Wild... Life

Finally, an album of some of the wildlife I encountered when in South Africa!
After going through my photos over and over, I have put up some of my favorite pictures. If you'd like to see more of a particular organism or landscape, I probably have tons more shots, so just ask me! This is only a small taste of the diversity that I encountered there. I hope you enjoy these pictures, and don't hesitate to ask me any questions about the animals, their behaviors, how I encountered them, etc. I learned so much in my time in Kruger and the surrounding areas, and I'd love to pass on the knowledge I've absorbed.

Just click the picture of the elephant to see my whole Picasa Web Album: Wild...Life!

<3

Maybe some videos too...

Here's a video taken at Nsikazi Camp in Kruger National Park. This is at the end of Week 2 when we were taking down some of our invertebrate traps that we set up around camp for our invert identification study with Elme. It gives you a look at the place I called home for a month.


<3 B

The First Installment of Pictures!

Ok everyone! Here is my first album... I call it "A How-to Guide: Living in the South African Bush!" I hope you like it. I took about 1100 pictures on my expedition, so I will definitely be posting more albums (wildlife, people, etc). So keep on the lookout!

<3 B

Click the picture of my tent and tentmate, Marley, to see the whole album!

HomeHomeHome

So I am home and safe. Still really really out of it after a 5 hour transfer to OR Tambo Airport, a 17 hour flight to JFK with a 1 hour stop in Senegal, and a 3 hour drive home. But once I regain consciousness, I will be posting a plethora of pictures and posts that I've been saving.
Coming home was really bittersweet. The morning before I left Nsikazi was pretty sad. Saying goodbye is always sad. One of the worst goodbyes was to Big Boy... and he told me to promise I'd see him again, but I didn't want to promise in case it didn't happen. I know I can stay in touch with pretty much everyone else... the students and the guides... through facebook and e-mail, but the only contact I can really have with Big Boy is through a phone number that he wrote down for me. I tried it yesterday and it didn't go through, so I'm not sure if it will work. *sigh* But I learned a lot from him, like how to start a fire from scratch and from embers, how to light lanterns with paraffin, how to speak a little bit of Swazi...
In fact, I learned so so much from this whole expedition. I know more about the wildlife in South Africa, how to track game, how to ID any bird (by sight or sound) or any tree, than I know about any wildlife in my own backyard. I've learned survival skills... like how to orient yourself in the bush, find water, build solar stills and vegetation stills, what snakes and spiders to watch out for, how to react when confronting a dangerous animal. I've learned some Swazi and some Shangaan and some Zulu and some Afrikaans. I've learned how to walk loudly at night, so you don't surprise an unsuspecting leopard. I've learned about conservation management and how it isn't always as nice as it sounds (like with the elephant culling problem). I've learned how to pin insects for ID purposes, and I've learned how to interpret some major constellations in the Southern hemisphere, how to let the moon be my flashlight. I've learned how to assess habitats, how to determine the extent of fire and elephant damage to individual trees, how to use a GPS and a compass, how to use the sun to your advantage, how to lure out a mongoose, or how to attract predators. I'm beginning to see that in the month I lived at Nsikazi, I absorbed more information than I ever thought I would.
Despite the sickness, and the early on wide-awake nights of terror, the hard work, and the spiders... the knowledge and experience made it worth every minute. I can't wait to share my stories with you guys.
<3 B

The Bane of My Existence

July 5, 2010

Spiders! Just when I'm finally feeling brave around them, they prove me wrong. Didn't check the bathroom too thoroughly the other night, and so I closed the canvas flap to greet a Rain Spider right next to my face. It was probably the size of my hand. I screamed and then I didn't have to go to the bathroom anymore.

Last night I was washing my face outside of my tent and stumbled over to my towel with my eyes closed. When I went to wipe my face, of course, there was a spider there waiting for me.

