Jo’burg interlude

The doctor

After a nice braai on our last night at Thanda, we drove the next day to Durban and then flew to Jo’burg and met my dad.

Keith was suffering from tick bite fever pretty badly so we went to see my parents’ friends (they’ve known them since we lived here), and their daughter who is a doctor. She started out by saying tick bite fever can be fatal and that the skin around the bite actually dies (necrosis or something) so you can end up with a hole where the bite is. Nice. But then she gave him scripts for the drugs he needs to treat it so already he felt better about it.

I thought I’d check out my cold whilst I was there, but it ended up being a bacterial sinus infection. Also lovely. (Sorry Tasch and anyone else who I might’ve passed this on to! But on the bright side I managed to hike the Drakensberg with it.) I got a few scripts and some extra stuff for my 5 ½ month overland trip ahead. I think half my luggage is medication…

Flight conversion

My dad needed to do a conversion from a low-wing Piper aircraft (which he normally flies) to a high-wing Cessna 172 with a diesel turbo-charged engine. It can easily carry 4 passengers and the fuel can last for up to 8 hours. He needed to familiarise himself with the controls of this new aircraft, its optimal speeds for take-off, rate of climb, gliding, etc., and its emergency procedures. We started off by checking the plane is ok, checking the fuel quantity with a dipstick in the wings, then we had to drain the water from the fuel as water collects in the tank and as it’s heavier than the fuel, it goes to the bottom and has to be drained. After all the checks, we got in with a guy who has a rating for that particular plane (I got in the back) and had more checks before we could taxi to the runway and take off. It was just over 1 hour of training mostly involving circuits at 6,000 feet (touch-and-go’s), 2 x 360 degree turns at a 30 degree bank angle both left and right, and landings with 30 degree, 20 degree and 0 degree flaps.

We flew over the nearby squatter camp, where people often come from and meander on the runway. Once some people stole the runway’s landing lights as they contained copper. Nothing was on the tarmac today – only some cattle were nearby but not too close. As we didn’t go so high up, I could see lots from the air: the Ergo Slimes Dam (holding the residue after gold production); Carnival City; and people with dogs in their backyards. With so many take-offs and landings, we must’ve annoyed the locals somewhat. In any case, now he can fly the Cessna 172 and has an official stamp to prove it.

Life at Thanda - Week 4 cont…

St Lucia Crocodile Centre day trip

Eight of the nine of us photographers decided to go on a day trip to St Lucia again, but this time for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Croc Centre. Our guide showed us all of the crocs there.

He also gave us a good briefing about them. Note: they can hold their vice-like grip for over 2 days (their jaw muscles do not get tired) so the only way you’re going to open their jaw is with a jack… Also note that wheelchairs may go astray…

We were given a baby croc to hold – though his mouth had to be held shut with a rubber band otherwise we might’ve lost a finger. I fell in love with him and wanted to bring him home – if only he wouldn’t get any bigger. I also found out there were dwarf crocs but even they were still too big to fit in a bathtub!

Vervet monkeys were scampering about the enclosures, and some brave ones even went inside them. Not sure if a croc would attack one if it was hungry but they probably shouldn’t try their luck.

Our guide called in a vet as there was a sick alligator. The two of them walked into the sick alligator’s enclosure and stood about 2 metres away from it to see if they could diagnose it. It was a little difficult so instead they decided to get scale samples and test properly, and would need to capture the alligator tomorrow to do so. The vet received a call on his mobile during his prognosis and was casually talking on his phone with this huge alligator lying right next to him.

We were asked to cut away the undergrowth from around an open water tank for the crocs. The water tank had a shade cloth on it to stop leaves and other stuff from falling in, but it needed to be adjusted and re-erected. We only had enough time to help with the first step, and used machetes to cut the surrounding bushes.

One of the African pythons had a tick on its head so our guide went into the python enclosure and picked up the one with the tick and brought it out to us. The python wasn’t happy and let out a gooey, yellow-coloured excrement all over the guide’s arm. He removed the tick without a fuss, and before the python could wrap itself any tighter around his forearm, he put him back in its enclosure.

It reminded me of my good friend Sandy’s behind-the-scenes zoo tour, where we had a close encounter with Burmese python, Long John Slither (although he is much, much bigger!)

