Kruger Park

Last weekend a group of us went to Kruger park. It was an excellent trip - the ultimate imax wildlife 3d experience. Unfortunately it was also the ultimate snacking experience. Basically we sat in a bus for 2 days and everytime we spotted animals we stopped the bus, took photos and then ate some snacks. The more animals the more snacks - crisps, biscuits, sweets and jungle bars. (jungle bars are energy bars made of oats, berries, sugar and Genetically modified nuclear gluons - I think they would be illegal in most european countries). I did the worst snacking while out on the night drive - one hand using a spotlight and the other constantly delving into a huge pack of crisps. Then lastly before retiring to our tents, I would have burger and chips (with actual draught beer!). In the dead of night you could hear the sounds of nearby hippos and roaring lions (sounding slightly constipated) then in the morning you would be woken up by the plantive sound of the dawn chorus of birds and fellow campers coughing and farting.

In case anyone is interested here is the list of animals I seen:

Mammals: (p means I got some sort of photo)

Lion (p) - including the pride feasting on a zebra - yum yum!
Elephant (p) - plenty of sightings - some with young
White Rhino (p) - including one with young
Spotted Hyena (p) - at night and day
Hippo (p) - at night and day
Buffalo (p)
Warthog (p)
Giraffe (p)
Common Duiker
Impala (p)
Steenbok (p)
Klipspringer (p)
Waterbuck (p)
Blue wildebeest (p)
Zebra (p)
Bushbuck
Nyala (p)
Kudo (p)
Genet (on night drive)
Leopard (a glimpse of one on night drive)
Slender mongoose
White tailed Mongoose (on night drive)
Baboon (p)
Vervet monkey
Bat (p) (roosting in the womens toilets!)
Ground squirrel

Reptiles
Crocodile (p)
Olive Grass snake (p)
Small lizard (p)

Birds (photos of birds are mostly crap but I used them in some cases to identify)
Grey Heron (p)
Cattle Egret
Hadada Ibis (p)
Egyptian Goose
Fish Eagle (p)
White Backed Vulture (p)
Bateleur (seen one in the middle of the road surrounded by cars - no pic though)
Wahlbergs Eagle
Blacksmith Lapwing (p)
Yellow Billed hornbill (p)
White Helmut Shrike (p)
Red billed Oxpecker (p)
Crested Barbet (p)
Burchells Coucal (p)
Crested Francolin (p)
Ground Hornbill (p)
Southern puffback (p)
Yellow-billed egret (p)
Cape glossy Starling (p)
Fork-tailed Drongo (p)
Common waxbill (p)
Laughing dove (p)
Emerald Dove
Mourning Dove
European Roller
Brown Headed Kingfisher (p)

More Enkosini

19th - 21st Aug

I am well into week 3 at Enkosini now. I've still haven't clipped my hair so my head is starting to look like a pin cushion. Some good news since my last post. Firstly I have found my lost tent pole which means I can use my tent at Kruger park (It would have looked slightly stupid having a tent with one end lying on the ground except for the outline of my legs!) Secondly I got my tax refund! They sent the cheque here so I have to somehow post it back to Ireland and have someone lodge it for me. In the mean time I have bought a new camera and I am thinking of using some of my refund money to go to another game reserve for 2 weeks before heading to oz.

Ranger Station:

Ranger Station

I'll tell you more about Enkosini starting with our ranger station - home for the last week and the next 2 weeks.

The first thing you notice on the way into the station is a bottle hung on a tree. This is our security system. Its called a "muti" and consists of a snake skin and finger nails (I didn't ask whose!) which are supposedly meant to keep anyone from trespassing on the property. It works too!

Muti

The actual station consists of a main wooden building for lounging around in and cooking/eating. Everything electrical is powered by a battery connected to a solar panel. This provides more than enough power for light and charging mobiles/laptops/cameras. The other electical device is the two-way radio used for communicating with the main house or rangers when they are out on their quads.