We found Brown Button Spider eggs in the lecture tent. The Brown Button Spider has neurotoxic venom, but it's only one-third as powerful as the Black Button (Black Widow). That's a relief (not!). But wait....guess what spider was in the shower with me today...a Black Button! One of the deadliest spiders known to man. I noticed a little black blob in the corner underneath a web and went to take a closer look. When I saw a beautiful red hourglass on its abdomen, I decided that I really wasn't that dirty after all. So much for conquering my fears. I'm going to come home a paranoid arachnophobe. But on the plus side, I'm no longer afraid of the resident Mozambique Spitting Cobra under tent 7.

Love,
B

Happy Independence Day!

July 4, 2010

Happy 4th of July everyone, although it isn't much of a celebration over here. There are only 7 Americans at Nsikabi Camp out of may 40 total people. So, unfortunately, we won't be acknowledging the date as a group (although several of us lone Americans have been plotting how to make home-made fireworks). But, we are all going to watch The Lion King tonight. We've been trying to organizing getting the generator on after dinner. We can use the projector and the whole camp can have a movie night. Tonight is the night. It's going to be epic!

Speaking of epic, I am soooooo excited for Thursday because we all get to venture into Kruger. Kruger proper, that is, for the whole day. Kruger proper is like the big leagues. Nothing is fenced and it is a hotspot for the big five for diverse flora and fauna and for bush excitement. And, the visibility there is apparently stellar whereas here tall grasses make it impossible to see any action. It should be a pretty wild day. It'll be a great way to go out with a bang because Friday morning we pack up and head home. Alright, I'm going to go bundle up to prepare for what should be a cold night. A cold but fun night. Happy 4th to everyone back home.

Love,
B

Three Weeks Down - Random Updates

July 1, 2010

Sitting outside with a bunch of peeps...we just gave our presentations during lecture today. I presented on differences in attitudes on fencing here and in the U.S. (putting up fences, not the sport). I think it was pretty interesting. Everything is fenced here and nothing is fenced in the U.S. pretty much. The reasons for fencing are also limited in the U.S. I won't bore you with details, but I will throw you some random things:
. Burned myself yesterday...poured hot water right onto my hand. Really not intelligent. But treated the burn really fast and wrapped it up, so no blisters. Yay!
. Just took a glorious shower. I've never appreciated showers so much. The water was actually warm. The showers are just wrapped in canvas, so the sun was streaming in as I watched the reddish dirt colored water flow down the drain. (The water here is really clean, I was just really dirty from habitat assessment.)
. My favorite bird surprised me outside of my tent this morning...Little Bee Eater. Check them out, they're pretty sweet.
. Big Boy has been teaching me some Swazi words. He's on staff here and does everything from starting fires to lifting entire trees to fixing tents. And, I've been trying to explain some things to him in English. But there's something really cool about just sitting next to a person from a completely different world and communicating without many words. Just hand motions and face making and pointing and laughing. Big Boy is one of my favorite people here. I fixed one of his jackets last week...it had a huge hole in it. And he just makes me laugh all the time. He told me he'd chop my hand off it it wasn't better by today. Tough Love! Robert is also very awesome. He understands English pretty well. But he's also been teaching me some Swazi words. He really was wonderful to me when I was sick. Making me porridge and making sure I was well-fed. He left today.
. Going on a bird driving transect this afternoon. I've gotten pretty good at bird ID's so I'm excited.
. Oh guess what? I had ice cream two days ago! We stopped at Numbi Gate because we finished research early. Ice cream has never tasted so heavenly. I got something like a Dove Bar with vanilla ice cream, chocolate coating, with white chocolate pieces inside. It was SO GOOD! I'm going to put up a blog with just food I've eaten since I've been here. I've been keeping a list. South African food is very good and they feed us very well. But, it's really funny that half of our conversations end up being about pizza or Chinese food or chocolate cake. In fact, all of us researchers had an hour long convo about our favorite take-out Chinese food last night. It was quite entertaining, but painful. Who would have thought I would miss Chinese food!? About a week ago I thought I'd never eat food again. All of this food talk is making my stomach growl and what a coincidence, brunch is ready. Talk to you later.

