially threatening to destroy the Verlorenvlei ecosystem irreversibly.

Geneva Car (http://www.optimalenergy.co.za/)

The Geneva Motor Show is the biggest car expo in the world and this year many of the exhibitors had their latest green technology on show. Simon Gear visits the show and test drives the electric and hydro-fuel cell cars. 5050 explore the variety of technologies involved in greening the motor industry and closer to home, examine South Africa’s very own Joule that starts and accelerates on electricity. But how sustainable is this type of vehicle where one would need to plug into the national grid to charge it, a supply that is coal-generated and carbon heavy on the environment.

Crocs of the Olifants River

An ongoing saga where the crocodiles and barbel fish of the once pristine Olifants River, are dying from a disease called pansteatitis that hardens their internal fat. The hardened fat causes the crocodiles to become immobile which leads to starvation and even drowning of the affected animals. While clues point to pollution from various sources the exact trigger that started the process of crocodile deaths remains elusive. This is one of the questions South Africa’s leading researchers, scientists, conservationists and wildlife pathologists hope to answer through ground-breaking and risky research.

5050 SABC 2 April 5th 19h30

Feb Birding: Finding feathers in a furnace!

2010-02-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

February has proven a productive birding month and in just a few days we clocked up 130 species on the basic birding course at Karongwe Game Reserve with the year-long Ecotraining students (http://www.ecotraining.co.za/). This is remarkable simply because the weather was exceptionally hot with one particularly eager thermometer clocking a 48⁰C at one point. We resorted to very early starts and much birding from the vehicle so that in between bouts of viewing we could engage the ‘manual air-conditioning solution’ that an open Land Rover provides!

Being in a vehicle also enables you to cover more habitats which house different species. The most obvious feathered feature wherever we went was the Woodlands Kingfisher. These are conspicuous birds thanks to their bright colours and noisy, active habits. The “chip-crrrrrrrrr” is unmistakeable and unrelenting but when one considers that the Woodland’s is a migrant, it is understandable that they call so incessantly. Their breeding efforts need to be wracked-stacked-and-packed before its time to move on again.

Most species of kingfisher are strictly monogamous (one male and one female pair up). The males defend territories and establish a pair bond with the female through visual displays and courtship feeding. The Woodland’s Kingfisher has a particularly elaborate display in which it opens its wings and pivoting on a branch displays the white and then the blue side of the wing alternately all the time vocalizing loudly. A female taken by his exhibitions will be further convinced to pair up with a male depending on the nuptial gifts he brings her. Some bird species (including the kingfishers) engage in courtship feeding where the male proves his ability to care for a female and her brood by bringing her morsels of food. This also serves to build up the female’s reserves before she must produce and then incubate for an egg.

The bright blue of the Woodlands kingfisher’s feathers is the result of an effect called tyndal scattering. This is where the layers of structural keratin that make up the feathers are interspersed with air spaces and reflect particular wavelengths of light to appear blue. There is no colour pigment in the feathers.

Without any colour yet just as conspicuous for its vocal habits as the Woodlands, is the fork-tailed drongo. It’s a resident species but to impress females and ward of rivals it has developed a unique technique. In a process known as mimicry, the fork-tailed drongo copies phrases of songs and sounds belonging to other species of bird much like robin-chats. The complexity of the assembled tune is suspected to be an indication of fitness to females. Males that are able to remember and knit together long sequences of phrases are considered better partners. A strong mimicked vocal signal also will intimidate rivals and convince them of the singer’s superiority.

Birds sing to advertise their territories and to attract mates and subsequently build bonds with those mates (especially if they are monogamous and only have one). Birds sing most earnestly in the morning when the air is clear and still and sound travels furthest and loudest. This is known as the ‘dawn chorus’. They also utilize the dawn chorus to remind their neighbours that in spite of a night of darkness since last they called, they are still very much in attendance of their turf. Birds call in the late afternoon again to establish ownership of an area before they sleep.

Good rain has meant that Karongwe is green, lush and somewhat overgrown. Spotting birds along the shorelines at the waterholes was difficult but the characteristic 3-syllabled whistle of the white-faced ducks betrayed their presence in the area as they were flying over in the evenings to forage. These ducks are fairly unique among ducks for their tendency to both whistle instead of quacking and also to feed at night on grass, seeds, grain and even fruit (like geese). Ducks have flat bills which are used for sieving edible particles out of the water. Many ducks up-end or dabble, partially submerging their upper bodies in order to access food below the water. The food they usually consume includes various parts of aquatic plants, insects, detritus in mud, algae, crustaceans and other invertebrates. White-faced ducks dabble for food but may also dive fully under the water to obtain something they desire.

Despite the fiery weather conditions, the birding week was productive and satisfying and I look forward to the next one when I can listen to the fiery-necked nightjar under cooler night skies!

Earthworks - The Incredible Dung Beetle

2010-01-19T01:15:00.000-08:00

There are about 7000 species of dung beetle

described world wide of which southern Africa houses the widest variety including about 780 species from a few millimeters in size up to 5cm. In one pile of elephant dung there could potentially be 16000 dung beetles. It is thus important to take care not to drive over elephant dung.

Dung beetles are astute navigators and can detect fresh dung within seconds, having it fully colonized within minutes and completely removed within a day. Dung beetles can bury more than 1 metric ton of dung per hectare per year. In this regard they are exceptionally important ecologically being responsible for the removal of wastes to under the ground and consequently they destroy the eggs of internal parasites and reduce populations of pest species like flies. They simultaneously return nutrients to the soil and inadvertently facilitate the germination of seeds caught up in the dung they bury.

Ball-rolling dung beetles generally roll balls 50 times heavier than themselves, occasionally up to 80 times. Dung beetles may have preferences for different types of dung. Some species specifically colonise course elephant and rhino dung while others may utilize buffalo, zebra or smaller animals’ dung. Seventy two percent of all dung beetle species prefer herbivore or omnivore dung to carnivore scat.

There are four different groups of dung beetles according to what they do with the dung they collect.

The endocoprids or ‘dwellers’ remain inside the pile of dung, living and breeding in situ.

The paracoprids or ‘tunnellers’ bury dung directly underneath the pile of dung as their larval food supplies.

The telecoprids or ‘rollers’ are the species that roll balls and take the dung away from the original site to be eaten or buried elsewhere effectively reducing competition with the endo- and tele-coprids. The ball is pushed with the beetle’s hindlegs while standing on the forelegs.

The cleptocoprids steal balls from the telecoprids in which to lay their own eggs.

The most conspicuous dung beetles are the telecoprids (ball rollers). They typically roll balls of dung for different purposes.

A pair may roll a ball of dung together to eat. This is called a food ball. The male may roll a ‘nuptial ball’ for a female into a hole in which they will mate and then consume the ball together. The ‘brood ball’ is rolled as a larder for the dung beetle’s larvae. The male will roll the brood ball upon which the female will sit to lay a single egg. This she pats down into the ball with dung giving the finished ball a pear-shaped appearance. The ball is buried and the outer shell hardens to keep the insides moist. The larva, on hatching, will begin to feed on the reserves and thereafter pupates in its underground dung-walled chamber. Up to 60 eggs can be laid per female per season meaning that the male must roll 60 of these brood balls alone.

Adult dung beetles can live for two years or more but they are preyed on by a host of predators including baboons, honey badgers, civets, hornbills, owls and rollers. Robber flies and wasps may catch the smaller species. The larvae of the beetles are primarily dug out of the ground and consumed by honey badgers but civets and mongoose may also do this.

Some dung beetles are flightless due to fused elytra (wing coverings). These populations are extremely endangered as they can’t disperse easily. A particularly healthy population inhabits the Addo Elephant National Park.

Dung beetles are superbly adapted for their lifestyles. They are large and robust often with a lovely metallic sheen. They have stout front legs which are serrated and able cut through compacted dung. The front tibiae are broad and toothed and together with the flattened head are used for digging and raking together dung and patting it into a ball. The antennae are fanned and club-shaped and probably related to detecting and navigating to dung piles.

Meeting Mrs Ples

2009-12-15T01:34:00.001-08:00

I had another unique adventure with Mark Tennant the other day (www.animalsartsandancestors.com). I went to meet the original Mrs Ples. Her remarkably intact skull now resides in a velvet cased box inside the Transvaal Museum. What a wonderful visit if a rather large step back in time!

But let’s go back a sec…who’s Mrs Ples and what’s the big deal?

At the helm of early evolutionary studies in South Africa were the likes of passionate palaeoanthropologists such as Professor Raymond Dart and Dr Robert Broom. Dart’s contentious publications were the first to propose that there was in fact a hereditary link between the ape and human. This supposition was strongly supported by Broom’s discovery of a new hominin fossil in the Sterkfontein Caves in the form of Mrs Ples - the media shortening for Plesianthropus africanus (later changed to Austrolopithecus africanus). The discovery of Mrs Ples ultimately opened the world up to the realisation that not all early hominids are direct ancestors of modern man. These men’s work was foundational in the world recognising that Gauteng’s Cradle of Humankind was paramount in the understanding of human ancestry having produced thousands of hominin fragments, hundreds of thousands of animal fossil fragments and ten thousand stone tools that cover 3 major stone-cultures. Sterkfontein is the longest ongoing excavation in the world having been dug continuously for three decades and intermittently for the previous three.

Mark took me to The Cradle a while back and it blew my mind.

The part of Gauteng that has come to be known as the Cradle of Humankind is a world-renowned heritage site due to the fact that 35% of the world’s hominin fossils have been discovered here in 12 individual sites and is characterised by 2.8 billion year old rocks. The granite, some of the most ancient rock on the planet, protects an expansive network of underground caverns amongst softer dolomite and these preserve the clues of a 3.5 million year old story.