This is fine for some of the time but only one frequency works up in the mountain and this frequency also happens to be used by the local bread delivery company who use their radios for everything from singing to chatting up the despatch girl.

So a typical radio conversation might go like:

Mitch (enkosini boss): Come in Chas.
Chas: Chas here
Mitch: There's a fire at the east fence get up there now!
Bread Delivery man 1 (singing) Halleluyah, Halleluyah, bongo bongo dooby doo,
Chas: On my way
Mitch: Get a move on!
Bread delivery man 2 (Laughing) He, He, He, aloo de do do coca cola (or something like that - its all in swati language1)
Chas: f£$king bread men!

As well as the main building there is also 4 sleeping cabins with bunk beds and corrugated iron roofs (guarenteed to keep the huts cold in winter and roasting in summer)

Lastly there is the outside shower and toilet. And when I say outside I mean outside. There is no roof and only a wall of branches to hide behind. I have been told that there is a very large spider that hangs around the toilet. A previous volunteer had an encounter with said spider and refused to go to the toilet again for 3 days.

Oh one other thing - the ranger station is not the cleanest - in fact when I decided to do some floor sweeping I was regarded as a freak - I mean me clean!

The Main House:
On the 19th Aug we finally got to visit the main house - all except Claudia, our new volunteer from Sweden. At the moment no females are allowed up at the main house. Its not sexist but is for the female volunteers own protection. This is because of the 3 vervet monkeys that live in the house, Pickles, Guyas (wee shit!) and Milo. Any female that comes to the house is regarded as a threat to the alpha female status and they attack them. Males only get nips and bites - especially from Guyas if he is looking to nick some food.

The setting of the house is fantastic. It is situated beside a small river which cascades down a ravine as a series of small waterfalls. There are even 1000 year old bushman painting near it. At the top of the ravine are partly built thatched chalets which will eventually be used for volunteers and rangers.

Enkosini falls (20th Aug)
An even better set of falls than at the main house is Enkosini falls which are about an hours (forced!) hike from the ranger station. The falls consist of 3 spectacular drops one after another. Its possible to climb down and go swimming in pools at the bottom. (except the water is freezing). Of course I managed to slip on wet rocks and fall on my arse in mud. Oh how everyone else laughed!

Enkosini falls


List Updates:

Due to time I will just update my lists as I go along rather then place them in the appropriate posts - I can always update them later:

Beers I hve drunk:

Castle Milk Stout: 6%!
Found my beer for South Africa! Its stout and its strong. I was going to say that I will drink this stuff from now on. That was before I went walking all afternoon the next day. I forgot what happens after stout drinking nights.

Things I have lost/Broke

Mobile phone:
Yes its gone! Somewhere between Lydenburg and Enkosini I have misplaced my mobile. So if you get a call from someone with a funny accent saying they need money quick its not me! I was about to get another phone anyway as the battery was buggerred so I am not that concerned plus I still have my original ROI number which I can use. The bleeding thing still had £20 credit on it - that's what is really annoying!

Animals I have seen:

Helmuted quinea fowl: Main house 19th Aug
These big partridge like birds were all around the main house.

Woodland Kingfisher: 19th Aug
At main house

Kudo: Near main house 19th Aug
A group of 4 females in the ravine at the main house.

Tawney Eagle: 21st Aug
Seen in the sky while taking down barbed wire fences.

Ring neck dove: 21st Aug
At ranger station.

Puff adder: On mountain road 21st Aug
We were on our way back from fence removal when we seen this puff adder on the road. Adam backed up his quad to get a better view which was ok except that I was on the back at the time and so was the closest to the snake (these things are killers!)


Communications:
As nobody seens to speak Norn Iron anywhere in the world I sometimes have communication issues with the locals I will keep account of the more stupid ones:

In a Pharmacy in Lydenberg:
Shop assistant: Can I help you sir:
Me: I am looking for soap
Shop assistant: Soup?!
Me: No SOAP! S, O, A, P!

