Venetia Reserve, South Africa

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  Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve, South Africa
Saturday, January 19, 2008

South Africa - Week 1

From Lisa:

It can't have been a week already!  So much has happened.  Unbelievable sights and sounds - animals we've only seen in pictures or imagined what they would look like - great Afrikaans food - and so much to learn too.

We arrived in Safari Camp of the Venetia Game Reserve late Friday evening.  We'd been traveling by van all day, switching a few times because the transport needed stronger 4-wheel drive the closer we got to camp.  It was like entering a modern version of the Jurassic Park.  Our night time arrival at camp was greeted by a visit of one of the resident wild lions, Subpipe (pronounced Subpeepay).  They knew this because he'd been collared and the staff was monitoring him on the telemetry.  A lion just outside our camp!  And we were sleeping in tents??  Geez!

So the first night was a little nerve racking - with a lion roaring in the distance and all the night sounds on Africa that were so new to us.  Chirps, squeaks, rumbles, and roars.  And to make the first night even a little longer, a bat got tangled up in my mosquito net sometime during the night!  I'm sure I scared the poor creature more than it scared me, but it was a close race!   

Yes, I was wondering a few times "What on Earth am I doing here??", but when the sun came up on the camp it was absolutely beautiful!  We took our first game drive on Saturday and one of the first things we saw was a magnificent elephant.  I was gawking at it for so long, I forgot to snap a picture!  Well, I got a nice picture of his behind, I've got to work on that! 

This week has been amazing.  All of the safari documentaries on the Discovery Channel or National Geographic do not do justice to seeing and living the real thing.  It is jaw dropping 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 everything from the African Wild Dog Project to the dangers of African spiders, snakes and scorpions!  YUCK!!  Days start really early at about 4:30 am to take advantage of the cool mornings (it is Africa HOT here!)  We are back on base at 9:00 am for more lectures and to learn about techniques for tracking animals on the reserve.  By late afternoon it is time for the evening drive because the animals are generally starting to move around again.   Whew!!  By 8pm we are eating dinner by the campfire overlooking the dried up riverbed.  Not a bad way to spend the day!!

From Cheryl:

What more can I add?  Our group was split into 2, one going to Venetia where we are and the others going to Karongwe where we will be going for the last 5 weeks.  It was about a 9 hour drive from the Johannesburg airport to our remote camp location in the Northern area of South Africa.  The last 30 minutes was spent in the back of a truck sitting on the bottom of the truck bed going through the reserve chock full of animals which we could hear but not see!  When we got to the base it was completely dark.  As we were eating our late dinner of Mac and Cheese we were told of the lion.  First our team leader heard a noise in the distance, I heard it as well.  It sounded like a cat growl but she said it was a lion roar at about 8km distance (approx 5 miles).  After about 30 minutes that big cat was right outside our camp!  I guess Subpipe (pronounced subpeepay) wanted to greet us in style!!  Our meeting then continued in the kitchen which has 3 walls sides to it, safer I suppose! 

I am not sure how, but I actually slept quite nicely in our tent.  Well, except for the bat incident Lisa mentioned above!  

The first drive was amazing!  It was an introduction to the birds of the area/  While there are some amazing birds, the elephant crossing the road in front of us made the top of my list of sightings for that day.  It hit me just then that I was actually in Africa, in a reserve, on the back of a truck getting ready to learn about these amazing animals!

We have been learning a ton of stuff about all these new animals that we will be sharing space with over the next 10 weeks.  Not only about the animals, but how to track them using telemetry, how to recognize tracks left in the sand and determine how long ago the animal walked by.  It is so great to learn so much about so many things that I would have never dreamed I would be learning about!  I mean really, tracking wild elephants and lion to watch their behavior to determine the social status of the population??  wow!!

Giraffes!  Okay, pretty large animals with L O N G necks!  How can you miss them?  Well, we managed to!  We drove right past 6 giraffes munching on the local vegetation.  About 1/8th of a mile past them we happen to turn back and see them walking on the dirt road we just drove on.  We turned around and went to take a glance.  There were 2 males and 4 females.  They were about 3m (9ft) from our car just hanging out watching us.  It was another unbelievable sighting.  I have a feeling the next 9 weeks will be chock full of more amazing things as well!

The coolest thing was getting "mocked-charged" by an elephant!  We are trying to habituate them to get them use to people and cars so we can study them easier.  To do that you have to get close to them in a car and let them see and smell you.  When they get a bit tired of you they do this thing called a mock charge.  They pretend like they are going to attack you.  Thing is, you never know when a mock charge turns into a real one.  It is like playing chicken with an elephant!  Well, this young adult - about 25 yrs old and pretty big if I do say so, started to charge after us.  It was about 15 feet away from our car and coming full force!!  The adrenalin started pumping through my system like you would not believe.  I guess our driver decided that he was not mocking so he started to speed away.  The car goes about 50 km/h, the elephant 65km/h..  hmm..  It was so awesome though!  That is one focus of this expedition - to get the elephants habituated, so this will happen again for sure.  I will try to get a video of it so I can share it on the travelpod!

Well, somewhat long winded I know!  We will have VERY limited Internet access over the next several weeks I think.  We are a 3 hr drive to anything remotely civilized.  We had to come into town today to get one of the trucks fixed so we tagged along to try to update the travel pod for everyone.  I hope you enjoy it! 

Sorry there are no pictures yet!  We have a ton, but are challenged getting them from the laptop to the Internet cafe desktops.  Give us a week or so and there will be PLENTY to check out!!

You all be good and take care.  Miss you all lots and wish you all well.

Amani (Peace in Swahili!)

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