As I woke from my slumber this morning I realised that the time of comfort was about to end. From this point on, there would be no 4-star accommodation, from now on it would be tents. Today though was unfortunately going to be a long, rather dull day compared to what we had been used to, as we embarked on the 600km drive to Somkhanda Game Reserve. We were originally going to drive through Swaziland but a last minute change of route meant we were now going to go around it. Either way, this was going to be an 8-9 hour drive. We were given a little task to do today though as we drove, a little something to keep us occupied I think. We were asked to write about our best sighting or experience from the game drives in Kruger, which for me was an easy choice I guess. The Martial eagle pretty much sealed it. We were also asked to finalise our mammal and bird lists of sightings, which was the information that would be passed onto the kruger officials.
We set off for the drive at 8am, so a bit of a lie in compared to what we were used to. As soon as we were on the bus and driving I pretty much inserted my headphones and began to nap. I am usually a fan of long journeys but this time, I was sapped of all energy. Probably didn’t help that I hadn’t eaten much at breakfast (little did I know that the reasons behind my lack of energy was from something rather more microscopic). No matter how tedious the drive seemed though there was definitely some amazing scenery to take in. I think we drove though pretty much everything, from urbanised towns to shanty towns, open Savannah, farmland, banana fields, logged forest, un-logged forest and beautiful mountain regions. This country is truly breath-taking, as if I needed reminding.
By this point I had lost all hope of seeing a secretary bird, I had been told that they weren’t usually found this far south. Which inside had annoyed me a little, as it was one of the birds I really wanted to see to mark off the big 5 raptor list. It was early afternoon though when once more, luck was apparently on my side. Out of nowhere sitting atop of a solitary tree in the middle of a field Chase spotted a secretary bird! I immediately looked out the window to see it sitting there in all its glory. What were the odds of actually seeing one of these fantastic birds? I had no idea but I was speechless. As I look back on that chance encounter the quote Marc told us on that first night was beginning to ring true.
This trip had given us everything & I had given myself to the experience. What else could possibly be in store for us now, according to me at this point, absolutely anything! We stopped off in a town called Pongola soon afterwards, another little pit stop to make sure we were all still alive. After seeing some street dancers briefly, it was onwards for the final push to the reserve. We finally arrived at around 6pm and quickly got settled into our tents, after being escorted by some very merc looking individuals carrying guns, which were situated in the middle of a forested section. They were rather nice actually. We then had dinner and as usual and played the night away with our trusty deck of cards before another 7am start in the morning.
I was already warming to this reserve, unlike a national park, Somkhanda is funded and supported by the local community and as it stands is a community reserve, so we were definitely in for a much different experience then we had in Kruger or Moholoholo. It is also a fairly new reserve so hearing their plans over the next 5-10 years was fascinating.
Day 9: The Panthera Illusion
We were up for 7 the next morning, although compared to our ‘stunning’ British weather it was still lovely, there was a distinct chill in the air, one that hadn’t previously been felt whilst on the trip. Chase & Marc predicted it, a cold front was coming. Anyway, after a spot of breakfast we found out that we would be partaking in leopard surveying.
The surveying was of great importance to the reserve. They had a healthy population of leopard which needed to be monitored to aid the amazing work being done by PANTHERA (
http://www.panthera.org/) to conserve the world’s big cats. Alongside helping PANTHERA, the surveying itself offer valuable information to the reserve itself as to how many leopards could be around the area, sex of the cats and which areas they frequent. However, none of the leopard in the reserve are collared, they are monitored and surveyed through the use of camera trapping. On a wide scale, camera trapping is non-invasive and can cover vast areas of a reserve. Somkhanda though is, at the moment a new reserve, so funding is limited in places, especially considering how expensive equipment like camera traps are, this meant that we only had 4 or 5 traps at our disposal.