In a local Fried Chicken Take away:
Me: Can I have a 2 piece meal please:
Assistant: What drink?
What I said: Can I have a Sprite please.
What the assistant obviouly thought I said:
Can a have 3 bread rolls with that (which is what I ended up with)


Glossary update:

Minging: pronounced ming-ing (adj) Scottish/Irish: not very nice - esp in taste/smell. eg The toilet is minging Raymond what did you do in there. (Chas uses this term a lot being Scotish)

I'M BACK!

Hey everyone

Been able to download a couple of posts (best to read them in reverse for continuity)

As I don't have much time for downloading (the posts art texts from my laptop) I will place any photos as a separate post so you will get text posts or photo posts

here are a couple.

Next stop Kruger Park!

Internet cafe sign - i told them I had been to the clinic before hand!


Me and Berno the st Bernard


Vervet Monkeys


Thats dirt on them hairy legs not a tan!

LISTS

CHECKLISTS

For purposes of tracking what I did/seen I have produced this post of CHECKLISTS: which I shall update as I go along.
Other lists will follow such as:
Poos I have had to lift
Animals that have peed on/bitten me


BEERS I HAVE DRUNK: (Obviously the most important one!)

Castle Lager: South African: 5% 6pack 29Rand (£2)
A cheap crap lager but very very refreshing after working on the Fence in the Monkey Sanctuary

Sterling Light Lager: South African: 2.5% 6pack 29Rand
This was a complete mistake – who the hell brews 2.5% beer! This was one of the ones I picked up quickly when first going to Enkosini – I did not see the light bit – as but as useful as a lager shandy.

Windhoek Lager: Namibian: 4% 6pack 29 Rand
Supposedly the best lager you can get here – definitely better then the others

(I have also been drinking some Heineken)
Beers so far are average. But very refreshing!

THINGS I HAVE LOST/BROKE:
(this will be of interest to my sister as she thinks I lose everything)

Platypus Water bag: 5th Aug
I got this free with my tent and it proceeded to leak in my small rucksack on the very first walk I did – all over my books!

Sunglasses: 8th Aug
An incident involving a hammer and a rather rubbery fence post combined to break my first sunglasses. Still it was better then the black eye I would have gotten without them on!

Trousers: 5th Aug
Probably due to the amount of stuff I had in my pockets but really due to the fact that the trousers were slightly too small. Large tears down the front of both legs – which got progressively bigger (even after a bad sewing attempt) until I was doing a good impression of David Banner after turning back from the incredible hulk.

Tent pole: 12th Aug
Due to hasty camp pack I may have left one of my tent poles in the Vervet monkey sanctuary. This means that my tent will have one end basically lying on the ground when I go to Kruger park.

Nikon camera: 15th Aug
Due to me trying to clean the actual digital part of camera I have managed to effectively destroy my good camera! I will still use it for Kruger park but its got it will have a big scratch mark on all the photos!



ANIMALS I HAVE SEEN:

This post will probably be of no interest to anyone but me and Phil but hey its my blog!

I am only going to include animals that I have positively identified for myself – not ones pointed out to me by other people that they seen or heard.

Pied Kingfisher – Bird, Seen on roadside on way to Ranger Station 4th Aug

Blue waxbill – Bird, Seen at Vervet Monkey Sanctuary, 7th Aug
Lovely small sparrow-like bird with blue breast which I foraged around at dawn and dusk.

White throated robin chat – Bird, (fatty!) Seen at Ranger station, 14th Aug
Fatty as the rangers call him is a cheeky thrush like bird with a white throat and red behind. He eats all the crumbs left around the station. I have even caught him in my hut looking for food.

Cape Robin Chat – Bird, Seen at Rangers station, 14th Aug.
Another cheeky bird that lives on the scraps from the ranger station. More robin like with red breast.

