The day of the jackal

We at EcoTraining spend countless hours pouring over books written by a variety of experts to try and explain animal behaviour to prospective field guides.  We have a huge wealth of knowledge at our finger tips with which to glean the plethora of information documented on some of the most iconic animals in the world.  However, despite Man’s propensity of recording field data from observations, animals do not always read the text books and often we are made to look foolish as they defy the preconceptions we have attributed to them!

The other day, a report about a male lion that had killed a bush pig, came through on the radio.  We rushed to the scene of the crime already deep in explanation as to the feeding habits of Africa’s apex terrestrial predator, looking forward to watching the ferocious feline demolishing his prey.  When we arrived at the location we found the bushpig completely intact, not even opened, and no lion to be seen.  Often predators will kill other predators as a means of eliminating competition and these victims are usually not consumed as they were removed rather than killed for food, but there was no viable reason that a cache of meat such as this would be left alone.  It was a gentle reminder from the bush that no matter how long you spend out here watching the daily lives of its inhabitants, nothing is ever set in stone!

I can offer no satisfactory explanation as to why the lion chose to leave his prize but nothing is left to waste in the bush for long.  Throughout the afternoon, the vultures arrived and began to consume the carcass, comically scrapping and flapping around as they argued over feeding rights.  We returned to the site at the end of our night drive hoping that the smell of decomposing flesh had wafted its way to the sensitive nostrils of the resident hyena clan.  It seemed however that the hyenas’ had also turned their nose up at the meal but not so a small group of side-striped jackals!

This diminutive predator is often overlooked in the food chain but plays a hugely important role in cleaning up the bush.  It is not as gregarious as the more common black backed jackal and thus their presence was a welcome sight to us all.  The temptation of a free meal overrode their normal normally nervous disposition and we were rewarded with a wonderful sighting as they wrestled with their porky prize! 

Side striped jackals are omnivores and can get their water requirements from eating fruits which enable them to be very successful in more harsh terrains.  They are also efficient hunters and regularly take small mammals, birds and even arthropods but an unattended carcass was a bonanza for them to enjoy.  We stayed in the sighting long after dark enjoying their antics as individuals argued over the choice cuts, prompting a long discussion over their feeding habits, role in the ecosystem and why the lion chose to leave its kill. 

For me, the true beauty of working in the bush is the fact that nothing is ever set in stone.  For a lion to pass up an opportunity to feed is unusual, but its decision benefited a whole host of less powerful members of the bushveld community.  Rules are made to be broken and trying to fathom the rationale behind these incidents is what makes this vocation so fascinating.  Variety is the spice of life, and we bush folk live our lives wondering what awaits us around the next corner and it is this excitement: the unknown commodity, that makes a life in the bush so rewarding!

Blog and photos by Ben Coley

Tranquility

The bush is a place to find peace and solace.  The feeling of immersion in a pristine wilderness area is something that only a few of us are lucky enough to experience.  It is a place where the complications of our world disappear.  The sounds of never-ending traffic, police sirens and the constant hum of electricity are nowhere to be seen, and instead they are replaced by a myriad of tuneful birdcalls, an underlying cacophony of insect life, the whoop of a distant hyaena or the crack of a branch as a gentle leviathan feeds. 

The holistic effect of the bush is often overlooked.  People come to the wilderness to tick off their marquis animals and get their certificate of seeing the Big 5, but many will miss the true meaning of being lost in one of the world’s most pristine wildernesses.  It is a place to find ourselves, to revisit the primitive nature of our ancestors and experience what life used to be like before the advent of technology.  Undoubtedly our advances as a species have opened up doors to new places and allowed us to enjoy a more stress free life…or have they?  Yes, television and a comfy sofa sound like a great way to relax, but I can assure you all that it is no substitute for sitting next to a serene waterhole, watching the setting Sun‘s rays dance across the water.  The colours that seep through the skeletal winter trees cannot be put in words and I struggle to believe that even Dulux could recreate some of them. 

