http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica My adventures at the Hoedspruit, SA Sat, 24 Nov 2007 13:16:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This is an account of my time working for the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre in the Northern Province of South Africa in 2001. INSERT_MAP After finishing my A-levels at Dame Allan's Schools, I was keen to take a 'gap year' before continuing my education at university. I wanted to be independent, see ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=3 Today was the most exciting day I have had so far. An eland bull at the nearby Madrid Reserve had a severe tick problem, and it had been decided that the best course of action was to dart it and take it to a pen, where it could be looked after ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=36 Our feeding of the cheetahs went smoothly today, until we reached one camp where the cheetah didn't come to the feeding-end of the enclosure. This was a worrying sign, normally she would always be there even before we arrived. Juliette and Tania went into the enclosure to investigate, and after about ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=35 Nothing really happened today, it's another quiet Sunday. We watched The Mummy at Moria camp. I climbed a tree. That's about it. Previous | Next http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=34 It was incredibly hot today, one of those days that just makes activities outdoors impossible. So, Tyse had a video of an innovative project at the local Air Force base. To keep wildlife off the runway, which can damage planes landing or taking off, two caracals (or desert lynx) ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=33 We spent most of the day experimenting with different rifle shots with Tyse, Martyn and his squad of anti-poachers, who were armed to the teeth. Tyse had a device for measuring the speed of bullets - a long, horizontal device (like a plank of wood) with a light sensor at ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=32 Our drive to the meeting was quite an experience. For a relaxed, quiet man like Tyse who likes a simple life, I was astonished by the ferocity of his city driving - burning acceleration, big speeds, careering around corners - scary. However, this seems to be the norm for city ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=31 At last we get a delivery of meat for the butchery, which makes life so much easier. Today I went with Tyse to Pretoria for a cheetah conservation meeting being between conservationists and farmers held tomorrow. Pretoria is like a second capital of South Africa (Jo-burg being the main capital). INSERT_MAP The journey ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=30 I spent the morning looking after Allah, a female cheetah recovering from some Zolitol anesthetic. It took her about one and a half hours to fully waken, going through stages of twitching, spasms, heavy breathing, and finally raising her head, trying to focus on a blurry world. She is one ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=29 Another morning skinning warthogs. I feel like I'm being more useful now, because I'm getting better at it and I know what I'm doing. Tyse had vehicle problems again, which really limited what we could do today. Elisa hasn't collected poo samples from all of the cheetahs yet, so they are delaying ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=28 A nice lie-in today, followed by a run. Colin and Elisa joined us for feeding the animals today, which was fun. Otherwise it was another quiet Sunday. Colin and Elisa then went to collect some cheetah poo from the subjects they have been studying, to add to their experimental readings. I was ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=27 It was time to begin a new mission today with Tyse - to build a shelter out in the veldt, using only materials we could find in the wild. We got off to a great start by making a long rope from some long reeds. Unfortunately, we spent most of ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=26 It was the second phase of Elisa's experiment today - the same procedure as yesterday with another 4 cheetahs. Thankfully we didn't start until 8:00am this time. After seeing how the procedure worked yesterday, I was able to get a lot more involved this time. As well as helping transport the ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=25 Elisa and Colin began their research today. We got up at 3:00am - a cold, rainy morning. Despite the early hour I was in good spirits, because I was really looking forward to being able to help in this study. It was a big operation, involving Colin and Elisa, Dr. Rogers, ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=24 The butchery was a bit of a struggle today - our normal meat supplies are beginning to run dry, because of the foot-and-mouth, so we are resorting to using animals caught locally, which have not been gutted (this has usually been done for us before the meat arrives at the ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=23 We went for a walk in the wild this morning, which is now becoming one of my favourite activities. There were many animal tracks around, which Tyse identified as lion and leopard, which was slightly worrying! But in terms of mega-fauna wildlife, there wasn't actually much about. Tyse taught me about ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=22 Another gap-year student was visiting Hoedspruit for the day, so she took over at the butchery this morning. It was raining today, so Tyse put on a video of some unusual animal behavior - a buffalo taking on and winning against a lion, a leopard attempting to attack ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=21 Another quiet Sunday. I helped Tania feed