None the less we set out into the reserve to go retrieve data from the traps that had already been set out the day before. The plan was to go to each individual trap, take out & replace the memory card, then check that all of the traps settings were correct so that it could continue to get data for the following day. Settings involved obvious things like date & time, the distance of the motion sensor, pictures or video etc. The time spent in between arriving at each trap was used as a general game drive, to get to know the area. Almost immediately we were treated to another new bird species, the grey hornbill, a relative of the yellow and red billed hornbill that had been numerous on our journey so far. However, the grey hornbill is slightly larger, more vocal and gregarious than its relatives. For these reasons, which could lead to out competing, there had never been recorded sightings of yellows or reds this far south. Despite this it was the black-eyed bulbul and fork-tailed drongo that seemed to be the most common sightings. These little birds could be heard and seen at every turn, not that I was complaining. Fabulous birds, especially the drongo. Drongo’s are well renowned for being highly defensive birds, for a little creature they have a fierce attitude and do not allow themselves to be bullied by anything, including large birds of prey such as eagles. They have been known to mob and harass birds much larger than themselves to protect their territory, thus are largely left alone.
We all had a go at changing and checking the camera traps, I was enjoying it. This was conservation and management in action. Although it was a little task in a way I thought I was contributing. We soon arrived at a large watering hole to check the third trap. The water’s edge was covered by a massive flock of crested guinea fowl, there must have been at least one hundred individuals. They all soon scarpered as soon as they heard the truck though, very nervy birds, although I’m guessing you would be to if you were a common prey source for pretty much anything that eats meat… We were also treated to a bird that I never thought I’d actually set my eyes upon on my journey, a purple crested turaco that hopped out of the thickets to a high perch to overlook the watering hole. What a glorious sighting to christen our first day here. After seeing a patch of mud where a rhino had recently wallowed we soon got on our way to the last camera, which was situated near the top of a large highland area of the reserve. The sights we got up there were incredible, really breath-taking scenery. Everything the sun touched was Somkhanda game reserve in all its glory and upon looking out, in the distance below us we saw another of the groups out on their bush walk. Up at the top of this hill we also saw something else interesting, up in the sky not far from us, a bird, definitely a raptor, was soaring. Neither I nor Riley, our guide, had an idea on the id of the bird so I took some pictures and decided that books would be our greatest tool here.
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| The purple crested turaco |
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| The group on their bush walk |
We made our way back to the lodge for some lunch before the day’s activities resumed, the shock came after we had eaten though, we were given ‘free time’. That was odd, I had forgotten what one does with such time since being out here, so as always we resorted to a game of cards. Couldn’t argue with that. During this time the mysterious bird that was seen turned out to be a black sparrowhawk. I also found out that there are indeed crowned eagle nesting somewhere in the reserve. Superb news, the last bird of prey on the ‘big raptor 5’. The only task now was, when/how would I get eyes on such a creature?
That afternoon we continued with the leopard monitoring. For this, we simply inserted the memory cards into a laptop and browsed away. Although we got some cool pictures of a group of large cane rat, aardvark, genet and some antelope species it would seem leopard luck was not with us today as there were no pictures of the glorious cats. It was a shame, but I guess it was a little too optimistic of us to have thought we would instantly get leopards again, but this was just the continued hype from Kruger. Instead, so that we could get a good idea of the process, we all looked through previous images of leopards that had been collected by the camera traps around the reserve. The task now was to use the leopard’s rosettes to identify them, see which leopards are the same, and which are not. Trying to identify individuals is actually a lot more difficult than it looks, although we were given tips on how to make it easier. Instead of just looking at the body, where it’s easy to get lost in a sea of rosettes, we were told to look more at the rear of the body, around the rump and tail, the legs and neck/head to pick out small distinguishing features, making it easier on the eyes. However, I did gain a new respect for anyone that has to do this sort of identification, on any animal, it is tasking and difficult, even with about 9 of us sat around looking at the same picture.
