MY TIME SPENT LION
MONITORING IN
TEMBE ELEPHANT PARK
Greg Bows -
on his BIG 5 Game Parks Project, based in Tembe Elephant Park in South
Africa.
After 2 previous visits in the past
I decided for Africa to be the host of my gap year. As a person with a
very keen interest in African wildlife, especially predators, to be given
the chance to track lions in a national park such as Tembe was too
irresistible to turn down. Unlike many volunteers who have come, and will
probably come in the future, I am not completely new to Africa and had a
good idea what to expect. This, however, does not make it any less
exciting. I left England in November 2002 and travelled down from Uganda
to South Africa - having seen lots of the wildlife on my trip, my interest
had only grown stronger in these months.
I arrived at Tembe on 6th March in the
early evening. I was shown my new home for the next 3 coming months and
met all the personnel that I would work with. December (the main lion
monitor) informed me that we would be taking a drive that night. The first
drive in any park is always memorable, I was introduced to the technique
of tracking lions with the telemetry which picks up a signal from the
lions’ radio collars. Our first night was unsuccessful in locating the
lions, but I had two close encounters with elephants and saw a black
rhino. These sightings which are now a regular occurrence of our drives
was made special by the fact that we are one of a few people with access
and authorization to drive in Tembe Elephant Park at night.
Tembe, being a very
wild park, has very thick bush and not the most extensive road network,
this makes sightings of the lions very hard, even when close. I was told
that the previous volunteer had only had 6 sightings in 2 months - this
made me feel that this project might not be all it was cracked up to be.
An assumption that was soon proven wrong.
In my first week I
saw all 4 lions. Firstly the males, which apparently were the lesser seen
of the lions. they were pick up heading towards Vakuzini Pan. We made a
good guess that they were coming for water and waited at the Pan for what
seemed to be a lifetime, yet was actually only about 10 minutes. With our
spotlight turn off so as not to hinder their approach, the moonlight cast
2 silhouettes moving towards us. When we turned on the spotlight, I was
taken aback - the size of the lions, which was much larger than other
lions I have seen in Africa (which later I found out was partly why they
were chosen, for their tourist pulling power) .Light in colour and with
unblemished skin, they were most impressive. This is also evident in the
females who stand very tall and broad.
Since my arrival, all 4 of the lions
have moved south of the Salini wilderness to far more accessible areas.
This has given us the chance to observe the lions a lot more than previous
volunteers have. I have seen many aspects of the behavior that are most
interesting. On one occasion we pick up a very strong signal from the
telemetry around Ponweni. I decided to stay in the hide and wait to see if
they would come to drink at the Pan. There were a group of Nyala who were
very wary and the males often gave off danger calls, I sat waiting for 1
hour when suddenly one female lion shot out of the reeds in pursuit of
the Nyala. The chase was, however, unsuccessful. I observed both females
playing and drinking until a breeding herd of elephants came and chased
them. This worked in the lions favour. Following the lions was male a
water buck who the female strategically stalked and chased. The water buck
which ran from one lion towards the other (which was hidden) then with
both lions in pursuit the water buck just managed to find gap in the trees
and soon disappeared. This was one of the highlights of my whole trip to
Africa.
Another aspect of lion monitoring I
enjoy is when we do a call up. A call up is when we use a fresh
carcass as bait and play recordings of distress calls of buffalo, antelope
or when calling for males use other male lions’ roughing. Until very
recently, only the males responded to our call ups. My first involvement
in a lion call up was quite a strange experience and proved to be a very
impressive one. Some people would say that being close to lions, in a
small jeep with no windows and canvas doors whilst the back of the vehicle
is soaked with blood from a carcass just shot might be stupid and they
would probably call you insane when you told them you were play tape
recordings of other male lions roughing to attract them. This, however,
was a experience I would not forget.
When the lions arrive they seemed to
be very angry and were probably expecting a fight with other lions.
Instead they found a reed buck carcass and us in our small green jeep!
They then proceeded put on a show that made my hair stand on end - they
both started to rough. Not like you hear in cartoons and the Lion King,
but a loud, groaning rough. This was so loud that the doors on the vehicle
shook! They were heard some 9 kilometers away at the main camp. However,
females have only just started to respond to in the last week which will
be helpful when the time comes to collar them.
I was also present when the first
recorded sighting of the lions mating was observed. This opens many new
prospects for the Tembe lions, including the arrival of cubs and the
formation of a pride (unfortunately both of which will not happen until at
least July, by which time I will have left). To be able to observe lions
mating is a privilege and it was great to see that the lions have settled
into their new home since their release in October 2002.