Lion removal

Two lions escaped from Thanda into a different part of the reserve called ‘King’s Land’. At present, the two reserves are separated by a fence, but one day they will be joined together. For now though, the lion isn’t allowed there as there is apparently a sick lion in the community next to King’s Land – yes in the actual community, eating livestock and causing havoc, and it could make our lion sick too. One of the lions was able to be coaxed back with some fresh impala meat, but the other one was quite happy in his new territory. He therefore had to be ‘removed’ from King’s Land and put back on Thanda, and a dart was the only way to get the job done.

A group of professionals went out to track the lion and dart him. Us volunteers had to wait until he had been darted as it was unsafe for us to go otherwise. Apparently he had to be darted 3 times as the drug didn’t seem to work on him. We had gone to our rooms as we weren’t sure if we could go out at all as it was getting a little tricky. But Mariana knocked on our doors at about 9pm and we quickly grabbed our cameras and headed out on the Landrover to find them. The lion had gone to sleep once we got there but he had to be loaded up onto the back of a ute and driven firstly onto the right side of the fence, and secondly away from the other lions in the area, as they could try to wake him up and hurt him if he didn’t respond due to the drugs.

We followed the ute to a nearby open savannah area where around 5 of them lifted the lion and lay him on the ground. He was sprayed with a purple gauze to protect the wounds he had on him. The whole time his head was covered with a cloth so he couldn’t see the lights and also to buy them time should he wake up earlier than expected! We got out of our Landrover and stood around the lion.

We were allowed to pat his paw with the warning that lions carry worms that eat your brain so don’t touch your mouth afterwards and make sure you disinfect your hands. We stayed out for another hour or two after that so I had to quarantine my hand and not touch anything with it.

We jumped back in our vehicles and had to wait for the lion to wake up to ensure he was safe. For a long time he didn’t move, and then at one point, we saw one of his ear’s twitch. He tried to lift up his head but couldn’t. Over time, we saw him attempt to get up, and then slump back down again – poor thing. Eventually he managed to get up and we could then all go to bed.

Mafa school visit

After a few hours of preparation, a group of us found ourselves in front of 19 kids in Grade 7, teaching them about a cycle: the elephant eats leaves, bark and roots from the trees, and then the dung beetle rolls the elephant’s dung. The nutrients and/or seeds from the dung then go back into the soil, which help new plants to grow for the elephant to eat. Keith ‘Dung Beetle’ expert and I had the dung beetle part covered evidently. Jody, Carice and Annie talked about animal tracks, and later we played a game of matching up the animal to their track.

We also had a potato and spoon race (we don’t have eggs), popped balloons, and had a dung beetle race (one kid holds the legs of another kid as they walk backwards on their hands).

After the kids had lunch, they did some zulu dancing along with our zulu staff, who dragged most of us up to dance with them. (Luckily?!) I was the self-designated photographer that day.

Buffalo photo shoot

On our last game drive, we went to see the buffalo herd. After a while, Mariana asked us if any of us wanted to go under the Landrover to take some eye level pics. She promised she wouldn’t drive over us and I somewhat believed her. I went first and crawled army-style under the vehicle, holding my camera in one hand. I had taken only a few shots and was joined by Jody. The buffalo were smart enough to realise that we were under the vehicle and started approaching us to have a look at what we were doing. I got a bit spooked, particularly when they get so close you can’t even see them through your lens anymore! I got out from under the Landrover pretty quickly and hopped back in! I was very dirty but the shots and the experience itself was worth it.

The 4.30pm Lion Show

On our last day, Martijn came to ask us if we wanted to have a look at some lions. There were 3 lions right outside our camp fence: I call it the 4:30pm Lion Show (as opposed to our daily morning Gecko show where the geckos fight and the loser usually drops on our bed or on the floor). We were watching the lions safely from the balcony of the lodge when we realised Peter was down a few metres from the fence line behind a mound of dirt shooting photos of them. The stabiliser in his lens makes quite a noise and he later told us the lion’s ears were pricking up every time he took a photo. In one sudden movement, one of the lions charged Peter and began running at him towards the fence. It could’ve jumped over the fence if it really wanted to we believe, but it stopped and sat down again. Meanwhile Peter had turned around and began walking calmly away from the fence as we were all saying how wrong that incident could’ve gone! It really could’ve been Peter’s ‘last’ day… Obviously unperturbed by the incident, he later went back to the fence with Romeo to see where they’d gone. We’d heard a warthog squeal earlier and knew they’d be snacking on it again. Doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have another snack if they had half a chance though…

Life at Thanda - Week 4

Drakensberg 4-day weekend trip

Eight of the nine of us photographers took up the option of a 4-day weekend photography course in the Drakensberg with Emil (emilvonmaltitz.blogspot.com). After a 7 ½ hour drive to get there, we set up camp and then took a short walk to the nearby cascades, to learn more about water photography.