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| Somkhanda Game Reserve |
After another late afternoon game drive we decided to head back and relax for the night. We had nothing in particular to do so most people just sat around the fire and nattered amongst themselves. After discovering a bark scorpion next to the fire (cool little arachnid) I fancied some time alone. I went up and sat by the lodge, whilst writing and listening to music. As good as the company was its good to have a little time to yourself, allows you to get some clarity and have some time to think. I decided to call it a night at about half 9, just as the rain started… this was going to be fun, rain… in the dry season. I thought I’d see what the morning brings, but as I lay there in my sleeping bag, the rain tapping away on the tent around us, I felt a churning in my stomach. ‘Damn’ I thought, as the sickness set in…
“ohh ah ah ah ah”
Day 10: The Valley
There was always going to be one bad day on this trip, this became apparent from early on. A bug was steadily making its way around people in the group. An infection that made you feel really bad, as if your stomach was doing cartwheels but you wouldn’t throw up (well that was the case with me at least). The weird thing about it though was that it would only last for 24 hours.
Safe to say I didn’t sleep much last night, the bug coupled with the fact that the rain overnight exposed a hull breach in our tent leaving it slightly flooded resulted in a Matt that was pretty grouchy. Come time for breakfast I was moody as could be, only managing to get some juice into myself as the cold front continued to make its way over us, leading to a grey, cloudy and rainy morning across the reserve. Still, I was here for the full experience and was determined not to let the bug to get the best of me, especially seeing as today we were going out on a bush walk, covering a good 5-7km of the reserve. I always enjoyed bush walks, the skills learned on such expeditions are ones that can be used and advanced over and over again, not forgetting that knowing what is actually present in a reserve is very important along with the fact that clues, tracks etc that can be found on such walks can offer valuable information on the movements of animals and the dynamics between certain species across the habitat. What’s not to love about being able to ‘de-code’ the woven fabric of the reserve? I personally find it fascinating.
Before we started we were given a briefing on the safety protocol and etiquette whilst out on the walks, this involved how we should be walking (rolling our heels) and formation (single file is ideal as it creates less disturbance to the surrounding environment). Also included on this briefing was the fact that we should keep any talking to a minimal, for obvious reasons, and that if Chase gives a command, such as get down, stop etc we follow that like gospel. After the prep talk we headed out into the rain and began to make our way through the reserve. Almost from the get go Chase & our other guide began to spot some really interesting signs that began to lift our spirits considerably. First of all we stumbled upon a kudu carcass, a nice little food source for some interesting species I bet, but alas we had no camera traps to place near it; soon after several signs of black rhino began to appear. If we saw a black rhino I would be bouncing off the walls, forget having the bug. This type of internal excitement is one that everyone should have the pleasure of feeling at least once, it was the same sort of rush I got when being chased by the giraffe and being challenged by the elephant, its primal and really drives you, something you just can’t get in our urban, metropolitan lives back home. The signs kept coming, foot prints, areas of land that had been walked through, fresh dung, stripped bark, rubbing posts, wallowing spots. There was everything that pointed to a rhino being around us, apart from the marvelous beast itself. It was not until we had gone past a dried river bank that we were given the command to halt, not a sound to be made. We then heard it, a pulling and crunching of vegetation, along with an odd lumbering footstep coming from the other side of some thick vegetation. We were all like statues as Chase and the other guide confirmed the noise, it was an actual black rhinoceros feeding on the other side. This was euphoric, we were tantalisingly close, we could hear its every move, from pulling the browse off the trees and shrubs to its odd grunts to itself; not to mention the rain had also subsided with the sun making a most welcome appearance. I was gutted at the fact we couldn’t move round to a better position to claim the visual but understandably it was just too dangerous, on a good day the black rhino is naturally more reclusive and more prone to aggression if disturbed or threatened, but just knowing that it was there was immeasurable, a 900-1300kg ghost, an animal that could vanish almost instantly into a forested environment, a creature that unless you knew what you were looking for would probably never stumble across.