Our current crop of budding new field guides was privy to experience such an evening last night.  After a gentle walk from the camp, stopping to discuss an old hyena den and tasting the moisture-rich roots of the aptly named ‘Mother-in-Law’s Tongue’ we stumbled across an oasis.  Stretching out before us was a small body of water with no road access and thus protected from our own destructive influences.  The golden light of an African evening filtered through the clouds, giving the whole scene a magical hue: the trees seemed to radiate the light and shine it back at us like something out of a fairy tale.  Learning about the fascinating organisms that inhabit this area is one thing, but there is no substitute for just sitting quietly and contemplating life in such an idyllic place.

The students found their own quiet corner to just sit.  We spend our whole life rushing from one thing to another, governed by time and the need to attribute meaning to everything.  We have forgotten how to truly relax and find ourselves.  This was the perfect opportunity and we all relished in the chance to be wrapped up in our thoughts about why we chose to come to such a place, just appreciating the beauty and wonder of nature in her purest form.  We sipped drinks in the warm evening air and listened to the wind rustle the leaves and last of the birds say their farewell to another perfect day in Africa.  The only movement came from little pond-skaters skimming across the glassy surface of the water and the occasional bumbles rising from its depths as the unseen aquatic world went around its business.  It was a perfect moment where time was irrelevant.

This is what the bush is all about, and the reason that so many of us come to the bush.  We are all looking for something.  Some find it in a bustling city full of social interaction and technological advances.  Others, like myself, and many of the students who pass through EcoTraining’s welcoming doors need only experience this solitude once and become addicted to this purity.  The ‘real’ world can be fun, but only in small doses.  The bush gets under your skin and for some, it will change their life, and their outlook on it, forever.

Blog post and photos by Ben Coley

Survival 101: What to do when you get lost in the bush

What do you do when things go wrong and you get lost while out in the bush? In a nutshell: Stop, stay calm and plan. Keep warm. Drink plenty of water and ration your food. Conserve your energy. 

Be determined to survive. Get help.

Actually there are a number of things, so let’s tackle this systematically.

The first and most important thing to do is to remain calm and THINK. Then make tea, tea and not coffee. Making tea requires a certain ceremony and if you can take your time and make tea, then you are in charge of the situation. Then take stock of your situation.  

The first option is to turn around and track yourself out of there. Your shoes have left marks on the trail; the tires of the vehicle have left two long lines behind the vehicle. The vehicle will not leave tracks on a tar road but if you are on a tar road then you are probably not lost.

If this still does not work then settle down and make a camp. Take out you little survival pack. What, don’t you have one? You should have packed it before the rest of your kit. Inside should be the following: a small bag or pouch with a lighter, some strong string, a knife and/or a machete; a small pot for cooking and boiling water; soap and a lightweight towel; water sterilizing tablets and coffee filters, to filter water not coffee; insect repellent; a proper first aid kit, not just a packet with first aid written on it.

The weather conditions will determine what type of protection you will need. Do a good job of keeping yourself warm and dry. Find and purify water or ration the water you have. Find fire-wood before it gets dark but use it sparingly. Have a pile of small sticks that you can throw on if there is a threat from animals. Feed the fire slowly, do not heap it up and then let it die down to almost nothing.

Stay near the vehicle if you are using one. The vehicle is easier to see than people on foot. You should have left a rout plan and return date with someone. Stick to the plan. Do not ever deviate from your plan. If you do not return by the set day then they will send people out to find you. You should know your equipment; know how to use it when it works properly as well as when it is not functioning properly. The boy scouts motto of “be prepared” says it all.

Look around you as you travel, look back at any junctions that you pass, see them from the return journey’s perspective. Learn to use your equipment properly and then practice regularly. Learn some skills and practice them regularly; learned skills are lighter to carry than a book. And very importantly – NEVER over-estimate your capabilities but be positive about what you can do.

Courtesy of EcoTraining instructor Mark Gunn - article written by Liryn de Jager

Ollie Ballarano: My life as a back-up

Ollie Balarano is currently busy with his 6 month placement at the EcoTraining camp in Makuleke, Northern Kruger Park. Ollie summed his experience up in a few paragraphs. 