On arrival at the Park I was informed
that whilst I was in Tembe I would be able to observe the changing of
collars on the lions. So far we have only collared the males, this however
was a very interesting and gave me a chance to have hands-on experience
with the lions. On a brightly lit night with a full moon, we called up
the lions. On arrival, they pulled at the Impala bait which was tied to a
dead tree pushed over by an elephant. One lion alone managed to drag the 6
plus metre tree (which I later tried to move to no avail) and tried to
drag it off into the bushes. The second one arrived and then the vet fired
the darts to sedate the lions.
After seeing the strength of the lions
dragging the tree, the thought of walking up and touching the animal was
surreal. After a few minuets they were both fully sedated and we went
about changing the collars. I got the chance to touch a wild lion and work
with a team of experts carrying out general checks. Many people get to see
lions, but this project gave me the chance to get hands-on experience with
them.
Of all my experiences with the lions,
my most enjoyable moment was watch the two females trying to catch a bush
pig. They seized the pig by its jugular, but the pig’s will to live was
too strong and when the female released her grip, the pig got up and they
started fighting. The pig, badly wounded from the attack, managed to ward
off the lions that were very wary and eventually gave up pursuing their
prey. This just showed that the King of the Jungle does not always get its
own way!
The experience extends more than just
with lions - I have seen fascinating behaviour of elephant, rhino, and
many antelope. I have also got involved in rescuing a Nyala stuck in mud (
which nearly ended up with me stuck also). This, like so many days in my
time at Tembe, are things that you can’t experience when you just visit
for a day or two. Things that I take for granted back home have a new
meaning out here. For example, where else but Africa do you have to check
for elephants when you want to go to the office or when you want to make a
phone call?
Projects like mine offer people the
chance to experience a different way of life from their norm.
Because Tembe is out of the way this
can cause a few problems. Services, e.g. banks that change currency are
not close and even your local shops are not local! However, I believe this
all adds to a volunteer’s Africa experience
The knowledge a volunteer can gain is
massive I have a greater understanding about the bush and its
animals/plants. Also I can now successful track animals using telemetry.
I hope that I have also given information to the guys that I work with.
December and Thabani have both learnt how to cope with a Yorkshire accent
and can gain more knowledge of the western culture from volunteers. They
both have tried to teach me Zulu which I am slowly picking up.
Projects like this give people from
South Africa the chance to benefit from tourists and overseas visitors. I
feel these projects are a win/win/win situation. The volunteers gain
valuable experience as well as the local people whom we work with in
different cultures and ways of life. Also not forgetting that the
conservation element, which is the main purpose of this project, also
benefits from schemes like these
As long as the right people are placed
on these projects, as tracking lions needs patience, I can only predict
successful future for this and similar projects. I know this is not my
last trip to South Africa and would like in later years to return to Tembe
to see the progress the lions and the park have made.
Greg Bows
NAME:
Cristina Paternoster
AGE: 33
PLACEMENT: Tembe Elephant Park
COUNTRY: South Africa
What
experience do you feel you are gaining? This
placement followed on beautifully from the FGASA Conservation Course I did
in the Eastern Cape - I could put all the theoretical basics I learnt there
into practise. The staff at Tembe also taught me how to behave around an
elephant (Tembe elephants are semi-wild and are not used to humans at all so
can behave very unpredictably) so as to be safe and also to respect the
animal so that it would never feel threatened. I also learnt a lot about
elephant psychology!
What is the
best thing about your placement?
I loved the fact that the park is not a commercial park and that only
five 4x4 vehicles are allowed there each day. The sandforest scenery is
stunning and very tropical. I was interested in elephants anyway (main
reason why I opted for this placement) but after a month of day-in-day-out
observing of elephant behaviour, these animals fascinate me all the more and
are now my favourite animals! It was fantastic to observe their bahaviour at
the waterpans and from the comfort of the hides (nothing beats drinking
coffee in the mornings looking out at twenty elephants play-fighting with
each other in the water in front of you!). I learnt so much about the
hierarchy too and the fact that the herd are very dependent upon the
matriarch and follow her lead at all times. I was lucky enough to be at
Tembe in November and so I saw the first rains there and all the new-born
antelope, warthog, buffalo, etc and I was also very fortunate to see baby
elephants with their floppy trunks! So cute! I really miss seeing them on a
daily basis. Also, the bushbabies - there are loads of them at Tembe - and
it was wonderful to be playing cards on a night in the kitchen with the
others, listening to the bushbabies crying in the trees - quite an eerie
sound but a sound I really miss.