The Cradle’s undulating grasslands with their moist valleys and wooded slopes have been ideal for hominin habitation for millennia (the period when most human evolution occurred is called the plio-pleistocene) in spite of interruptions such as climate variations and the presence of inland seas. It seems the original human-like apes at 1.3m tall first roamed here about 3 million years ago. They lived in small social groups and dodged sabre-toothed cats and prehistoric hunting hyenas. Australopithecus africanus is thought to have been the original ancestor of the Homo genus which appeared when a series of hot and cold cycles created a window for speciation about 2 million years ago.

Human evolution is complicated because it branches and is not as linear as originally thought. It seems some of the original Australopithecus africana gene line took on the traits of a more robust ape-man with a flatter face and larger teeth while another evolved into Homo habilis which had a larger brain and more carnivorous diet (and thus different lifestyle skills in terms of hunting rather than gathering) than the Australopithecines.

The clues tell us that by 1.5 million years ago Homo erectus was beginning to displace H.habilis probably due to his new found ability to tame fire for warmth and protection, flames being transported from natural sources like lightning-induced veld fires. Fireplaces in the Forum Homini rooms remind guests of this critical turning point in our evolution. Remarkably, this same tool harnessed for simple tasks such as cooking food, would eventually take mankind to the moon! From this point, humans developed quickly.

The Homo genus had a mental capacity and social organization much more advanced than his predecessors and it appears dispersed northwards to colonise Asia and then Europe. Those that remained in southern Africa developed into archaic Homo sapiens 800-200 thousand years ago. These individuals excelled in communication and language began to develop as well as expression through art and the crafting of jewellery, weapons and more advanced tools. Many controversies exist around the evolution of man and scientists have limited (not to mention petrified) evidence to work with to prove or disprove their theories.

Standing in the cool, dark space under the earth is quite unnerving. Not because its particularly claustrophobic but rather because standing there is like being inside a sacred grave site. Some of the earliest forms of life, prehistoric blue-green algae’s (known as stromatolites) have been found here. Nature’s embellished, arching ceiling and the tranquil underground lake are tomb-adornments fit for kings. The most intact australopithecine ever found is still being meticulously extracted from the rock in this cave. ‘Little Foot’s’ foot bones were found in a bag containing discarded lime-mining debris blasted some 65 years previously and painstakingly matched to the rest of the skeleton where it had come to rest, his skull resting on an outstretched arm, after falling down a vertical shaft 4 million years previously.

Game Ranger in your Backpack

2009-11-26T00:13:00.000-08:00

Its finally here after two years of blood and sweat! "Game Ranger" is an all-in-one interpretative guide to the wildlife of the Lowveld. Check out the link to learn more and to order your copy! Its a must have for every naturalist and nature lover!

http://briza.co.za/bookstore/product_info.php?products_id=283&osCsid=415eb4044e28f3544baa043ed5ad4b87

2009-11-25T00:27:00.000-08:00

Babe at the Beach

2009-11-14T06:40:00.000-08:00

I have enjoyed an unexpected little holiday at the sea recently. Having finished the training course in Tsavo, things were not finalised as to ‘where to next’ so I found myself hanging out on the most gorgeous beach south of Mombasa called Tiwi Beach at a rustic little resort called Maweni Cottages. Its like a mini Caribbean. Being on the equator, the water is so warm in the ocean that sometimes it doesn't really refresh you until you get out and allow the breeze to blow on you. It’s quite hot and humid on the coast but having a private beach is what it’s all about and everytime one feels soggy, off you trot for a dip in the turquoise ocean. Its heaven!

There is a shallow reef all the way along this stretch of coast so at high tide the waves aren't very big against the sand (they break further out where the reef starts) and it’s like swimming in a peaceful rock pool. When the tide is low one can pick through the reef on foot (I say pick coz there are tonnes of urchins) and explore the pools full of little rock-pool fishies (not an area of speciality!) and bristle stars and sea cucumbers and and and.... If you head north up the beach, there is a place the locals call 'starfish village' because there are hundreds of multi-coloured starfish that become beached at low tide. I went when the tide was coming in with a mask and swam out with a fisherman to see them. It was incredible. We also saw living corals with their polyps and clams and an anemone complete with clownfish 'Nemo'! I was completely exhausted after the swim because we had to go far out and you can hardly stand for the urchins! Good exercise after not doing much for a few weeks....plus the hike down the sand back to my cottage!

If you go south down the beach, one heads towards Diani Beach...a more renowned coastal destination but more built up. I went at low tide again, along the reef and the local ‘askari’ (guard) took me to a place they call the map of Africa (its prudent to take an 'askari' for safety when exploring further a field). It’s a deep pool in the reef that holds water when the tide is out shaped like the continent and complete with Madagascar pool! Next pool up is Australia which is bigger and has two caves over it but looks nothing like Australia! Go figure. Inside the caves (which are open in places to the sky and you can see the vegetation above you and the light plays on the walls...lovely) there is a colony of bats that roost on the highest parts of the walls coz when the tide comes in that’s the only place they can hide from it. The water over the years has shaped small pot holes in the ceiling and each little bat roosts in its own 'egg-cup'! They chatter while you explore and it’s like a scene from a story book!

The gardens at Maweni are beautiful. Everything is quite tropical and so there is greenery and flowers galore and the smell of frangipani wherever you walk. There was a team of gardeners at work in the gardens when I arrived (poor guys working in the heat!) and they only just had seemed to have made headway a week down the line due to the extent of the beds! Palm trees line the banks (the camp is raised above rocky cliffs) and there are a good few Baobabs too. There's a restaurant and a pool but I prefer the self catering option and the sea!

One can get fresh fish caught that morning from the fishermen. There is a small thatched 'banda' - shelter - near the edge of the living area and the locals are allowed to come up and sell their wares. It’s really cool that this is a private beach so you don't get harassed by locals to buy things all the time like in central Mombasa. I did however get offered seashells for purchase by a fisherman while I was swimming in the sea! Anyway, the locals sell everything you could wish for at the sea....fresh fish (filleted for you on request thank goodness), lobster, crab, prawns, calamari, oysters etc. And you see them collecting it so you know it’s fresh (and they don’t harvest in excess it appears, just what is needed which it super). Then there are some veggie sellers with tomatos, ginger, garlic, fruits and potatoes so the basics are covered and one doesn't ever need to go to town really (I picked up milk and the like on the way in as well as an emergency bikini! Who'd have thought!). The coconut milk mandasi's (like a sugarless doughnut) freshly baked are my best.

The first 3 nights I was at the beach were the best. Caroline, a Dutch girl who did the Ecotraining course I just instructed (www.ecotraining.co.za), had a few days to waste before she headed home. The 2 of us teamed up to find a place to stay and then enjoyed such a lovely holiday together - fresh food (she's a great cook!), pedicures and massages from Smugglers Rest, the on-beach local salon!, long swims and walks and lots of laughs. We were like two kids at Christmas. She swears she'll be back from Amsterdam ASAP again with everyone she knows...she's fallen in love with Africa!

I adopted 2 stray cats. The first showed up while Caroline was still with me and we couldn't resist her. She's pregnant and obviously hungry so each meal we'd dish her some fish or calamari or tuna...the life of a beach cat. She makes the most bizarre squeaking mews and is too sweet. She's little, black and white with a pink nose and green eyes. This morning 'Grizabella the Glamour Cat' (I saw cats when I was home last!) had brought a tabby friend along for milk! It’s nice to have the company. Grizabella has got to curling up on the chair beside me in the evenings. It took a few days for her to get so familiar. The other climbed onto my lap immediately begging for attention...a bit more forward!

My Kenyan experience has been a brilliant adventure all round but I am looking forward to heading home to family for Christmas after some more training in the Mara (back to Koiyaki Guiding School www.koiyaki.com soon). I have a new little dress I want to wear and a great tan to show off when I get back!

Rukinga – Lifeline between East and West

2009-10-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

Tsavo country is vast, spectacular and ochre-red. The fine red dust is its trademark - and too the red elephants and buffalo that result from it.

Rukinga Ranch is 30000ha of cattle ranch turned conservation thanks to efforts of Wildlife Works, a company that recognised that the region in which Tsavo lies isn’t going to get any wealthier from doing nothing for the land. The cows get denser each year as does the population and so the only real solution is to put the land to good use. When the majority of the space in the region is already taken up by the East and West Tsavo Parks that are already a tourist attraction thanks to history and movies like ‘Ghosts in the Darkness’, it makes sense to ensure the wildlife perpetuates. To do this takes cooperation from the community and a channel that links them together. Rukinga is such a place…a refuge for migratory animals passing through the desolate dry landscape and a paradise to the observer.

The elephants jostle and vocalise through the night to stake a claim to the small waterhole they have created from lifting the water pipe outside camp. The park staff are exasperated at having to fix the pipe for the umteenth time but I love the fact that all through the night I can hear the ellies from my bed and every morning first thing, there they are right on the doorstep vying with buffalo bulls for access to the muddy bath. Hundreds of ring-necked doves alight around the great grumpy pachyderms like grey snow falling on the red earth, the sunlight glinting off their white retrices. One needn’t venture far at all for a wildlife spectacle so incredible, it’s hard to believe it happens again and again each morning.

But after some elephant indulgence, the great expanses beyond the camp vicinity beckon and inevitably the temptation grips to look for some of the other remarkable species that inhabit these parts. There are gerenuks that never cease to elicit giggles as they stand up primate-like on their hind legs to access leaves generally out of reach of such small antelope. Their front hooves dangle out gracefully in front of their sleek bodies as they nibble and chew for seemingly ages on two pins. Fringe-earred oryx are rarer but a glimpse of their impressive stature with lance-like horns is always a treat. As is an encounter with the endangered Grevy’s zebra. The population was introduced to the area in an effort to bolster the numbers. While the oryx’s ears appear frayed and unkempt, the Grevy’s has ears that look like they used to belong to Mickey Mouse! Oversized and comical these perfectly compliment a unique stripe pattern amongst zebra that resembles a pin-stripe suit left open over the belly to reveal a white undershirt.

