Phalaborwa

One the walk this morning, we came across a rather large leopard spotted tortoise. The guy holding him is Patrick, one of the SAEON guys giving me a hand for the day. Walking was hot, but it was fun. No close encounters yet, but lots of elephant spoor.

A grey-headed bush shrike in my front yard.

I was heading towards Sable Dam yesterday when I did a doubletake. 4 giraffe were hanging out by the road.

This one had a passenger, an ox-pecker.

The dark one seemed to be young and didn't like my bakkie (truck) much.

I got down to the dam and waited for a while and was just about to leave when these guys came out of the mopane.

They weren't alone.

And they soon had even more company.

As soon as they got down to the water, they all spread out and started drinking.

And then another group showed up!!!

There were a few tense moments of meeting...

But everyone settled down to drink peacefully

Everyone headed out just after the sun set.

I'm going to take another drive this evening, so hopefully I'll have cool new stuff tomorrow.

Happy Birthday William!!!

I'm having a bit of an issue with the server here, so this was the easiest way for me to send these pictures. Love you guys!

New horizons

Banded mongooses outside of my hut in the research camp

Baboons on a morning drive

So the OTS spring 2009 semester is now officially over. It's been an absolutely incredible experience and I am so so so incredibly glad that Laurence managed to convince me that South Africa was for me. Wow was he right. I've met some amazing people and seen some really really cool things. And now I'm moving on to the second chapter in my South African experience. For the next month I'm going to be working for SAEON (South African Environmental Observation Network) mapping mopani trees. This means I get to spend a month walking in Kruger Park, near Phalaborwa. I'm also learning to drive manual. So while I miss all of my new friends, I'm excited about the next evolution.

Wild dogs, baby hippos, and Gymnogenes!!!

African Harrier Hawk (Gymnogene)

We watched a pair of these guys pulling geckoes from tree cavities!

Baby hippo!

Lazy morning!

Misty morning at the bird blind...

Bushbuck

Hippo

Pied kingfishers fighting over a fish

Sunrise at the bird blind

Young kudu

Sunrise

Elephant bull in musth, he totally charged the game drive vehicle

Baby ele!

This week has been full of insect projects and final exams, but it's been really great. Last night we went down to 10 Minutes, a spot in the dry riverbed, and played soccer and tossed around the frisbee. A bushbuck came down to drink while we were there and there were lion tracks in the sand. I've been spending most mornings at the bird hide and it's been so much fun watching the Pied Kingfishers. A family of hippos have taken to hanging out near the hide and they have a really small baby, so cute!

But the coolest thing this week was also a little sad. Veterinary services captured a young wild dog that was in bad condition and begging around camps. It turned out he had badly fractured a front leg and while it had healed, he couldn't use it properly and couldn't keep up with the pack. Because Laurence knew I was so interested in wildlife veterinary work, I got to be there while they euthanized it and did a full necropsy. So like I said, very sad. But it was so cool to get to watch and I had a good chat with the vet and vet students there.

Skukuza: round two

Magpie shrikes

Pied kingfisher!

Hammerkop

Martial eagle

Brown snake eagle

Tawny eagle

Bush baby! He's been raiding our trash every night

Banded mongoose, also a trash raider...

Giant kingfisher

I haven't seen any more large carnivores around Skukuza, but the bird viewing has been exceptional. I saw four different large raptors on a game drive this morning. There is a hyena that hangs out around the fence every night and we have heard lions in the early morning. We're really busy with various projects at the moment, but things are going great!

Mapungubwe wildlife

Klipspringer

White-fronted bee eaters, my new favorite bird!

Hornbills and a Pearl owlet

It was so nice to see eles again after a month away from the savanna

Young kudu male

Little gecko that lived outside my hut

It's Zazu! Red-billed hornbill

What a beauty!

A pair of kudu

More dassies!

Blacksmith Plover

Giraffe drinking - they look so awkward!

White rhino and Blue wildebeest

Blue wildebeest

White rhino - only the 2nd one I've seen in the wild

Wildlife wasn't quite as concentrated as it was in Kruger, but we definitely saw some awesome stuff. I really got into the birds here because my 2nd independent project was a bird biodiversity survey. I spent 5 mornings out in the field looking and listening for as many birds as possible. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot.