Monday was my first day of my postgraduate program for
Honours Wildlife Management at the University of Pretoria. For those who don’t know, it many
countries outside the U.S., after earning a bachelors degree you then do a one
year honours degree before doing a masters. The point is to spend a year taking
more in-depth advanced classes, while also doing your first independent
research project.
Our class consists of 11 students, 6 girls, 5 guys, 8 of
which are South African. To start our program, we went on a 4-day camp as they
call it, in a town called Wakkerstroom.
Located 4.5 hours south east of Pretoria in the Mpumalanga province, the area is plains and wetlands and known as a “birders
paradise”. We were lodged at the Wings over Wetlands bungalow, a site for
conservation and education.
The area, known for
it’s harsh winters, immediately reminded me of the highlands of Scotland. Large tracks of marsh and open plain
were surrounded by large hills and in-between the cozy farm town of
Wakkerstroom was nestled. Every morning heavy fog covered the area and sat
below the hills throughout most of the day, until the occasional flash lighting
storm would pass through.
When we arrived we
immediately set up camera traps around the marsh, where signs of otter and
mongoose were found. We also set
up 38 small rodent traps in one of the fields to collect mice and shrews. At night we had bat mist nets, which
look like badminton nets that extended skyward to trap bats flying between
buildings. With all this set up,
everyday we checked the cameras, checked the traps, did a lot of bird watching,
and got our first crash course on grass species. (Learning grass is extremely
exhilarating)
While looking for otter one morning, the gentleman comes galloping past headed into town for groceries.
These are white throated swallows
Red-Knobbed Coot
I don't consider myself a "birder", however it can be fun and we saw tons of different species from Goliath & Purple Herons, crested cranes, grebes, cormorants, red bishops, storks and many more. I did not go, but one group went to see Amur Falcons roosting, these birds fly back and forth from China every year to mate. In order to do so they fly over the Himalayas, reaching heights of over 30,000 feet! The group that went to see them said there were some 3000 or so falcons.
However, what I most enjoyed were the people and learning the culture. I learned a lot about how to make a braai (a BBQ), how poike (stew), and started my Afrikaans lessons. The issues with speaking Afrikaans, is that is very guttural and if you're not use to rolling your R's, G's, and H's you just seem to sound ridiculous and spit all over whoever you're talking to. But South Africans are very patient and willing to adopt Americans to teach them about their culture.
Probably my favorite cultural experience was buying a "Bunny-Chow". It is a half loaf of fresh bread, hollowed out, with curry in the middle. It's quite the meal! This swamp may not be the African bush people mostly think of, but this is a nice part of Africa. We may not have seen rhinos, antelope, an other big game, but eating bunny chow, watching birds, having a braai, and making friends made for a pretty nice week.
