Another week already?! 3 months left now which is somehow managing to seem both very close and also a long way off! 

Water monitor lizard

GIraffes squaring up to spar

So what have I been up to? The biggest thing was my trip to Harare on Wednesday which was a lot less terrible than I was expecting, but was still one of the least comfortable trips of my life... For whatever reason, the immigration department of Zimbabwe requires me to go to Harare to collect my visa, which means a bus ride of over 12 hours each way. Got on the bus at 7:30pm on Tuesday, had my legs crushed by the guy in front of me, while the guy in the seat next to me took up half my seat too, and his son climbed all over me.... Eventually got off the bus in Harare at 9am! The countryside around Harare is beautiful - I have to admit that while I was exhausted from not sleeping, I did enjoy the last part of the journey. It may be somewhat ruined by power stations and more telegraph wires than I've ever seen, but it's still beautiful with these huge towers of rocks balanced on top of one another in impossible formations, and the mist coming off the ponds as the sun rises and they start to evaporate. Once you get to Harare...? It actually kind of reminded me of Plymouth! A very random mixture of concrete blocks and modern glass, with slightly too many people bustling around to be comfortable... I didn't spend much time outside though - I'd very much been told to minimise my time there, so I went straight to immigration, sat there for 4 hours while they put the sticker in my passport, then went straight back to the bus station for another 4 hour wait until my bus home arrived. Bus home wasn't much better - less comfy seats and this time next to a window which didn't close properly so was absolutely freezing despite my 3 jumpers! Was picked up from the bus station when I arrived at 5:30am, after 34 hours away, of which 26 were spent on a bus... and then straight off to work at 6:30am on Thursday! Slightly over obsessed with elephant research? Can't say I was entirely concentrating on Thursday's session.... 

Hamerkop

I've done 4 sessions of elephant research this week, spending several hours driving around the park and seeing almost none, and then several sightings out on the roads around town. One of the sightings included Van Gogh (F116) - the female elephant who is missing her left ear. We've only ever seen her once before, and it was several months ago with no view of her right ear - now maybe we can tie up a second female with her. Also done a Bird Survey session which yielded 27 species in the hour (the record being 28) plus another 5 at least during the rest of the drive. Bird survey is becoming more and more simply Alex and I showing off as new volunteers point at stuff and go "what's that?" and we just tell them! It's quite fun really! 

Van Gogh, F116

Waterbuck

Other research was occupancy survey on Monday morning, and 2 game counts. While I hate to admit it, I'm really not great at occupancy survey... I just can't see when this adult hyena track pointing North is so definitely different to that equal sized adult hyena track also pointing North... and when they say "this set of tracks has left the road so if we find a new set then it's a new hyena", why we then find another track and declare it to be the same hyena?! I'm just a bad tracker! Game counts we've done 2 and as usual it's been mainly impala and warthog. A few elephants and giraffes, a herd of 5 zebra, 2 bushbuck, several waterbuck and some buffalo. Not bad for a few hours work. 

Wartypigs!

Baby zebra!

Baboons on the rubbish dump after litter research

Final activity was helping out another research intern with his own research into the effect of non-biodegradable waste on elephants using the park. This essentially meant doing 3 litter picks of 500 m each along the Kazungula road, and estimating the weight of the trash that we collect. There was everything from drinks bottles and cans, to condom wrappers (yes we were very definitely wearing gloves!), to food containers. The number f beer bottles that have been launched out of windows was quite scary...

And that's it! Spending tomorrow doing elephant identification. I've now finished the March sightings, putting me back to less than 2 months behind!