Matt Snider - Letters from South Africa - Part II

Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V - Home

Hey Guys,

Sorry it's been so long since I've written to you guys. In the past few weeks we relocated base camps and have been busy moving into our new location. Our new camp is even more rustic than the last one. We don't have a generator anymore so our power comes solely from four small solar panels strapped to a set of old car batteries that are haphazardly lashed together with duct tape and copper wiring. I'm not sure why but sometimes they buzz menacingly from behind the wash tub. We do have a refrigerator and oven that are gas powered but they seem to deal in polarities: the fridge is either off because the pilot light goes out (I blame the monkeys, more on this later) or in deep freeze and the oven has two settings as well: off and volcanic eruption.

The whole camp here in Venetia is a semi-permanent tent collection and the permanent buildings have luxurious bamboo slatted siding. We have an electric fence that surrounds the camp but as I mentioned before we don't have electricity so it has become prime real estate to hang stuff out to dry. Good news is that we have witch doctor charms on our tents to make them lion proof, but if they do get in, our emergency action plan consists of grabbing the whistle that hangs by our door and whistling loudly until a member of staff runs out of their tent to help us out. And I don't think any of them know Kung-Fu. We had an elephant outside our gate night before last, but he just walked by and stood by our well point and decided whether or not he wanted to be a jerk and pull up our piping. Fortunately, it looked like he got bored with this usual trick and left it alone this time. On top of this stuff we have the usual assortment of birds (including a Hornbill, think Zazu from Lion King, who looks like a mad scientist) and monkeys who apparently know how to turn on water taps and flush toilets. That puts them about on par with the some of my tent mates.

Actually, the tenting situation is just fine. They put all eight of us who came from the other base camp together in the same tent and the four new kids in another tent. I think they don't want us corrupting these poor new kids right off the bat. The new kids are adapting quickly, but I think it was a bit of shock and awe because they had been here for three days tranquilly getting into the swing of things when the eight of rolled into Venetia camp like a house on fire, sounding like a troop of baboons and acting with the same level of civility. The eight of us share a big tent but we all know each others' habits and tendencies already, so living together has been a breeze. I'm on the bottom bunk and the fiery little Mexican girl that sleeps above me has proven the stereotype that Latinas are not morning people. I often have to watch out for swipes and jabs when I'm trying to wake her up at five thirty in the morning, but my reflexes have gotten a lot better. On a strange note, if I wake her up in Spanish she's a little less likely to try to take my head off.

The wildlife at this reserve is totally different than that of the last research camp. At Karongwe, where we were, the reserve was set up as a financial venture as much as a conservation one, which is why it had a high level of animal management. On site lodges ran game drives that took guests on photo tours to see all the lions, leopards, cheetahs and such. As a result the animals got used to seeing trucks all over the place and were less inclined to see them as threats and run away when they approached. The reserve we are on now, Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve, is a wild reserve for all intents and purposes. It surrounds and is owned by a De Beers diamond mine and they pretty much foot the bill of everything that goes on within its fences. The reserve itself is over 35,000 hectares and surrounds the mine which is only about 2,000 hectares at maximum. Call me crazy, but I think De Beers sees the reserve as a bit of extra security because they like to know that the reserve is stocked with tons of Lions, Leopards and a very active pack of Wild Dogs, all species that strike me as a deterrent for those trying to covertly approach the mine.

The animals here are much more elusive, but after tracking them down, finding them is so gratifying. So far I've seen Lions, Wild Dogs, Honey Badgers, Giraffe, Warthogs, piles of Elephants and a whole bunch of different species of antelope. In a reserve across from ours, we sat in a hideout overlooking a waterhole and we sat for about half an hour when a massive breeding herd of nearly fifty elephants came down and spend the next forty five minutes playing in the waterhole. I'll be putting up a couple videos when I have the chance. One of them in particular is great because it shows some of the baby elephants slipping around in the mud and one of the mothers helping her baby out of the muck. That will have to wait until I can get to an internet cafe that has a fast enough connection for me to get onto YouTube. My favorite animals to watch here so far have been the Wild Dogs. This has been my first time seeing them and they are beautiful. There is a parallel project on them running on the reserve and the woman doing that sometimes rides with us when we are going in for visuals. She always gives us great commentary about their behavior while we watch them and we've seen them demonstrating submissive behavior and a lot of the pack interactions.

I'm having tons of fun and I'll try to update you a little more often. I hope everyone is having fun stateside.

Buyadankie!
-Matt