Life whilst on Game Capture

Last week I was watching TV and as I was flicking through the channels I stumbled across 'Great Animal Moves'.  There was a translocation team moving two large bull elephants in Malawi, from one game reserve to the next, and it brought back great memories of when I was working with a game capture unit in South Africa. Imagine my surprise when the camera panned round and there was Kester Vickery organising the loading of one of these elephants - it had been Kester's team that I had worked with!

I had been asked by a good friend of mine, Jason De Carteret, to join a game capture unit and to give some feedback on the viability of a business idea. Jason was the helicopter pilot working alongside Kester's game capture unit and I spent a very happy month living in the bush, manhandling animals of all shapes and sizes, loading them in and out of crates and driving them across the African wilderness.

I was certainly thrown in at the deep end; I found myself feeding captured rhinos whilst they were in their crates, walking in a line through the African bush trying not to step on any unsuspecting snakes (and in the process shepherding game into specific enclosures), picking ticks by the dozen of my overalls and rugby tackling antelope before injecting them with a sedative. It was the stuff that dreams are made of. It was hard work though, we were getting up before the sun rose and after a quick breakfast we were on the move in the bush for the whole of the day. There was no time for those that could not keep up and if you made a mistake you certainly knew about it!

The most enjoyable time I had was capturing nyala. Admittedly this did not involve the use of the helicopter, or chasing after semi sedated giraffe in vehicles across bumpy terrain or watching rhino been manoeuvred from one crate to another, nyala capture was even more exciting, it is done by hand.

Nyala are dense bush dwelling antelope and cannot be rounded up by vehicle or helicopter, it is all achieved by manpower. A large net about 3m high and 30m long is set up in the bush, in an area where nyala are known to frequent. Then a handful of people called spotters, which often included myself, hide in the bush in front of the net, and wait. You have to have incredibly patience doing this as you could be waiting a while before the action starts. And any movement can spook nearby game. Meanwhile, a few kilometres away, the rest of the team form a long line and start 'beating' the bush to flush the out the nyala and push them towards the trap.

At this point my adrenaline levels were normally overloaded as I could hear the game in the bush moving nearer to my hiding spot. As the animals got closer the tendency to hold your breath got greater and I found that my senses, especially my ears and eyes, were heightened. And then a dozen or so nyala would run past me, so close that I could touch them, and fall into the trap of the netting. Then the action began.

Immediately the spotters would be upon the animals bringing them physically to the ground, lying across them and blindfolding their eyes. If an nyala did not hit the netting it was a bit of a free for all - nyala were rugby tackling to the ground! Lying on the animals and blind folding them calmed them down and prevented the antelope from damaging themselves.  At this point a vet sedated nyala to prevent further stress. Once sedated you can walk the nyala as if you are pushing a bicycle, one hand on an ear and the other hand grabbing the hair on its shoulder, and you can steer it towards the truck or container. A very odd experience all round!

I had a wonderful time working alongside Kester's team.  You never really knew what type of game hit the net. More often than not it was nyala, although we did once have a rather unhappy leopard. We decided to leave her to untangle herself!

A Cheetah Kiss

I was in a meeting with three incredible business women, Samantha Mant of Three Sixty Services Ltd, Rebecca Tregarthen of rejoove and Deb MacLeod of DMM Consulting, and we were having a great discussion about social media and subject matter. Luckily for me, Sense Africa subject matter is pretty much limitless and there are so many stories, anecdotes and facts about Africa that I can impart. Finding factoids about plumbing, business development and client relationship consulting can be a little bit harder and my friends have to be much smarter with how they get their message across.

I can talk about Africa until the cows, cats come home and wildlife experiences are always a great topic, well it is for me. So here is a cheetah story....

I was doing some research into cheetah projects in Namibia a few years back and found myself visiting a farm which took in problem cheetah.  These cheetah had, more often than not, killed cattle and were therefore considered a pest species. The cheetah were then captured and relocated to a farm in the north of Namibia where they were fed and looked after and, if possible, new homes were looked for.

I arrived by car and got out to open the gates. There was a fenced area, like with all homesteds in Africa, where the land around the house is fenced in to prevent wild animals getting too near to the home. Just as I was opening the gates I noticed two cheetah lolloping from around the back of the house. I promptly closed the gate for fear of letting them out, but more importantly, for fear of them getting too close to me. This was not really what I had expected, most people in Africa have dogs guarding their house, not cheetah.

Chris then came out of the front door, luckily he had been expecting me, and he shouted that it was OK to come in. I have to admit I was a little bit reserved in opening the gate, I was now only 2m away from what I perceived to be very wild animals. It was all rather surreal. The cheetah lost interest and walked away whilst I gingerly got my bags out of the car. This was going to be an memorable stay!

Cheetah are interesting animals, they are easily domesticated and in the olden days were often used as pets. However, once cheetah are familiar with man, they lose their hunting and survival instincts and cannot be reintroduced back into the wild. These two cheetah had been taken in when they were cubs and had therefore become used to living in a semi-domesticated state. They were fed carcasses on the back lawn, sharpened their claws on the garden trees and wandered inside the house as if they owned it – which in my mind they probably did.