Common Bulbul – Bird, Seen at Ranger station, 14th Aug
Black head with slight crest and yellow tail flanks. Also feeds of scraps from the station.

Amethyst sunbird – Bird, Seen at Ranger station , 16th Aug
Almost black small bird.

Commoun Duiker – Antelope, Seen near Ranger Station 15th Aug
My first proper mammal! Only glimpsed but apparently quite common here at Enkosini

Cape Weaver – Bird, Seen at Ranger Station 16th Aug
All Yellow bird – bastard to check against all the other Yellow weavers but I am pretty sure its this one (good views)

African FIsh Eagle - Bird: Seen on walk to eucalyptus forest 16th Aug
Bloddy great big bird seen at a distance with distinctive white head and tail

Warthog - mammal: Two females seen on walk to eucalyptus forest 16th Aug

Greater Kestrel (i think!) - bird - seen on walk to eucalyptus forest 16th Aug#
Hoovering bird in distance with light underwings - larger than normal kestrel

Bearded Woodpeaker - Bird: At ranger station 17th Aug
Annoying hammering which woke me up - got pretty close to it (should have thrown a stone at the bloody thing!)

Brown Scrub Robin - Bird: At ranger station 17th Aug

Yellow-fronted tinkerbird: At ranger station 17th Aug
Small bird - like a mottled gold creast

Cape batis: At Ranger Station 17th Aug
I think this is the bird doing the annoying three blind mice

Blue Billed firefinch: At ranger station 17th Aug

Baboon: Near Ranger station 18th Aug

BUSHFIRE (and thats not S. African for Thrush)

On the 12th Aug we finally packed up from the Monkey sanctuary and drove back to Enkosini. Just as we got there in the dark we could see a bushfire near to the Enkosini fence. Mitch despatched one of the rangers to check it out and we sat down to in hois house ready to go out and fight it it required (at 1am in the morning). In the end we did not go out as it was (suposedly) not a danger to the reserve.

Ho! Ho! Ho! how wrong was that!

At about 10am the next morning we got an update on the fire. It was headed straight for Enkosini. So we had to all quickly pile into the toyato and get up to the fire as quick as possible.

FOr the next 6 hours we fought a running (running away quite alot of the time!) with the fire. I used to think a bush fire meant that the fire was in the bush. What it also means is that the main method of dealing with a it is to break off a branch of a nearby tree and start beating like your life depended on it (which in some cases it does). The only other thing we had was some weedkiller like backpacks filled with water.

My technique at the start was not the best. Rather than beating out the flames I tended to fan them or worse still find that my branch was shifting embers to start new fires behinh me! I eventually got the knack.

I can honestly say it was one of the most exhausting days of my life. Running up and down a mountainside trying to beat out flames with the only source of water a stream at the bottom of the hill.

Eventually we thought that it was completely out except for a fire down in the valley which they called out proper firemen for. When I say proper firemen what that really means is a large truck filled with men with proper firebeating sticks who just go around trying to beat out the fire in the same way we did.

Of course the next morning we found that the firemen had not done there job right and the fire was still burning. So up we went again for another couple of hours. This time we managed to put it out for good (I hope!)

I never ever want to go through that ordeal again. Bush fires aren't fun!

VERVET MONKEY SANCTUARY

TITLE: VERVET MONKEY SANCTUARY

On the 6th Aug the Boss man Mitch planned for us to go to the Vervet Monkey reserve near Tzaneen (silent T) to help build a new monkey enclosure. It was a 3 hour trip to get there and we were to camp inside the sanctuary for 2 nights and return on the Friday – at least that was the plan.

7 days later we were still there. Like everyone else I had only brought enough underwear and socks for 3 days. My 1 pair of trousers split on the 2nd day right down the front. My attempts to sew them back together only resulted in a very bad stitch except where I had sewen my boxer to the trousers (yes I did the sewing with the trousers on me – just shut up!)