the animals I do not usually see when I go with Juliet (who tends to do the cheetahs and wild dogs). We fed the ground hornbill, duiker, various other antelope, the blue cranes, the African wild cats and the black-footed cats. That was about ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=20 I took a few shots with a hand gun today, a 9mm pistol. It was so much harder to use than the rifle with a scope - it took me 7 shots to hit the target 25 meters away! Mrs. Lente Roode visited us today, she was the founder of the ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=19 Woke up this morning with sunburn, a headache, and a few bruises from my play-fight with Quentin last night, so I wasn't on top form! Off we went to the butchery (a bit later than usual, because Tyse's starter motor had packed-in that morning). The feeding was pretty straight-forward, apart from ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=18 We started the day by changing the bandage again on the wounded cheetah. He knew what was coming as soon as he (the cheetah) saw the dart gun - clever animals, and the poor thing must have gone through this about 15 times now - and started hissing, spitting and ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=17 We had a good morning in the butchery day, finishing before 9am. We began our feeding of the animals as usual, until Juliet spotted a pile of feathers in one of the camps (everyone I have met here has such a good eye for spotting tiny details like that in ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=16 The doc had a mission today. A couple of lions at a neighbouring reserve were showing symptoms of vitamin B1 deficiency (wide eyes and disorientation, apparently). I got to know the doc a bit more on the way over there. We met Ross, the main keeper of the reserve, with a ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=15 Skinning warthogs again in the morning. I visited Buffalo Camp later in the morning, a luxurious tourist lodge for safari-hunters with a lot of cash. I think in years to come, I would like to return to the Northern Province, and stay in that lodge. Since it was overcast today and not ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=14 Another quiet Sunday today. I was thankful for the rest. I got talking to some of the staff today and made some friends. In the evening I went round to Moria camp (the staff camp). They had a TV there, and a pool table - luxury! We watched a few films, ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=13 Tyse took us out to demonstrate a cage-trap today, which was a large cage about the size of a small car. This method wasn't used on the reserve, but it was all part of learning about different aspects and techniques of wildlife management. It's purpose was to capture large-ish animals ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=12 It was butchery day today, but with the usual supples of meat shut down by an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (not related to the foot-and-mouth outbreak in the UK which would begin in February), we had to use local catches of warthogs instead. The afternoon and evening was taken up by ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=11 The last couple of nights were hot, but this is ridiculous. Apparently its 45 degrees centigrade. That sounds about right. In the morning we went with the doc to dart a tsessebe (topi). We managed to find it and dart it, but it ran off too quickly and we lost it ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=10 Hot again. I helped to feed the cheetahs today. I spent the morning helping at the butchery as usual, and joined Juliet on her morning round of the enclosures. Juliet would race the pickup down the sides of the enclosures, with the cheetahs running alongside on the other side of the ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=9 It was hot today. The midday sun was so hot it limited what we could do. We took a few drives where we saw hippos, giraffe, kudu, rhinos and impalas, and we did some tracking, and found wild fruits to eat. There was an eclipse of the moon tonight at 21:40. ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=8 I began today helping in the butchery, which was an experience. The meat for the cheetahs, lions and african wild dogs was prepared here from whole antelope, which involved skinning whole animals, and then cutting them into large joints and powdering the meat with some kind of vitamin / mineral ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=7 Sod all happened today. It was a Sunday, it seems the whole reserve has Sundays off. Since I don't have my own transport, and out there is big five territory (lions, rhino, leopard, elephant and buffalo), I don't think I'll be going for a walk! Instead I spend the day mulling ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=6 My morning shower was spent in the company of 2 frogs and a lizard. One of the frogs actually crawled out of the plughole halfway through my shower, which was quite a disturbing experience... My first duty of the day was to help change a dressing on a wounded cheetah at ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=4 Only my second day here, and I am plunged straight into the action. Dr Rogers has heard news from some trackers out in the bush of a rhino they have found, which they have been looking for for days. It has been wounded from a fight with another rhino, and needs ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=38 As the plane approached Hoedspruit Airport I was stunned by the view outside. All I could see was a sea of green - not the arid, dry landscape I was expecting, but a lush canopy of trees and foliage, seemingly without break. Tyse de Wet was waiting for me at the ... http://www.jamesallenonline.co.uk/southafrica/?p=37