First Day, a Day Late!

Our first day at work

apologies that this entry was delayed; I couldn't remember the wi-fi password to upload the blog. We left early this morning and worked all day, so here is yesterday's stuff and I'll put today's in ASAP, but I'm fairly likely to fall asleep!

Yesterday started early, with a 6:oo am departure time; no slack granted for jet-lag! We were here to have an experience, not to sleep! And our early rising was amply rewarded with the view of an enormous full moon over the mountains in one direction, and a red-to-golden sunrise on the opposite horizon. The earthy, leafy smell of morning was familiar, but the songs of awakening birds sounded exotic and intriguing. Lunches quickly assembled, Jane’s cappuccino muffins consumed and tea and Milo gulped before hurrying to the van for the day’s adventures. The long drive out of the Reserve where we are staying, along the now-familiar red two-track twisting around boulders and over giant speed-bump-like humps that prevent summer rainwater from washing out the track. Unfortunately, rains have been sparse here for the past two years; they are nearly as dry as we are wet at home!

About a half-hour ride, when we spotted baboons and warthogs along the roadside, took us to our first stop, where we joined wildlife veterinarian Rita Piso. Although it was a national holiday here (Youth Day), they had arranged to work so that we could begin our experience immediately. Yes, they really are that good to us! Rita was to tranquilize 3 Sable antelopes and one Roan antelope for transport; they were being shipped to another game reserve approximately 4 hours away.

We met up with Rita, parked the van, and made our first mad scramble into the bed of a white min-pickup. This will become a routine part of a day’s work: Every reserve seems to have a fleet of white Toyota pickups with racks on the back, where we ride, standing, clinging to the rack, bouncing over the water barriers and ducking from the thorn tree branches as we drive to the camp where our “patients” await. This can be several miles, and various farm managers and owners have various styles of driving over these tracks. With some, it is a true thrill ride! This morning’s terrain was not too difficult and we were going less than 30 mph, so a pretty tame introduction to the process. There was enough chill in the air to ensure we were wholly awake, and the sky overhead was as blue and clear as imaginable. The only clouds were a pair clinging to the top of the multi-colored mountains in the distance. The layers of red, gold, brown and black were so clear, we could see how the layers of earth’s crust had been thrust upward into these gorgeous forms. Red dirt, brown and green trees, multi-colored mountains and deep blue sky, with birds and insects providing the background music—what a work space!

When we arrived at the “camp” (a pen subdivided from the rest of the reserve, housing specific animals) where the Sable bulls were penned. The animals are quite used to the trucks, as managers routinely patrol the herds and sometimes bring hay or feed supplements. We drove near a group of Sable, and the manager indicated the one he wanted darted. Rita had already prepared her darts, loading them with a combination of sedation drugs so the the animal would go down safely and recover well. She raised her gun (still bearing the red, white and blud friendship bracelet Kait made her last year), looked through the sight, and shot. The gun is not particularly loud, but there is a distinctive “bang-slap” sound to darting. The first bang is the blank in the rifle firing to propel the dart from the gun. The “slap” sound is a secondary explosion within the dart that injects the tranqilizer on contact As usual, Rita’s dart found it’s mark in a well-muscled area, and we began watching the Sable carefully. The remaining members of the group had not scattered far so the manager indicated a second to dart. Rita is using a different drug combination from last year, and the animals go down a bit more slowly, which surprised me a bit, but the new drug is familiar to me and I soon got used to its effects. A third Sable was selected and darted, and by then the first was down.

A member of the reserve staff was already with the first bull, holding his head up so that he would not aspirate fluid from his rumen. Because these antelope are all ruminants, their first stomach compartment is a big tank where the fibrous grass begins to ferment (thus the belching from cows and the like). It contains a great deal of fluid (up to 40 gallons in a dairy cow), and if the head is lower than the rumen, fluid runs back up into the mouth and from there can flow into the lungs and cause injury. So, heads up!

Our morning drive to our first worksite. We could also see a glorious full moon!

Balloon over the mountains.

The sun appears and it warms up quickly.

Students watching sables in the distant mist.