As we left the rhino in peace the walk was coming to an end much quicker then I would have liked; in the meantime we had spotted some hoopoe and green wood hoopoe along with a stunning black-headed oriole. Chase was also trying to increase our knowledge and interest in the flora of the reserve. This was met with moderate success, there are certainly some interesting plant and tree life out here, such as a cactus that has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of British soldiers during the fighting with the Zulu tribes and plants, whose stems can be made into a toothbrush, but I still find it difficult to make that special connection with flora.
Another highlight came later on in the walk when we came down into a valley, this place looked like a tropical paradise, covered with thick, green trees and shrubs and plentiful supplies of colourful plants filling the landscape around us. The immediate area around the path we were on was open but the forest almost surrounded us as if trapping us in a bubble. In this valley, birdsong filled every inch of the air, there were so many birds all around us, Chase, primarily, & I were looking all around identifying and spotting new birds left, right and centre. This ‘valley of the birds’ seemed like a paradise, the usual bulbul were fluttering around with southern black tit, yellow-throated longclaw, orange breasted bushshrike (a particularly great sighting), yellow breasted apalis’ and two different woodpecker species, golden-tailed woodpecker and cardinal woodpecker. What a place! As we made our way out into the open grassland once more we stumbled upon one more gem of the bush walk, a young rock python out, presumably basking on log. This was quite unusual as with it being winter the snake would be a rare sighting, generally choosing to hibernate. There was a burrow nearby to where the snake was though, leading us to believe that it had simply being displaced from where it was taking shelter, annoying for the little snake considering he was just about to shed his skin.
We had lunch (well I didn’t, the infection was going strong) before heading out for a bit of rifle shooting. I can tell you now, this was a lot of fun. Although we were only using pellet guns, the ability to shoot is an important one for rangers to learn. After all you are dealing with wild animals and no matter how experienced or careful you are, things can/will go wrong at some point and at those times as harsh and absolute as it is, you have to be able to defend yourself, with lethal force if necessary. We made the activity into a bit of a competition though, naturally. We had a target, a gun and enough people for two teams, in particular boy’s vs girls. I don’t actually remember who really won that round but after a bit of cheesy banter I’m going to say that the boys won, for prides sake. Next was a test in our accuracy, this time, the target was a bullet casing placed on top of one of the targets. I missed by a hairs width but then again I’m ill so my aim was bound to be off…
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| The shooting squad! |
The shooting ended literally as darkness fell upon the reserve. My time with the sickness was also almost up, thank god as I ended up not eating again in the evening leaving me completely drained. It was sometime after dinner that Sarah managed to source me some Paracetamol (the only med that I didn’t pack) and I fell asleep, down and out to the world. The sleep must have worked though as when I woke up later that evening I felt as recharged as a Duracell battery. I had shaken the bug.
Today was a lesson in the most important personal skills required for game reserve management. Even if you are to help with conservation programs it is vital that you can identify and understand the fragile relationship between every aspect of the habitat you are entering. How the animal’s co-habitat, & what is their ecological niche? What are the patterns of their movements? Which plants are present and which ones are ideal for which species? Are there any symbiotic relationships at play? These are but a few of the questions that need to at least be considered when managing an area or attempting to reintroduce a species. You cannot help unless you understand.
However, the night was drawing on and it was time to sleep. The final masquerade was upon us, one last day to help and to understand. I couldn’t believe this time was already upon us but at least tomorrow it was time for the big guns, rhino tracking and conservation. We had a close encounter today but I know we can get something better than that tomorrow, this amazing place has never let me down.
Day 11: The Renosters Mark
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| On the trail |
This is it. Our last day at the reserve before traveling back home tomorrow. I am feeling so much better, albeit my stomach still being a little fragile. Today we were back on the active management side of things after the previous day’s lessons; we were going to lend a hand with the reserves rhino monitoring program. There is a dedicated number of staff here who go out relentlessly protecting and locating the reserves rhinos alongside an efficient anti-poaching squad.
