Alix's African Adventures

Hi, my name is Alix and I am lucky enough to get to travel to South Africa to do research there! I don't know how much internet access I'll have there, but I should hopefully be able to post updates on my study to this blog! =D Wish me luck!

[alixs-adventures]

UPDATEEEEE~

Hiya! Hello! Howzit going?

  My apologies for the delay! I meant to update earlier, but it's crazy how fast time passes and how 'oh I'll type an update tomorrow' gets repeated every day. I honestly do mean well when I try to type updates, but days are long and mornings are tough when you're lacking sleep. I have some interesting stories though and it's time to share them!

  First off, I'm a mommy! ...Kidding, but I have marked my own juvenile squirrel. He's so cute and tiny! Guess what I painted on his back! The triforce (google it if you don't know what it looks like)! Yep, gamers across the world should be proud of me. I love my little guy, and so far, he's still alive and well. Hopefully  I'll catch and handle him again soon. I swear, if a pale chanting goshawk carries him off, I will shoot that bird. We know a PCG caught another juvenile (u v dot, who was Jackie's), so if it takes my baby, I will avenge him.

  Anyways, things have been pretty regular here. It's funny though, as everyone seems to be working harder now that Jane is here. All the undergrads are always working on their projects and the grad students seem to be doing a lot more of their own data entry and collection. It's nice for me because I get a little bit of a break from radiotracking and observations. I collected most of the data for my project in late May, before I went to Cape Town. Because of that (I slaved for a week straight to completely collect all plant samples from colonies), I have to only collect plants to press for identification and process all the samples so they can be taken back to Canada. There's still a ton of work involved with processing, but it's mainly drying and homogenizing the leaves, so I can get a break from walking by doing it. I'll write an entry on my project some other time, because it's getting late and I have one more story to tell.

  So tonight I was radiotracking the squirrels that Kelsey needs to catch. We were able to find all of them, save for 3 bar. So here's a relatively accurate summary of my thought process as I looked for him by colony 25:

  'Hm... that's strange. He's not hanging around here. That's ok, I'll just walk around and try to get a signal. Hum de dum, nothing but static. Oh look, eyes. Oh, it's a herd of something. Oops I spooked the- uh... are they... Oh no they're stampeding towards me. AH! Okay they changed directions. Stupid herd. Must be wildebeests, they're not the brightest animal. Right, radiotracking. Hm, still no signal. Walking walking walking, just keep walking. Oh I heard something behind me. What's that- OHMYGODPORCUPINE! AIEEEE! Holy crap! Ok breathe. Wow I just saw a porcupine and I'm pretty sure I just had a heart attack. Ok, radiotracking. I think I've had enough of wildlif- AHH! Why do these birds hide in the grass and spring up at the last possible second. Okay, tracking. Hum de dum, still no signal. Where the heck did this squirrel go. Oh, another pair of eyes, just above the grass. Only one, doesn't seem like antelope... Hm... Inner biologist says try to identify it. Okay, step forward a bi- IT HISSED! Okay where did it run to!?!? Okay, breathe. I've had enough of nature. Peel yourself away, there's nothing on this reserve that can kill you, save for snakes and scorpions, and they're not out right now. Chill out and get your heart rate down. Tracking, right. Okay 3 bar, where are youuuuu? I want to go have supper and I've had far too many terrifying moments tonight. Oh hi Alyssa, let's drive out and check some other colonies. Lemme just get in the car-...*RIP* Oh great. That's just peachy. Now there's a giant hole in my crotch. Fan-friggen-tastic. And we still haven't found this stupid squirrel. Oh, BBM. Supper's ready. Let's go home'

  YEP! So I had an eventful night and now I'm writing this lovely update instead of stitching up the tear in my pants. I liked those pants too. Dang nabbit. I'll make up for it by sleeping in tomorrow. We worked out where traps are going tonight, so tomorrow we get to sleep until 6:15 before heading out. I am sooooo pumped!

  Anywho, it's getting late and I feel like you're all enjoying my misfortunes of the evening. I hope I put a smile on your face and that we talk soon! Cheers!

