Since arriving in Intibane our first week we have heard rumours about a potential cold front moving towards Western Africa... obviously I disregarded this as I am over qualified in dealing with cold weather. But as it turns out the cold front actually exists and it hit the area... last night. I found this out around 2:00am when I woke up and was absolutely freezing. The air temperature had dropped significantly since I had gone to bed. Not being prepared with extra blankets or anything I managed to keep myself warm by sleeping in the fetal position for the rest of the night.
As usual I was up at 7:00am and, unfortunately, I was in desperate need of a shower due to the strong smell of garlic and onion drifting off me from dinner the night before. While taking a shower in the freezing cold I was reminded of the good old days when the boiler in the house we rented in Saskatoon would stop working during the night. Not only would we wake up to a chilly temperature of eight degrees in the morning, four of us also occupied the basement which was even colder. Thus, I am well trained in the art of showering as quickly as possible and getting into warm clothes.
Breakfast consisted of the usual peanut butter on toast accompanied by a steaming cup of instant coffee with Amarula. Interestingly enough, Amarula is produced in South Africa using the fruit from the Marula tree... this makes a one litre bottle incredibly affordable at around 78 Rand, so approximately about $12 Canadian. You really can’t afford not to drink it.
By 8:00am I had assembled my lunch (peanut butter sandwich and some fruit), and was ready to head out. Due to the cold front though it was highly unlikely that the elephants would be emerging from the thicket so Heike told us to meet at the museum (also thirty seconds away) to hone our elephant identification skills. The first half hour or so was entertaining but by the 50th elephant picture I was quite drowsy again. We finished up at 10:30am and headed out to find the main herd of elephants to the south. The six of us were bundled in our jackets and blankets to stay warm during the hour drive.
At 10:56am we were driving along the railway tracks when we spotted two elephant up ahead. As it turns out the herd had travelled over the tracks to the west side of the reserve during the night. We had caught them as they were moving back towards the lake. No one managed to spot the newborn calf but we did see the 5 week old leading the way across the road. We conducted a focal on Kohlewe and Ngani before the herd had completely migrated into the thicket. It was 12:15pm when we decided the plan of action was to wait at the opposite side of the thicket for when the herd emerged to drink from the lake... four hours later the herd still hadn’t shown up. Since the sun sets between 5:30pm and 6:00pm we had no choice but to head for home.
Tonight we attempted to make a chicken stew... key word being attempted. After three hours of “simmering” the stew on the stove we decided to try it in the oven, to no avail. We decided to cool the stew and put it in the fridge to try and cook it at Heike’s tomorrow. The back up plan consisted of bbq-ing a tonne of hotdogs for everyone to eat on sliced bread with tomato, cheese, mustard, ketchup (which only exists in South Africa as “Tomato Sauce” in a similar bottle) and mayonnaise. I enjoyed my hotdog with mustard and ketchup, but not feeling completely satisfied I popped a piece of bread in the toaster and for the third time today enjoyed peanut butter and bread.
Without any data to enter into our log today, and little more to write about, it has given me the time to officially introduce everyone that is involved in the research we are conducting here in Pongola. This may also help clear a few things up and make everything more sensible. I will start with Heike.
Heike is the main coordinator of the elephant herds found here in Pongola. She is originally from Germany but has been living in South Africa for the past 30 years or so. Heike works for the Space for Elephants Foundation which, in association with Disney, has been funding the current project. Heike has been actively involved with the elephants here for the past two years. Then there is K. K is the senior researcher on our project who works for OpWall. She is here to offer the students support, help with data collection, as well as monitor the progress of our research. Lastly, the students. I have mentioned Louise, Eva, and Abbie quite a few times, and always very briefly. Louise and Abbie are both from England and are studying zoology. Eva is German born but has lived in Glasgow, Scotland nearly her entire life. The four of us have been getting along incredibly well and are having a great time working on our research projects together. Within the next two weeks there will be three more students joining us and hopefully they too will find themselves at home here at the Loose Mongoose.
I should also mention Lionel before heading to bed. Lionel works as a mechanic at the Homestead and spends a lot of time at the Loose Mongoose. Tonight he stopped by to see how things were shaping up since we moved in and ended up staying to roast hotdogs with us. He also has two 5 month old Jack Russell Terriers that go everywhere with him. Butch and Tiny are siblings and spend most of their time chasing each other and playing, eating, or sleeping.
With the help of my sleeping bag and extra blankets tonight will hopefully be more peaceful than last night. The day starts at 7:00am tomorrow and hopefully with a little luck the elephants won’t be hard to find.
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