The owner and farm manager converged on the bull with measuring tape in hand—no, not for that, but to measure horn length. They had contracted to sell bulls with a particular horn length (as that is what people want for trophies), and the first two bulls’ horns did not measure up. We quickly injected the reversal agent into the ear veins of these animals (students doing their first IV’s on animals with sword-like horns inches from their faces—situational awareness emerges quickly in these circumstances!) so that they would recover and resume their normal activities. The third was large enough, so as soon as the measurements were confirmed and recorded, this farm’s ear tag was removed, and he was given intramuscular injections of vitamins and a dewormer, slipped onto a heavy-duty stretcher, and loaded into the back of a pickup to be driven to the large enclosed truck (“van”) that would take them to their destinations. That truck drove off, and we clambered back aboard ours to find two additional bulls of sufficient horn size. When we arrived at the “camp” (a pen subdivided from the rest of the reserve, housing specific animals) The manager spotted another, Rita placed a dart, bang-slap, into the shoulder muscle, and off we drove looking for the third. Another hindquarter shot, and as soon as the bulls went down we jumped out of the truck and repeated the horn measuring—both were acceptable this time—vitamins, dewormer, stretcher and pickup bed loading, and we drove back to the transport truck in triumph.

Vet Rita and Rebecca

The working conditions are pretty fine!

Sable antelopes graze in the shadows of the mountains.

Alyssa holding the head of a sedated Sable Antelope

Students attending a tranquilized Sable Antelope. Harley is giving an IV injection in the left ear vein, and Sami is about to give hers in the right. The orange ear tags are individual animal identifications, permitting accurate recordkeeping.

Tranquilized eland bull

Handsome eland--note the long, fancy ears!

While we waited for the last details to be attended to, Lily taught us about ant lions. These insects make smooth-sided funnel-shaped holes in the sand. Ants enter and are unable to crawl back up the steep, crumbling sides of the hole. Falling sand and vibration alerts the Lion concealed under the sand at the bottom, who then emerges to eat the ant!

The Roan antelope is much more rare than the Sable, and I had not seen one on my previous trip, so I was excited. Rita and Lily (our program guide) kept saying how large they are (largest antelope on earth) and how challenging it would be to move and load it. We converged on a local restaurant, The Giant Baobab Tree, for pancakes and to await the farm manager for our next call. We explored the remains of the enormous thousand-year-old tree, and saw that it is re-growing. It is difficult to express how massive and alive this tree was! We also met the resident cat, a lovely grey tom, who introduced himself and explained the Pet the Cat policy. We watched, amazed, as a visiting toddler grasped the end of his tail and walked him, as if on a leash, all over the property. He seemed completely at ease with the situation, and dangled casually from her arms when she picked him up, unconcerned that his hind feet were dragging on the ground! He gave us a lovely tour of the best hidey-holes in the giant baobab tree.

The Baobab Tree pancake restaurant

This sign hangs in the front of the cafe--I think I may enlarge it for my classroom!

Sami and the cat in the baobab tree

Sami, Dani and Allyssa in a small section of the tree

A younger tree still standing.

Upon entering the property for the next capture, we were delighted to see an orphaned baby giraffe in an enclosure next to the drive, watching us curiously. Many noseprints on the van windows ensued. We drove back along several tracks, over rough terrain and through a sandy ford before arriving at the camp where the Roan was.

As we rounded the corner into the second camp, I was surprised to see a zebra standing against the fence next to Rita! They are usually fairly shy so this seemed unusual. As we got out of the vehicle, the zebra mare came over to us and nuzzled at our hands through the fence! However, it was naughty bottle-baby behavior, as she attempted to bite any hand she could lure within range. While this was going on, the Roan bull approached the fence as well. He nuzzled at hands and enjoyed some scratches at the bas of his horns. Apparently he had been handraised and was very acclimated to people. However, acclimated does NOT in any way mean tame!

Georgina the zebra 

Georgina: Cute, tame and very, very naughty!

Sedated eland being led into the into the trailer

This is much easier than carrying this big guy!

Andre' the wildlife transporter is leading the blindfolded eland toward the trailer, with Rita in the  background.

Surprisingly, this large bull turned right around and loaded into the trailer!