There is so much I would love to write about the monitoring itself, like their methods and routine but this is a time where a lesson in subtlety is paramount. As much as I would love to tell you all, the fact is that if I laid out their operation to you it could open the gates to those who wish these creatures harm. Even if one person by pure chance reads this and is affiliated with poachers somehow, they would know every single detail of the reserves protocols. This is something that cannot be allowed to happen due to the slip of a tongue or the over excitement of a post-graduate student with a love for this area, as the rhino’s position at the moment is on a razors edge, so forgive me for having to be fairly careful and not overly detailed with regards to some information. For example, 200 rhino every year are poached in Kruger alone and the park has even recently made a move to remove some of the population and relocate them to a safe area.
We went out at about 9am in the truck to make a start. The rhino here, as with many other populations are tagged so can be tracked through telemetry, this is carried out by a member of the monitoring team who uses the device to give a general direction the rhino can be found in. The important information for us was being able to tell the age ranges of the rhino we were seeing, in order to understand the population dynamics. We needed to be able to identify this, along with the number of animals in the group and the sex of the rhinos. This was the information that needed to be recorded in order for the reserve to keep an appropriate record of the animals present. The rhino themselves are ear notched in order to identify them. The notches give all the information spotters need to identify each individual. The morning started off well, we were one a roll before the first bit of bad luck struck us, the batteries died on the telemetry forcing us to turn back to the lodge, a good half hours’ drive away. This led to the rest of the morning being rather slow, we had no choice but to sit around for a bit and watch the world go by chattering away to each other. We were waiting a good 40 minutes before we were finally ready to head back out onto the road. Once back out there though we got some signs of rhino being nearby and the guide managed to get a visual on a black rhino, but again we couldn’t follow due to safety reasons.
Due to the delay it seemed too soon to head back to the lodge for dinner but we went and made the most of the glorious weather whilst we could. I saw a couple of bataleur eagle soaring in the sky when out of nowhere Vicky pointed something else out in the sky, this was no bataleur, too big. Whatever it was, it was flying close, I got a really good view of it circling. I couldn’t believe my eyes through the binoculars, the plumage was perfect, but surely it couldn’t be, but the evidence was right in front of me. The bird swooped down from its high vantage into the trees and disappeared from view. I ran to go get my bird id book, I couldn’t believe it when I turned to the page, everything I had seen was spot on. I was and still am 99% certain that the magnificent bird I saw was a crowned eagle, it had to be, and it was so vastly different from anything else that was in the area. A raptor a day makes me a happy chap.
The afternoon started with a small talk from the anti-poaching squad. They gave us a neat live firing demo (the child inside of me was screaming, hell yes!) before talking to us about their job. Up until a few years ago the response to finding poachers was a ‘shoot to kill policy’. One that whilst alleviating the immediate effects did little to curb poaching in the long run. Now they work an angle that is surprisingly but logically more compassionate. In order to stop the poaching, you need to not only cut the head off the snake (figuratively of course, as actually doing so would be… well, poaching) but you need to have an understanding of the underlying economic situations. After all they do it, not out of joy but out of necessity to feed themselves and their family and poaching is what puts that food in their mouths. When you capture someone who for instance has killed some mongoose in a reserve you realise just how desperate and hungry that person must be to have to resort to such things. It adds an interesting angle onto the issue; poaching has a lot of sides and motivations and only through combating these underlying issues can the overarching crime be rooted out and destroyed. It really took me back to the conversations we had about trophy hunting back at Moholoholo and to a quote from a song that I’d been listening to a lot since being out in Africa.