Things I learnt while I was at the Vervet Monkey Sanctuary:

1. NEVER EVER try to feed Monkeys through an electrified fence! I nearly jumped 6 feet when my hand got shocked.
2. Be careful of vervet monkeys in trees overhead. They have very good aim with both pee and poo!
3. Vervet monkeys have bright blue balls! (pic to follow!)
4. Always zip up your tent or else the monkeys will raid any crisps or nuts you have in it (as Rob found out)


Eventually we did get all the fence done and it’s a shit-hot fence too. 650m in length with enough room for up to 50-70 monkeys. 12 feet high with half of it electrified. It has still to be wired up to a solar panel powered battery making it totally self sufficient and with alarms as well. Basically state of the art security (I think the south Africans are pretty good at that sort of thing).

Rays Rants – Vervet Monkey Sanctuary

After working on the fence at this sanctuary for nearly a week you get to see how the place is run – or rather not run. At first glance it looks quite good with volunteers sitting around in the cages with monkeys and having a nice relaxing time. Like their chemical toilets everything looks nice on the surface, but shine a torch into the hole and it’s a whole different story!

Basically the place is a hippy commune with monkeys thrown in on the side. The main workers and long term volunteers are a group of pot heads (two of them even call each other dude for chrissakes!). One of the black workers (who seems to wear white gloves all the time) seems to be the dealer although I think they also grow there own stuff.

The place is totally vegetarian and nothing is allowed to be killed. For
us blow-in workers the vegetarian thing just did not happen – we had our own gas cooker and made great big chicken/pork or beef stews while the sanctuary volunteers trudged by to get their veggie gruel.

The whole problem with this no kill, laid back hippie attitude is that the monkeys are suffering. A lot of the enclosures are badly in need of repair resulting in monkeys quite easily escaping from them and running wild. Due to lack of space a lot of the injured and sick monkeys at the hospital are in extremely small cages (some as small as 2 feet by 2 feet) and are kept there for long periods. The no kill rule means that the hospital is infested with rats which run rampant. I came in to the hospital one morning to find a box of syringes all over the floor because the rats had knocked them over. There are monkeys which are slowly dying from disease in cramped cages because they are not humanely put to sleep.

But the worst thing about the whole set up is that the monkeys are allowed to breed. Vervet monkeys are regarded as vermin in South Africa as they are very common. You are not allowed to release any of the monkeys back into the wild. As a sanctuary the place should be dealing with injured or orphaned monkeys and they should be neutered in some form to stop them reproducing. The place has over 700 monkeys at present.

So why did we bother to help by putting up a new enclosure? Enkosini donated the entire fence and workers (us and their own fence workers) to put up a new enclosure 4 times the size of any of their current enclosures. It took 2 weeks to do – some of the other enclosures apparently took over a year to put up. Once complete it will allow 50-70 monkeys to roam around in proper surroundings rather than be in cramped cages. Hopefully other things will now be done to this sanctuary to sort it out once and for all.

ENKOSINI (Means land of kings in zulu)

Firstly apologises for not putting anything on the last post. I had to spend most of my time sorting out my online banking. Last week my bank decided that it would be a good idea to send a text message to my mobile as part of the login process. They have never done this before and of course my phone’s battery was dead as a kudo. This meant that not only did I not get logged in but when I tried to access it this week (waiting with charged phone at the ready) I found that my account had been suspended. So instead of sorting out emails, blogs and finances I had to top up my phone and then ring their online banking services in order to get my status changed. Waiting for automated messages giving options then sub options before having to be transferred to accounts while your mobile phone credit shrinks faster than a spent elephant dong is quite annoying!


Anyway, back to the blog.

