Busy busy busy! Been a somewhat hectic week squeezing everything in! I've done occupancy survey, hyena tracking, hyena night drive, elephant research, giraffe research, human-wildlife conflict mitigation survey, lion walks, meat preparation, enclosure painting, we went to the Old People's Home, game count, village tour, and a whole lot of ID sessions!

Occupancy Survey

Occupancy survey was fun - LOTS of hyena tracks! I think I saw a hyena too but it was so far away that I couldn't be sure and it was gone by the time I got my binoculars out. We follow the tracks of anything we find along the roads. Other hyena research was pretty awesome this week - we went out on hyena tracking where we saw plenty of spoors, and a whole load of vultures. We followed the GPS signal for about half an hour through the bush, until we eventually came across a fairly fresh (but completely consumed bar some skin) young elephant carcass. There were tracks for lion and leopard there too, and when the parks ranger went ahead of us he said there was a hyena there when he arrived! It smelt gross, and was really sad to see, but still awesome to find out why they weren't moving from that area. We knew it must be something like that, but good to find out. The hyena night drive was really good this week again, seeing 6 hyenas though that was counting in both directions so 2 we may have double counted. The photos weren't good - we only had my 70 mm lens again so hyena IDs will not be possible... But still it was a good night! We've moved them later, so we were out 21:30 to midnight, and then started again at 6:30! Not a long sleep on Wednesday!

Out on Hyena Night Research!

Elephants!

Elephant and Giraffe research was fantastic this week. We saw 8 giraffes in the area near the start of Zambezi Drive, the same place we usually see them. There were 4 males and they'd paired up and were practicing sparring, gently bashing each other's necks with their heads. Yet again I only had my short lens so I couldn't get any photos! AAH! That became even more annoying later on when I finally saw a big herd of elephants again for the first time in months! It was amazing - they are just unbelievable creatures! We were able to count 64 in the first herd, but there could easily have been 80 or 90! We then saw another one, then another 2, then another 14! Such an amazing afternoon... The big group totally surrounded us - it was crazy! Though also slightly scary... the driver here is less used to elephants, and the car is smaller and less powerful so we can't be totally sure of getting out! There was just one point where I really wasn't sure about it... There was a male elephant coming quite fast towards us, so we were just backing off slowly when we heard "FORWARD, GO FORWARD NOW FAST!"  and there was a young male charging at us from behind! Thankfully, neither was more than a mock charge and so they didn't commit and kill us...! This was the best afternoon I've had so far in Zimbabwe, and to cap it all, I know there were 3 definite sightings, and I think a few more that I'm yet to confirm, of elephants that I know from Zambia! We already know some of the ones that cross back and forth, and we know that they all disappear from Zambia in December, but still awesome to have the proof! 

Giraffes in the Park

Wednesday we had our usual Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation survey out in the Matetsi Community. It's a very long drive - 70 to 80 km depending on the particular homestead - but we see a good amount of countryside getting there! We have a good system set up - I record the data, while 2 of the other 3 interns each take a camera, and the last checks the lights. It's fun and a great chance to have a chat and get to know the others. We have an American (Alex), and then 2 interns from the University of Zimbabwe, so we're a mixed up bunch but we get along well!

The Old People's Home was a wonderful place to go. It's pretty poor so the conditions aren't brilliant, but that's why we go. We spent the morning going around all the houses and just talking to people, hearing about their life stories. Some of their stories are incredible - everything from lumberjacks, to miners, to a professional football player, to some who were unemployed and uneducated. There were 2 people that were particularly wonderful to be with - firstly the man who only speaks Portuguese so can't talk to anyone, but is the happiest person ever just to be able to give people a hug, and secondly a new man who is blind, only speaks Nyanja (which is not a common language here) and has nothing. We did a donation drop while we were there too, giving them all a pair of shoes and a top, and the reactions were just so heartwarming. It was wonderful.

Crash time....

We also had some lion activities. I've done 2 lion walks this week, which meant all the lions - I've now walked everyone. Lekker is the male we have here, and it was my first walk with him. It was quite sad really, as he has a hip problem so can't walk quite normally. It means he'll never be released into a Stage 2 Release Site, and we don't know if he's in pain or not... The worst part was trying to watch him scratch his ear, because his leg doesn't quite bend properly. He's only walked to keep his sister company really... Very sad, but at least he has a much better life than in a zoo. As well as cub walks we also had to paint the fence of the enclosure, to protect the metal poles. For a while I had totally waterproof and green hands! Took a lot of white spirit to get clean... My legs remain covered in dark green spots that will not come off!

Let me just sharpen my claws.... 

Rolling in the grass

Watching the birds!

Lion on the Train Tracks!

I CAUGHT THE GRASS BUNDLE!

Lekker relaxing mid-walk

Finally (nearly done I promise!) we had village tour, where we go to a local homestead and they get all their neighbours over, a bit like when I used to go on Culture Day in Zambia. We pounded the millet for making sadza (same as nshima from Zambia!), then learnt how to harvest the different grains, tried eating some sadza (this was millet-based instead of corn-based which is what I've tried before and it has a bit more flavour) and a plant a bit like sugar cane, watched (and joined in with!) some cultural dancing with the children, and tried walking along balancing a bundle of sticks on our heads! When it came to the head balancing, we had these little bundles of sticks that were only a couple of kilos and about 3 feet long... They were carrying bundles about 10 feet long and so heavy I couldn't even lift it! How do you get that onto your head, let alone carry it without breaking your neck?! It was a really great afternoon, and they gave us a wonderful welcome. Possibly what I love most about Africa (apart from the amazing wildlife of course!) is how friendly everyone is to each other, even when you've never met.

Dancing at Village Tour

Phew! Sorry for the long post, they seem to be getting longer and longer! I'm supposed to fit all of my year onto a single poster with a maximum of about 100 words when I get back to university.... erm.... HELP?!!!!

Osprey!

Zebra watching us!