First Week in Kruger!

So one week in Kruger has definitely flown by (although some parts were longer than others). It has been a whole incredibly different, exciting, and sometimes terrifying experience so far. I have adapted to so many things: Living in the bush where the temperature changes are drastic- below freezing at night when it is painfully cold, frigid when we have to get up with the sun, and scorching hot once the sun is overhead. Learning to be friendly with giant man-eating spiders (look up the Baboon Spider, the White Lady, and the Rain Spider if you’d like a better idea)… they live in our bathroom and like to pop out of toilet paper rolls or hang on the door flap that closes behind you. I’ve also learned how to sleep in a tent, where only a thin piece of canvas separates me from the rest of the world. And believe me, it’s hard to get to sleep when you hear hippos grunting and lions growling. I’ve also learned how to survive in the bush, what to do on walks and drives… and the guides here are wonderful. On our bush walks, we always have 3 guides, 2 with rifles and 1 without. Yesterday was the most exciting/terrifying walk I’ve been on so far. We encountered 2 breeding herds of elephants while on foot… and breeding herds are pretty dangerous because the mothers are quite nervous. We had to be sure to keep our distance and make sure the wind was in our direction and check for escape routes. But once my heart slowed down and the elephants didn’t mind our presence, I got to take a really good look at them. And they were magnificent, especially the curious little baby that kept wandering near us.

Let’s see, I’ve also learned so so much about the wildlife here, the vegetation, and research techniques. I’ve gotten quite close with the Sicklebush (which loves to smack me in the face when we’re walking through the bush… not fun). And I’ve developed an interesting relationship with the Arrow Marked Babblers which like to babble outside of my tent ALL of the time, and a Dark-Capped Bulbul which is my new alarm. We took our bush craft training exam yesterday which was all on survival, trees, birds, tracking, dangerous organisms, etc. and I got 100%! I’ve been studying a lot, and it has paid off.

We have to go off on a drive in a bit in order to get our pitlines in order for tomorrow (tomorrow is when we begin our research: bird surveys, microhabitat assessment). Today we’ve been getting all of our materials together, and it’s been kind of a sad day because some really cool people left at 6am this morning to go to different locations after their training here. Anyway, I’ve gotta go get my stuff together for the drive, and prepare for another really cold night (the sun goes down really really fast, so you have to be prepared for the cold just as soon as it starts setting). Hopefully we can light a fire tonight.

Anyway, I hope that all is well with everyone, and I will try to get another blog up next week!
Love, Bianca