Aardwolf and striped hyena, caracal, serval and bat-earred fox are some of the other treats and not always that rare a sight either. But my best are the Kirk’s dikdik. These miniature antelopes are the fame of the area. Paired off in their small but excusive territories, it’s a few hundred meters only between sightings. Their large eyes are even more emphasized by the dark preorbital glands that they use to paint tarry secretions onto beacons as boundary markers. The little ungulates also make remarkably large middens to identify their ranges but as a species, being so successful warrants a little showing off I suppose. Their slender noses are apparently a clever trick they have to survive in such harsh climates, wriggling these to cause evaporate cooling.

I’ve heard a story or two of late about how the dikdik got its name but as convincing as these were, the fiction was derived from a very capable story-telling Irishman with a vivid imagination and an illuminating smile. Jimmy was one member of the first group of students to participate in Ecotraining’s pilot Kenyan 28-day field guide training course on Rukinga (www.ecotraining.co.za) and was matched in his charismatic-ness by each of the others participating. Anton, the Russian-Australian, had a ceaseless stream of naturalist questions that couldn’t be quenched (even between Ashleigh’s random hic-ups) – even at 2am on a nocturnal drive, they just kept coming! But that kind of interest is exactly what is required in an environment where there are so many new things to learn and areas to explore…not least of which was Mount Kasigau, the towering landmark that presides over the Rukinga landscape. So up we went…

The Austrian-Spanish cousins, Sophie and Cecile, and I had decided we would just accompany the over-energetic Jimmy, Anton and Wil part of the way up the 1640m peak. Climbing a mountain is about enjoying the scenery on the way up and not just anticipating the view from the top. Dry, rocky Commiphora bush changed into tall, shaded dry forest which metamorphosed into a fantasy-land of looming trees, dancing leaves, giant-sized buttrices and moss-covered logs. Trenches from the First World War distracted us from the hike at one point and then the appeal of an even lovelier wet-forest further up where purple orchids dotted the tree trunks, Taita white-eyes flitted and one had to be careful to step steadily on the slippery mud. The temperate was cool and lovely, a remarkable micro-climate compared to the heat below. Then the final climb was in sight and the girls were still on board and more determined than ever to reach the top having come so far inadvertently! The boys must’ve been as impressed with us as we were with ourselves as they quite willingly shared their sandwiches with us! We had abandoned ours in the vehicle below not thinking we’d need them! Getting down proved a comedy of slippery errors but 7 hours after it all began and we were back on level ground marvelling at the feat!

October has seen the start of the very welcome rains. ‘Karibu sana’ as they say in Kiswahili… ‘most welcome’! The entire landscape has been transformed into an emerald wonderland and although the elephants have dispersed and are no longer lingering on the camp doorstep, it’s a relief to know there’s plenty of water for them to drink. The buffalo can relax a bit too.

Or maybe not since the lion activity on Rukinga has been on the rise. Two very good-looking young males (albeit maneless) made their appearance the other morning roaring proudly to announce their arrival. After feasting on a lesser kudu, the companions settled under a leafy Commiphora to while away the hours providing super viewing for the second intake of EcoTrainers this year. The maneless lions of Tsavo are renowned although scientists still seem to be a little confused as to why they don’t grow manes. The probability is that the heat typical of the area would sap them of vital energy if they had impressive furry manes but interestingly, increased testosterone that causes baldness in human males, could be another reason. Since Tsavo lions tend to hold tenure over a territory on their own unlike the coalitions of other savanna areas, they’d need a whole lot of hormone driving them to be aggressive enough to chase off contenders and hair-loss may result! The ladies don’t seem to mind…

The rain has brought the migrants and Indi or ‘Indiana Jones’ as we affectionately call her – a local Kenyan already in the safari industry but here to learn more - is thrilled! Every referee-whistle of a Eurasian bee-eater or ‘coo-coo’ of the African cuckoo elicits gasps of delight from her. Through the many enjoyable hours of birding that we’ve done on both Rukinga and in Tsavo East (clocking up 123 species in 3 and a half weeks), she has also elicited gasps of delight from the rest of us with her ceaseless supply of snacks! In her words: ‘yum’!

Johnson is the laugh-a-minute Kenyan chap who always has a bright smile and a witty comment. He keeps Caroline on her toes questioning her about everything he spots. Caroline is our Dutch ‘singing’ friend – she has a tune for every occasion! She’s on an adventure away from rainy Holland to indulge in glorious Africa – lucky for us but maybe not for her, we’ve had a fair bit of rain during her stay! Steve and Petra complete the dynamic little group and although Steve is of Taita origin, he happily chats away to Petra in her mother tongue German providing great amusement to the rest of us.

Such is the case in any EcoTraining Kenyan field guide experience…a mix of diverse culture, personality, landscapes and wildlife. Wouldn’t miss it for the world!

Moments in Rukinga (Tsavo, Kenya)

2009-10-21T08:12:00.001-07:00

The magic of Tsavo

2009-10-06T10:17:00.000-07:00

At home amongst bushbabies

2009-09-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

When I’m at home (which is not too often), I live in a bushbaby sanctuary which remarkably is located in the middle of the city. The developers of this townhouse complex rose to the challenge of incorporating wildlife into city living. Having identified the site, it was discovered that a naturally occurring population of lesser bushbabies (Galago maholi) were already in residence there. Instead of merely flattening the area for construction, the bushbabies were taken into ‘protective custody’ for the duration of building and sections of the natural bush preserved for their release back into their habitat once construction was complete. Subsequently gardens were planted comprising only indigenous vegetation including transplanted trees of the variety crucial for the survival of the VIP residents and these are connected via the residents’ gardens by ropes along which the small primates scamper like tight-rope walkers each evening on their way to feed.

Bushbabies are amazingly adapted for their nocturnal, arboreal lifestyles. They have enormous eyes with expanding pupils that allow for the collection of light in poor light conditions. Their eyes are so large that they are immovable in their sockets and to compensate bushbabies can rotate their heads 180 degrees (much like a bird) to look over their shoulders. They are able to bulge their eyeballs to gain focus of an object. There is a highly reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum in the back of the eye which shines reddish in torchlight. This also facilitates night time vision. Remarkably for nocturnal creatures, bushbabies have a high percentage of colour cone cells on the retina.

Bushbabies have long whiskers (vibrissae) near the eyes to help them detect nearby objects and so protect the eyes while foraging in the dark. The membranous ears are also moveable and can be swivelled independently or simultaneously to pick up sounds or can be folded back out of harms way. Bushbabies’ hearing is so acute that they are able to locate insects on sound alone even snapping gnats out of the air with their hands. They in fact jump upon prey with their eyes closed so as not to get flailing insect parts in them.

The bushbabies brilliant leaping ability is effected by enlarged powerful hind legs and the long tail is used for power and balance. Primate-like hands and feet with nailed fingers and dexterous thumbs and toes assist with grip. The ends of the digits are padded with soft friction pads as well as the palm of the hands and the soles of the feet. These also help with grip and with capturing prey. They are able to land and grip with just their feet to keep their hands free for grasping prey. Bushbabies can leap horizontally up to 4m and vertically almost 2m. They can cover many meters (ten yards) in just a few seconds and more than a kilometre in a night with these impressive leaps and bounds. On the ground, bushbabies hop like miniature kangaroos. They have taken to doing this along the perimeter walls if roping across the garden becomes too mundane!

Chasing Cheetah

2009-09-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

The Masai Mara is a predator haven few places can rival. The other night we headed off to walk the dogs on a private airstrip only to discover the area to be occupied by a female cheetah and her three tiny cubs. The clever mother had killed a rather large Grant ’s gazelle as supper for her brood and was blissfully oblivious to the fact that two eager hounds were now not going to get their evening walk.

We were delighted. The Olare Orok Conservancy is testament to the fact that there are solutions to Africa (and specifically Kenya’s) wildlife-human challenges. The area is community owned land that abuts the Masai Mara National Reserve and as a result of an official agreement between the community and various tourism partners, the Masai people have moved their settlements and livestock off the land to accommodate for unspoilt wildlife and eco-tourism and each family reaps a direct monthly monetary reward in return. Although land ownership is new (and somewhat foreign) for the Masai, this arrangement is suiting both parties well and the conservation of wildlife is the direct result and overtly obvious. The Olare Orok Conservancy is a paradise teaming with game. See www.oocmara.com to learn more.

Cheetah are predators specialized for speed. Clocking a record speed of 112 kmph, they are undoubtedly the fastest land mammals. Generally cheetah only accelerate up to between 75-100kmph at a full sprint and this lasts only a few hundred meters before they tire. In order to be successful, cheetah must get close enough to their quarry before embarking on the final sprint and are thus accomplished stalkers. They hunt in open areas making use of any available cover to stalk or they may simply walk directly towards the prey freezing immediately should the animal raise its head. Cheetah will try to get within 100m of their target before chasing it and they typically choose animals isolated on the skirt of a herd. Once the chase is underway, cheetah will pursue the animal for a short time only and its marvellous sprinting ability must enable it to gain on the prey almost immediately in order to trip it up with a paw and then secure a throat grip (thus depriving the prey of already depleted oxygen reserves) or else the cheetah will abandon the chase.

Once a kill is made, the cheetah is too exhausted to feed immediately and rests to catch its breath first. Prey is eaten where it falls or dragged to nearby shade if possible. Cheetah are picky eaters skimming meat neatly off the surface of a carcass. They may eat the heart and liver but the other innards are discarded. Bones and skin are also discarded due to their toughness and the cheetah’s diminished dentition and small jaws. They only scavenge occasionally and usually when displacing another predator is not required. Although cheetahs are relatively large in size, they generally do not attack large ungulates (hoofed animals) like wildebeest, zebra or buffalo. This is due to the fact that pulling these powerful animals down requires great strength which the cheetah lacks and in the process would risk injury to itself. Coalitions of males may cooperate to pull down larger prey but usually they target younger animals of these species.

