Highgrove Lodge Tzaneen

... John DeWitt, is a truly inspirational leader who envisioned, built, and has guided SEF since 1991. He took the time, after a long day, to have a late supper with me and share some ideas of how our university community might be able to learn from and support the work of SEF. In a later conversation with some other staff members, I learned that it might be possible to arrange homestays in the communities that SEF services for visitors from the States. I ...

... adept at moving around in her enclosure. Rohan is one of the big males in sickbay. He is very handsome and loves to be groomed every time that you go through to give them water. Shadow used to be someone's pet so now he needs a lot of attention so we have him in sickbay just so that he is around someone all of the time. He loves to be groomed and when you get down on your knees to do it, he will take his beautiful little hand and place it on your ...

Not much new happening here. I have been sick for the last few days but hopefully will be back to normal by tomorrow. The other day was one of the most exciting ones that I have had since I have been here. A monkey came in who had been attacked by one of the bandit monkeys. She had a huge gash across her face ...

... young side striped jackals. We were really lucky to see these because they are so rare. They must have just been venturing out of their den in the evening. A lot of the animals had babies because it is baby season. It is amazing to see all of the little animals everywhere. The next day we woke up at 4:30 in the morning to try to see some nocturnal animals. We saw rabbits which I learned that will chase their shadow to try to get away from light. We also saw ...

... It is not at all what I expected. Finally we went to Berlin Falls and to Bourke's Luck Potholes where the Blyde and Lisbon rivers meet. It is beautiful. The first monkey that I was able to work with is named Gadalphie. She is one of the monkeys in the blind enclosure. She has been blind here entire life so she is very capable of doing most of the things that other monkeys can do. The problem with her is that she was a ...

... is filled with beautiful shade trees, to savanna with few trees, to savanna with large rock towers (reminded me of canyon lands), to almost rain forest similar to Ecuador with tons of tree farms. Finally we arrived in Tzaneen which is in the Limpopo region. It is amazingly mountainous and dry but lush at the same time. Lorna and I were picked up by a worker at the vervet foundation and I was stuffed into the back of the pickup with all of the luggage ...

... to look into the eyes of a gentle giraffe, or to try for a rare glimpse of an elusive leopard. Every time we go out on a drive there is a sense of incredible anticipation. What we will see next?? So far we have seen baboons, jackals, wildebeest, warthogs, impala, steenbok, vervet monkeys, gemsbock, as well as birds of all shapes and sorts. And it is just the first week! We have also been attending lectures on ...

... if he gave us instructions like "climb a tree" or "run for your lives". So comforting. He lead us right to a group of 3 giraffes and we watched them and they watched us. Giraffes have great eye sight and are very curious. It's a strange feeling to be watched by a wild animal. After this we tracked rhino's for a while until we found 5 White Rhinos 1 male, 2 female and 2 babies. Unlike the giraffes, rhinos are almost blind. We got quite close to ...

... worth it. We have seen giraffe, cape buffalo and zebra and baboons and several other animals. Matt was stabbed by a very big thorn tree while we were driving over trees to find the lions. He's okay though. We took lots of video and will try to post at some point. They only have dial up here, so it is probably impossible right now, but we may try tomorrow. I will have to write more later, but I just wanted everyone to know that we are safe and we are having a glorious time. Love, Rebecca

... mouth open, ready to maim. Wondering what on earth had possessed her to get in an open vehicle in the dead of night, with wild lions just meters away, Elizabeth was slightly perplexed at the sight before her, but was relieved to hear the guy in charge threaten Inkanya, so that he jumped back. After a moment, Inkanya signaled to Selati, and the pair of them moved off into the bush. The team exhaled and nervous laughter was had by all.... until............... About a week later, about ...