We had a mountain BBQ and watched this beautiful sunset! I had a very happy time.

The zebra is eating grass. They usually run away when we approach them. Here I got so close to the zebra! 

It`s remarkable!  This is an impala skull. We see their bones lying on the ground sometimes.

GeoCaching at Solomon’s Wall

We woke up to a cool, wet, miserable day so we decided on an excursion to nearby Solomon’s Wall. This wall is a natural rock formation, comprised of a basaltic dyke intrusion. This volcanic rock is much harder than the surrounding rock, which has eroded over time, leaving the dyke exposed. It’s a striking area along a large river, and climbing to the top affords great views of the Tuli Block.

look at the volunteer’s left hand – that’s the cache! Photo by Victoria Ibbertson, UK, 1 month 

Whilst there, volunteers found the GeoCache hidden there. GeoCaching is an international treasure-hunt, where one uses clues and GPS coordinates to find a cache. These caches are hidden in places of interest, whether cultural, natural or historical, and are sometimes large enough to hold small trinkets one can exchange. This particular cache was too small to hold anything, and only contained a log-sheet which was signed. 

Patrick Hungerbuehler (from Switzerland, 1 month), Vicky Ibbertson (from the UK, 1 month), conservation manager Kieran Harkin, Reegan Fraser (from Canada, 1 month), Simone Petersen (from Denmark, 1 month), Maia Wong (from France, 1 month), Kasumi Suda (from Japan, 1 month), Floriane Margot (from Switzerland, 1 month), Manon Sente (from France, 1 month), Melanie Sottocassa (from Belgium, 1 month) and on top is Thibaut Juvet (from Switzerland, 2 months). Photo by Maia Wong

Ce mercredi 30 novembre 2011 fut une sacrée journée à Kwa Tuli. En effet, l’activité prévue pour cette mâtiné était le « Dam building ». Cela consiste à creuser un trou et faire une sorte de mur avec a terre afin que l’eau puisse s’y engouffrer sans en ressortir par la suite. Ainsi, une fois l’eau arrivée, les animaux peuvent se désaltérer ou se baigner à leur guise. Cependant, le travail n’est pas de tout repos surtout que le soleil tapait assez fort. Nous avons travaillé une bonne heure et demie et sommes retournés au campement. Sur le chemin du retour, nous avons aperçu bon nombre d’animaux comme impalas, kudus, babouins, vervets,… Mais le plus impressionnant fut le léopard ! Malheureusement, en ce qui me concerne, je n’ai pu qu’entrevoir sa queue car il courait à toute allure !     

L’après-midi fut plus calme car nous avons fait « Croc Survey ». Peu après notre départ, un crocodile connu du camp, Lola, remarqua notre présence. Elle a alors dévalé la pente  à toute vitesse et sauté dans le Limpopo. En revenant au camp, une maman phacochère et ses deux bébés sont passes devant nous et au loin nous avons vu un éléphant !                                                                                                                                                          Le soir un autre éléphant est venu se baigner juste  à côté du camp…    

Manon Sente, 19, Belgique, 1 mois          

On December 1^st, we all went to the nearby village Mathathane to watch a performance by the Zebras. This group of women sing, dance and drum and have performed for the president of Botswana. Once the music started, children came from all over to join in the fun. It was a very special evening!

Volunteers and the Zebras dance the evening away, while the kids watch from the background

Maria Fuchs (German, 1 month) shows some kids the photo she took of them

Victoria Ibbertson (British, 1 month) cuddles one of the kids

Photos by Patrick Hungerbuehler (Swiss, 1 month)

We have a few resident ostriches that live near Koro Camp. We usually see a male and at least one female, but we’ve seen him with four in the past. The males have black plumage and the females have brown plumage. These colours help them when incubating their eggs. As ostriches cannot fly, they lay their eggs on the ground. To avoid detection from predators, females incubate the eggs during the day – their brown feathers blend in well with the brown soil. The males then incubate at night, where their dark plumage gives good camouflage for the night.

Ostriches have a very un-birdlike call. We hear their deep booming at night, or early morning. In Setswana, the official language of Botswana, ostriches are called mamse.

Photo by Maia Wong

The sky is changing to red, blue and purple! We see this nice view every morning.

This picture was taken in South Africa. A giraffe is very close to us. I was so excited!!

We have to be quiet when there are elephants around. In this picture an elephant family is swimming in the puddle! The baby elephant is so cute and very, very small! My heart fluttered with excitement.

Instead of getting up and beginning the usual work this morning, we got picked up by Helena and she took us to Island Camp where she taught us about bird watching and how we can more easily identify all the birds around us. We learnt how to know what the bird ate by looking at the beak, how to tell what family of bird it is in by looking at its shape and about the different types of feet. It sounds simple when you look at it that way, but I have realized that watching and identifying birds is a real talent! One that I definitely do not possess! Although, it was still interesting to learn a bit more about it and I can see why bird watching is so popular.

After the discussion, we had the rest of the day to spend at the camp. Me, Victoria and Thibaut decided to clean the pool because you could no longer see your hand through the water! We emptied all the water and scrubbed the bottom and edges then rinsed out all the soap and leaves. While the water was filling back up we sat on the bottom of the pool under the sun, it was so nice! It takes a long time to fill the pool up completely and it’ll probably still take all day tomorrow because we have to wait for the water tank to fill back up. But so far, the pool is looking great and the water is finally clear enough to see your feet, YAY! I see some good water volleyball games happening soon!