LITTLE KAROO: Part Two!

Vegetation Survey

Our first survey was a vegetation survey in a quartz field. This area is an area of Scientific Interest. many plants can only grow here because the quartz can lower the temperature by about 10°C.  As the area is semi-arid, it gets rather hot during the summer months. Spingboks are known to come lie in quartz fields to cool down during the hottest parts of the day.

We had a 10x10m square grid area. During our survey we recorded the abundance of species in the area we were looking at as well as mapping out where each individual plant was within the grid. The height, width and length of each individual was also recorded. the idea of mapping out the plants on a grid is so that it can be compared to previous years and years to come and see differences between and to get a bigger picture of this particular area of the reserve.

Above: Easily distracted on breaks; especially when your lecturer is into ants and termites. This an entrance to a termite mound.

Aardvark Burrow

We ran out of water and beside from needing it for washing, we were starving and needed dinner! on the way back from sorting out the pump at the dam, we stumbled upon an aardvark burrow. This is a feeding burrow as it below a termite mound. The termite mounds are underground and the easiest way to distinguish where a mound is, is to see the ash bush that grows on the fertile soil of the mound. The aardvark (that feeds on termites), will burrow below a mound, use this mound for feeding for a while and then move on to another. 

Mist Netting

We learnt how to put up mist nets. These nets have to be set up properly, otherwise you wont get anything flying into it, making it pointless. Mist nets have to be set up in shaded areas with a backdrop behind it (eg. lots of trees/bushes), not in an open area and set up where flight paths are. if you dont do these things then the birds will see it and avoid the net. 

After getting it out of the net safely (this has to be done by somebody trained, or will risk injury to the bird). Its wings were checked for feather mites. If there was any, the number of mites and which feathers they were on were recorded and a small sample taken of one feather.

This particular bird is a Karoo Chat (Cercomela schlegelii).

Starry Nights

As with the views, pictures just cannot capture how beautiful  the night sky was.  The moon was glowing!

Babys Bottom

This plant is called;  , however its nickname is Babies Bottom, I think its pretty obvious why...

This is one of the plants that is found in the quartz fields.

Bush Rats

I saw many Bush rat nests, one of which was right outside camp. We could often see them scurrying about whilst sitting for lunch or doing work outside. 

Springboks

Springboks (Antidorcas marsupialis); are medium -sized antelopes. They are South Africa's national animal. They are easily distinguishable and we saw rather a lot of them, though not to complain as they are very graceful.

Starting off our 16 hour journey

In the UK you drive along a motorway and you will more than likely be able to stop and get a coffee, go to the toilet and get some fast food not 20 minutes tops when you feel the urge. however in South Africa, if you need a wee, you could be waiting a long while until any sort of shop or toilets (which I had to wait for A LOT!). One place we stopped was a waterfall. It was extremely pretty and was hidden in some valleys which were beautiful and made the 16 hour drive a lot more bearable.

The pool below the waterfall was open to swim in, If it wasn't so chilly and we weren't on a time limit I'm sure we'd all be straight in there! It was so beautiful picturesque.

On the walk back down, there were a couple of malachite sunbirds. These metallic looking sunbirds have ling tails and beaks. They have long beaks as they feed off of nectar of flowers, so they need to be able to get their beaks in.

Being Immature

We stopped in a small town to get petrol opposite a butchers, and the sign on the building gave us a giggle. 

LITTLE KAROO: Part One!

Finally in the Karoo

Karoo was the first stop of three on our trip. Its a semi-arid area and essentially a desert.  It was rather cold during the night, ended up sleeping in my sleeping bag! 

The sunrise/sunsets were beautiful! and the nights sky was even more spectacular.  Being 40km away from the closest town, there's next to no light pollution so the nights sky is glistening with thousands more stars. I was surprised at how many satellites are up there and how many can be seen gliding between the stars.

Our first close sighting of wildlife. Above is a Steenbok; a small antelope. They have large ears for how small they are.This individual was actually pregnant. 

Some views around the reserve and at camp.

Doesn't really show up in the picture but on this one walk on our break we attracted tons of these tiny flies. 

Above: A mantid nymph. I spotted many of them running from plant to plant. 

A blackwinged stilt in the dam.

For one of my modules I had to learn animal tracks. The track in the photo above is a baboon, one of the easiest as it has a significant resemblance to our own.

Outside of one of the buildings at camp, was a paving slab, under it was this scorpion. When it was dark, shining a UV torch on it, you can see markings on it. 

Down the Shooting Range and Firearm Safety

Off to the shooting range we went. We had a morning of firearm safety first and then got to go and do some shooting for ourselves. on the trip we obviously didn't carry firearms with us. However our guides did. This is purely for the safety of the group and is the last option. If an animal charges at you, shooting it is the last option. You stand your ground, try to look as big as possible and shout as loud and as foul language as possible. This is to show that you're not afraid of them and swearing and shouting is aggressive. Most animals will back off, however if they do not then a warning shot is fired in its direction away from any animals. Shooting an animal is ALWAYS the last thing you want to do. After all its usually only protecting itself or its cubs/young.  A Rhino is something you dont want to run into on foot. Even if they charge at you, in South Africa anyway, no one can shoot it. like my guide said 'there are seven billion of you on the earth and only a few thousand of them'.

Thw worst thing to do encountering any dangerous game is to run away. Food runs. Things that are scared run. Stand your ground and whatever you do; DON'T RUN!

Above: The guys strange creature they made for target practice.

We shot four firearms. An air rifle, a rifle, an air pistol and a pistol. I did pretty well at aiming, even if I do say so myself....
We did firearm safety and shooting at the shooting range so that we understand the safety of being around somebody with firearms and also to understand how they work and to make us feel more at ease being around them.

Above: A pale chanting goshawk perched at the top of a tree. These were a common sight to see flying above our head, looking for prey. We didn't often see them stationary.

The track back to camp....