  Alix

  PS – If I owe you an email, I will try to write it tomorrow. I'm about to fall asleep right now and I don't think I could write a good response. Night!

  PPS – there are far too many people in this house, especially in the kitchen around meal time

  PPPS – The other undergrads go home in two weeks. That's insane. I have five weeks left before I'll be in Canada. The countdown is on!

  PPPPS – Pepper I love you for doing these updates for me! Thank you so much <3

[alixs-adventures]

UPDATE!

Heyo!

Long time no talk! Sorry about that, but as usual, it's been absolutely INSANE here in regards to time. As mentioned a few updates ago, we go at it pretty hard and the days can be long. However, today was awesome because it rained! We can't trap or do observations in rainy conditions, so it was like a day off! We went into town and spent most of it doing the weekly grocery shop, plus school schedules for the next year, so it wasn't reaaaaallly that relaxed, but it was still nice. My official day off is July 20, which I am soooo pumped for. Expect an update that day if I don't waste the day in bed (scratch that, I'll probably lay in bed and type an update).

I miss home a bit more and I'm really looking forward to coming back, but at the same time, I'm going to miss Africa. There are things here that will never be the same back home. One of my favourite things are the stars. They are absolutely beautiful out here. I can see the Milky Way almost every night, especially when there is no moon. It's breathtaking really, and I enjoy stopping to just look up and admire the sky. I'll try to do that tomorrow morning because I am insane and I want to get up at 4:30 to jog.

New news in Bloemhof involves the prof I work under: Jane! She arrived on the reserve today! Her and her son Alex (yep, now there's Alex R, Alex B, and Alix N, yay...) will be in Bloemhof for the rest of the time that I'll be working here. I actually fly back home with them part ways (they stop in London, I continue to Winnipeg). We are going to be craaaaawling over each other in this household, and there's one more person coming. Guess what his name is? Ali. Yep. Eleven people in this tiny house and there's three Ale/ix's, one Alyssa, and one Ali. It's confusing as heck. I might start going by a different name. Maybe we'll go by last names, or our middle names.

I'd love to write more, but I want to sleep so I can function tomorrow morning. I'll do a write up on handling squirrels when I get some photos, and I'll do one on observations soon! Talk soon!

Alix

[alixs-adventures]

Radio telemetry (or radio tracking)

One of the activities that I regularly perform out on the reserve is radio tracking. In order to determine where the squirrels are, we collar the squirrels with radio collars. These collars have batteries in them and put out a signal that can be picked up by an antenna. We use an antenna and device to look for the squirrels. You can see me in the picture tracking a squirrel. I like to hold the receiver close to my ear so I can hear the beeps better. When you come in range of a squirrel with a collar, the device will beep. As you turn down the gain on the instrument, the signal becomes fainter (aka you have to move closer). As you point the antenna, the signal will beep louder or quieter, depending if you’re pointing it in the right direction or not. It’s almost like a treasure hunt to search for it, ending when you point the antenna at the ground (the burrow that the squirrel is in) and it beeps the loudest.

Radio tracking is a lot of fun, but it takes a lot of time and involves a lot of walking. There are daytime and nighttime tracking schedules where we look for approximately ten squirrels. It’s great until you can’t pick up a signal for a squirrel. For instance, sometimes squirrels will leave the reserve, which is fenced. If they’re a few hundred metres past the fence, we can’t get a signal for them and we wander around aimlessly for hours. Sunrise, one of our squirrels, is nowhere to be found. I’ve searched for him for about eight hours now and I’ve never picked up a signal for him. It’s frustrating as heck sometimes, but we can usually find them.

My most interesting story about radiotracking was with Googly Eyes. I could not get his signal in the morning anywhere, so I went back out in the afternoon and searched again. That time, I heard beeping so I walked out to it. It led me to the centre of a field, nowhere near any burrows. I was confused, so I searched around until I found what I was looking for…. Sort of. I found the collar…and what remained of the squirrel…in poop. Yep, Googly Eyes is no more. We didn’t have a large enough fecal sample to identify what ate him, but we could deduce that it was a mammal. Squirrels have natural predators here, like jackals and small cats. Unfortunately, these things happen. It is nature and the circle of life. I thought it was cool though. The collar worked, even after being digested!

