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Report: May 05 Course
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RETURN TO WILDLIFE
COURSE MAY 2005 CONSERVATION COURSE REPORT
Esingeni Bush Camp, Eastern Cape, South Africa
By Travellers Volunteers, May 2005It is hard to believe how fast the weeks
go by when you’re so busy. We are now in our sixth week and have done so
much in that time that it will be difficult to summarise a whole month. In
between the discussions on ecology and other conservation and wildlife
based topics there are nature walks and game drives around camp and in
nearby game reserves and natural parks.
Living in Esingeni is an experience in itself. It doesn’t take long to get
used to being without electricity and the showers, though outside, are
usually warm. The scenery around camp is breathtaking and the stars at on
a clear night are an endless source of amazement. The land around camp is
also full of wildlife; plenty of warthog, mountain reedbuck, duiker and
sometimes kudu. We’ve also seen eland tracks but nothing of the animal
itself.We all have our favourite moments. We have fed the animals at Born Free in
Shamwari Game Reserve and got charged by their resident grumpy, huge, male
lion called Aslan, seen Wild Dogs outside their den, broken down and had
to get out and push the kombi in Addo Elephant Park, played with lion cubs
at Seaview Lion Park after a weekend away to Jeffrey’s Bay and been to
visit a guy called Basil who rehabilitates and releases injured wildlife
of all kinds. We have just come back from hunting a warthog for a braai
(barbeque) at the weekend and we’re about to go to the taxidermist, so we
are never stuck for activity as I’m sure you can tell.
All the staff are knowledgeable and friendly and the general atmosphere on
the course is usually very good! Wayne Vos, who runs the course, has a
seemingly endless knowledge of plants and wildlife and Bongani has just
himself passed the FGASA exam so is great for information if you can ever
get him to give you a straight answer.The social life outside of ‘work-time’ is as good a reason to come on this
course as the experience of learning FGASA. Alicedale is a relatively
small town at least an hour from anywhere along a dirt road. However it is
the centre for three groups of students – ourselves, a group of volunteers
based at Shamwari GR and Dutch university students on exchange. This
diverse group makes for long hectic nights at Louis’ pub but somehow we
always manage to be up again the next morning for a long day of learning
and work, or a day of relaxing discussions and slow nature walks looking
for tracks, spoor and whatever wildlife we come across.
Following students will have a bit of a reputation to live up to – we have
had various pets. First was Boris the Baboon Spider who was found living
too close for comfort to one of the tents. Next came a Granulated
Burrowing Scorpion and then a few days later Wayne’s son caught us a young
Water Monitor.The best way to learn about African wildlife? Live with it. |
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