Would you
recommend this placement to anyone else? Yes I
would. I would recommend this placement to anyone who loves elephants and
would love to spend a lot of time each day watching them closely in the
park. This park would not suit somebody who wants to see lions and leopards
every day because that will not happen due to the sheer size of the park and
the small numbers of those animals in that park. Also, people have to be
prepared to spend long days out in the field tracking epehants and lions -
not too great if it starts raining on you and you're sat in the back of the
open bakkie.....
What type
of person do you think this placement would suit? Somebody
who is happy to live in a remote park watching elephants interacting with
each other for most of the day. This placement would not suit somebody who
hates solitude and peace and quiet. Volunteers who haven't been on any other
placements would get more out of Tembe (like me - Tembe was my first
placement) rather than volunteers who have been to posh private game
reserves - I think that for them, Tembe and it's remoteness could be a bit
of a shock! For me, it was wonderful to have an air-conditioned shed and
cell phone reception - in Esingeni, I slept in a tent for two months and had
to climb a hill where puff adders lurked to get any cell reception so Tembe
was a luxury for me!
Can you
think of any improvements that could be made to the placement? I think a
good idea would be to have a weekly day out on a Saturday or a Sunday (or
even the whole weekend) to places like St Lucia/Kosi Bay/Sodwana Bay/ Ndumo
GR and other places in the Northern part of KZN just to see the country and
also to appreciate Tembe all the more - I always used to find that coming
back to Tembe after a weekend away was a real pleasure.
A typical day? A typical
day would start at about 9am (or whenever people were ready to go out into
the field) with tracking the elephants at the hides in the park as well as
at the waterpans. It would be very exciting to find any breeding herds (one
day, we stumbled upon 4 breeding herds in the space of about half an hour -
my camera was busy!!!) and we would make notes on their behaviour, take GPS
points, make notes on the habitat, film the breeding herds and take photos
of them with Liz. We would also follow the bachelor herds and lone elephants
too - always noting their physical characteristics for drawing up an ID
profile on all of Tembe's 200 elephants (no mean task...) and noting their
interactions with each other and general behaviour. Sometimes, we would do
that all day (especially if we were doing long drives in the park up to the
Mozambizue border) or we would come back to base camp at lunchtime, have a
quick bite to eat and then head off into the field again to go and track the
lions by telometry. This could be a long job and was often coupled with
doing game counts where you note all the antelope, giraffe, elephants,
warthog, buffalo and other animals in the park and count them in certain
grid references (this game count is done about three times a week and then
the information is inputted into the computer software programmes at Tembe).
If Livignstone suni was ever spotted, GPS pints were noted for them.
Sometimes, we would be out in the field until after dark and at other times,
we would track the lions in the dark and do a night drive and often we would
find white rhino at the waterpans and also elephants everywhere (do these
creatures EVER sleep???? They are forever eating!).
I loved my
time at Tembe - I could easily have stayed much much longer (for me, a month
wasn't enough time) and I found the staff there a real delight - especially
Liz who I got along with brilliantly. The staff were very knowledgeable and
friendly which really helped me have an excellent time at Tembe. One night,
Liz, myself and another volunteer decided that we would camp out at
Mahlasela Hide and so off we went in the bakkie with our mattresses and a
bottle of wine and we sat there in the hide, drinking wine and watched two
bull elephants drinking in the moonlight - this was news to Liz who thought
that the elephants only went to the pans in the bright sunshine in the
middle of the day.
On my last
day, there was a lion call-up (we had got up at the crack of dawn to track
the lions - which we hadn't had a sighting of for about a month and we
stumbled upon the four fully-grown lions roaring (lionesses roar too -
something I didn't know previously) as we were nearby in the bakkie - very
exciting!) and by the end of the afternoon, I was lucky enough to be sat in
the back of the bakkie with two fully-grown male lions, two fully-grown
females and four cubs all feeding off this poor blue wildebeest just feet
away - what an amazing sight! To watch their interactions with each other
over a carcass that they were feeding on surprised me - male lions are
gentlemen and tend to let the others feed first. One of the cubs was quite
cocky and he walked up really close to our bakkie. It was great fun to see
the cubs playing with each other and I even managed to film one of the males
as he was roaring - priceless! These are memories that I will treasure
forever.
Everybody
at Tembe's very friendly and they'll be more than willing to teach you Zulu
if you ask them! It's always a good idea to master some basics. Also, you
get the chance to interact with other people who do other projects at Tembe
and one night, we went frogging at the pans with one of them - great fun!
.
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