Not much sleeping was done that night as the temperature dropped and most of us froze.

Day 2 was a 16 hour hike to the Tunnel where you could swim if you wanted to in freezing cold water. Only Emil was tempted.

Day 3 was again roughly 16kms but we started around 3.45am in the pitch black with headtorches so we could make it to ‘Witches’ for sunrise.

I guess the good thing is that you can’t see what you’re about to climb so it makes it less daunting. My water bottle fell and smashed to pieces just as we left so I had to rely on others to get water the whole way. I had also picked up a cold from another volunteer in Mozambique and it had gotten worse over the last couple of days. There was one really steep part near the top after a precarious chain ladder where the effort combined with the fact we were over 10,000 feet meant I could barely breathe.

Once we reached the top it was much better – and I took the time to get to know a few lizards.

Coming down was when we could truly appreciate how high we’d climbed as we could now see it in daylight though there was a tough rock scramble on the way.

And on the 4^th day, we slept all the way home.

Brief summary of the volunteers

Jody – you would know her nationality before you know her name as ‘Canada’ is emblazoned across the front of her hoodie. A down-to-earth chick from north of Calgary, where everybody knows everybody and where nights out under the stars are an everyday occurrence. She pronounces ‘giraffe’ as ‘giraaaaf’ and ‘zebra’ as ‘zeeebra’ though we are slowly working on changing that. She is always keen to pop down to the local pub (25 mins away) for a good milkshake. Also loves cereal.

Carice – a well-travelled, super-fit chick from the UK who loves exercising after exercising. Also always up for a good milkshake – but the straw must stand up in it. A proper vegetarian who doesn’t crack at the smell of bacon or sausages even after a hangover (or the occasional slice of prosciutto!) – unlike others… Just celebrated her birthday with over 100 kids at Mdletshe school who all sung ‘Happy bursday’ to her in English and in Zulu.

Annie – a laid-back German videographer who loves the ocean and who’s every holiday to date has involved an island or beach of some sort. She loves the sun and may well retire on an island one day. Didn’t come to the Drakensberg as she didn’t want to freeze.

Keith – my other, funnier and more patient, half. Also known as ‘Dung Beetle’ man as coined by the headmistress of Mdletshe school. Ready to give anything a go although may hesitate when confronted head on with an elephant bull on musth.

Guido – a Swiss family guy with a passion for macro photography and a great lens to match. Got hit by tick bite fever which will impress his friends at the Tropical Institute. His whole family is going to be matchy-matchy with their new Thanda jumpers.

Yossi – a quiet Israeli guy who’s been passionate about photography for a long time. Slow and steady he can do anything he sets out to, no matter what difficulties present themselves.

Romeo – I’m sure he hears it all the time – ‘Oh Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo’ – particularly when one cannot find him. He has the biggest lens of the whole group, which may accidentally hit you whilst on a game drive. A total Nikon ambassador with full Nikon gear and hat. Told everyone in the first week that he ‘sleeps with’ Peter without understanding the true meaning of what he said as he’s Croatian and English is his second language. Hasn’t lived it down ever since and Peter plays along to it. They are like an old bickering married couple. Loves the clicks in the Zulu and Xhosa languages, particularly ‘amaqanda’. May communicate in clicks – one means yes, two means no. Also recently came down with tick bite fever so currently a little high on drugs. Was pleased to show us the tick he collected in a plastic bag and even more pleased to tell us he found it between his balls.

Peter – probably the photographer who’s always ‘on duty’ – always catching interesting things out of the corner of his eye and taking photos of something other than the subject we are meant to be photographing i.e. his best photo from the croc centre was a locust on a nearby bush. Also known as ‘Juliet’ due to his link to Romeo as above. Newly crowned as ‘insane’ as he got charged by a lion near the camp fence in an attempt to get a good photo.

Brief summary of the staff

Amanda – research volunteer co-ordinator from the UK with a bubbly personality and infectious laugh. Seems to attract the more unusual types.

Martijn – photography volunteer co-ordinator from Holland – very patient and always ready to help with seemingly stupid or just plain stupid Lightroom questions. Loves milkshakes and chocolate and the latter makes a good bribe for those who need to make up for breaking his camera or taking his card reader away with them for a 4-day weekend (you two, you know who you are!)

