Day 01 - Our first elephant monitoring session

Elephant monitoring session –

Period – 10.00 to 15.30 hrs

Monitor – Leonard Muller

Conditions – dry, hot, some cloud covering

Highlights –

Ok so today was our first time on the back of the truck out in the Tembe bushveld with Leonard on a route that would take us through the amazing winding sand forest to various pans (waterholes), the vast expansive swamp regions, the Mahlasela Research hide finding and monitoring identified and unidentified elephants.

It's quite something being out on the back of the open 4x4 truck, amazing views, incredibly close to wildlife at all times, getting tuned into the sites and sounds of this wildest park, observing and monitoring some of the most amazing animals and of course seeing them for the first time in the wild! Another challenge for us is re-learning to support our skeletons without the aid of a seat back - not easy, and we're sure to redevelop those lazy back muscles over the weeks!

We'll be doing this session pretty much most days during our time at Tembe Elephant Park, we get the weekends off for this session ...... we may well be needing the rest and we may well be thanking Leonard for time out!

Day 01 - elephant monitoring at the Mahlasela Research hide

We were already captivated by the outstanding beauty and serenity of this spot and would defy anyone to not get completely and utterly absorbed into the natural ambiance of and let the rest of world melt away. It felt like the best chill-out place in the world for the most beautiful wildlife, completely harmonious, completely inspiring, completely breath-taking.

For a short while it was pretty quiet as far as elephant visuals were concerned. There were only 2 elephants to observe, one called Guss but as we were to experience, this was about to all change, on not one but two levels! 

Day 01 - Meet Isilo the oldest Tusker in Southern Africa

As Guss and the other elephant ambled around suddenly to our far -right one hell of a large elephant appeared, we pretty much all let out a gasp!

Enter Isilo, a legend elephant as he is estimated to be over 60 years of age, is believed to possibly be the oldest Tusker in Southern Africa but is officially the largest Tusker in Tembe and Southern Africa. Although he looked a magnificent specimen his physical appearance showed that he was no longer in the best of health. He was leaner than the younger bulls mainly due to loss of teeth with age, difficulty chewing and digesting vegetation so prefers the soft lower lying grass. Leonard was super pleased to see him as the park thought they were going to lose him last season. Sadly, they expect him not to last next season so this was an amazing magical moment! Tusker is a name given to older elephants with tusks exceeding 3 meters in length.

Day 01 - One historical moment, the oldest and the youngest elephant

And it just got more amazing and wonderful as we observed a most incredible occurrence that even the monitoring team referred to it as a “piece of history”.

To the top right of this spot came a breeding herd of five elephants – a mum, three young one’s and a gorgeous little baby! It was such an exciting moment that Leonard called the ecologist, vet, officers and rangers at Tembe HQ and lodge to let everyone know about the event that was taking place right before our eyes. Everyone rushed down in their trucks armed with binoculars and cameras to witness this event. It was truly breath taking as the breeding herd made their way to join Isilo wallowing in the mud. 

Here in one gathering was the oldest and youngest elephant in Tembe. We felt in completely in awe of this event, very privileged and honoured to see such a unique and incredibly special moment in history. It was pure wonderment!

Day 01 - The cutest baby elephant

This little fellow was the most cute little thing on four legs. We watched a mud bath with Isilo, watched mum nudge the little thing to move on, we watched drinking time with a lot to learn still, watched the siblings look after it. Couldn't peel our eyes away!

Day 01 - It's a boy!!

It's pretty important when you get a visual on a baby or young animal to try to determine the sex. Well this little one just happened to turn in a favourable direction for us to get a full visual which at that point Bergot the vet shouted ..... it's a boy! Affirmative! So for now his nick-name is Tiny Tim although Leonard as a rule doesn't name them until they are at least a couple of years old as anything can happen to them at a young more vulnerable age.

They reckon he's around 2-4 months old, and hasn't yet learned to drink using his trunk so for now arse up in the air, face well and truely submerged and mouth wide open! It was awesome viewing!

Day 01 - Our first Dusk monitoring session

 Dusk session –

Period – 16.30 – 19.40 hrs

Monitor – Clinton

Conditions – dry, warm, cloudy

African Wild Dog count – 0

Lion count – 0

First stop for our very first telemetry training was up to the top of the water tower, not too far from our research camp. We climbed to the top-viewing platform where Clinton explained the concept of radio tracking whilst checking for signals for both the radio collared wild dogs and lions. Nothing, not one single bleep! However, the view was spectacular and as we scanned 360 degrees of vast sand forest hinter landscapes of the Tembe Elephant Park knowing that we were going out driving and tracking in most sections, on hidden tracks or tracks out of bounds to those other than those authorised to use and explore them.... that'll be us then!

 

So, our priorities were to track the African Wild Dog and the lions.

The 3 adult wild dogs Albi, Poefy (Alpha female) and Fenne (Alpha male) are taking care of Poefy and Fenne's fast growing pups so it is vital to know whereabouts, keep checks on pup numbers as these little guys are so vulnerable particularly to lions who are their greatest threat in Tembe. The dogs haven’t been sighted for quite a number of days, Clinton thinks they may have moved to the North of the Park as picking up a radio signal from Albi or Poefy’s collar has been negative. As for the lions, they too have been moving perhaps into the thicker bush or further a field. The rainy season came a month early in November (better for us of course!!) and contributed to forcing the lions deeper in to the dense but sheltered bush. This of course makes it a whole load harder to pick up a signal that will lead us to the lions.

