Week 1 Highlights

Hello everyone! After the technical issues of last week I can now post the highlights of what we did in week 1. The photos that go with these in last weeks blog!

Day 1 - Saturday 3rd April
Arrived at Jo’burg on time and had a 3 hour wait for the flight to Port Elizabeth. The PE flight landed 30 minutes early and we were soon on our way to the Kariega Game Reserve where we arrived at 2pm. We were met by Jaques who will look after us and give us our work for the next 6 weeks but firstly took us to meet our 4 housemates at the volunteer house.
So far we have seen impala, blesbok and wildebeest from the jeep and vervet monkeys, wildebeest, impala and secretary birds from the garden.

Day 2 – Sunday 4th April
It was a rest day today (as is every Sunday) which means we can’t leave the house and garden. It was good to unwind from the journey, but frustrating not to get going at the same time. We had the perfect end to the day though when 3 white rhino wandered up to the edge of the garden!
Tomorrow is off to work!

Day 3 – Monday 5th April
Today was meant to be the start of our volunteering, but the best laid plans!! It has barely stopped raining since we arrived, and today has been the worst yet. South Africa have been in the middle of a major drought since mid December and the rain is very much needed here – but for all of our first 2 days? It was too wet to go out on the reserve at all today – the best we managed was a trip to the local store to stock up some ‘luxuries’ like ham, crisps, beer and wine .

Day 4 - Tuesday 6th April
At last the sun was shining this morning! We spent the whole day in the jeep on game drives and saw so much. The highlights were undoubtedly seeing 3 white rhino (the same ones as from the garden) 3 members of the lion pride (2 lionesses and one of the 2 pride males) and a heard of about 19 elephant. In addition we saw 2 tortoises, impala, wildebeest, giraffe, kudu, eleand, nyala, zebra, blesbok & waterbuck.
Finished the day working through the 358 photos I took!



Day 5 – Wednesday 7th April
More sun this morning, and turned out to be hottest day of the trip so far! We spent the morning chopping down non endemic pine trees – the girls got the saws (by far the easiest option) and the boys used machetes – chopping wood at WHF will be like a walk in the park after this! We made good progress (at least we thought so) and cleared a reasonable area, it’s a bit of a never ending task though!
This afternoon was ‘elephant identification’ where we sit and watch the elephants and mark down the notches and unique marks on their ears. On the way home we saw the 3 whit rhino on this side of the reserve again and the sub adult male lion of the pride
We spent the evening at Homewoods Pizza bar where we, unsurprisingly, ate pizza, drank beer and watched Man United get knocked out of Europe! We enjoyed the night out at the time but are hoping not to pay the price tomorrow as Jacques (the volunteer coordinator) is a Man United fan – it could be a day of hard work as we made our enjoyment at their loss known to all!!

Day 6 – Thursday 7th April
This morning was spent on a game count where we saw so much including rhino, hippo, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest plus so much more. For me it was the best part of the trip so far as it allowed me to practise spotting game from a distance and being able identify them.
The afternoon was spent taking part in the ‘birds on reserve project’ where it does what is says on the tin – basically identify different bird species that we saw. The highlight however was being held up for 30 minutes by the two male lions of the pride who decided to snooze in the shade on the road. In the end we had to reverse and head for home a different way. It is amazing that we were held up from getting home from work not by the rush hour traffic, but by 2 male lions taking a nap – now this is why we came to work on a game reserve!
Jacque joined us for dinner, and then informed us that instead of being ready for an 8am start tomorrow we need to be ready for 6am. I am soooo looking forward to being out for sunrise :)

Day 7 – Friday 9th April
We saw the most amazing sunrise this morning before heading out at 6am. We spent the morning searching for the lionesses and cubs, but didn’t manage to find them. We did however find the two male lions of the pride, elephants, rhino and numerous other species of game.
After the game drive we headed to the beach at Kenton-on-Sea where we were taught about river and sea ecology before having lunch at Homewoods. After lunch we headed back to the reserve where we went searching for lionesses and cubs again, but alas they do not want to be found today.