"It’s hard to put a life as a back-up into words.  I can spend hours talking about walking up to wild lions or speaking to elephants at a mere 5 meters away.  I can go on about keeping the guests and students save who passes through EcoTraining's Makuleke camp or to walk in the most stunning area I have ever experienced so far in my life.  I can go on and on about working alongside such knowledgeable and experienced experts of the bush.  I could even tell you of all the little things that you would never see on your average safari, such as a Water Monitor diving out of tree into a pan or a Chameleon shedding its skin, just to name a couple, but what I find most exciting of all is to watch people start their journey, and to see what becomes of them at the end.

Very recently, we had a group of three people come for a Tracking course.  Fortunately, I got to walk with them on their Tracking Assessment.  By the time they left after their two week course, they could identify most tracks they came across and followed them successfully.  One of the students have never set foot in South Africa before and he is now a good quality certified tracker with a skill set and a memory he will never ever forget.

Even more exciting was to watch a group of year long students do their Back-up Trails Guide assessment and doing well enough to be invited back as part of the Back-up family here at EcoTraining.  The two new additions arrived in camp a couple of days ago and I already know I have two new friends for life, with whom I share a connection and a passion with: Walking through nature and experiencing it on a level not many get to see. 

To have assisted with helping people experience this side of the world brings a lot of fulfillment for me.

This is all just a glimpse of what goes on in our lives here at EcoTraining and so I urge to all reading this to come along for a unique experience that you will never forget.  Come and see what the world is really about and where all of our roots come from."

Safari Guide Walkabout in the Makuleke Consession

As part of the EcoTraining courses the students go out on regular activities in the reserves. As a result of these activities they have numerous exciting encounters. Rhodes Bezuidenhout shares his experience.

"With our light lunch a thing of the past, the Group, armed with notebooks and the all-important sundowner cooler box, made their way to the car park to embus on the vehicle for the afternoon activity. The objective of the afternoon being to walk the Hlangaluwe Pan area, revising details of the characteristics of the trees and tracks that we had already covered thus far on the course and to introduce new examples as we came across them, while also obviously looking to enjoy a beautiful area of the Concession! Little did we realise that the planned revision would ultimately take a back seat on this walk!!

Driving down Middle Road the floodplains of the Limpopo River were indeed alive with plains game and birds. Buffalo, Kudu and Zebra were in abundance while Impala lambs were becoming more visible after joining the herds and forming their protective nurseries.

Young Impala on Middle Road, Makuleke Consession.
Photo: Gert Letterman

Birdlife, at this time of the year, is indeed abundant in the area with the majority of the avian migrants already having arrived for the summer. The characteristic shrill cry of the Woodlands Kingfisher reverberated over the growl of the diesel engine to confirm his own arrival while Violet Backed Starlings and European Bee Eaters kept us company as we headed for the Hlangaluwe Pan

Reaching our jump-off point, we parked next to a fallen young Baobab, conducted the safety brief then walked northwards over the small crest to link up with the paths that would ultimately lead us to the Pan. We stopped to review the characteristics of the Acacia Knob Thorn and the Apple Leaf trees on our way to the small ridge that overlooks Palm Vlei just to the west of Hlangaluwe. The view from this vantage point is always inspiring with the Fever Tree forest to the left and the Hlangaluwe kopje to the right on the far bank of the pan. All appeared quiet as we made our way eastwards past the large Baobabs to come in behind the ridge overlooking the pan.

The group look to identify tracks whilte Tahina can be seen in the background monitoring the Elephant Bull emerging from the Fever Tree Forest. Photo: Gert Letterman

We stopped to identify some tracks on the way but while doing so Tahina, my back-up guide for the walk, indicated an Elephant Bull emerging from the Fever Tree Forest into Palm Vlei, the area that we had just been viewing from the ridge. As the Group gathered together to watch, the Bull made his way slowly out of the forest and into the Lala Palm thickets.

Bearing in mind the time of day, the Bull was undoubtedly heading to the pan to drink, presenting us with a great opportunity for a wonderful encounter.

Tahina and I quickly moved the Group to the top of the ridge overlooking the pan which had a commanding view of the area. Leaving Tahina with the Group, I descended to the raised bank of the pan looking for the best possible position and while doing so, observed a second Bull emerge from the Fever Trees!