Anyways, now you know about radio tracking! We track the male squirrels in order to determine homerange estimates (how far they go, where they live) and to see if they change when we manipulate the hormones of the squirrel. Pregnant female squirrels are also collared in order to find their isolation burrows, where they have their babies. Dylan sets up trail cameras to see what comes in and out of those burrows, because baby squirrels have a high mortality rate and we don’t know why. That’s all for now! I’ll tell you guys about handling the squirrels some other time, as well as observations!

Toodle pip!

[alixs-adventures]

TWO UPDATES IN A ROW!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! Wonderful morning!!! Why? Because Chicago won!!! Wooooooooooooohoooooooooooooo! Kay that's all for now folks. Talk soon!

[alixs-adventures]

Cheers All! Updates on my Adventures!

Update!

First off, sorry! I'm back in Bloemhof at the reserve now, and I have been for over a week. It's just been crazy though! Holy man, are the days here ever looooong. Here's a rundown of a typical day:

4:30-5:50 – Up to shower and/or workout. Skip this on previously late nights.

5:55 – Meet in kitchen, discuss the trap schedule

6:00-7:15 – Morning trap set

7:15-7:50 – Return to the house for breakfast

7:50-10:00 – Morning observations

10:15 – Back from observations, grab water

10:20-12:30 – Out for morning trap check

12:30-13:30 – Lunch

13:30-15:30 – Out for afternoon trap check

15:30 – Back at the house, short break

15:30-16:45– Out for trap close

17:30-20:00 – Evening radiotracking, Supper falls in here somewhere

20:00-21:00 – Data entry

21:00 – Bed

So, as you can see, I've been really busy. Some days we skip lunch or cut meals short because our trap checks run longer than we anticipate. I have time today because I am on break for the evening radiotracking (yesssss!). I like radiotracking, but I've been doing it 4 nights straight and haven't gotten off my feet. I've gotten blisters that are really bad and they make it hard to walk. Tonight is so amazing. I love life right now.

Mmmkay, what's new? Kelsey is doing her hormone manipulations, so we're trapping hard each day. At the moment, she's injecting certain males with saline (which is her control, it's just a fluid that has no effect on the body) and LPS. LPS is a lipoprotein solution which initiates an immune response. It makes the squirrel's body react like it's getting an infection when it's really not. She's going to see if that has an effect on reproduction. Dylan is running controls on feeding females that are pregnant or lactating. He's focusing on parental care and interactions between offspring and kin. So he has a lot of observations, which take hours to enter into spreadsheets. I'm pretty sure everyone dislikes observations because of the data entry after. Regardless, we usually do it every morning and we're starting evening observations. The days are especially long when you radiotrack at night and then have observations to enter.

I really love it here, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to going home. I miss having a bed (which, thank you Tyler for giving me your bedroom suite, I'm so excited to sleep on a new bed). I'm probably looking forward to sleeping and free time. That an internet. I miss having a stable connection online, because our 3G network isn't very dependable.

However, there are things here that I just love and I know I'll miss. Rusks. Rusks are stupendous. They're a very hard wedge of sweet bread that you dip in tea, coffee, or hot chocolate. I loooooove them so much and I have never seen them anywhere else. I also love the people I live with. Everyone is absolutely phenomenal. No fighting, no real arguing, nothing. It's great. I also really like the squirrels. They're really neat. Completely different from home. They're pretty big (some can weigh a kilogram) and man, are they cool to handle. They're realllllyy cute too. My favourite is probably... scratch that. I don't have a favourite (they're all beautiful little babies). I really like the juveniles though. I can't wait

to handle one for the first time. We ID the squirrels by injecting a pittag (permanent) and dying their fur (not permanent, it fades in a few months). I want to mark a juvenile with the triforce on its back (Jordan if you read this I know you are saying 'Aw yeaah'). I hope it doesn't die though. Juveniles have a really high predation rate. Two out of the three that we've handled have died . We found one that had been attacked in a trap. It was a bad day, believe me.