That night it was Chris's birthday and we celebrated by having champagne outside under the wonderful starlit African sky. The steak was on the braai and we were listening to the sounds of the African wildlife, I was truly content at that moment. What more could a girl want?

Chris asked me a question about the projects I was running and I turned my head to the right to answer him whereupon I found myself being eyeballed by one of the cheetah, 20 cm away from my nose. I opened my mouth slowly to answer his question (sudden movements are not good) when the cheetah leaned forward and licked me on my arm. I know that cats have rough tongues, but this felt like I was being electrically sand papered with nails, I was surprised to find that my skin was still intact.

What more could a girl want? A cheetah kiss was suffice.

Camping with Elephant & Hyenas - Too much Excitement for One Night...

I have recently organised a family holiday to Botswana for Joy Harcup and her family. They are travelling in August and having just gone over their itinerary I am very envious that I am not going too!

There is something magical about Botswana, it has this peaceful air about it, probably because Botswana is a destination for the more discerning traveller, staying in exclusive lodges and in the tranquility of the African wilderness. It has taken luxury to the extreme.

One of the best ways to see wildlife in Botswana, especially in Moremi and Savute, is to go on a mobile camping safari. I remember the last time I was camping in Botswana was in Savuti campsite, where Joy and her family are staying, and where I saw a host of animals just by sitting in my campsite. The first animal to be spotted was an elephant, this one was busy digging at the ground right in the middle of our campsite. As we approached our tents I could see that the elephant had dug a hole to locate the underground water pipe, which he had smelt out, broken the water pipe and now there was a small watering hole in the middle of the campsite! Close encounters of elephants can be good but when going to our tents we made sure we were as far away from this drinking hole as possible! The elephant did not seem too bothered by us, he just wanted a drink of cool water.

As we had supper we saw wildebeeste, impala, kudu and zebra, we didn't even have to get up to see them, they just walked past us on the way to their water hole. It was all a bit surreal.

Our last known visitor was something special. Night had fallen and we were sitting around our campfire watching the twinkling stars and listening to the noises of the African Bush, it was a beautiful night that night. We had got used to elephants and other animals coming into drink at our waterhole, but when yelping and growling were heard we knew we had some new and exciting visitors. I gradually trained our spotlight onto our waterhole to see four bright blue eyes glaring back at us. The eyes seemed to be the same height as I was when I was standing and then there was that familiar 'laugh' which gave our visitors identification away. I could not believe how enormous these hyena were, we all had our mouths open watching them.

It had been an incredible evening and as I lay in my tent I realised how lucky I was to see these animals - and in my own campsite.  It is not often that you say you shared your campsite with an elephant and two hyenas, but then these sort of things happen in Africa.

I am looking forward to hearing about Joy's safari to Africa, I hope they all have some incredible memories too.

The Lioness and My Bacon

Mana Pools, Zimbabwe, is an extraordinary place and I would certainly classify it as one of the true wildernesses of Africa.

A few years back I camped in one of the remoter campsites of Mana Pools. In order to use the wilderness camps you must have a registered hunter with a firearms licence in the group - you really are stuck out in the middle of nowhere. We had this wonderful campsite, overlooking the River Zambezi, with the most incredible vista along the floodplains.

And it was here that the excitement began.

During the night there was a lot of lion activity down on the floodplains; roaring lions throughout the night, clashes between nervous lionesses and the mewing of cubs caught in the fracas. It was a surprise anyone got any sleep at all - I certainly didn't.

In the morning I tentatively got out of my tent to find Stewart, gun in hand, standing on the outskirts of our campsite checking out the area. There was a large male lion defending his pride from a younger male, all happening about 200m away, it was quite extraordinary.

I started the braai (BBQ) for our breakfast of bacon and eggs, whilst Stuart kept an eye on our distant neighbours. The bacon was on the braai, sizzling away and the eggs were boiling, perfect. There were five of us in the group and we all stood cleaning our teeth, like sentinels, watching the lion saga unfold.

"If any of the lionesses breakaway from the pride, get into the vehicle immediately", said Stewart, " do not think about it, just do it."  We all nodded, completely understanding the implications if we didn't act quickly.

Of course this is what happened, two lionesses broke away from the pride, coming in our direction at a steady trot, and we clambered over each as we dived in through the windows to get to safety. It did not take the lionesses long to cover the distance and before we realised it they were in our campsite. Unbeknown to us there was also another lioness in the area with her two cubs, protecting them from the incoming male. They were not a threat to us, they were keeping their distance from the newcomer, but it was still quite a hairy experience having these five visitors, and so close too.

And then they smelt the bacon… inching closer to my breakfast wondering what that mouthwatering smell was.