Love,
Bianca

How's the Weather

June 27, 2010

Do you know that with the exception of the doctor's office I haven't seen walls in over two weeks now? Well, I was reminded of that fact today...when living outside you never need to ask about the weather, because you KNOW the weather. You can sense even the smallest change in wind direction or temperature. So far, the weather has been pretty consistent. Frigid when the sun goes down, and hot when it's up. But today when I woke up I knew it was going to be different. It was just a little bit too breezy on our morning habitat assessment. And now, sitting up at the main tent, I know (and the animals here know) that something is up. The wind is really picking up now and some ominous clouds are drifting overhead. It smells like rain.

Normally winters in South Africa are dry, but this might be an exception. Why am I so worried? Well, at home, rain means very little. You just go inside or bring an umbrella. But here, there really isn't anywhere to go besides your tent. Mine happens to be at one of the lowest points in camp (perfect for flooding). Also, Caz told us some pretty intense stories about lightning storms, which Kruger Park is famous for...look it up! So I'm gonna hope that this is just a false alarm. But I'm going to go grab a rain jacket and search for massive quantities of rubber to cover myself in, just in case.

Love,
Bianca

Two Weeks Down

June 25, 2010

So two weeks have flown by. The first was tough and busy and full of learning. The second was full of sickness. Two of my favorite people left for Mozambique this morning. Jenny (mom) and Chris (Captain Crunch). And about half of the group left for home. A bunch more should be arriving this evening to start their bushcraft training. I really have no idea what is in store for this week. We have to close 8 pitlines this afternoon and open a couple more for small group research. There will be only about 8 of us going out to work every day. I feel so much better and I'm actually starving now that my body realizes it has been running on empty for about four days. Robert made me porridge this morning and yesterday morning and it really does the trick. On a funny note, I woke up with a hugely swollen right eye. I must have gotten a bite in the night. But I took some Benadryl and it went down. I think Africa just hates me.

Love,
Bianca

Buffalo Fever

June 23, 2010

Well, it wasn't a 24 hour bug. I thought I felt better the next day and dumbly went out to do research with very little food or water in my stomach. But yesterday, I woke up feeling really nauseous and weak. I went to class. When everyone got up to leave, I couldn't. I laid down on a little couch and felt my body go from bad to worse very very quickly. Within an hour I spiked another fever and became quite disoriented. When my hands and feet began to grow numb, it became a serious matter. I was scared, really scared. But Hannah and Caz phoned up the research coordinator, Tom, who sped here from town, and Paul carried me to the truck. Both of them tried very hard to keep me laughing. I could barely lift my head. One of the doctor's offices in town took me in right away. The doctor was so nice to me. He knew I was really scared (and probably thought I was 12). He first tested me for malaria, which, luckily I didn't have. And he decided that I had some kind of infection (which Tom has dubbed Buffalo Fever) and put me on iv antibiotics right away. He put some sugar and antispasmodic in the iv too. Soon enough, I could feel my hands and feet again, and my fever was subsiding. It was like magic. And the doctor sent me back to camp with tons of goodies...fever/pain pills with codeine, nausea pills, probiotics to restore my happy bacteria and electrolyte packets for my drinking water. So I went back to camp quite dazed and exhausted, but 1000 times better. Everyone here was quite nice to me and very concerned. Robert, the camp chef, said he'd make me anything I wanted, but I could only stomach a slice of bread, the first real food that I had had in the last couple of days. And Jenny, one of the students here, has just been a wonderful mom. But I don't know where I would be if it wasn't for Paul. He stuck with me through the whole thing.

I'm taking it slow and easy today, drinking some soda and eating some cornflakes. No field work for me today. I've learned not to push it. I want to let you all know that I'm just fine and I'm in good hands. I really don't know if I've ever been more scared in my life, but the worst is over. Now I've got two more weeks to make up for it.

Love,
Bianca