Because cheetah are so over-specialized for speed they are almost totally defenseless against larger predators like lion, leopard, hyena and even vultures. As a result they are very susceptible to loosing kills to larger predators. To avoid the attentions of largely nocturnal carnivores, cheetah hunt during the day (diurnal predators). However, all predators are opportunistic and should they become aware of a kill, they will scavenge regardless of the time of day.

Cheetah specialization includes the following: They have long legs, long, flexible spines and wasp-like waists that in combination effect the long strides necessary to run quickly. The chest of the cheetah is deep set to accommodate its large lungs and heart, the internal powerhouse of the sprinter. The tail is long and acts as a rudder to counter-balance the cheetah when it has to change direction quickly. The head is small and stream-lined with only small ears. The teeth are smaller than other similar sized predators as these make the skull heavy. The reduced dentition also makes room for bigger nasal cavities to improve oxygen intake while in full sprint and to facilitate breathing when suffocating captured prey. Cheetah also have aerodynamic nostrils to maximize the flow of air over them while running. Although it is commonly thought that cheetah can’t ‘retract’ their claws at all, they do in fact have semi-retractable claws but these are unsheathed and so appear to be permanently protruding. This is an adaptation to assist with traction during chases. Pads on the underside of the feet are hard and often ridged which also assists with traction and improves their braking ability.

Cheetah are considered attentive mothers and cubs, which are born in tall grass or other cleverly hidden sites after just three months gestation, will regularly be moved to remain undetected and free of parasite infestations. The female painstakingly moves her cubs one at a time pinching them by the scruff of the neck which relaxes the nerves in that area and calms the cubs as they travel. The female brings meat back to her litter when they are still as young as five weeks old and in just three months the cubs are completely weaned and by eight months old will begin to hunt and make their own kills.

Young cheetah cubs (up to three months old) have a mantle of grey fur along the saddle of their backs which at quick glance resembles the colouration of the formidable honey badger. This mimicry is believed to deter larger predators from attacking the defenceless cubs as they are mistaken by predators for the more ferocious and generally avoided badger.

Enjoy every sunset

2009-09-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

It doesn't matter how many I've seen, every sunset in the bush seems to take my breath away. When you're working and you have to travel across miles of wilderness just to get from A to B to do whatever it is you need to do, its such an incredible priveledge to be able to enjoy the wonders that nature throws at you along the way. It takes a couple of moments to stop and just appreciate it and breathe deep before carrying on with the task at hand. Thats why I do this job!

Luangwa - Battlefield of Hippo (Part 5)

2009-08-31T03:10:00.000-07:00

Although they all but share a kingdom, both the crocodiles and the hippos are prepared to cross boundaries if something is at stake. For the crocodiles it’s a matter of food, for the hippos, possibly a matter of kinship or simply a lack of cognitive understanding of death. Amidst the feeding chaos, the hippo’s own brave the hordes of shiny teeth and flailing tempers for an investigation. Barging through the ranks of crocodiles, biting, pushing…what are the rules?

Recognition is sought by the hippo through licks and sniffs and nudges. The opening of the mouth indicates the use of the vemoronasal organ (commonly called the Organ of Jacobsen) which detects airborne steroid hormones. Typically this organ is used in determining whether an individual is ready to mate but is also used in the recognition of individuals. Maybe the salts on the sun-baked skin are simply a dry season delicacy for those who survive to harvest it? The teeth of a hippo are not exactly designed to nibble meat off spongy carcasses but licking is certainly possible. Hippos are after all the descendents of pigs.

On a particular channel, the Changwa, there are so many hippos packed together in the shallow remaining water of a fast shrinking river that a photograph reveals 100 heads but no light or space between them…it’s an epic tin of sardines! Changwa especially becomes overcrowded as the water level drops, a giant super-pod of thriving bodies and bad tempers. The rerouting of the river here, in its relentless quest to change course and create oxbows, provided an apparently super-attractive spot of hippo real estate. The Changwa Pod is no ordinary pod of hippos, it’s a super-pod and they offer us an exaggerated look at the dynamics of hippo life in the Valley. Fights break out…disease attacks…heat exhaustion takes its toll and hippos die creating a feast of notable proportions for the 100’s of crocs in the river that pile into these carcasses in numbers up to 200 at a time. The crux comes when the lions find such carcasses on the waters edge and fight off the crocs in a unique predator standoff for sole access to the meat.

For most of the year, these species seldom clash. Lions dispatch all decaying finds on land, crocodiles keep the Luangwa’s waters clean. Not so at this time of year. It’s a free for all and a wealth of hippo meat is too good a find for both competitors and sharing is just not an option. Armed with enormous teeth, lightning fast reflexes and claws of steel, the crocodile is a force to be reckoned with. But although the crocodile is obstinate and has craftiness on its side, there is a chink in its armour. Ten times the size of a lions’ jaws perhaps, the crocodile’s jaws do not provide an enormous amount of crushing power. Success is in the surprise of the attack and thereafter the ability to latch, drown and twist to feed off their prey. If matched against the lions and hippo, the crocs are up against high odds when out of their own domain.

Moving straight in, the lioness drags the carcass inch at a time up the beach, gaining ground for the lions before the carcass is lightened enough to be fleet-footed into the water. The water means victory for the crocodiles and here the lions do fear to tread! The crocodiles crawl up the beach after their escaping meal. The lions have speed and muscular power on land but the crocs have overpowering numbers on their side.

The Luangwa Valley’s top predators come face to face in the ultimate showdown. Lions and crocodiles clash over the final rights to this ultimate dry season prize – a prize defended valiantly by its own kind!

Luangwa: Battlefield of Hippo (Part 4)

2009-08-26T02:19:00.000-07:00

Nature’s abundance of sausage trees provides for Luangwa’s abundance of hippo and in turn this supports another abundance…

In the Luangwa, a profusion of Nile crocodiles infests the waters, feeding stealthily on fish, thirsty antelope compelled into the murky shallows and even the occasional unsuspecting fisherman – crocodiles are notoriously indiscriminate in their choice of victim. But it is the giants of the river, the hippos that sustain and replenish the hordes through the dry season. With so many hippo conflicting, large mounds of decaying meat are a common sight along the river during the dry months. The heat rots the flesh quickly and it doesn’t take long for the crocodiles to sense the feast. So acute are their smelling senses for navigating through the murky water that no free meal goes unnoticed. Poking top-mounted beady eyes above the surface of the water, the sight of the mound of decaying flesh confirms what the nostrils already detect and draws the crocodiles in their hordes...in their hundreds.

Sometimes boundaries must be crossed to access the meat…the crocodiles must move onto the land. Disarmed of their usual feeding format, the characteristic grip, spin and rip, the crocodiles can only enter the carcass where it is soft. The exceptional heat quickly loosens the flesh however and with some spectacular land-bound spins, the meat comes free - enough to lighten the load sufficiently after a day or two that they can drag the bulk into the water and there feast more comfortably in their own medium. Until then they pile upon one another, crudely slithering over each other like maggots.

Luangwa: Battlefield of Hippo (Part 3)

2009-08-21T00:43:00.000-07:00

The buck doesn’t stop at space and territory issues, there’s more than just lack of water for the hippos to be concerned about during the dry season in Luangwa. Their food supply literally withers away too. Most of the dry, caked earth in the dry months in Luangwa has little to no ground cover. Black cotton soils expand and contract in the heat pruning roots and rendering little edible life. So how do 30000 hippos survive? A magic, albeit little recognised, life source afforded by nature– the sausage tree! It is true in many wildlife areas that most creatures stay away from the enormous sausage-like fruit that lie under the tree (thanks to gravity) until they shrivel. But in Luangwa, the sausage tree means life to many but especially the hippos!

Huge, majestic, sausage-laden Kigelia Africana dominate the valley along the river course and adjacent floodplains. With little other cover on the earth, the sausage trees covered in electric green pre-summer flushes and rosy flowers stand out like towering mountains. Although the puku and impala feast on the fallen flowers and yellow baboon snap off the tender shoots, it’s the full grown, massive sausage fruit that the hippo seek. Where one would find the occasional fallen fruit beneath an Okavango based sausage tree, it is a rare occasion to find any such fruit lying about in Luangwa and this is because the hippos devour them with a determined voraciousness. One even spots hippos merely standing beneath the trees waiting for a fortuitous sausage to fall – even during the middle of the day!

Luangwa: Battleground of Hippos (part 2)

2009-08-17T00:21:00.000-07:00

With a scarcity of food, an injured hippo is confined to barracks – left to die in the only available moisture he can find, usually the sludge of an abandoned oxbow. Sometimes death only comes days later as predators of all descriptions line up to watch the slow demise, saving their energy for the feast they know is imminent. On one occasion we watched a dying hippo in such a pool for just short of a week. Assuming the lions would move in and “finish him off”, we were surprised to find them lazily watching the scene from the shade of a small tree the following morning and even more surprised to find the geriatric had acquired a companion. This apparently healthy hippo moved into the puddle with the injured bull and during the course of the week and even after the other had died and turned the pond a mucky green, this loner appeared and disappeared.

A number of explanations are possible. Perhaps the second hippo was also a defeated bull with no where else to go and the injured bull was unable to fend him off his turf, or simply too weak to care. A controversial theory proposed in the past is that perhaps hippo, like elephants, endure some kind of kinship bond. The hippo may have been from its own pod, perhaps in a nearby stretch of river or simply recognised a species member in distress. Hippos have been known to behave quite remarkably around dead or dying creatures. Skinner reports a hippo supposedly rescuing an impala…???