The grandfather and 2 young teen boys entered the pen to move the bull into position so that Rita could dart him It was too risky to attempt to inject him by hand, as he was very likely to flee or at least kick before the entire dose could be administered. So the grandfather walked up to the bull and got his attention, and began walking away. The bull followed docilely for a bit, then suddenly charged the grandfather. He put his head down and his 3-foot sharp horns lead the way as he snorted and lunged around a tree directly at the man. Grandfather faced him, jumped aside and got around the tree, attempting to swat the animal on the nose with a stick. He managed to tap a horn, which the Roan seemed to take as a challenge. He charged in earnest this time, trapping the grandfather between the tree and the watering hole. Grandfather landed a nose swat just before he stumbled backward over a rock and fell. Nobody breathed. The grandsons rushed over and managed to head the bull off; the grandfather got up, seemingly uninjured other than his dignity, and Rita darted the Roan. He was gorgeous, and huge. Of course, he went down about as far from the truck as possible in that enclosure. But Rita had planned for this and adjusted the tranquilizer dose accordingly. They were able to drape a towel over the Roan’s horns, blindfolding him, then drive him, wobbling but under his own power, to the truck. When he encountered the edge of the truck, he jumped in with his forelegs, and a touch to each hind leg resulted in a quick, safe and successful loading for the Roan. After climbing to the top of the transport truck and opening the roof hatches to check the condition of the passenger animals, the truck departed to deliver the animals.

The owner said that if we wanted to do one more task, there was a nyala in this enclosure that simply needed to be sedated and “walked” to the adjacent pen. This is typically done by grasping the ears of the partly sedated animal and steering them in the desired direction, with a bit of tail-jacking for additional motivation if needed. We spotted the nyala near the back of the pen, but she was elusive among the trees and brush, moving always just out of sight or range of Rita. She finally stopped near the corner of the fence, which was 8 feet high, made of high-tensile wires spaced 4 inches apart—they were set up to be electrified, but the fence was off today. Rita aimed, we heard the bang-slap, and at the same instant, the nyala leapt and suddenly was on the other side of the fence! Unfortunately, this was the fence separating the farm on which we were working from the neighboring one, so she had strayed onto someone else’s land. This neighbor was not at home, so there was no way to alert them to the situation. Reluctant to leave a potentially sedated animal to its own devices, Rita and Lily found a spot and hollowed out the dirt a bit and slipped under the fence on their backs, limbo-wise, in the dirt. This, of course, is a somewhat risky move, as they could have easily been construed as poachers. Rita was careful to leave her rifle on the side of the fence we where we were working, but I have the distinct impression that trespassers don’t get a lot of time to make explanations here. After a half-hour search, they concluded that the nyala was gone. It ended the day on a slightly “down” note, but overall a good start to our time here.

Sami meets Georgina

Luke limbos under a fence (please don't tell that I may have permitted some students to trespass!)

Allyssa scrambling under

Baby giraffe!!!

Your daily cuteness!

Back out over ruts and washes, through the ford (where I had to keep encouraging Lily not to stop and get stuck!), and onto the public dirt road. We drove through citrus and mango groves, then between more enormous game reserves, onto the main paved roads toward home. On the downstream side of the bridge at Three Bridges over the Olifants (Elephants) River, we spotted a group of 5 elephants in the water. Lily stopped and we stood on the bridge and watched them. I could have stood there all week! Back into the van to get back to the lodge, and barely a mile later we spotted a group of giraffes next to the road—I counted 6, and 3 appeared to be juveniles, one very dark.

Back onto Boulders Game Reserve, where we are staying. Duikers and impala visible on the way in, and Lily spotted a mongoose, but I missed it. Loads of hornbills here as well, and the dassies playing noisily among the rocks surrounding our rooms.  

I was surprisingly tired when I reached my room, so I sat on my balcony in the clear sunshine and read for a while. I managed not to fall asleep, trying to “save up” to sleep at night. When I went over to the main lodge, Jessica was there with her baby, who is gorgeous! Of course, it was nearly bedtime for her, so she was fussy until Jane tied her onto her back, where she fell asleep. Meanwhile, we ate fire-grilled steak, au gratin potatoes, sweet potatoes baked with apples, and tossed salad, finished off with lemon meringue bars, perfectly tart with meringue that was not too sweet. Jane gave me a jar of her marula jam, which I am going to take home to share wth my friends, so you’d all better be nice to me!