I also radiotracked a collar that I found in feces, meaning another squirrel was killed. It's sad because you start to get attached to them. Hopefully the collars don't increase the mortality rate...

Anyways, I want to get a good nights sleep. I radiotrack tomorrow night and will have observations. Plus I'd like to stretch and shower in the morning. I'll write up an update in a few nights on how we handle the squirrels and what observations are like. I'll also do one on radiotracking.

Talk soon (hopefully)!

Alix

[alixs-adventures]

More photos from Chobe, Botswana!

[alixs-adventures]

Day 8: Chobe, Botswana

Ick. Despite heading to bed early last night, I didn't feel the greatest today. I'm hoping it's just nothing. Sick or not, I wasn't about to spend the day sleeping it off in a tent when there were adventures to be lived. I'm glad I didn't. We hopped on a morning safari (up at 5, not used to that, bleh), and wow, you wouldn't believe our luck. The guide said they hoped for the best because animals were not active in these parts in the early am, but not in our case. We saw a pack of wild dogs and a kill that was not yet killed. Four dogs tore apart a baby kudu right in front of us. Yeah, shocked me too. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little saddened because wild dogs don't kill their prey before eating it. Yeah. They tore everything out of this antelope before it stopped blinking and breathing. It was sad to see it die that way, but as Kelsey reassured me, it's nature and we do eat animals too. At the same time though, I'm pretty sure you don't run at a cow and rip its leg off and gnaw on it, no matter how rare you like your steaks. We also saw the kudu's mother, which was also brought down. The mom was partially eaten, then left that way. I hope she didn't live long after that... again it was sad to see an animal like that. After we got back, I skipped most of breakfast (I had a little toast) and went to bed to try and sleep off whatever I have. Eh, it sorta worked. I dozed and read all morning before opting for a cold shower. That helped a lot, and so is this Appletiser (don't worry, it's just sparkling apple juice). I might snag some ginger beer later too and see if the ginger will settle my stomach. We also had a boat cruise today on the river. Woooooow, it was so beautiful. The Chobe River is the boundary between Botswana and Namibia. So technically, I've seen both Zambia and Namibia, but I haven't added them to my list of countries that I've visited =). I'm super sleepy so I'll cut this entry short and head to bed. Nighty night!

[alixs-adventures]

Whoops, forgot to put these up! They are from the Adventure Day in Victoria Falls. White Water Rafting in the Zambezi River!

[alixs-adventures]

Ello ello!

Day 7: Chobe, Botswana

Today started off pretty relaxed, at least compared to the last 24 hours. The first thing I thought about when I woke up was bungee jumping. I still can't believe I did that. I'm pretty sure I'm still running on adrenaline from the activity. It's great to be alive (cue 'Staying Alive', which is playing in my head right now). We had pancakes for breakfast, which I totally helped cook and did a good job despite having cooked over a fire and in a frying pan (see mom, frying pans can be used for pancakes). After, Kelsey and I ran around the market and got our white water rafting photos. I'll post a few up, just like the bungee ones. We also grabbed a few souvenirs, which was just a sticker for me. I didn't mention this earlier, but I have a scrapbook going of Africa and my adventures here. Ask me when I get home if you want to see it, because I have a ton of neat things pressed inside. After that lengthy trip, we left Victoria Falls and discovered that the license plate on our trailer had flew off. Fantastic right? Somehow, we made it through the Zimbabwe-Botswana border AND a police stop without being questioned. Cross your fingers and hope that we can get back to South Africa riding that streak of luck. Chobe is basically just across the border, in Botswana, so we had such a light travel day. Kelsey and Christine hopped the afternoon safari while I opted for the R&R. Believe me when I say that I enjoyed every minute of it. I grabbed my kindle, sat on a lounge chair and relaxed by the pool for a few hours with the Chobe river right beside me. It felt so good to get a break from running everywhere, plus recuperating from yesterday (we paddled the whole rafting time, plus hiking the gorge). I finished the Girl Who Played With Fire. The series is dangerously addictive <3. Anyways, I tried to get online, but apparently my laptop doesn't like the Lodge's internet, so no dice. I'll post this whenever I have a connection. I'm not feeling the best (I hope I'm not coming down with something), so I'll check out for now. Talk soon!