Indeed, by the time I had found a suitable site and signalled for the Group to join me, I counted 5 Elephant now making their way towards us and the pan across Palm Vlei.

With the Elephants appearing in no hurry to get to the water at this stage, I took the opportunity to quietly brief the Group on keeping movement and noise to a minimum as, if the Elephants came down to drink where I thought they would, it was likely that would be no more than 30 metres from us across the water! I requested everybody to sit down at the edge of the elevated bank taking up comfortable positions, flashes of cameras off and to be patient as things developed.

The group seated on the bank waiting for the Bulls to reach the water. Photo: Gert Letterman

I was glad to see Tahina taking up a position on the far end of the Group to give both of us a clear view of the area!

Finally the first Bull slowly made his down through the plains grassland to the water opposite us, very close, the Group very quiet!!

With further Elephant emerging from the Fever Trees to our left, very soon we had three Bulls at the water’s edge dipping their trunks into the water! Cameras then whirred and clicked seemingly so loud in the silence of the late afternoon that I thought the noise would disturb the Bulls! The faces of the Group were indeed a picture watching in some amazement as the Elephants sucked up the water into their trunks then hosed it into their mouths.

The first Bull makes his way down to the water's edge. Photo: Hans-Jurgens Keck

The Bulls commence to drink, an amazing sight, so close! Photo: Hans-Jurgen Keck

A big Bull then joined the trio at the water, jostling his way in between them as to show his dominance before he too commenced drinking. In no time at all we had all eight Elephant drinking in front of us, so close you could hear the breaths being taken by the animals between slurps of water!

Two of the Bulls then decided to have a test of strength and played out a mock battle, forehead to forehead, trunks wrapped around heads and tusks rasping together as they engaged and pushed against each other! Soon a second duo were also duelling, one standing in the water! Very special!!

Two sets of Bulls in mock fights! Photo: Hans-Jurgens Keck

We were indeed very privileged to be able to witness this very important daily ritual of watering at such close, but safe, quarters. The problem was that more and more Elephant were now seen to be emerging from the Fever Trees including cows and calves! A breeding herd!

By this time, we had spent a good 20 minutes with the Elephants at the pan and with the sun now threatening the horizon and the new arrivals beckoning, it was definitely time not to overstay our welcome! I managed to send a silent message to the Group to pay attention, then signalling Tahina at the far end to slowly rise and back out down a path away from the bank. As she managed to do so without disturbing the Elephant at the water, I signalled for the next person to do the same and to join her, repeating the process one by one to minimize movement and noise.

Kurt, on the right, makes his way out of the sighting, with me following close behind, the Bulls being left undisturbed in the background. Photo: Gert Letterman

The extraction went off without a hitch and as the last out, I glanced back to ensure that the Elephant were still comfortably engaged at the water’s edge noticing that their numbers were increasing all the time in the fading light! Definitely the right decision to leave!!

Reforming silently, I led the Group back up the ridge to our original entry point and then over the crest, where everybody quietly but animatedly exchanged individual experiences!

With so many Elephant now in the area, but not in view behind the ridge, I wanted to ensure our path back to the vehicle was clear and as such needed to see the status of the herd. Heading west until reaching the edge of the ridge, I took the Group up to the crest once more for a final view with the advantage of height .Palm Vlei was indeed alive with Elephant, most were still heading down to the water but with some drifting towards us threatening our route to the vehicle. I gave the Group a limited time on this sighting before deciding to take a direct route back to the road then following that back to the vehicle to avoid any encounter in the thick Mopane trees between the pan and the road.

The group makes its way down the ridge back to the vehicle as the light fades. Photo: Gert Letterman

In the fast diminishing light, we reached the vehicle with no problems and drove a short distance to the Palm Vlei look-out for sundowners.

While breaking open the cooler box and distributing drinks into satisfied hands, most of the elephant had by this time reached the water at the pan, now out of our sight to the east, with only a small herd to our front. Buffalo and Zebra were also visible to our right in the Lala Palm thickets.

Well-deserved sundowners after a memorable encounter, not to be forgotten! Photo: Hans-Jurgen Keck

An amazing afternoon spent in a beautiful area, a real privilege to have been part of a great sighting."

