10 September - Tree Clearing (and Animals)

Tuesday's routine is that the newcomers go for their arrival brief while the rest of us wash and tidy the vehicles. We did our best with the lack of water but we did give them a good brush inside; they get very dusty and muddy with our continual in and out with our work boots.

Brief over, we all headed off for - once again - pine clearing, this time on some slopes not too far from the lodge. We set about the copse, cutting down the larger ones with saws and chopping the smaller one with loppers and made some pretty good progress for a couple of hours. At this point we were asked to get back up the slope quickly and onto the vehicles. I thought that again a lion had been seen in the area but this time it was something different; some waterbuck, a large antelope, were being moved into the area and we were being taken to see their release. We climbed aboard the vehicles and were taken a kilometre to where a large enclosed truck was parked where we watched and waited. In reality watching four large antelope leap from the back of a truck and run off into the bush isn’t as exciting as watching them behaving naturally in the wild but it was interesting to see another aspect of the operation of the reserve, the relocating of animals where this is necessary.

After the waterbucks it was back to the slopes for a bit more tree felling before heading for lunch at one of the dams where the hippopotamuses were hanging out. We moved on though as another ranger who had joined us for the day advised that the male had been getting aggressive of late; he believed the female might be pregnant. We had lunch at the next dam along, still a nice setting but no hippos, and then it was off for animal monitoring, with another quick stop at the workshop again en route. Today we were looking for elephants and we soon found a small group with some youngsters in an open area, but as we parked to try and identify them they seemed to get spooked and headed into the bush. It was too hard to try and follow so we set off again. This time we came across a group of white rhinoceros lazing around a water hole in the heat. After quite a while, watching and waiting for them to turn or flick their ears in a good direction for us to view, we managed to identify all but two of them.

We headed off again during which time we saw a few more rhinos and elephants but never close enough to identify and Anele never tried to get near them; he seemed to have another purpose in mind. It turned out that he had heard reports of a lion kill over the radio and had determined he would take us back via the site which turned out to be on an isolated and narrow track through the bush. He explained his 'dilema' over the radio to the vehicle carrying the five-star guests - that we were on our way back to the lodge via that route and could they pull off the track to let us through - and after having to wait a while some way off we were eventually told we could proceed. Five minutes later we were on the track and peering into the shaded undergrowth alongside the track where I caught glimpses of a carcass and two or three lions; it was hard to tell because of my position on the vehicle and the shade. We drove very slowly past, unable to stop as the paying guests were still there and more were on their way, and then continued to on to the lodge. Thanks Anele!

We got back just in time for dinner and then I slid away. I needed to do some preparation for a presentation I have been asked to give on Thursday. I’m not quite sure why I have been asked (last week an Israeli girl presented on snakes but it was the subject of her Masters Thesis) but I have said I will do something on the medicinal use of plants to be found here at Shamwari.