PS – Happy birthday dad! I couldn't get a connection in the evening, but I hope you had a good one!

[alixs-adventures]

I'm alive.

Holy crap I'm alive. Okay, I guess I should brief you guys on the absolute ADVENTURE of a day we had today. Today started off at 6. After a small breakfast, we sprinted to the gate to catch our ride to the gorge where we white water rafted. The Zambeni river is one of the biggest commercial rivers for white water rafting, but we were in the high water season, hence less rapids. Regardless, whoa. Just WHOA.

One: They tie your lifejacket so tight that it made me sick to my stomach. There is NO way that thing was slipping off.

Two: Either I'm lucky or I'm good at rafting. I wasn't thrown out of the boat once. I jumped in at one point because it was calm and the guide said we could if we held onto the boat.

Three: We were rafting in crocodile infested waters. Enough said.

Holy man though. It was prettyyyy wild. I wasn't as keen on rafting as Kelsey was, but it was still a ton of fun. One thing that made up for not falling in was a portion of the rapids. I'll tell the story:

Our guide was like, 'Oh yeah, the rapids up ahead are Class 1'. Class 1 is the easiest and safest of rapids. We are allowed to raft up to Class 5, which is the most dangerous that we are certified to go without being experienced rafters. Well, I think a whirlpool caught us off guard because suddenly our guide was yelling 'Forward! Forward! Hardddd!' and we weren't escaping the current. When he realized we totally weren't missing the insane rapids, he yelled 'get down!' and we all hit the floor of our raft. I remember looking up to see a wall, about a meter of water, before it washed over our boat. Somehow it didn't flip, and everyone managed to stay inside so we came out wet, but okay. Our guide had saucers for eyes though. We asked him later about it and he said that was definitely a higher level than Class 5 (we reaaaaallly weren't supposed to go there). We weren't in sync with paddling, or we just suck at steering, but it was soooo much fun.

So after rafting, we had to hike up the gorge (which was tough, it's so steep) for lunch. Honestly the lifejacket made my stomach hurt so much that I didn't feel like eating much. Besides, the excursion that followed our rafting session made my nerves fire at top speed. Yep, we were booked to bungee jump.

Bungee jumping itself is an extreme sport. Take that, then make it the second highest in the world. Wait, there's more. Toss in a raging river blow, infested with crocodiles and rapids and whirlpools. Then toss it smack dab between two borders, in No Man's Land with a nature Wonder of the World in the Background. Okay, now I'm done. Yep, that's what we were scheduled to do.

Driving there was pretty scary. I mean, I'm used to stress. I stress before every exam I write. That's exactly how I felt on the way there. I felt so nervous that I was shaking. When we got to the bridge, we had to walk out. Hearing the falls roaring in the background while looking at the river churning below? Yeah, it made me feel absolutely terrified. However, the last thing I wanted to do was leave without actually jumping. I came to Zimbabwe to specifically bungee from Vic Falls. There was no was I was chickening out cause I got cold feet.

What did suck was waiting to jump, especially when I had to go last. Yep. Worssstt thing ever. I watched everyone in our group go, including someone who didn't jump. When you don't jump when they countdown, they push you. Yep, she got shoved off and screamed the entire way. I tried to tune it out as I waited for my turn. Kelsey went right before me, and she had a great jump. I was preeeeetttty shaky when he was wrapping my legs up, because hey, I'm going to be suspended 111 m by my ankles. Surprisingly though, going to the edge wasn't as bad as I thought. I didn't look down. I just looked straight out and told my ex-long jump legs to go when he said. And I got far out too! But oh my god, the fall? It was so absolutely frightening and exhilarating at the same time. I was too scared to even scream. The rebound though? Another story! The force on my body wasn't nearly as harsh as I expected it to be. It's there, but so minor. But wow, you wouldn't believe what I saw. The mist from the waterfalls fills the air with moisture and the sun was shining bright, so I just saw this beautiful array of rainbows and water as I rebounded. It was so so sooo amazing. In fact, so amazing that Kelsey and I upgraded ourselves to the aerial package to do the high rise swing across the gorge.