The day that heralded the death of the hippo held another surprise. The first at the scene was a lonesome hyena who merely nibbled at the tough skin over the decimated rump. A couple of mouthfuls and he was gone. The next visitors (aside from warthogs, guinea fowl, puku and baboons all who drank from the fowl pond with its dead inhabitant) arrived only during the course of the following night and after a small feed by lion-standards, the male and female duo also departed leaving most of the carcass intact. They seemed to sense the virtue of allowing time to rot and forge away through the thick hide but even once this happened, the putrid carcass was relinquished to the hordes of vultures that patrol Luangwa’s skies. The dry season is vulture-prime time and the feasts are a comic to watch with birds dominating the carcass despite the ton or two of meat, tackling…falling into the mud…!!!

Luangwa - Battlefield of Hippo (Part 1)

2009-08-13T05:46:00.000-07:00

The Luangwa Valley stretches like a giant arm along the Eastern part of Zambia. This vast and unforgiving wilderness, partially protected within the confines of the North and South Luangwa National Parks, does not enjoy a brutality-free history but having survived most of the ravages of man’s exploits (all except the rhino!) remains today as one of Africa’s last. A side branch to the renowned Great Rift Valley, the flat-bottomed Luangwa Valley harvests the fertility washed down from her mother feature and with the provision of copious annual summer floods, consequently supports an inordinate abundance and diversity of life. Water gushes down a 200m wide snaking channel, over spilling its meandering banks to replenish numerous oxbow lagoons and watering the adjacent pastures. With so much surface water and the fertility of the Rift’s clay soils, the valley erupts in a summer harvest of incredibly high plant biomass which in turn supports a high biomass of herbivores including 3 endemic species - Crawshay’s zebra, Thornicroft’s giraffe and Cookson’s wildebeest. The valley consequently is alive with predators – lions, leopards, crocodiles.

Uncommon of most African rivers, the Luangwa River respects her political boundaries, rising in the highlands of Zambia’s northern frontier and terminating at the junction with the Zambezi on Zambia’s southern boundary. This spectacular river is home to the largest population of hippos in the world, and the entire ecosystem is dependant on her, the only river in the valley. And this is a vital characteristic of the Luangwa for although it is a fat and snaking river during the summer rains, Luangwa is a place of extreme seasonal contrasts and when the rain ceases, the river shrinks progressively into the dry months, eventually becoming a mere trickle interlinking deeper channels as temperatures soar into October. With the oxbows dried up and all other ephemeral water in the valley gone, creatures journey huge distances to the river for relief from a dementia-inducing time of dust and hardship – now certainly dependent of the only river in the valley. Interestingly, most creatures here exist in a smaller physical form than in the rest of Africa due to the isolated nature of the Valley, hemmed in by escapements formed by ancient tectonic movements and comparatively less fertile tracts of Miombo Woodland that extend beyond the Valley’s limits creating a relative biodiversity vacuum.

For the mega-population of hippos, ancient pig-relatives Hippopotamus amphibious, the Luangwa is patch of real estate extraordinaire! Luangwa houses an estimated 30000 hippos along its 1100km course - the biggest population anywhere in the world and so in the dry months, a shrinking river is not good news! The wide sandy beaches exposed by the retreating water, become a battleground for the hippo. For the top predators – lions and crocodiles - it’s a feast guaranteed!

So spectacular is the size of the Luangwa hippo population that any visitor to the valley can expect to count at least 80-100 individuals at any random point that one should choose to stop and tally. This in itself is remarkable but more so if one considers that the population was almost annihilated before the area was protected. In 1918 a hippo sighting was considered a significant one! But that really is a thing of the past and the numbers are staggeringly obvious when the river is at its lowest in late October into November.

Hippos seem to favour the quiet oxbow refuges and lagoon-flanked stretches of river as it is here that they can easily access the lush grass from the alluvial areas surrounding the floodplains. But after May, these choice habitats are no longer available, shrivelled to chunks of caked-mud in the heat, and with no where else to go, hippos migrate en masse to the deeper pools in the wide river channel. Survival through these times is a severe ordeal. Here they are vulnerable to the scorching sun and to the wrath of the resident bulls, irritated that their turf is being invaded by the competition. The deeper pools amongst exposed sandbanks are prized territories and conflict is the order of the day!

Enormous in size and decked with formidable canine-like tusks and muscular jaws, the hippopotamus is at the best of times a formidable beast, able to snap a 3m crocodile in half given good provocation! Survival instinct sets in among the swollen pods and it’s each to their own - sometimes with brutal consequences like the death of an infant trampled in the crowd! As the water level drops lower and lower, fights erupt in a flurry of water and honking and then fizzle out almost as quickly once dominance is established or space acquired.

But for the bulls, a deep pool in the river is gold to retain females and they have more important work than mediating commotion. For a bull, the fight is for territory and for the females and mating rights that come with that. During the height of the drought, fights spark swiftly between a proprietor of a sought after stretch of river, and any unwary immigrant male, displaced from the dried up lagoons. So fierce are the bull defenders that it’s all or nothing. Most fights are likely to end in the death of one of the combatants or at least the expulsion of the loser. The bizarre and somewhat unnerving honk-roars of hippos in combat ring out through the dry air throughout August, September and October, night and day. Most of the noisy charade seems to be an intimidation tactic – when matters get serious, the noise disappears, the only sounds being the clash and slash of mighty canines locked in confrontation accompanied by spectacular sprays of water and blood streaming from the afflicted combatants’ mouths. Powerful robust jaws supported by abnormally large head and forequarters and sword-like teeth are the fighting weapons of these massive opponents –the rest just tons of stubborn blubber. Characterised by violent head shakes and swift rushes, these scenes are spectacular, the noisy chorus’ indeed intimidating and the results all too often devastating!

Learning to be a Game Ranger - Part 2

2009-08-11T04:19:00.000-07:00

A good game ranger needs to develop an intimate knowledge of the workings of the natural environment so field guide training is where I’m headed. This particular job i.e. the hosting of guests on guided safaris, does come with a roofless Land Rover and permission to pursue the ‘big and hairies’ but there is one or two things I must achieve to earn this first: walk the entire reserve road network of close to 300km, unarmed, to develop an orientation of the land, hone my senses and situational awareness in the field and dispose of complacency; master knowledge examinations on all the major naturalist topics including eight hours on ‘The Big Five’; visit the shooting range (more than) a few times to develop accuracy with a .375 Holland and Holland rifle and then take on a charging buffalo on wheels to prove my skill; and demonstrate that in addition to locating the exciting game species, that I can provide a well rounded, engaging experience of the environment to my guests imparting information including plants, birds, insects, reptiles, stars and tracks.

It’s been a three month haul but finally I get my chance to take real guests out into the bush on my own. I arrive on the deck at tea time to meet my allocated group.

‘Hi Mike, I’m Megan’ I say enthusiastically shoving my right hand out to shake his and squeezing firmly to impart confidence. The strawberry jam and cream-covered scone he’s eating looks delicious but I sense Mike and his family are keen to get going so I begrudgingly refrain from serving myself one. After a few polite questions about where this British family have already travelled in South Africa and probing for clues as to their interests and expectations during their two night stay with me, I suggest we head out. Mike looks at me confused.

‘We haven’t met our ranger yet’ he mumbles.

‘Umm… I’m your ranger,’ I reply. As if the shiny boots and freshly pressed khakis weren’t blatantly obvious!

The colour drains from his face momentarily before he makes a quick effort at retort: ‘Oh, I’m sorry…I didn’t realise…’ A brief but uncomfortable silence ensues and then, ‘So how long have you been working here Megan?’

Feeling even more on the spot and not wanting him to know this is in fact my first drive with ‘proper’ guests, I brush the question aside with an eager ‘Why don’t we go and look for that leopard you’re so keen to see!’

On the Land Rover I feel that nagging vulnerability again and questions start racing through my mind. Am I going to be able to find a leopard? Am I going to be able to keep this family entertained for four hours? What if I get lost? What if Mike thinks I’m a real woman-driver? I better drive carefully. But the sun’s going to set in just over an hour, I better hurry up if I’m going to find a leopard.

Just then a magnificent kudu bull steps into the road and turns his head to face our approaching vehicle. I ease to a stop turning the vehicle side-on to afford the guests a comfortable viewing position and to present a less threatening posture towards the kudu. We watch for a few seconds as the kudu stands statuesque. I then whisper a few sentences to my guests drawing their attention to the stripes on his side that break his outline in the thicket habitat where kudu live, the large ears that pick up the smallest of sounds in the dense bush and then the white of his ‘follow-me’ tail upturned as he eventually bounds away from us. Mike and his family seemed awed by the encounter and I relax a bit.

Not too long afterwards the radio crackles to life. One of the other guides has picked up some fresh leopard tracks in the south. At least now I know more or less where to begin my search but not ten minutes later, the unmistakable sound of pressured air escaping from its rubberised confines confirms my worst fears. We have a puncture. I turn to my guests and as confidently as possible say, ‘Technical problem, how about a glass of wine while we attend to the puncture?’

My tracker is suddenly conspicuous by his absence! Thankfully the boys on my ranger training course had insisted I change all the punctures so my skills in this department are especially well practised. Within fifteen minutes the tyre is changed, my tracker makes a miraculous reappearance and I believe I may have won a little respect from Mike! Another fifteen minutes on and my tracker redeems himself with a barely audible mutter: ‘Ingwe’. He’s spotted a leopard.

‘Hold on,’ I call quietly over my shoulder to the guests making a visual check to ensure everyone has seen her and then turning off-road. This is another first. The grass is so long it washes bonnet-high over the vehicle as if we’re swimming through the blades. With some help from my tracker I pre-empt the leopard’s movements and cut ahead so that she walks clean past the front of the vehicle and Mike and family get the perfect view of first one, then two, then three leopards. The female is with her two six month old cubs. Every insecurity I harboured about my first drive instantly dissolves. The bush at coal face, with others’ lives in your hands is a big deal but it’s also a thrilling experience for guest and guide alike.

