I really don’t know why things like this always happens to me.  First I got eaten alive by sandflies last week at the Augrabies Falls, and now I get attacked by killer wasps.

It probably was my own fault but still, the crazy blood thirsty insects had no need to attack me like that.  Me being the explorer I am, saw a cave on a friend’s farm and thought I will just give a quick peek inside and see what hides in there.  I haven’t even given a proper peek when I saw these killer wasps flying straight at me.  It looked like in the movies.  I could see them putting there fighter helmets on and loading their guns as they flew toward me.  And then I just felt this terrible burning sensation on my arms and back.  I almost fell off the cliff as I tried to get away from them.

My friend just saw me jumping the fence and running toward the road holding and rubbing my arm.  He first thought it was super funny, but then he saw the damage they’ve done to me.  I’m now all better thanks to some TLC and proper meds. But a mental note to myself…..NEVER go explore caves again.

The Kgalagadi Park was great, saw Lion, Leopard and Cheetah.  Had an amazing time with my friends and dreaded coming back to the reserve after such a great weekend.  Shortly after that we went to the Augrabies Falls.  What an amazing weekend.  Quite a long drive from the reserve, but all good fun.  Obviously once again my car was the FUN bus.  We went river rafting and didn’t flip our boat once.  Go team Swiss-SA!!  whoop whoop… my arms hurt for a couple of days after that, but it was all good fun.

Now I am looking forward to my holiday back home.  Can’t wait to see my parents, it’s been almost a year since I last saw them.  Nothing better than spending Christmas and New Year’s with the family.  Ooo, and also going to Bali for a short holiday.  Now I can just count the days until I get on the plane.

ciao…

I’ve been terrible at keeping my blog updated over the past couple of months.  Things at work are extremely busy and my Earthwatch season is coming to an end quite soon.  I currently have my last Earthwatch group and are looking forward to a good end to a great season.  There’s only been a few absolutely terrible moments with Earthwatch, but just because some of these people expect 5-star treatment and don’t realise that this is a research station.  I have also decided to extend my contract for another year, so I will be staying at the meerkat project until the beginning of 2011.

By letting all my friends and family know about my plans for next year, my boyfriend decided to end our relationship.  It was extremely hard for me to hear and I’m still struggling to except it.

Other than that has life on the farm been great.  I’ve made a lot of new friends, not only volunteers but also local farmers.  I’ve been on some great adventures, capturing springboks as well as more gemsbok captures.  Did quad biking and 4×4 driving on dunes, went on my first hunt ever (and didn’t like it at all), ran around in the rain with lightning striking all around us.  And then there’s some nice adventures awaiting in November.  I’m going to the Kgalagadi transfrontier park with some friends and will hopefully see some cheetah and leopard.  Our volunteer trip is also around the corner and are we going to the Augrabies park.

Hope to keep in contact more often…

What a rush…

It was a spur of the moment thing when I decided to join a couple of farmers for a day of catching game.  We started quite early and first I just observed the craziness.  After the farmer caught two gemsbok I decided to join them in the pipecar.  Everything happens so fast, and the slightest mistake can end up in a serious disaster.  A guy on a motorbike drives ons animal in the herd away and then the pipecar drives up right next to it.  A guy on the back has a netgun and shoots it when we’re really close to it.  As soon as the gemsbok stands still, everybody jumps off and grabs it by the horns.  My job was to inject it with a drug that calms the animal and then make a small fire to heat up the rubber tubes we put over the horns.  And once again everything must happen as quickly as possible to prevent the animal from stressing too much.

I almost got gored by a horn.  We were chasing after a gemsbok and he decided to turn around and come straight at the car.  My side didn’t have a door, so I was completely exposed.  I ended up right on top of the driver’s lap.  Luckily nobody got hurt.  The day ended well and we managed to catch 10 animals and only went home with a couple of bruises and scratches.

What a fun day it turned out to be…

It feels like ages since I’ve last blogged.  mmm, where to start??  We went on a volunteer trip a couple of weeks ago to the Kgalagadi Park.  It was a great break from work and everybody got the chance to relax and not think about work.  We saw loads of giraffes and even saw a cheetah mom with 4 cubs.  That must’ve been the highlight of my trip.  On the day we left the park we got held up by four male cheetahs walking in the road.  They spotted a springbok, but decided that they have too many spectators and just chilled out under a tree.

I’m almost halfway through my Earthwatch season.  After then next group which I’m picking up on Tuesday I will be halfway.  Then I plan on taking some time off to visit friends and family.

It’s been really cold here in the Kalahari, and we spend our mornings freezing next to the meerkat sleeping burrows until they finally decide it’s warm enough to get up.  Parties on the farm is still as crazy as always and it’s fun just chillin’ over the weekends.

Two weeks ago we rescued a two month old meerkat pup from a couple of kids who were walking with it on a rope next to the road.  Everybody at the project played babysitter for him and made it a group effort to find food for him.  We would dig huge holes to get scorpions, run after and pounce on tree skinks and collect termites for the poor hungry guy.  Was loads of fun having little Rob around and a sad moment when we left him at the rehab centre.  But he will have a long happy life there.

Other than that there’s not much happening in my life.

It’s getting harder and harder to get internet access in the Kalahari. Our group of volunteers are growing rapidly. We are now 35 people on the farm, and only one computer with internet.

Easter weekend we had our annual Kalahari Olympics.  It was well fun!  We started the day off with 60m sprints and I was surprised when I realized I’m the fastest girl on the farm.  After running 3 legs of 60m sprints it was off to the volleyball court.  Loads of action happening there.  We then had a four legged race which was extremely interesting and fun to watch.  Next on the list of events was ultimate frisbee, a super fast game and very exhausting, but also well fun.  We then split up in four groups and had four different events at the same time, limbo, long jump, rope skipping and throwing lumber.  We ended the day with a water fight.