Natascha – project manager from the UK – always happy, sociable and very diplomatic. Had a close encounter with a lion recently but made it back home safely. Loves running between the game reserve fences and so far hasn’t come across any dangerous animals whilst doing so.

Mariana – our tracker/driver/guide – excellent tracker but has been blamed for losing an entire elephant herd (though my defence for her was that elephants are silent as they walk on their tiptoes)! Loves all animals and passionate about her job which makes it all the more enjoyable spending time with her. Without her we wouldn’t have had the most incredible experience of our time here (lion darting story to come next)…

Life at Thanda - Week 3

Game drives

What I thought was a warthog from a distance, actually turned out to be an elephant – or rather the entire elephant herd. How embarrassing! Oh well, at least I found them as we’d been looking for them all afternoon. Out of all the places they could be in the bush, they were in front of the 5 star lodge.

Our guide, Marianna, had previously told us that a thirsty herd emptied a guest’s entire private pool. But what we didn’t realise at the time was that this was not just a once off, rather it seems to be a regular occurrence. The herd had just finished off a guest’s private pool when I spotted them. Evidently still thirsty, they then moved on to the lodge’s water feature. Luckily for the elephants it had just been refilled as we’d heard the lodge requesting water for it on the radio a couple of days ago. We raced up the hill to watch them drink from it and suddenly realised why you pay more to stay at the 5 star lodge – the animals come to you!

Another day we came across two lions stalking some kind of prey. We lost sight of them at one point and then heard this loud squealing. We raced off road into the bush to find the male lion keeping a firm grip on a warthog’s neck with his razor sharp teeth, and the lioness tucking in to its lower half. Unlike normal lion behaviour, the lioness ate her fill first after a bit of a tussle between the two of them. Then the male got his share. You could hear the crunching of bones and contented growls.

A crazy giraffe came nearby to see what all the fuss was about. Incidentally, so did another warthog but after a few bites of grass he walked off.

Fence building

The fence at Mdletshe school has been a long time coming from the initial planning months ago through to the raising of funds for materials and finally the build.

We were supposed to build the fence over two days but the materials weren’t delivered in time. On the first day, we hadn’t left yet so we went on two game drives instead. But on the second day, we only found out once we’d arrived. So instead, we split into two groups: one to make a soccer field for the kids, and the other to pick up litter.

Natascha, our Project Manager, was well aware of my ’10 pieces’ project and reminded me I need to pick up 10 pieces of litter for every day I’d been in Africa so far. It added up to about 200 pieces (roughly 20 days). I counted up to 200 pieces and then continued to fill several more garbage bags without counting. Kids from all over the neighbourhood joined in and began carrying our garbage bags around and helping us pick up rubbish.

Rocks, collected by the volunteers and the community, were lined around an area to make a football field for the kids. Thorny acacia plants grow abundantly in the area, and we had to remove the hardy roots with pick axes and brute force so the kids wouldn’t trip over them.

After a few games of soccer and some zulu dancing involving both the kids and the volunteers, we left as we were unable to start the fence building.

It wasn’t until the following week that we could get started. The poles, wire and cement were finally delivered. The day started out with us volunteers and people from the local community picking up poles and putting one in each hole. Then the concrete had to be made and poured into the holes, which were then lined with rocks, and finally covered with dirt.

The old fence at the front also had to be taken down. A man came past with wire cutters and then a few of us began rolling up the old barbed wire in case they wanted to reuse it. The barbed wire was getting stuck on my gloves with every roll, as were the thorny branches that had been thrown on top of it as an added deterrence. Again we cleared rubbish from the area as it had been stuck in the old barbed wire and thorny bushes.

Our lunch break involved playing frisbee with the kids and carrying them around - the last thing you really have energy for after working in the hot sun, but they were too cute not to.

At the end of a long day, we had to hand back the project to the community, who would finish it off over the next few days. The poles had been erected and the concrete just needed to set before they could put up the wire.

One local man said he was so grateful Thanda volunteers had helped his community by building this fence that he would give up hunting (read: poaching) on Thanda. That is an incredible piece of news for Thanda: one less poacher is a huge win. Not to mention his influence over others including potentially his children. That alone made the hard work worthwhile but most importantly, the fence is the first step towards the school being recognised as an institution so it can get food and other benefits for both the kids and the teachers.