Mike, his family and I enjoy pan-African cuisine around a raging camp fire sipping wine from crystal glasses and recounting the afternoon’s encounters. I’m relieved when they finally announce at midnight that its time for bed since tea the following morning is at five am. That means a four thirty am start for me as I have to check my vehicle and pack a hot-box before the drive. We’re going to look for rhino in the morning and I feel that twinge of apprehension again. Although the afternoon had been a productive one, I know that it isn’t always going to be so easy.

Whether it’s finding exciting animals for tourists, spending eight hours in the saddle on anti-poaching patrols or mapping alien-plants on exhausting foot-expeditions, I understand, thirteen years down the line, that the efforts of the game ranger are always tempered by the euphoria of being a part of the wilderness. There is something primal about being battered by the elements – being hot and sweaty when the sun’s out, wet when it rains, windswept when the wind blows. Small things matter. Stumbling upon a ripe prickly pear during a Triffid Weed survey, I was so elated by the chance for refreshment that I completely forgot to input this alien’s position on the map. The best White Berry Bush berry’s I’ve tasted were those eaten while I was stranded in a dry riverbed because a herd of buffalo (that we were stalking) had inadvertently surrounded us and separated us from our vehicle. A swim never feels as good as when it’s in the horse-trough and you’re in it, fully clothed, because there was simply no better option except to roll from the horses back into the water after hours in the glorious African sun.

Becoming a game ranger certainly has had its unique set of challenges but the rewards far outweigh the trials! Wouldn’t change a thing!

Learning your trees is easy

2009-08-05T01:56:00.000-07:00

Anyone keen to learn thier bushveld trees? African Resource in conjunction with Hospitality Afrika is launching their newest course pretty soon and its a don't miss occassion! Hosted in two locations (one in the Lowveld and one in the Bushveld near Bela Bela). Watch the October edition of Africa Geographic for details or check out the companies websites (to be posted on www.africanresource.co.za soon)

The tree course is designed for people who love the bush and want to know more about it. Trees are notoriously difficult to learn on one's own and the identification guides are often extremely technical. We make learning trees simple and enjoyable - they are all unique and there are simple ways to learn what's what. Not only that, plants are the medicine cabinet to indigenous people who have implicated them in remedies and ceremonies for years. Each tree in the Bushveld has a special value culturally not to mention ecologically. We aim to uncover this overlooked aspect of the bush for the participants. The focus will be on the most commonly encountered species including Jackalberry, Leadwood, Tamboti, Marula, Mopane, Boerbean, Bushwillows, Acacias, etc.

Each participant will get a copy of "Game Ranger in your Backpack" (authored by myself) The book is a naturalist's interpretative guide to the Lowveld and is packed with photographs and easily accessed information to continue the learning process on trees as well as mammals, birds, insects, reptiles and more. The course includes vibrant photographic presentations that will introduce the participants to each tree in detail before we head out into the bush to actually find them. We will then also collect samples and mount these in scapbooks for the participants to have a personal reference to take home.

Kenya: Considering Conservation

2009-08-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

Reflecting on my first exposure to the Maasai Mara, I found great satisfaction in an article by Brian Jackman for the Telegraph (UK) and thought I'd share an extract from it as I have the sentiment in common with Brian regarding the future of the Mara and could not have worded it so eloquently myself...

"Kenya: a return to the age of innocence"

…In the wake of December rains, thousands of zebras and wildebeest had moved in from the Loita Hills and the big cats were out in force. In two days at Little Governors’ Camp I saw 30 lions, seven cheetahs and three leopards - and no one else was around. No wonder the BBC chose the Mara when filming its long-running Big at Diary series. But being the predator capital of the planet comes at a price: the reserve has become too popular for its own good and, in normal times when the camps are full, there would have been vehicles all over the place, converging like vultures whenever a cat was located.

A freeze on new lodges inside the reserve has brought some respite; but on the private land outside the reserve, it is a different story. There, on the rangelands of the Greater Mara, a government decision to give away common grazingland has triggered a property free-for-all, with unscrupulous investors buying up 150-acre plots in the hope of making a
quick killing from tourism.

The most outrageous example was an attempt to build a lodge on the rim of Leopard Gorge, an area frequented by generations of Mara leopards including Half-tail and her cubs, seen by millions of viewers on Big Cat Diary. Fortunately, the plan was quashed, but the abandoned buildings are a hideous eyesore in a hitherto pristine wilderness.

Elsewhere, development has continued unchecked. In the past year alone, at least a score of camps has sprung up within easy reach of the reserve’s main gateways, and the effect has been disastrous. At peak times, especially in July and August when the Serengeti wildebeest arrive, more than 8,000 visitors pour into the reserve, all wanting to see what has been called the greatest wildlife show on earth.

Last year, in an attempt to reduce the pressure, the Kenya Tourist Board doubled the park entry fees to discourage the minibus fleets favoured by budget travellers…

…Even so, in other parts of the reserve the congestion continues and the Kenya Wildlife Service admits it has no clear guidelines on how to control it.

Amid all the gloom, one initiative stands out like a beacon of hope, not just for the Mara but also for wildlife all over Africa. Three years ago, at the request of a local Maasai chief, 23,000 acres of pristine savannah on the reserve’s northern border were set aside as a private wildlife sanctuary. The Olare Orok Conservancy consists of 184 plots of freehold land whose owners have agreed to remove their cattle in return for a more generous income generated by high-end eco-tourism.

There are no fences and the savannah inside the conservancy is indistinguishable from the adjoining reserve, with giraffes, elephants and zebras moving freely among scattered flat-topped acacias - only the minibuses are absent.

The deal was brokered by Ron Beaton, a game warden’s son who has spent most of his life in the Mara, and Jake Grieves-Cook , spokesman for the Kenya Tourism Federation and owner of Porini Lion Camp , one of the four low-impact bush camps allowed on the conservancy.

“These private wildlife conservancies are the way forward,” says Grieves-Cook. “They give the Maasai a better income than they could ever earn from cultivation and we are very strict about visitor numbers, with no more than one tourist bed for every 700 acres of conservancy land.”

Wildlife inside the conservancy has also benefited. “We now have two resident lion prides, five leopards and regular cheetah sightings,” says Beaton, “and this all goes down well with our visitors. They enjoy watching lions without jostling minibuses disturbing the peace they have come to enjoy.”

During the dry season, these last unfenced rangelands of the Greater Mara become a vital dispersal area for wildebeest. They form an area bigger than the reserve itself and, without schemes such as the Olare Orok Conservancy, Grieves-Cook believes that the Mara ecosystem cannot survive.

Already, the amount of land available for wildebeest migration has been seriously reduced. The tragedy is that the Mara, which generates more revenue from tourism than anywhere else in East Africa, should have suffered the highest rate of wildlife decline. In the 1980s, 800,000 of the Serengeti’s 1.3 million wildebeest poured into the Mara each year.
Nowadays, fewer than 300,000 make the journey.

Ironically, the trauma of Kenya’s descent into anarchy has given the Mara a breathing space. The collapse of the country’s tourist industry will drive many of the cowboy operators out of business and shut down their camps. When tourism resumes, as it undoubtedly will, perhaps the government will see that privatising wild land, as the Olare Orok Conservancy has done, holds out the best hope for saving its wildlife…

© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/africaandindianocean/kenya/1000488/Kenya-a-return-to-theage-of-innocence.html

Memories of Mara - Land of Endless Skies

2009-07-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

Memories of Mara - Hooves and Heffalumps

2009-07-25T00:55:00.000-07:00

Memories of the Mara - Predators

2009-07-22T05:52:00.000-07:00

Meg in the Mara

2009-07-18T12:58:00.001-07:00

It’s marvellously magic here in the land of gnu-mania! I’ve been irrevocably seduced by this ecosystem, its endless vistas and mild (totally non-humid) climate. Game is everywhere and although 2 million odd wildebeest and tons of zebra are aggregating in this relatively small patch of preserved grassland (when compared to Serengeti from whence they’ve come), there is soooo much to see aside from the icons and their excessively abundant predators (I’ve seen hyena and lion daily for a week!). Grey-crowned cranes abound and ground hornbills show a fair abundance. Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles are a treat not having these in RSA and even the things we do have exist as different races or sub-species up here. Instead of the Southern giraffe, they have the Masai giraffe (different patterning). The zebra is missing its typical RSA “shadow stripe” and is called a Plains zebra rather than a Burchell’s. Coke’s hartebeest, Kirk’s dikdik, Bohor reedbuck, Topi and Olive (in place of Chacma) baboons are some of the other new ones. The good ole wildebeest is called a white-bearded wildebeest and the whole place is alive with their loud gnuuu-ing and bouncy territorial antics.

On closer look…wildebeest are pure grazers and selective at that. They do not select for species or specific parts of the plant like other selective feeders but rather wildebeest are ‘site selectors’ and will only take forage 15 cm long or less. In this regard they trample and maintain their own pastures and their wide muzzles are perfectly adapted to crop the lawn. When resources are depleted, individual herds form massive aggregations and migrate to ‘greener pastures’ (in this case from the Serengeti which has dried up completely now North to the Masai Mara and across the croc-ridden Mara River in the process)

Where adequate food and water is available wildebeest are more sedentary and exhibit a harem system where the male selects and protects a demarcated territory containing the resources that female’s desire. When the females roam into his area in search of fresh grass or water, the male will herd them and attempt to keep them in his territory (especially during the rut when they are in oestrus). Breeding herds move in homeranges that expand in drought conditions (up to three times) and become fairly stable during favourable times.

A typical wildebeest territory is usually positioned in the direct vicinity of water and somewhere nearby a sandy area that can be used as a stomping ground. Wildebeest have pedal glands (glands between their hooves) and they rake the ground with their feet to release the scent into the sand. They also release this smell wherever they walk. They make large dung middens on their stomping patches. Wildebeest bulls will engage in horn rubbing against bushes or on the ground often becoming covered in mud, in order to transmit preorbital (below the eyes) glandular secretions. Sometimes prominent rubbing posts develop within their territories. Bulls that have territories spend much time as solitary animals (until females pass through and can be herded) and in this regard they are vulnerable to predators but since only territorial bulls will sire offspring, this is a risk they are willing to take. Bulls will chase intruders out of their territory and will wrestle on their knees with any offender that does not comply.