You'd think that after one insane jump, I'd be done, eh? Nope. I did another. The swing was worse to jump off of, because I knew the feeling and what was coming. Jumping off the ledge a second time was worse! But the swing was another fantastic experience. I was held up by a harness instead of my feet, which was nice. I wasn't brave enough to let go of the cord though (Kelsey did when she went after me). I figured that bungee jumping was daring enough, right?

The rest of the night seems like a blur. It's been... much more relaxed than the day. The showers here are great though. Washing off the river water was great and much appreciated. I think I might have another one tomorrow morning because it felt so good. I think I'm going to try and read a bit of my book, but I'm pretty wiped. Today was insane, and I hope I get to live days like this again. Nighty night all, and to all a good night! <3

PS - I have the video of me jumping too. You can see how utterly petrified I look before I jump haha

[alixs-adventures]

WHOA WHOA WHOA UPDATE!

Holy crap do I have news to share! Day 5 was mainly a travel day. We left the Elephant Sands (where we saw another elephant drinking as we left, as well as lion tracks by the camp) and headed for Zimbabwe. First off, Zimbabwe is expensiiiiiiiiive. Just to enter the country for 3 days required a visa, which cost 750 Rand (translates to about $75), which we were not informed that we'd have to pay, which sucked. And when we entered Victoria Falls, we also had to pay park fees, another wad of cash. We found out that Zimbabwe is having a lot of trouble in comparison to Botswana and South Africa. The Zim Dollar, their currency, completely collapsed. It doesn't exist anymore. Therefore, they accept any currency and everything is in American Dollars. The falls are the only thing that's keeping them afloat, so the whole area is a giant tourist trap. Of course, we knew that ahead of time, but still. It's really sad, because a lot of people are asking for my shirt, or my shoes instead of cash because prices are so outrageous.

Anyways, we arrived at the camp ground and dashed off to the Falls. Wow. Just wow. They truly are one of the Wonders of the World. It was absolutely phenomenal. They stretch on for what seems like forever, and they are actually on the Zambian side, but viewing is best from the Zimbabwe borders. Kelsey and I rented rain coats, but man, did we ever get soaked. We walked the 'dangerous' trail, which runs along the cliff side. Holy craaaap is that utterly terrifying. It's not right along the edge, but close enough for comfort. The falls also create a ton of mist that comes down as pouring rain there. It was fantastic. We managed to climb out to the point (Kelsey coaxed me to do it because I'm a big baby) and holler over the thunder of the water. We then clambered back and took the wet route once more. The falls are absolutely amazing. Niagara is like cupcakes compared to these waterfalls. We returned to camp and I spent a good portion of the night reading 'The Girl Who Played With Fire'. Such a good book <333

PS – DOUBLE RAINBOWWW

PPS – I can't sleep. I keep dreaming about bungee jumping and every thing that could possibly go wrong.

PPPS – I'm reaaaaaallly sorry if you're waiting on an email with me. I type them on my phone, but when we crossed deep into Botswana, my phone stopped working because I'm not in South Africa. I'll start sending emails and such (and BBM) when I'm back in South Africa in 4 days.

PPPPS – Oh my god I bungee jump tomorrow.

[alixs-adventures]

No question to ask but I have a Happy Birthday to go out to you!!!!! xxxooo!!!

Thanks! I just got this now, but I've had a fantastic trip!! <33

[alixs-adventures]