There was no way I was going to leave my breakfast to these cats. That was not an option. Luckily I was sitting in the drivers seat and I decided to take direct action. With some careful manoeuvring I managed to position our vehicle right next to the braai so that I could finish cooking breakfast through the driver's window, in complete safety.

And that is my memory of Mana Pools; me dispensing breakfast as if I was in a Drive Thru, surrounded by salivating lions.

Weird Bird Names

I sometimes wonder who on earth was given the role of naming birds.

I understand that there are a large number of birds in the world but sometimes their names do not seem to do them justice. For instance, why the African Wattled Lapwing is named as it is whilst the White Crowned Lapwing  has much larger wattles - this can cause some confusion at a waterhole.  And why does the African Pitta sound a rather dull and boring bird when, in my opinion, it is one of the most colourful birds seen in Africa. And as for the Broad Billed Roller, don't get me started, it has extraordinary lilac/purple underparts, but those aren't mentioned are they?  Its bill is not that broad really, but its lilac chest is something to sing about...

Then there are all the exotically named birds such as the African Paradise Fly Catcher, the Gorgeous Bush Shrike (which really is gorgeous) and the Greater Double Collared Sunbird, now they are named correctly. I think that after a while the person naming the birds got a little bit bored and resorted to naming them after their more obvious characteristics - the Red Winged Starling has red wings (although I would probably call them russet,) the Yellow Billed Stork is a stork with a yellow bill and the Long-tailed Paradise Whydah does in fact have a very long tail.

There are also some wonderfully named birds where you would have had to have taken something illegal to think of these names – the Secretary Bird which has some plumes sticking out of the top of its head which may or may not resemble a pen behind the ear, the Twinspots which have two white spots on every small feather but you would have had to captured them to find this one out and the Tambourine Dove has not a musical instrument in sight and does not sound like one either.

Whatever your thoughts on birds, Africa does actually bring it all to life, and once you have got your head around the unorthodox names you will become a twitcher - be proud of it!

The Birth of a (very small) Hippo

I have just been watching some incredible video footage by my friend Karen Paolillo of the Turgwe Hippo Trust. The video shows the antics of a very newborn hippo and its mother – video footage that has probably not been seen before, I never have.

Karen single-handedly saved a pod of hippo during the 1992 drought in Zimbabwe, and since then she has become a bit of a 'hippo whisperer'. My first experiences of Africa was with Karen when I went to stay with her for five days, my first five days in the African bush. I was very naive, but those five days taught me a lot about Africa, the wildlife and how to survive in the African bush. Karen's house is very rustic, is in the middle of nowhere and wildlife has the right of way. There were warthogs near the back door, monkeys sitting on the roof, Mozambique spitting cobras in a number of places around the house and kudu browsing on the nearby trees. It was like being in a ground-based Noah's Ark. I learnt how to track animals in the bush, how to watch hippos from a safe distance and how to avoid a charging elephant. It was stuff that dreams are made of.

The melodious sounds of honking hippos to me is the essence of Africa.

Cockroaches - Cunning or Critter?

This last weekend I was enjoying the sun in Chris and Amanda Cowley's (of RedPR) back garden, and the subject of cockroaches came up. I know that this is not a normal conversation over tea, but our conversation wasn't normal anyway. It was geared around Africa and other exotic destinations. Chris had mentioned that whilst he was overseas, a cockroach had crawled over his face, and he had waited in James Bond style whilst this cockroach moved on before he could take his shoe to the little critter.

I feel as if I am quite well versed on the subject of cockroaches and happily recalled the time that I had spent many a night squashing cockroaches in a seedy youth hostel bathroom in King's Cross, Sydney. Little did I know at the time, that if the cockroach is female, the eggs are jettisoned and can hatch at a later date. In order to prevent a massive infestation the best thing to do is to cover the whole place with bleach to prevent cockroach world domination. I didn't know this at the time, and we narrowly escaped a cockroach coup.

I do feel a bit of an expert on cockroaches, partly because I've spent a lot of my life in areas where there are vast populations of the critters and partly because I have spent many an hour reading up about them. I have to say, for my defence, that the reading up about them was because I had nothing else to read. Whilst I was living in Vanuatu I found a bookshop which had three English books in its, the rest were all in French. I am a bit of a bookworm and was delighted to find an alternative to the books that I'd been rereading. These were "The Three Musketeers", "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Laboratory Experiments on Cockroaches".

The book on experiments on cockroaches proved to be quite fascinating, as well as rather macabre. For instance, did you know that you can freeze a cockroach in a tub of water, defrost it, and it will carry on as if nothing has ever happened to it? Cockroaches can also survive a vacuum (for a very short space of time), will continue to move for a number of days once decapitated, can survive high voltage electrocution and are one of the few animals on earth that could survive a nuclear holocaust. Now that certainly has to show something cunning about these creepy crawlies.

I personally do not like them, they resemble something out of the Alien films, but you do have to give them their due. They have managed to survive in a number environments and I suspect there is a master plan to conquer the world.

They are nasty little critters, in my mind, but I am sure they have a 'cunning plan'. Beware.