Wildebeest are very water dependent and they will drink daily even satisfying their thirst on muddied waters (unlike zebra). They will always be within a 15km radius of a water supply. Wildebeest have bodies that are modified to accommodate their migratory habits. The slanted back is a result of shoulders that are positioned high on the body and long front legs. This structure allows wildebeest to canter for long distances. The canter is an energy-efficient mode of locomotion that allows wildebeest to follow the signs of distant storms (thunder and lightning) at a pace faster than a walk but less tiring than a full out run or trot. The calf of the wildebeest is one of the most precocial (developed at birth) of all antelope species and can stand within a few minutes and can run within a mere five minutes. It is able to keep up with the herd within the day.

"I'm a ga-nu...how do you do? I'm the ga-nicest ga-natured animal in the zoo...yes I'm a ga-nu!!!"

Memories of "becoming a game ranger"...

2009-07-12T14:41:00.000-07:00

Its 1 am. The icy chill of the July night air has penetrated right through my naked shins. My legs tremble uncontrollably where I sit perched on the spare tyre on the back of the Land Cruiser. We have been waiting for hours for the drugged lion to wake. I silently chastise myself for leaving my jacket behind. It’s so hot during the day and I didn’t realise that it would take so long to dart and collar a lion and now we are obliged to wait for it to recover. Its only four hours before the next official work day begins. I have to join a team of bush-clearers and help to chop out a stand of invasive and decidedly spiny sicklebush that has grown up along the main game viewing route of the reserve.

Another tremble rattles me. This time it’s the reverberating roars of two more lions so close to the vehicle that the puffs of hot air from their nostrils almost warm me. They have been attracted to the holding boma where the sleeping captive recovers. They bellow out their hostile intent towards the doped animal that they somehow sense is vulnerable. The experience is exhilarating. But not as much as the earlier part where I had to secure the impala bait to a tree with a hungry lion already in attendance!

The sleeping lion is not the only individual feeling vulnerable right now. It’s barely two months since I turned eighteen and my initial encounter with game ranging is turning out to be full of surprises. Had I known my first task on the job would be to sort through a large barrel of frozen butchery off-cuts (to remove any bits of incident plastic) before it could emptied out at the vulture restaurant, I’m not sure I would ever have embarked on a career in wildlife. Although not totally ignorant after six months of theoretical training, I’m still enchanted by my childhood illusion that game rangers are immediately issued roofless Land Rovers and sent off in search of big, impressive animals with the wind blowing their sun-stained hair across Ray Ban clad eyes. Although caught somewhat off-guard by this initial and decidedly unpleasant task, I was determined to prove my mother wrong of her all too frequently chided opinion that ‘game ranging is just not for girls’ so I rolled up my sleeves…

Unexpected is the name of the game ranger’s game. A few weeks later I discover that it is apparently completely normal for the undercarriage of the Toyota pick-up we are driving overland through a remote stretch of Kalahari grassland to intermittently burst into flames. This is thanks to an accumulation of tangled grass in the hot chassis. A few flaps, blows and handfuls of sand to dowse the flames and we’re back on the trail.

A trail that is quickly teaching me that there are bigger things at stake than ice-cold legs, blistered hands, spontaneously combusting vehicles and the obnoxious smell of decay. The reality of modern day conservation is that as soon as a fence encloses a wild area (no matter how large it is) it essentially becomes an artificial system. Wild animals can no longer follow traditional migration routes or adjust their home ranges to compensate for drought or predation. Typically agriculture and human settlements creep right up to the boundaries of the reserves and once the vegetation within the protected area becomes overgrazed, the natural recolonisation by seeds blowing in from refugia outside its perimeter, can no longer take place effectively. The area has to be managed by humans – game rangers - to simulate the appropriate ecological conditions for the ecosystem to continue to function. Predators, particularly, need to be closely monitored to minimise interbreeding. The radio collar we gave the lion will facilitate this process and help prevent any unwarranted interaction with the communities living right on the reserve’s doorstep. The dispatched intestines will provide a poison-free feeding site to vulnerable vulture species and prove an attraction to guests visiting the reserve (and thereby supporting its ongoing management)...

(a real-life extract from an article written for Africa Geographic Dec-Jan edition 2008/9 www.africageographic.com)

Plums for the Chiefs

2009-07-08T14:37:00.001-07:00

The great thing about the bush is that there is always something happening in spite of the weather or season. On a recent visit to the Pilanesberg Game Reserve in the North West Province (its a cool place, a natural system inside an ancient weathered volcano!) we stopped to stretch our legs at one of the picnic sites and to my suprise (and delight!) I spotted a Jacketplum in full fruit. Yes, this is me getting excited about a tree but its a really awesome tree that one seldom finds in fruit and when one does, one has to compete with baboons, monkeys and fruigivorous birds of every description to get a look in - especially this deep into winter! The fruit in the picture was sampled by myself immediately on taking the snapshot...and they were delicious!

Whats cool about this tree? The jacket plum (Pappea capensis) is often called the Indaba Tree. ‘Indaba’ is the Zulu word for 'meeting' and the tree was traditionally used as a meeting place. The boughs of a fully mature tree droop down towards the ground but do not become dense around the trunk. Tribal chiefs would hold meetings under the boughs of the jacket plum as they could be screened from view but could still see out through the branches to keep an eye on their village. The tree does not have a dense canopy generally and the hot air easily rises up from below, sucking in cooler air from the sides and providing a well air-conditioned conference facility.

The tree gets its name from the fruit which has a hard but velvety green skin. When it ripens, the fruit splits open along a clean seam revealing the juicy red flesh which makes the fruit look as if it were wearing a dinner jacket. The yummy fruit can be eaten as is or stewed up into a jelly preserve. Vinegar and an alcoholic beverage are also made from the fruit. Inside is a hard seed. This contains a great deal of viscous oil which may be extracted from the roasted seeds and traditionally this oil was used for curing baldness and ringworm. It has been used more recently by farmers to oil their rifles. The oil is edible but may have a purgative effect if consumed. It is also used for soap making and as a lubricant.

When not in fruit, the Jacketplum is one of the easiest bushveld trees to identify as it has especially distinctive bark - the bark is mostly smooth and looks as though it’s been sponged down with two tones of grey paint but older sections form rougher, blacker blocks that resemble small bricks on a peeling plastered wall. The bark has been used in the past to cure venereal diseases.

A Caravan of Caterpillars

2009-07-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

Some animals take team work to the extreme! While climbing on a boulder the other evening (to get a good sunset view and have a wee sundowner), we spotted this chain of hairy larvae making their way to...well...who-knows-where but they were certainly all going there together!!! These are the caterpillars of the processionary moth, a very gregarious species that occurs together on larval food plants and then whenever it is necessary to transfer to a new tree, the worms will move in a procession, head to rear, following a leader and leaving a silk trail as they move. They move imperceptibly slowly and the resultant effect is that the procession resembles a snake or a stick and is ignored by their usual predators (like cuckoos, birds which specialise in eating hairy caterpillars). The caterpillars also pupate collectively (up to 600 together) in a purse-like ‘bagnet’ and emerge as rather small and nondescript cream and brown moths.

Up a hill with some old pots

2009-07-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago I climbed a rather steep hill in the Waterberg with the somewhat charismatic Mark Tennant. We went up there to look at some enormous and rather ancient pots. History is not usually my thing but then again it’s not what we usually associate Mark Tennant with either. Mark is by usual connotation, crawling though the long grass to sneak up on feeding lions or browsing elephants with video camera at the ready but unbeknown to me until then, Mark has been a student of human-prehistory and is passionate about it (and generally anything Africa-related!). His latest escapade is the Animals, Arts and Ancestors experience…same funky hat, different adventure. (See http://www.animalsartsandancestors.com/ for details)

Although the climb required some exertion, it was worth it - the smell of brown hyena pastings and fresh leopard spoor from the night before made it exhilarating. Porcupines left their distinctive cocktail sausage-shaped calling cards and the view was spectacular with tracts of thorny bush stretching for miles and concealing a healthy population of white rhino.

A big snaking river breaks the slightly undulating landscape and its apparent why the late Iron Age people selected this particular mountain to build their grain silos. The area is fertile. Access to water and safety in the form of a mountain for vantage and shelter are the exact ingredients any community requires to settle down and grow crops and raise cattle. Rock overhangs provide the perfect sites for the construction of the most enormous clay pots I have ever seen and their construction 600-700 years before must have been exceptionally skilful since many of them are still mostly intact. In this particular site Mark has apparently tallied 130 of these giant storage ports and he explained to me how the system worked: An opening at the top of the pot would have been an access port to top-up the grain supply. This could have been sealed off later to keep rodents out. As the supply was depleted, a lower opening was chipped into the clay for easier access. This could then be closed up again for the next cycle.

Remarkably, while standing in the shelter of this ancient bastion-like grain depot I turned to look over the landscape one last time before we headed down in time to see a pair of Verreaux’s Eagles land on the boulder-strewn koppie a stone’s throw from where we were standing. What a sight! And an irony to me that they would choose to visually patrol their territory from a similar vantage to the Late Iron-Agers.