Day 4: Elephant Sands

Happy birthday Kelsey! Yep! That's right! Kelsey and I have birthdays one day apart. I am born on June 5th and she's on the 6th. So all of the birthday celebrations were transferred to her. Cue the many happy birthday songs! =D. So most of today was spent travelling in the car through Botswana. I slept a lot of it because I didn't have the greatest sleep last night, but I did see a good portion of the countryside. Botswana seems a lot more arid and dry than South Africa, and much less fenced. Everything, or everything I've seen, in South Africa has a fence around it. This includes reserves, farms, properties, houses. In Botswana, the change was almost immediate. It seems like nothing is fenced here. I'm not kidding. We saw elephants by the highway! I also noticed a heck of a lot of livestock around the roads. A note in Africa: animals have the right of way. So if a cow wants to cross the road right in front of you, it can. Botswana is full of animals that don't seem to be constrained. I saw more goats than I can count today, and donkeys are a serious mode of transportation. We arrived to the Elephant Sands around 3:30 and boy, this is also a neat reserve. It was built around a water hole, but they supplement it these days. There are no fences, no boundaries, nothing. Animals come and go as they please, drinking here because this area is like a desert. Right now, I'm staring at about... eh, I don't know, 15 elephants? They're about 30 feet from me, and I'm just sitting on a patio. As I write this, I'm realizing how amazing this is. I am so close to wild elephants. It's absolutely... wow. One is waving his trunk at me. Hello! And there's a tiny little baby. It has to bend down really far to drink. Andddd one just trumpeted. This is amazing. I wish you all could be here to experience this. It's so cool. But supper's ready and I have to dash. We go to Victoria Falls tomorrow. Bungee jumping anyone?

PS - That is totally an elephant crossing sign that was on the highway

[alixs-adventures]

Day 3: Cheetah Walk at Tshukudu & Botswana

Happy birthday! I got it sung to me in 4 different languages that day (English, French, Danish and Swanna). It was awesome to say the least. So the day started off with a cheetah walk, another topic of conflict. I absolutely loved it. We drove out to this cheetah, which we found laying in the sun on a clearing, and we got to go up to her and pet her. I know this is wrong on so many levels and that cheetahs are wild animals that shouldn't be taught to be friendly, but she was so lovely. She purred, which was loud enough to hear 15 feet away, and she was incredibly soft. She was friendly too and would rest her head on you. She was raised by hand after her mother was killed by lions. I liked how she was friendly and welcoming to us, but she wasn't fed by us. She lives on the reserve on her own, hunts on her own and sustains herself. She knows the owner and comes when he calls, and you can tell she likes him because she will go straight to him and push her head into his hand and sit for him. She was absolutely amazing! It was incredible, but again, I was the only one who had that opinion. I know that Kelsey and Christine weren't as fond of the place as I was, but I wasn't shunned or looked down on for it, which was so nice. After the walk, we headed out and spent the rest of the day on the road. It doesn't sound like much, but South Africa's countryside is stunning. We took the scenic route that lead us up windy roads, through the mountains. I stared out the window for most of it, memorized. I hope I never forget what it looks like, as pictures don't really do it justice. We then landed in Botswana after a uneventful border crossing (good thing... I really didn't want to be stuck there for hours). We lost a little time travelling, so we camped just across the border in a small tenting area. I froooooze my butt off (I'm not the smartest and I forgot a proper sleeping bag, but I'll have one tonight), but we got to slackline and I was able to take a few steps on it, which I have never done yet! AND, KG got me a cake with candles. I was so happy I almost teared up. It was certainly a fantastic birthday, and probably one that I won't soon forget.

[alixs-adventures]

Update time!

I'll explain a bit before hand though.

Most of you know that I'm spending 14 weeks in Africa. I am scheduled to work 6 days a week with one day off, but instead, I banked all 14 days to do some touring. So when I get back to the reserve, I'll be working 2 months straight, but let's not think about that! Let's talk about my second trip!

So, on Monday, Kelsey and I set out on a 10 day touring trip. It was originally supposed to be 9 days, but something wasn't labelled properly on the website. I'll just be making the extra day off by working a few more long days. We, along with one other tourist, set out with our guide and drove to Kruger on day 1. First off, the people on tour with me.

Kelsey is up first. Kelsey is a graduate student that I work under for the summer that is doing hormone manipulations on the squirrels at the reserve. She is 26 (it was her birthday today) and is made of sheer awesomeness. She's very open, strong-willed and is the kind of person that doesn't taken bs from anyone. She rocks.