Miles & miles of sand forest, bush and swamp

Day 01 - A closer look reveals......

.... few leopard tracks in the sand. Pretty exciting on our first dusk session but then the reality of actually getting a visual on this leopard, or any leopard are pretty slim - as confirmed by Monitor Clinton and wildlife vet Bergot! Now Bergot was out with us this evening as there was hope we'd get a signal and visual on the lions and if we did then Bergot would be back tracking with us in the morning with the aim of darting one of the lions. But as we are not in control of this wild world (and nor should we be!), we had no signal and no visual ....... best laid plans and all that!!

 Bergot (Ezemvelo vet) and Clinton study the leopard prints

our first sighting of a leopard print..... but no leopard!

Day 01 - The man with the Golden Telemetry!

I love this photo of Clinton, he's so purposeful,  you can sense the high level of concentration listening to the nuances in every bleep of ever signal! The sun was setting and I couldn't resist shooting into that low 'tarnished' but golden sun.

Day 01 - Fi's first go with the telemetry equipment

You could tell from the moment Fi picked up the telemetry equipment that she was going to get into it and get good at it! It takes a while to understand what you should be listening out for as it really takes a sensitive ear to fine tune into the slightest signal..... and then there's the background noise, and I mean background noise, from radio interference to a complete orchestra of wildlife sounds at louder and louder volumes! We'll either be experts at the end of our conservation work or we'll be desensitised!

Day 01 - The bush at night... Rules are NOT to be broken!

This was our first time out monitoring with Clinton when we experienced being in the depths of the bushveld as dusk drew in and darkness fell. It was beautiful, atmospheric, inspiring, unleashing, daring, and dangerous with contrasting adrenaline rushes and dream-like moments…. It’s like nothing we’ve ever experienced but we had to keep reminding ourselves that there was plenty of opportunity for something to happen, something to go wrong. No two ways about, it listen to Clinton, the rules are NOT to be broken!!

Lion tracks also known as spoor

Day 01 - Another unwanted guest in the camp!

Not necessarily a rule at camp but more common sense and heading advise of the experienced! When you walk into a room, particularly a small dark one, like the toilet or shower it's a damn good idea to shine your torch up above your head, down at your feet and all around before venturing in as 'anything' and I mean anything could be lurking. So I went to the loo, looked everywhere, all seemed clear so shut the door ...... hhhhmmmm I didn't check behind the door and there was a rather menacing scorpion which on according to the 'scorpion chart' on the kitchen wall it's MEDIUM HAZARD - one nip and you'd be pretty sick. I'll be double checking in from now on!

Day 00 - Great welcome at Tembe Research Camp

Ok, so we’ve zero’d what is officially our first day on the project at the Tembe Elephant Park on the border of Mozambique but technically it doesn’t really count as we’ve been travelling from Cape Town to the Wildlife ACT research camp all day into evening. We were met outside the entrance to the reserve by Clinton, the Wildlife ACT monitor who drove us in the truck to camp and by now it’s getting pretty dark! Waiting for us to arrive were Leonard (elephant monitor), Yvonne, and Paule who has become a long term volunteer on this project. We settled into our hut and then joined the team for a lovely supper cooked by Paule and simply started to get to know each other. These guys meet so many people volunteering on the project so they are used to 2 to 5 strangers from all over the world arriving at camp every 2 weeks that they are pretty used to the scene. Super friendly bunch and already feels as if it’s going to be a great 2 weeks here working with these guys. One thing we also know – the days are going to be incredibly long and full-on out tracking and monitoring in the bush …… Best get to bed then!!

Left to right - Fi (Wales UK), Cheryl (Malaysia), Yixuan (Singapore), Clinton (Wildlife ACT Monitor), Paule (French and from Guadeloupe), Yvonne (Holland), Leonard (Tembe Elephant Monitor)

Day 00 - Just one large hairy spider on the cooker!

Within the first couple of hours at the research camp we soon realised that it's pretty important to keep checking all around you, from surfaces, above and below, under and on top, behind and in front, the obvious and the less obvious ...... like the side of the cooker where a damn large hairy spider lurked! Not far off my hand size it wasn't one to even attempt to remove by hand! Even Clinton our main man and Monitor delighted in saying he'd never seen one that big at camp before. It remained unidentified and god knows where it went next!!

District Six Museum

The words and memories of those forcibly removed from District Six captured in the embroidery of the Namecloth say it all.

We just want to share a few pics with you but when we have a little  more time to do this piece justice we’ll come back and write more – it deserves thought! 

Colours of the V and A Waterfront

The V&A Waterfront was a great place to hang out, eat, drink and take in the cosmopolitan colourful atmosphere with energetic dance and song, Belgian beer tasting, a wander around the Coca-cola Cratefan installation and the waterfront (with its own little feline resident!), a that hint of Christmas in the V&A shopping area. We watched the sunset behind Table Mountain eating fabulous pastries and cake from one of the best bakeries around, Velo Telo, another cool design destination!