(pics were taken by another babe Megan Alves)

A Party for the Birds

2009-06-26T12:46:00.000-07:00

So I’m at the Karongwe Game Reserve this week in the Lowveld region (read ‘savanna wildlife mecca’) of the Limpopo Province. I’m doing a couple of guiding assessments to facilitate the process of young recruits joining the safari industry in SA. I must say, so far the game drives have been excellent (*FGASA/Theta you can be proud of your latest additions). This morning we headed out with the intention to look for birds and birding is what we got! Its winter and the veld is rather dry although not completely leafless yet. The air is chilly and bites the tip of your nose as you drive along but it’s magic all the same. I have to keep my binoculars under my jacket so that they don’t mist up each time I lift them to my eyes. The improved visibility from the wilting bush helps with spotting birds especially in the early morning when most species are vying for the sun in the upper-most branches. This morning, the attempts of a pearl-spotted owlet to warm up attracted more than he (or we bargained for). In the tree, about 15 different bird species had gathered to independently chirp their disapproval at the small predator. Of the bullies there was green-winged pytilia, yellow-fronted tinkerbird, Stierlings wren-warbler, yellow-breasted apalis, long-billed crombec, blue waxbills (galore), chin-spot batis, a woodpecker species or two, black-headed oriole, southern black tits and fork-tailed drongo.

This behaviour is known as mobbing and is a tactic used to encourage the raptor to leave the vicinity. The small birds recognize the owlet as a predatory threat (even though peal-spotted owlets eat mainly insects) but are letting the raptor know that it has been spotted and no longer holds any kind of element of surprise to attack the ‘potential prey’.

Birds of different species frequently associate in mixed feeding parties and are found together in what is known as a ‘bird party’. Generally the species in a bird party are predominantly insect eaters and each level or strata of birds feeding in the vegetation, benefits from the activity of the ones above it, dropping or herding insects to one another. A common food resource generally attracts the birds to form mixed parties and in the case of fruiting or flowering trees, not only will the frugivorous and nectarivorous birds be drawn to the location but so too will insects. In turn the insect eating birds arrive (and possibly also predatory ones). While the birds in the higher levels of vegetation move and feed they may knock seeds down to the smaller seed-eaters below. The collective feasting effort of a bird party affords all the birds in the area shared vigilance and they are better able to look out for danger and provide early warning of it (and then take action against it as in the case of the pearl-spotted owlet).

Bird parties are a type of interspecific (between species) allelomimetic behaviour. Allelomimetic behaviour relates to ‘copy-cat’ behaviour practiced predominantly by gregarious bird species. For example blue waxbills form monogamous pairs but during the day they feed together in flocks for greater protection keeping constant contact with each other through high-pitched ‘tswees’. If one bird suddenly flies off, the entire flock will also fly away. As far as bird parties are concerned, one or two birds begin feeding earnestly and other species notice this and join in ‘mimicking’ the original birds behaviour until a large party forms.

*FGASA: stands for the “Field guides association of southern Africa” and is the standards and training regulator for the guiding industry in southern Africa.
Theta: stands for “Tourism, hospitality and sports education training authority” and represents the South African government’s “National Qualifications Framework” in these fields. This framework facilitates the upskilling of people in industry and ensures an appropriate level of competence in the workplace. Once a FGASA / Theta skills program has been achieved, a candidate registers to operate as a guide legally in RSA with DEAT (Dept of Environmental Affairs and Tourism) (see http://www.fgasa.co.za/ for more info)

Toad-ally Cool

2009-06-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

So I was scrolling through the latest edition of "Under Currents" which is Cape Town's Two Ocean's Aquarium publication and a remarkable story caught my eye about an endangered Western leopard toad that had been rescued from literally under the wheel of a car and rehabilitated for the sake of 'saving the species'. In all my years out in the bundu's, I'd never heard of a frog being given veterinary treatment before - anesthetic and antibiotic injections included! Furthermore, his tongue had been irreparably damaged and was amputated as a result implying he could no longer swallow. Frogs use their tongues to push their food towards the back of the mouth and then jam it down the throat using their eyeballs. In spite of this set-back for 'Teddy' (as he has been dubbed...to my dismay as I'm not really pro the anthropomorphism of wildlife but it does help with fostering public support) and a period of undignified force-feeding, the one-eyed toad made a miraculous recuperation and began lunging and swallowing of his own accord. Unfortunately he won't ever rejoin a wild population but is now housed at the aquarium in a very prestigious ambassadorial position!

So whats the big deal about a toad getting a second chance? The fact of the matter is that frogs are indicators of the state of the environment. Because they have such moist, porous skins, they tend to absorb toxins much more easily that other scaled or furred creatures and are usually the first to disappear from an environment because of poisoning. Scientists typically guage the health of a habitat by the occurence of frog species. Toads are one group of frogs...one that yes, has more warty skin than most but this is simply an adapatation to the type of habitat they live in. The bumps on the skin create an uneven surface that acts as camoflage as they move around on the ground. Of the 'frogs', toads are the most terrestrial. Touching a toad will not give a person warts although they do have enlarged parotid glands on the head which secrete toxins as a defence when they are picked up by something (the toxin is what causes dogs mouths to froth when they grab toads).

The Western Leopard Toad occurs as a very small population in two isolated locatilities in the Cape and not much is really known about its survival success at the moment because they're so rare. Every member is considered vital for the perpetuation of the species. Of the frog species found in South Africa, more than half are found in the Western Cape (a whopping 62 spp) of which 29 species are found no where else in the world! Due to the fact that cities and farm lands expand so rapidly in our day and age, the habitats needed by all creatures but primarily the sensitive frogs are being diminished. This in conjunction with a rogue chytrid fungus that affects all frogs is wiping them out to the point that we're headed to the single largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs!

Sad state of affairs but I guess my take on the matter is that we should all try to appreciate what we've got while we have it (hop on down to Two Oceans and visit their new frog exhibit http://www.aquarium.co.za/ or see frogs on display at uShaka Marine World in Durban or Cango Wildlife Ranch in Oudtshoorn). Painted reed frogs (blogged about yesterday and the day before) and grey tree frogs often hide-out in human habitations to see through the winter (dry season)...who doesn't want to hiberate...have a look at them but don't chase them away or freak-out (they eat insects not humans). There are some practical things that 'Under Currents' suggests that one can do to encourage frogs in your garden like having a few upturned flower-pots under which they can hide, a net affixed to the side of the swimming pool to allow them to climb out after their dip (otherwise they usually drown coz there's no way out), beware of toxins you're using in the garden, create escape passages under / through the garden wall (only need be big enough for the frog not a burglar!) and try not to drive over the little critters during the rainy season.

The Chinese see a toad in the moon - not a man - and a lunar eclipse is the result of said amphibian trying to swallow the 'big cheese' itself...a bit extreme maybe but I hope a reminder to all of us of how toad-ally cool and (necessary in the bigger picture) frogs are!

(pic from http://www.flickr.com/)

Frog Voices

2009-06-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

Frogs are a favorite nature subject for me (and the reason I have one tatooed onto my hip!). Its the middle of winter here in South Africa and a strange time to be writing about them but perhaps its because I miss the insane caucophony they produce after the rains and throughout a good wet summer. Its one of the charms of wild Africa and as you travel through the bush moving past different habitats the volume and pitch of these small creatures varies from deafening to charming. Its no wonder that a chorus of frogs is known as an antiphony - it certainly is the opposite of a symphony. The reason for this is that there are a number of purposes for which frogs call and a number of different calls that they make:

The most common, incessant calls heard at night are the advertisements of the males singing to attract females. These calls are unique to individual species and attract members of similar species to a particular area and then help the males to space themselves out relative to one another. Although the resultant sound is somewhat frenzied (and confusing to predators wishing to isolate a single frog as a meal), the group chorus does have a degree of order. Two nearby callers will in fact alternate their sounds so that they don’t interfere with one another. This is called timeshare calling and it makes it easier for females to isolate their choice of mate which will depend on his pitch, a deeper tone usually representing a bigger and genetically superior male.

Should one male intrude on another individual’s turf, he may utter aggressive calls to denote his hold over that territory. These are usually heard early on in an evening while the frogs are still establishing their calling sites for the evening. Prime calling sites are in demand since females will select mates based on their calling sites since genetically superior individuals are likely to secure the best sites. To this end, males will even fight, wrestling and kicking to displace one another (as is the case with the painted reed frogs shown in the image and profiled below). Some males maximize on the efforts of the individuals in better calling sites (or with stronger calls) by remaining silent and then intercepting females attracted to these males in prime positions. This is called satellite behaviour.

Females produce a specific call called a release call to indicate to the male that they have completed laying and that he can let go. Sometimes when males are mistakenly grabbed by other males, they too will utter release calls. Distress calls are given by both sexes should they be seized by predators. This is often adequate to startle the predator which then releases the frog.

Frogs are fabulous

2009-06-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

As their name suggests, reed frogs make use of the tall reed beds that fringe pans to breed. The males climb right to the top of the reeds to emanate their shrill calls. Reed frogs have flat toe pads to assist in climbing the reeds. Each call site is defended from other males and reed frogs are notorious for screeching and kicking to displace a rival. During the day reed frogs may hide in trees taking shelter in the axils of leaves. If no tree cover is available, they will simply remain on the reed stalk sometimes in exposed positions. Their small bodies and hunched posture allows them to minimize evaporative losses at these times.

This is a small frog of only about 2.5cm but is conspicuous for its dazzling colouration and high pitched piping whistle that creates a notable cacophony when many call in chorus. Painted reed frogs are common and occurs throughout the eastern part of southern Africa in a variety of different races (up to 16) each possessing unique colours and patterns which have caused great consternation amongst scientists with regards to classification. The colour form present in the Lowveld is strikingly striped in black, white and yellow on the upper side and the flanks and limbs are fringed with red patches. To create further confusion, painted reed frogs are able to bleach their colouration completely during the day in order to thermoregulate (reflect heat).

The inner sections of the hind legs are infused red and this is used as an anti-predatory device known as flash colouration. A threatened individual will leap up, exposing the bright red colour obvious to the predator which then focuses on this. As the frog lands, the red inner leg is instantly tucked away and the predator no longer has its target in sight and may then struggle to relocate its quarry should the frog remain motionless.

A blog is born

2009-01-07T01:10:00.000-08:00

Well, its all happening...the babe in the bush blog has been born. Watch this space for more...or check out www.africanresource.co.za in the meantime