TAMU Study Abroad 2009: Updates

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14 June 209 - Update #2

We are now at Ivy Safaris to see how a family run game farm operates. Mark and Lisa have a beautiful place and are very hospitable. Lisa has fed us gourmet food prepared from the game shot on their ranch and we are all quite spoiled now. Three students went hunting this morning and got a wildebeest and and gemsbok. I won't tell you who got them, I'll let them spread the news to their family and friends! There is a lot of excitement around the Ivy ranch today! This ranch has been in the family for 90 years. They have been wonderful land stewards and it shows. There is a very zen-like atmosphere here. They also have a large "rock" in their yard. If anyone has been to Enchanted Rock in Texas, that is exactly what it is like - only larger. We hike up where we can see for miles and miles in all directions. As you can imagine, the sunsets are fantastic. Tomorrow we hit the road again and head to Botswana. We will be on the road for about 12 hours as we head to the northern part of the country near the Okavango Delta. It is very uncertain when/if our next update will be, but keep checking back.

We are attempting to upload some pictures, hopefully it will be successful. Bandwidth in the bush is rather finicky.

11 June 2009 - Update #1

We are here!! We arrived safely and on time after a very long and uneventful trip. Surprisingly, all of our luggage arrived with us, with the exception of Dr. Kreuter's. It eventually caught up with us at Setara Camp in Kruger National Park. We have been extremely busy - most days we are in the vans and on the road at 6:30 or 7:30 a.m. (give or take about 15 minutes!). We are travelling in two 13 seater vans, Van Kreuter and Van Wilcox. Our only problems with the vans so far have been a locked emergency brake and a tire blow out. Luckily, we have some pretty handy people in the group and these events were minor glitches. The main highways here are four-laned blacktop, secondary roads are two-laned blacktop, and most of the roads we travel to our study sites are gravel and wash-boarded. They are fun.

We have spotted all of the Big Five (elephant, lion, leopard, cape buffalo, and rhino) in abundance with the exception of the leopard which we have only seen in captivity, but we saw it really close up. We have had very close encounters (meaning hands-on) with a rhino, two young lions, a cheetah and her three cubs. Everyone was totally enthralled with these encounters. The most exciting animal sighting so far seems to have been our first sighting of a male, black-maned lion in the bush. He was lounging with his lioness and an older cub. Everyone back home can expect to see hundreds of photos of this magnificant guy when we return. The birds here are also incredible and rival coastal Texas in number and diversity.

Our accommodations have been a very pleasant surprise to everyone. We stayed the first two nights in a lodge near Krugersdorp and then in two different camps in Kruger (Lower Sabie and Setara). Lower Sabie had tents, but these were tents with wooden floors and beautiful tile bathrooms. Setara had us in hut-type rooms, with provate baths. A note about the Park - no one is allowed out of their vehicles unless they are in designated, fenced areas in the camps, or they have an armed game guard with them. Only special people get the game guard and we had one for a day!! We have spent the past week at the Southern African Wildlife College which is located in Kruger National Park near the outer edge. We are in two-person dorms here. We spent one night in Mafunyani Tribal Village, where they teach the cultural ways of their tribe to the local school children or visitors like us. There is no electricity, we ate around a fire and slept on the floor of the huts. Some people chose to sleep under the African stars. Oh yes, we have also located the Southern Cross in the night sky and have learned how to use it with Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri to find the southern axis. It is beautiful. We move on to Ivy Safaris tomorrow.

We have been entertained by several groups doing traditional singing and dancing. These people can move!

The food has been good, mostly chicken - I'm guessing no one in the group will be ordering chicken the first week or so after our return! - and we've learned to love mealie pop, or "pop", some more than others! This is a starchy staple made out of maize, something like very gummy rice or couscous. Beetroot salad is common along with potato salad. We've had lots of eggs for breakfast along with beans. Some of us have finally discovered Piri Piri sauce, an African hot sauce made of local peppers. Yes!

The weather for the first few days was warm, sunny and glorious. It is winter here, which is supposed to be the dry season. However, we had a front come through a few days ago and not only has it been unusually cold (probably in the 50sF), and windy, but it has actually rained a bit for the past few days.

We have also done an enormous amount of what we came here for - learning! We have met with experts from many fields discussing biodiversity and different conservation methods. We have heard many conflicting viewpoints, and have seen first hand the various methods being implemented. These include fire as a management tool, bush thinning, vegetation management, hunting, game captureand movement, game breeding, and nature tourism. We have also discussed and seen first hand some very pressing social issues such as poverty, lack of clean water and electricity and the AIDS epidemic. We've had lots of lively discussions about the various points of view.

That's the text. Next we will attempt to upload photos from here in the bush!

Our first 2 nights in South Africa were at Mogale Private Game Lodge...	....where we were greeted in the morning by vervet monkeys on our porches.
Dessert at Carnivore's in Johannesburg...lots of game meat was consmed by everyone.	Sorry Texas, some things are even bigger in Africa!
Babboon family crossing road at Kruger.	This mother elephant in Kruger was not too happy with all the attention.
A group a "chronic patients" on an outing at Kruger. We figured that meant they were from a nursing home-type of facility.	Our classroom at Timbavati Private Nature Preserve.
Group photo in front of Southern African Wildlife College.	On top of God's Window.
Moffat, our game guard in Kruger, kept us safe from predators.	Vivian, our friend and assistant at the Southern African Wildlife College.