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Report: Feb 06 Course
Return to the South Africa
Home Page and
the list of all our projects in South Africa FEBRUARY 2006 CONSERVATION COURSE REPORT
Esingeni Bush Camp, Eastern Cape, South Africa
By Travellers Volunteers,
(Lyndsey Taylor and Gareth Luscombe) and Wayne Vos, Course
Leader |
| The month started with us being joined by
a new student who attended the one week bush survival course. A fresh face
gave the week a new spark, and Laura was a delight to have along for the
week, especially for Lyndsey who had obviously been missing her girly
chats.
During the bush survival the three of us learned lots of
new and valuable skills that would keep one alive in the bush if stranded.
From gaining security through building a shelter and a fire, to signalling
for help, finding food and water and also how to orientate yourself using
various means (although Gareth stills finds this aspect almost impossible
to do and Wayne summed it up brilliantly today when he said “just follow
Lyndsey!”).
The highlight of the week was camping out on the
highlands ridge, although it rained and some got wetter than others, fun
was had by all. The climax of the bush survival course was an exquisite
drive through Shamwari game reserve where we saw lots of fascinating
animals, birds and wildlife behavior.
The next week we witnessed the shattering of our peace
down in Esingeni (Esingeni is a local Xhosa for ‘in the bush’). We were
greeted with 28 boys and darlings, aged 12-13 from a local high school.
They were loud, energetic, awake at all hours and very very noisy.
Environmental education was the purpose of their 2-night stay and we
grilled them on wildlife knowledge and taught them various building
exercises. In the end all the kids enjoyed themselves and learnt a lot and
were rewarded with a visit to the ‘born free big cat centre’ at Shamwari
and a game drive.
During a hike to study the forests on the top of the Highlands Ridge, we
were surrounded by a swarm of wild bees, but they were gone before we had
time to get scared. One of Africa’s largest and certainly the most
powerful raptor, the crowned eagle, was spotted swooping over the forest
canopy in a ritual breeding display and was very impressive. In the early
hours of the Saturday morning everyone gathered their tired limbs and
jumped into the two pick-ups to head to Shamwari for another game drive.
Again a lot was seen (baby elephants & rhino) but the highlight for Gareth
and Lyndsey was seeing a pride of lion in the open grassland including the
impressive large black-maned dominant male.
After this weekend we were back to our normal schedule. Lots of nature
walks, panicking and revising for our final assessments (field tests) but
all went smoothly. After not seeing the Gemsbuck for 5 weeks, Gareth saw
him 3 times in two weeks. Best of all was during a fence maintenance field
exercise when I left to get a sneezewood pole and the lonely Gemsbok
walked straight in front of me, only around 5metres away. He is
magnificent and it has inspired Gareth to want to buy him a mate! Game
relocation and introduction to this reserve is being planned.
It’s all over now and nobody really wants to leave. Thank you to everyone
and all that have been so friendly and helped us tremendously during our
two month stay.
G-Man and Donkey xx
(our nicknames from Brian at the Old Goal, say hi from us) |
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+44 01903 502595