On arriving in Joberg airport I met Anne, one of the other volunteers who promptly told me that due to a family crisis, she had to fly back to Scotland. Some cynical people might say that meeting me for the first time might have made her decide to do that! Other than that getting to Enkosini went mostly without a hitch. I met the other two volunteers, Rob and Nick and after spending a night in Lydenberg we got picked up by Chas, one of the rangers. It was at this point that I got my first shock of the trip. Enkosini is so remote that they only come into town once a week to pickup supplies and volunteers. This meant that any alcohol had to be purchased there and then. I near shit myself and had to run into the local spar to pick up some sustenance before we left.

My second shock of the trip was that at night it is bloody cold! Our ranger camp is at an elevation of over 1000m. My one season sleeping bag was like a white mans condom on a big black man – inadequate! Even with thermals and several layers of clothes I spent most of the night freezing until I managed to get some blankets to put on.

On our first full day at the reserve we were taken on a small walk by Adam the other ranger. Unfortunately the only animal we seen was a large kudo skeleton (pic to follow)

I should probably explain a bit about Enkosini at this point. Enkosini is a start up reserve which basically means that it ain’t got many animals. They have just finished doing the fence round it but due to various problems which I will rant about later they have not introduced any new animals. They do have some leopards, hyenas and some herbivores such as kudo, hartebeest and warthogs which I will hopefully see before I leave. There is also a reservoir just outside the reserve which has some crocodiles and fish eagles.

Not enough time

Can't talk!

Need to sort out bushfire charred clothes and online banking - will put together something next week!

Lyndenberg

I have successfully arrived in Lydenberg and I am now waiting for transport to the wildlife sanctuary.

You will all be pleased to know that the car hire people did not notice two new tyres on the car and I did not have to cough up any excess (mind you they might find out later!)

Surprisingly I did not have any major problems throughout my journey to here.

The plane journey was long but these days you can pick and choose which movies or TV shows to watch so naturally I picked things that were intellictual and stimulating. Quick tip. Always try to get an Aisle seat on an overnight flight or else you sit there for hours thinking "Wake up you stupid bitch I need to go to the toilet!"

Can't say much more now as this is costing me money - I will be editing and updating my posts but I will have an update section on ech one.

Keep watching:

PS

Conversation at Airport Bus Station:

ME: "Is this the bus to Lydenberg?"
Driver: "Belfast"
ME (talking slowly): "Yes I am from Belfast - How did you know?"
Driver: "This is the bus to Belfast!"
Me: Oh right sorry.

Ironically the correct bus drove throw Belfast on way to Lydenberg and I think I prefer my one!

I'm off! (Rugby)

Hi everyone.

My last post before I start on my journey. I will be leaving my hire car (complete with two new tyres) back before making my way to terminal 5 at heathrow to catch my flight. Assuming BA do not send my luggage to India I will pick it up at Joberg airport and then start making my way to the Game reserve. I do not know how often I will be able to get internet access once there - they only have intermittent electricity so a state of the art wifi computer is doubtful!

I have some requests for info while I am away:

1. Football scores of the upcoming qualifiers for Northern Ireland, Rep of Ireland, England, Scotland and Croatia. Also the english premiership scores esp Man City!
2. Irish Rugby scores - Autumn tests and the start of the 6 nations.
3. Pics of all the babies getting born while I am away and of all the other kids too

Can't think of anything else at the moment.

I will update this blog as often as possible so don't forget to look in from time to time.

Update Heathrow airport:

Just using my last remaining pound coins to update the blog.

I've finally started! (Football)

Well I have finally started on my travels - exactly 100 days after leaving my job.

I got a flight from Belfast to Bristol and then hired a car in order to drive to my friends house in Wiltshire so I can see their new baby before travelling. Unfortunately due to circumstances within my control I have to spend today getting two new tyres on the hire car and hope they do not notice any change when I return the car to Heathrow on Saturday.

If they do notice anything I will probably be liable for a large excess which means that before I have even started the trip my beer budget has gone for the next couple of months (to be honest I will probably give up meat and start eating grass rather than do that)