“When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die”
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| Getting up close with rhino |
This spurred me on as we went back out into the reserve in search for rhino. After a few more rhino locations had been determined by the guide we got our chance. We are led out into the bush, the same rules as out on the bush walk apply here. After following the guide, who is incredibly skilled, I mean this guy could tell you how many rhino were in an area, which direction they were going in and how long ago they were in the area just by looking at a few footprints, their knowledge and tracking skills are unbeatable. We followed the guide for about 15 minutes before we entered a bit of a clearing in a wooded section of land. The ground ahead of us sank down into a ditch that ran through the wood, most likely another dried river bed, and as we got low letting the silence grace our ears we heard footsteps and then a loud grunt ahead of us. After careful observation we could make out a group of 5 white rhino, 2 bulls, 2 females and a calf. The calf himself became quite inquisitive of us, and walked up the verge to look directly as us before stopping as one of the bulls let out another warning grunt. The calf continued to look at us as some of the other rhino came into view. This was a really special moment, these animals were less than 300m away from us. Wild white rhino, not use to humans or vehicles (unlike the ones in Kruger). These guys would have no hesitation in charging us if they felt threatened, they could not have been any wilder and to be so close to them did bring a tear to my eye. I felt so honoured to be able to witness these utterly magnificent animals and even as I write this now the memory replays over and over again in my head. I’ve spent a lot of years seeing white rhino in captivity but in the wild I can confirm it is a completely different experience. Definitely one of the best moments of my entire life. A moment that has changed my entire perception on future possibilities.
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| Monkeying around at the end of an amazing day |
Day 12: Let the Music Play
Today we leave Somkhanda and embark on the 8 hour journey back to Johannesburg where tonight we will be leaving South Africa. At this point home was a distant memory, I wasn’t ready to come back to England. We packed up and left quite early in the morning and the long, open roads came back into view not long afterwards. Our times in Somkhanda were all but memories now. Although it was clear that we were all a little gutted at the fact we were heading home it was good that we all outwardly kept things rather light hearted, not to mention how foolish I was thinking Africa had finished with me yet. As we drove past some open grassland we spot 2 more secretary birds, out of the blue. They were just walking across the grassland, searching for food. Unlike the last time Chase also turned back, leaving the convoy, so we can spend some time and get some pictures of them. I was so thankful for that. It was great being able to get a proper look at these incredible birds; if that wasn’t enough later on in the journey I even finally got a glimpse of a gymnogene, the only bird of prey left on my ‘to see list’, flying alongside the bus, I have truly being spoilt. What a send-off.
As the journey progressed though there was only one thing to do, let the music play. Theresnothing that could be done about leaving so why not make the most of the time we did have sat on a bus. The iPod speaker came out and the classic songs came bursting through, everything from Stacy’s Mom to Chop Suey. That is how we roll.
However, before we knew it we had gone through customs, stuffed our bags full of duty free delights and were on the plane ready for the 9 and a half hour flight back home. The masquerade was over and it was time to leave the magic behind and return to reality.However, I made sure that the music was still playing all the way back. Although I did have a window seat this time, so cue the incredible views as we travelled over the Congo and Sahara at night and crossed Milan at dawn.
When we finally landed back in England that’s when it hit. Tiredness played a role but there was a sweeping depression that flooded over, it was hard not to feel a little down after seeing all those wanders and then to be greeted by wood pigeon. All was not bad though as when we entered the main terminal lobby one of my friends, Gemma, was met by her boyfriend who at that moment became her fiance. Talk about a lovely moment! We arrived back at Moulton College and hung around waiting for lifts. Me and Jaz were waiting for Kathryn who ended up being my favourite person when she arrived, embracing a warm flask of beautiful Starbucks hot chocolate. That made being back in England all the little bit nicer.
That is the end of my adventure though. I went home, continued with life, which is the position in which I am writing this now. I can't end this post without saying thankyou though. I owe this experience to so many people & I have enjoyed being able to share it with you all here on my blog, all that I hope is that you enjoyed reading and following my adventure.
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