Group one out of ten Earthwatchers are now currently here.  I’ve really been tested these last couple of days, and almost packed my bags and left.  Some of them are returning for their second or third visit and keeps on comparing me to the previous Coordinator, as if they want to tell me that I’m doing my job wrong.  But when I look pass all the troubles they’ve been giving me, has it been a good two weeks.  I’m looking forward to taking them back to Upington on monday.  Then I have a quiet week until the following tuesday.

We had a camp out on the Big Dune last night for one of the volunteer’s birthday.  It was extremely cold and not even the fire could keep us warm.  I couldn’t stay up there and freeze so I eventually went back to my room and got into a nice warm bed.  Our winter is slowly on it’s way and the mornings are quite cool now.  This will be my first winter in two years, so I’m definitely not used to the cold anymore.

So as you can see I’m not up to much…

My first group of tourist arrived and are now luckily gone again. It was two weeks of really hard work, and in between I got a terrible virus that had me in bed for three days. It’s some bug that attacks all your organs and one by one they start shutting down and you feel like a living zombie. But all is good now. We also had some excitement with two snakes. First we had a cape cobra in a tree getting mobbed by cape glossy starlings and then we had a puff adder lurking at our bathrooms. Which I was instructed to eventually catch. It was a super terrifying experience. Loads of adrenaline pumping through my veins. We eventually had to kill it after struggling for 20 minutes to catch it. It just got too dangerous. Well, now everyone is gone, and still I’m not able to just chill out for a day or two. Work, work and some more work. I’m heading off to do a first aid course this week and hopefully I’ll be able to switch off from work for a few days. Hopefully I’ll be able to tell you more on what’s happening in the kalahari soon!

I’m working on a nature reserve with various game roaming the area. We are well aware that they are wild animals. But they still don’t seem bothered when we walk around in the field, except for 8 bachelor wildebeests.

Earlier this week I was at the group Aztecs doing the normal stuff, walking with them and doing weights. I was busy with lunch weights when my meerkats all of a sudden decided to run off. I thought their might be a raptor in the area, but as soon as I looked up I looked right into a lone male wildebeest. He seemed quite agitated with my presence. He started swaying his head sideways and grunted at me. Seven other males joined him and they charged me. I just grabbed all of my things and ran like the wind. They chased me for about 300 meters before deciding to leave me alone. I had to run through three torn bushes to get away and only after catching my breath realized that I ran through thorny bushes and that my legs are bleeding. My radio didn’t work either, so I couldn’t call for help and had to walk back to the farmhouse. What a terrifying experience. I officially do not like the wildebeests on the farm anymore.

That surely was an eventful morning and one that I won’t forget for a very long time.

The Kalahari is a semi-arid area, loads of sand and not much vegetation.  The main trees around here is the very big camelthorn tree, the smaller grey camelthorn tree and then the shepherds tree which gives you a lovely shade and escape from the scorching sun.  After the rain sourgrass can be seen everywhere and is also there because of overgrazing.  The flats are all white sand and then you walk over to the dunes and you get the most beautiful red dunes.  Wild life is abundant, and you get to see loads and loads of Eland, Wildebeest, Springbucks, Hartebeest and when you are lucky the occasional Gemsbok.  Reptiles can be seen underneath every rock or fallen tree and one must be extremely careful to not step on a puff adder or walk past a cape cobra.  Temperatures in the summer range from a cool 30 degrees Celsius to the every so often 45 degrees Celsius (and that’s in the shade).  The rainstorms are amazing and lightning fills the heavens with bright flashes. 

I can now finally say that the field is my office.  Ever since I can remember I always knew that I will never be able to sit behind a desk and work a 9 – 5 job.  It’s just absolutely great to get up at 5am (never thought I’ll ever say that), see the most beautiful sunrise and spend the whole morning walking with meerkats.  Sunsets in the Kalahari are just as beautiful, the whole sky turns from blue to orange to pink to purple.  Not one day do you see the same sunset or sunrise. 

Walking with the meerkats is another great experience.  You get to know each and every individual, and each and everyone has its own personality.  The pups are too adorable and you just want to pick them up and cuddle them.  Learning their behaviors gives you a little bit more of an insight into their social structure.  They truly are an amazing species.  When you’re in the field, it’s just you and nature and that’s how I like it.  There’s a sort of calmness in the Kalahari that makes you fall in love with the place.

I hope to keep all of you more up to date on what’s happening in the Kalahari more often.

this post is long overdue.  I’ve been quite busy with training and are finally going to the field on my own.  I can’t believe I’ve been here for a month already.  Time just flies.  My days consist of getting up at 4.30am, something I’ve never really done before.  Then we get the bags ready, make sure all our equipment is charged and then leave for the field at about 5.30am.  We normally wait for the meerkats to get up and then we do morning weights.  After weighing the group, we start with data capturing which takes about 3 hours, and then we do lunch weights.  I usually get back from the field around 11.30am and then I still need to do my data analysis which can sometimes take up to an hour.  If it’s not too hot, I can take a quick nap before we go to the field at 5pm.  Get back at around 8.30pm and do some more data analysis, have dinner and then it’s bedtime.  The nights are much cooler, and one can have a good night’s rest.  I’m in charge of doing the towntrips, and that takes me a whole day.  Upington is about 4 hours drive away and we normally leave at 5am and only get back at 6pm.  The beautiful farm makes up for everything and I usually can’t wait to get back to the farm to have some sundowners on one of the dunes.  Hopefully I’ll be able to add some pictures soon.

Loads of love

xxxx