 

Rhodes Bezuidenhout

Instructor

EcoTraining, Makuleke Concession

Kruger National Park  

A phenomenal lion kill – defying the textbooks

Seeing a predator make ‘a kill’ is often high on the wish list of safari-goers. Managing these lofty expectations is a major part of a guide’s job, especially important during the guest briefings prior to an activity. Teaching and practicing such briefings is a big part of any Ecotraining course, just as it was on the 28-day Safari Guide Course we ran on Kenya’s Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in August this year. After all, it helps a guide develop rapport, communicating safety and ethical considerations as well as giving the guide a chance to deliver a realistic yet hopefully wonderful experience. However, before the instruction could even begin, I, as instructor, took on the role of guide and had to do the usual expectation management when the typical ‘kill request’ came up. With a more reasonable perspective, the request didn’t come up again on later drives, although I knew that the students were just as secretly hopeful as I was about seeing such an event.

Ten days into the course we watched a lioness (Panthera leo) painstakingly stalk a herd of Plains Zebra (Equus quagga boehmi) before a clumsy sub-adult lion alerted them of the impending danger. We could not believe how close we had come to witnessing a complete hunt. However, it was merely a day later that we got lucky and saw the whole thing, but in circumstances completely defying the textbooks.

We were driving back to camp after another successful morning practical guiding activity. It was around 9:30 and all our layers for the chill of dawn were peeled off, the temperature was climbing rapidly and sunscreen had already been applied at our coffee break an hour earlier. Our camp came into view as we entered the grove of fever trees (Vachellia xanthaphloea) that marked the edge of the main Lewa swamp.

“Stop, stop, there’s a lion over there!”

“Where? I can’t see it.”

“It was walking, from right to left. It’s behind those sandpaper trees” (Cordia monoica)

Sure enough, the keen eyed student had spotted a blonde-maned lion making a steady march towards the swamp, about 50m away from us.

We slowed to stay parallel with him. Suddenly, he broke out in a trot. Looking ahead in the direction of his determined stare, we could see what had grabbed his attention. Around 250m in front of him was a herd of Defassa Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus defassa) and two Grevy’s Zebra (Equus Grevyi) stallions that were embroiled in a full-on territorial fight. Unlike their Plains Zebra cousins, the Grevy’s are territorial with a totally different social structure – they also don’t hold harems like the much smaller, non-territorial, Plains Zebras.

We kept up with the lion and positioned ourselves around 100m from the Zebras to watch the drama unfold. Upon reaching a small open patch, the lion slowed down to a momentary stalk. The waterbuck had noticed him. In a panic they split and ran towards the river that feeds the swamp. Crucially, they never sounded the alarm and the stallions continued to buck, kick and bite each other.

Now within 75m of the Zebras, the lion used a large lone fever tree to hide his final sprint. It was only when he was less than a few metres away that the stallions seemed to realize the danger. They separated, the lion seemed to stop, as if to pick his target, and pounced on one of their backs. All of us gasped.

“Go, go, go!” I urged. ‘Silke’, our guide for the day, moved the vehicle to a spot parallel to the struggle, which was happening less than 30m from the road.

The lion manoeuvred into a position where he could hang off the stallion’s neck with his jaws and front paws, trying to pull him down to ground. The Zebra, over twice the lion’s weight, did his best to stay on his feet. This fight was not over. Their bulk, powerful kicks and vicious bites are usually enough to deter lone lions from hunting adult Grevy’s Zebra stallions. But again, there was nothing ‘typical’ about this hunt.

After approximately four minutes, the Zebra collapsed and the lion adjusted to finish suffocating him. It took another three or four minutes before the twitching and kicking stopped and the lion sensed he had succeeded.

The lion lifted his head to pant and almost ironically it was only then that the waterbuck began snorting in alarm. They and the surviving stallion were now gathered around the lion and his kill, keeping a good eye on the predator, ensuring he knew the element of surprise was gone, just in case he considered making another daring hunt!

Whether the surviving stallion was the original territory holder or fighting to take it over, we will never know. However, satisfied the lion was no longer a threat, he proceeded to prance in circles, bellowing his territorial claim.

