Week four at Ulovane

Another two hour exam to start off the week - this time from 7am (which I was not entirely prepared for!) This time on taxonomy, arthropods, amphibians and fish. It was the hardest one so far, but we already got the results and I did better than I thought! The previous exam's results have gotten misplaced somehow and we can't access it  at the moment as Seanie Sean is away with the Trails Guides so we're still in the dark about that - welcome to Africa! ;o)

This week Schalk (The Founder and Director of Ulovane) joins us for Weather and Climate, Biomes and then Kyle is doing Conservation Management. Schalk's passion for the bush and animals is contagious and his lectures were very informative.

We were incredibly fortunate to experience two game captures and relocations this week. Day one consisted of getting up at 4:15am and driving to gate one where we met up with the vets, anti-poaching unit and security, as well as lots of maintenance guys, students from Australia and all the hands we could get together! After a brief from the main vet (William Fowldes), he got into the heli and started darting 5 black wildebeest, 9 red hartebeest and 1 eland bull which we then had to go and pick up (where they dropped in the veld) with bakkies and had to hold on for dear life as the drivers literally bounced as quick as they could to the immobilised animals, we then had to load them (keeping their heads up) and race them back to the truck where the other vets were waiting to administer more tranquilizers, antibiotics and multivitamins before they were loaded. It was such an incredibly exhilarating experience!!

We couldn't believe that it could get any better, and then found out that the next morning we were invited to take part in a giraffe capture as well. We were very worried when the vet briefed us about the high fatality rate when capturing these animals, however we managed to capture a female and younger male without any injuries! It was an absolute sublime experience to handle these graceful animals. The procedure was completely different due to their size: After darting the runners had to manoeuvre ropes around their legs, criss-crossing until the animal practically fell down, obviously trying to prevent any injuries. Then a few of us had to fall on the neck, trying to keep the animal as still as possible while they are blindfolded and checked for injuries. A kind of a harness is then attached and the vet gets the animal to stand while the rest of us formed two sides with ropes essentially guiding the animal to where the truck is waiting (see below). This was a bit trickier with the first female as she ran deep into the shrubs before falling so we had to guide her a long way - all the while keeping in mind that this is a wild animal and one kick could easily kill a human! In any case, our excellent teamwork paid off and the two are now safe and sound in their new reserve.

Finally, on top of all the luck we had, we also stumbled across a jackal burrow on the way and were able to witness the gorgeous 2 week old pups (last pic).