Second is Christine. Christine is a 50 year old French woman that hopped on tour with us the day before we left. She's incredibly nice and very sweet. She is fluent in English, but is much much stronger in French. Kelsey is also fluent in French, so we play around with languages. At night, we tend to switch to french because our guide doesn't speak it, while remaining in English during the day. She's really helping me with my french because I can listen to her conversations with Kelsey and understand what she's saying, but I struggle to speak back. She's super patient with me though, which is fantastic. She also rocks.

Last but not least is our guide, KG. He's 36 years old and is of Swanna descent. He is absolutely amazing and is so much fun. How do I know this? We drove out of Pretoria blasting music, singing and laughing. He's incredibly informed about the animals and locations that we visit and is just so great. So, with us four, we set off.

Day 1: Blyde River Canyon & Kruger

As you guys saw from pictures before, we first stopped at the Blyde River Canyon. Wow... it was simply gorgeous. It's the 3rd largest canyon in the world, and is the most green canyon. It was stunning to see in person, and we didn't even see it all! We only stopped at one point because technically the canyon wasn't scheduled on our tour (KG is awesome and made a detour). After the canyon, we skipped over to Kruger and arrived in time for the night drive. Christine, Kelsey and I all attended and we sighted elephants, rhino, impala, porcupines, genets, and cervets, as well as a few birds that I can't remember the name of. Afterwards, we came back to our camp, which were 'tents'. Apparently tenting in Kruger means a canvas over a deck with actual beds, mattresses, sheets, towels, electricity... it was great. KG is also a fantastic cook, so we had supper on the deck before heading off to bed. You could hear the baboons making a fuss all night. We think that a leopard might have been bothering them =)

Day 2: Kruger & Tshukudu Game Reserve

We rose bright and early an headed out in our own vehicle to tour Kruger on our own. Guess what? We totally saw the big five (the big five are the five most dangerous animals to hunt in Africa) all in one day! Elephants, rhinos, Cape buffalo, lions and leopards! Woowww! The leopard was the most exciting though. I honestly expected to not see one, nevertheless see one right beside us, on the ground. It was so close to us! All of us were so excited about seeing it so early in the day. We also got surrounded by a herd of Cape buffalo, which are the most dangerous of the big five. Believe me, it made me nervous. If one had charged, we had no place to go. Thankfully, that didn't happen and we got some marvellous shots of them. They look so silly for being so threatening! The saw tons of elephants around, plus many other animals. Impala, Kudu, tons of different kinds of boks, birds, vultures, warthog, I could go on! Kruger was a fantastic place, and we only saw a tiny piece of it. We had to leave before we got to trek further into the park and we headed for Tshukudu, a private reserve. Now hear stems some conflict on the trip. This reserve wasn't originally natural. It was a farm, then converted into a reserve that is privately run. On the reserve, the animals are much more habituated to people. Lots of them are orphans that were hand raised and released back into the 'wild'. However, the reserve is fenced and I know it bugged Kelsey for various reasons. At Tshukudu, we got to go really close to some of the animals. For instance, we were less than 10 feet from an elephant that was hand-raised and rehabbed, and about 10 feet from a male lion. It's wrong to teach people that these animals are not dangerous, because they most certainly are, but... I dunno. I personally enjoyed Tshukudu a lot. The tents that we stayed in overnight were even nicer than the ones at Kruger. They had a bathroom and shower within. And at supper, we had a run in with a hippo that probably knocked a few years off my lifespan. We were leaving the campfire to do dishes and he was entering. To say it surprised/scared me is an understatement. Thankfully, he was a young hippo that isn't territorial, so he wandered off just as surprised as we were. It was neat, but boy, it made me question whether I liked the reserve or not.

[alixs-adventures]

More pictures from Kruger and the private reserve that we're staying at. And with that, I bid thee goodnight! Tomorrow we walk with the cheetas, which sounds like a pretty awesome birthday to me <3. Night night!

[alixs-adventures]

Update! So two days have passed since we began our trip! Day 1 was awesome in the sense that we (Kelsey and I) got to meet our comrades.We have one other traveler, Christine from France, and KG our guide. They are such lovely people and I'd love to write more, but I'm so sleepy and I need to go to bed. Have some pictures!