The lion eventually moved to the Zebra’s rump, where the skin and flesh are easier to tear open, and began to feed.

As the lion settled down to eat, our adrenaline levels began to settle as well. We could not believe what we had just witnessed. Everything you read and hear about lion hunts didn’t seem to apply here. We already knew that male lions have a false reputation for being lazy and over reliant on hunting lionesses. But a lone hunt in broad, hot, daylight, over a distance of 300m to take on a formidable 450kg Grevy’s Zebra stallion…the sheer audacity!

We left the lion to his breakfast to attend to ours.

We returned to the scene for the next three days. The following morning the male had been joined by two more lions - a gruff, but much larger black-maned lion, and a young female. This older lion had a heavy limp but still dominated the kill. He refused to let the blonde male near the carcass or the female. Eventually the female headed for the swamp for a drink. The old male growled in protest, carefully following her, ensuring he kept between her and the blonde male until they reached and disappeared into the reeds. The blonde male took his chance to resume feeding.

The lions abandoned the kill after the second day and over the course of the next week, scavengers had reduced the carcass to a skeleton.

Despite the amazing events we had the privilege to witness, we were able to appreciate another context to the kill. Grevy’s Zebras are critically endangered, with numbers hovering around 3000 left in the wild. Conflict with pastoralist communities is thought to have reduced their numbers from 15,000 in the 1970’s. With the Ethiopian sub-population threatening to go extinct in the coming years, Grevy’s Zebras will become endemic to northern Kenya. Conservancies such as Lewa, its Laikipia neighbours and its partners in the Northern Rangelands Trust are the last strongholds. As conflict with pastoralists is minimized by adopting better grazing policies, the current main threat is predation from lions and spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta). A seemingly disproportionate number of Grevy’s Zebras are predated considering their relative scarcity to other prey, but it is usually the foals that get taken. To have a healthy stallion killed will be a blow to Lewa, which holds around 11% of the global population. However, the current emphasis on maintaining a functioning ecosystem involves the risk of losing a number of critically endangered animals to predation, be it Grevy’s Zebras or even Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis michaeli) calves. At least these photographs and our report can contribute to the ongoing research into these dynamics.

It was phenomenal luck that we got to see the kill take place, but it was also fascinating to follow up for a number of days and see how the event fits into the ecological context. Not only was it a demonstration of a food web in action, but it also impacted the local lion social dynamics and the wider conservation perspective.

Writer: Andreas Fox
Photos by Markus Eichelberg

Elephant Armageddon

 A Blog post by Ben Coley

"I fell asleep at a reasonable hour listening to the rhythmical songs of the fiery-necked nightjars and the distant booming call of a Verreaux’s Eagle Owl.  Somewhere far in the distance I heard a branch break as it succumbed to the devastating force of its elephantine assailant; but other than that, the bush’s gentle nocturnal lullaby was more than enough to send me into a deep sleep.

I woke with a start at about 11.30pm.  The moonlit night sky was no longer visible through my tent’s mesh:  cloud-cover I mused?  Perhaps it was a clap of thunder that had disturbed my slumber?  As I strained my sleep filled eyes, the moonlight suddenly started to appear once again… It was only then that I realised that it was the silhouette of an elephant bull that filled my window!  He then set about systematically removing large areas of bush from beside my tent with less than delicate aplomb.  The silent night provided perfect amplification for his activities and the cracks of the protesting branches sounded like gunshots going off next to my head!  More noise filtered through to my now more alert brain and I realised that our friendly behemoths from 2 days ago has decided to pay us another visit! 

My first thought was the water pipe outside my room.  It had recently been fixed and had yet to be buried beneath the soil.  Elephants have a penchant for fresh water and I knew that it was only a matter of time before he would snap the pipe like a matchstick to quench his considerable thirst.  Sure enough, minutes later I heard a pop and the gushing of water, followed by what can only be described as someone guzzling a drink through a massive straw!  Water is Africa’s most precious resource.  It is the life blood that supports the wealth of plant and animal life that we as bush-folk hold so dear and I knew that I had to stem the flow when the opportunity arose.  I clambered out of bed, armed only with my headtorch and watched the carnage through the mesh until the satiated colossus silently strode up my path and away from his destruction.  Thankfully, the mains tap was close to my tent so I was able to tip-toe my way 30m or so through the darkness and conserve our vital elixir.

