Thursday, June 27, 2019

Impala, nyala, sable, lunch and shooting out of the helicopter!

This morning, after going to bed not feeling well, I woke up feeling fine, thankfully. I must have just gotten too tired. And, I didn't get up until 6:00 am! We left at 7:15 to meet Rita in the driveway of the farm directly across the road from ours. We met the owner, and went back to his bomas to where he had a saddleback impala ram confined. He was to be tranquilized and released into a camp with a group of females. Unfortunately for him, breeding season has just passed, so he will have to wait until next year to get to work. This particular owner has bred a large number of saddleback pattern impala, which were initially selling for extremely high prices, but now have decreased significantly in value, but his bloodlines will be preserved. He also pointed out that he has plenty of grass left in his camps, as he practices rotational grazing; this also decreases the parasite problems that they have. We had to slip quietly into the boma and stand still while the poor impala raced around the pen. Rita couldn't get a shot because he kept running. There were a couple of spots where the fabric was missing and the impala tried to go through; we used students to plug the holes! Finally Rita shot with the impala in motion. We heard the dart hit, but he immediately ran and slipped through the fence into the next boma. We slipped in and watched as he began to slow, and eventually came right toward us and the owner, who neatly grabbed him by the horn. He showed us how to prevent his jumping if he was stimulated by the truck ride, and off we went to release him into his new herd.

This impala ram carries the recessive "saddleback" pattern of dark coloring over his back. He is so glossy and elegant!


The dark area on the side of his ankle is a scent gland! 

Next we went back to one of the farms where we previously treated the buffalo cow with the abscess. We needed to dart 2 nyala bulls, document their identities and allow them to be incorporated into the breeding herd. We rode in the lap of luxury this time, in a "game viewer" vehicle with padded seats! It took a bit of driving around the camp nearest the house before we found the bulls, but eventually we did. One was lying down on the ground and the truck carrying Rita drove right up near him and easily darted him. He did get up and run, but not far, and he quite quickly turned around and came back toward us and was caught and held by his horns until he lay down. The owners drew blood, collected horn measurements and striping patterns, placed a microchip and took photos. Since he was not being transported, we could completely reverse his medication, and he got up and walked away. It took a few minutes to find the other buck, but he was quickly processed as well.

The first nyala bull. The owners' puppy is center right.

Rita with the nyala bull.

Setting up for photos with the nyala--yes, students have individual photos that they can access!

Lily and Rita with the nyala

Rita and nyala

We left and stopped for a bite to eat; I had a beautiful vanilla milkshake with whipped cream and sprinkles!

We stopped back at the lodge and had a short lesson shooting Rita's dart gun at a target. Most of us could hit it by our third shot. Then we loaded back in the van for a ride down near the gate of the farm, where the helicopter was waiting for us. All of the students were excited. Jessica and Lily helped them get safely into the helicopter, seat-belted and with their headset. Then they handed them the dart gun on safety, and up they went. Francios the pilot first flew each of us over our target so we could see what it looked like from above. Then he circled, lined us up and gave plenty of time to sight the target and slowed to give us a shot. Of the 7 of us, 3 hit the target from the air. After our shot, we flew higher and faster over the preserve, seeing things I had no idea were there. 

Allyssa target shooting

Danielle

Sami

Harley

Luke, who was recovering from a lunch that disagreed with him

Rebecca turned out to be a great shot


Allyssa ready to fly

Danielle with the helicopter

and in the helicopter, ready to take off

Rebecca ready to go

Jessica helping Dani get ready

Ready!

Looking dangerous!

Hoping not to get motion sick (he didn't)

Living the adventure

Meanwhile, Alexandrei entertains the rest of us

Danielle has a way with faces!

I was so excited to fly again! I love the free motion of the helicopter and the views are unreal! This time, I opted not to try to take pictures from the heli, since last time the wind nearly tore my phone out of my hand! I was much less nervous this time, although the wind resistance against the gun was still very strong, I knew I wouldn't drop it. I had a difficult time lining up my shot, and missed the target. But then we flew up and far up to the face of one of the small rock hills, up it and over the top, and around. As we came back toward the landing area, Francois showed me how the helicopter would glide and re-start if it stalled, and did some fast turns and low passes over the waiting students. I could have kept doing that all day! Sadly, we did have to land, and I will have to wait another year to do it again!

We all got our fleeces when we got back to the lodge; we will model them tomorrow morning with the rhinos. Both Jessica and Rita joined us for supper tonight, which was great, but also signaled that our time here is running out far too fast. This two weeks goes so quickly, and is so vivid and intense, it will be very hard to return to my regularly scheduled life.

Panorama of tonight's sunset over the distant mountains. scroll to view.



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