The chaos continued throughout the night and sleep was hard to come by.  Normally elephants feed in an area and move on but perhaps EcoTraining’s famed hospitality was too enticing and our guests were still in the camp at 5.30am when I, and the somewhat shaken-up and bleary-eyed students emerged from our tents.  Ironically, only a few nights ago I was telling them that camp visitors are common, despite the fact that that they had been scarce of late!

We surveyed the devastation together, keeping a watchful eye on the 2 perpetrators as they continued to feed close-by, oblivious to the disturbance that they had caused.  One tree blocked our path to the fire place, another had narrowly missed the EcoTraining sign and yet another tree had been uprooted right next to tent 7.  Beatriz and Rosie were the unfortunate inhabitants as they told of their sleepless night!  The pathways were littered with foliage and branches where the table manners of our gargantuan visitors seemed to have deserted them.  We stepped carefully through the carnage, avoiding regular calling cards the size of bowling balls as we all recounted our own experiences of the chaotic night.  Finally the bulls moved on, satisfied that they had left their mark on Karongwe camp.  I couldn’t help but spare a thought for the remaining vegetation, wondering of their thoughts for their fallen comrades.

Considering their destructive capabilities, no structural damage had been sustained, and more importantly, with the exception of sleep deprivation, none of the camp guests had been harmed.  The elephants knew we were here; they would have been able to smell us and hear us shifting uncomfortably in our beds as they cut a swathe through our little oasis, but yet they continued about their nocturnal activities regardless.  It was an ultimate example of how man and beast can live together in harmony, and yet another memorable African experience for the Safari Guide course of August 2014!"

 

Lewa wildlife conservancy Report

Lewa’s annual report is out! Mike Watson Chief Executive Officer says that he is pleased to report that the spirit of conservation and development has been reinforced as contacts have been renewed, relationships re-established and Lewa’s vision confirmed amongst all those he met with the last 12 months.

Here are some of the successes you will read about in our Annual Report:

Under the Lewa Milele project, Lewa completed the purchase of its core landholding of 32,000 acres in December 2011. This ensures protection of Lewa in perpetuity

• 2011 was a very good year for rhinos - 9 black rhino calves and 6 white rhino calves were born, increasing the population to 70 black and 58 white rhino!
• The first elephant went through the Mount Kenya corridor underpass on January 1st, 2011, and since then our team has recorded numerous sightings of more elephants (and other wildlife) making use of this innovative “highway”
• We saw the opening of the Ngare Ndare Day Secondary School. 51 children are already enrolled in the school
• The Matunda gate was relocated and re-designed, and the big switch from generator to main grid power was made!
• 1,000 people ran the Safaricom marathon within the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy with the race raising the equivalent of 500,000 US dollars

The next 28 day Kenya / Lewa wildlife conservancy course will be in August 2012. For bookings contact Angela at enquiries@ecotraining.co.za

Horton Plains slender loris

This is the first time the Horton Plains slender loris has ever been photographed! The Telegraph.co.uk reports that one of the world’s rarest primates, driven to the brink of extinction by Britain’s taste for tea, has been photographed for the first time. The Horton Plains slender loris has been so elusive for more than 60 years scientists believed the wide-eyed mammal had become extinct. It had only been seen four times since 1937 but was fleetingly spotted in 2002 by researchers who identified it by the reflection of a light shone in its eyes. Experts believe the prime reason for its rarity was due to the loss of its natural forest habitat largely destroyed by the drive to create tea plantations.
http://bit.ly/azhgzo - EcoTraining wants to congratulate the photographer whom will hopefully keep the location a secret!

"Stars and charging Lions"

As Lyrin De Jager explained her experiences at EcoTraining Selati Camp, during her stay resently. She stood the test of time during her stay and didnt run when the lions tested the new recruits. These are some of the comments as published in Beeld, Die Burger and Volksblad on the 16th of March 2010. We are welcoming a new Field Guide to the industry.