Chris & Thandi
Stephen & me (Once in the cliffs we stopped to take a picture of the really cool moon. It appeared to be so close to the earth that night.)
A little background info: We were camping in this area because of Alex who is currently on his practical. For those of you who forgot, a practical is like a co-op. Most students who study at Saasveld study theory or in-class instruction for 2 or 2.5 years and then for 6 to 12 months they go on practical, similar to a co-op program. Alex is in the Nature Conservation program and will be on practical for the entire 2010 year. His focus is in studying leopards. The Baviaans Cliff area happens to be one of his particular locations for research. Alex has been busy studying various methods in order to keep leopards alive in the Baviaans Cliff. There is a serious problem of them dying off in the area. One of the main factors to this is that the leopards will hunt the sheep and goats of the farmers in the area and the farmers in turn hunt the leopards, usually by setting traps.
Alex’s job is to create relationships with the farmers and introduce leopard-friendly methods so that both farmers and leopards will be able to survive. Currently Alex and his team set their own traps throughout the area in hopes of catching leopards to put tracking devices on them. This helps to know where the leopards are located and to be aware which leopards are more prone to attack the farmer’s livestock. The farmers agree not to kill the leopards because the tracking collars placed on the leopards serve as an insurance plan for them. If the collared leopards do attack their livestock they will be reimbursed for their loss.
Due to all this, we started off Friday morning with a leisurely breakfast and then headed out to check on Alex's sites for leopards. It was a really hot day. It had to be in the high 90's. The cliffs are what I imagine Arizona to be like: desert-like plants, doesn't rain much, mountainous, and lots of goats and sheep grazing. It was a nice time of hiking and checking his traps for leopards...no luck though. It would have been cool to see one. While we drove around Alex kept his tracking device turned on and the antenna up on the hood so that we would try to locate one. Part of his job is to locate the leopards and then download the data off the collars to find out where the leopards have travelled and to get an idea of how vast a single leopard’s territory is.
I learned a lot from Alex about the cliffs and the farming there. It was beautiful in its own way but too secluded and dry looking for my taste. When we got back to camp we were all dying of heat so we went to the campsite’s local swimming hole and went for a dip and played a card game that's German for Beans. Supposedly one of the top ranking games out there. I'm still slightly baffled by the game. It would help if I could read the directions but they’re in Dutch. Haha.
Friday
These bushes are all over George and they literally bloom year round. From what I’ve seen, they come in three varying shades of pink. I love that you can see flowers year round here. It makes me happy :)
Other tropical looking flowers.
Part of our camping crew for the weekend. Total there were 13 of us.
Thank goodness for this bakkie. We would not have made it through the hectic cliffs in our sedan.
Check out this bush. It’s an acacia.
Now check out its serious thorns. The thorns are at least 3 inches long. We currently have one of these growing in our garden.
Other interesting desert plants.
Baby ostriches. How cute are they!?!
I just love this little one going against the grain.
The beginning of our walk to one of three leopard cages.
I’ve never seen such dry ruggedness before.
This is one of the leopard traps. They are typically open at both ends and when the weight of the leopard hits the middle of the cage the ends come down and trap the animal. These traps are checked two to three times a day by the farmers to make sure that animals don’t stay there very long and are cared for.
This is a MASSIVE tick we found nearby. No lie, it was as big as a dime.
Struan, being a human transmitter for us. We would use this antenna everywhere we drove to detect a potential leopard in the area. I believe it had a range of 3-5 kilometers.
The campsite’s swimming hole.
Annawien & me (This is the first time I’ve been swimming in any form of water since being in South Africa. I find the ocean water frigidly cold and refuse to get in. It was so refreshing to finally go for a swim.)
The next day, Saturday, we went into the nature reserve. It was a long drive but BEAUTIFUL. It's home of the black rhinos, leopards, bush buck, kudu, baboons, other types of monkeys, and buffalos. We saw lots of different types of dear including the famous kudu. It’s a large, beautiful type of antelope that is close to probably the size of an elk. When Stephen starts to bow hunt in a month or so he wants to try and track a kudu. The meat we would get of the hide someone told us should last almost a year. Unfortunately, we never got to see any of the larger animals like the black rhino; they’re too shy and secluded. Regardless, it was a lovely day. The road in actually travels all the way to Port Elizabeth but I can't imagine wanting to do that. The roads are very narrow barely enough to get two cars by. One has to practically drive up on the side of the mountain to let another car by and you can't see around the bends....seriously there were a few times I was really unnerved. There are no guard rails and it's a VERY, VERY far drop. I always made sure I was on the side of the bakkie closest to the mountain so I couldn't really see over the edge. It makes your stomach drop. I didn't find out till later that the guy who drove us didn’t even have his license yet. EECK!!! You can't get your license till you’re 18 here. That outing took our whole day, but it was truly lovely. The campsite where we stayed was such a neat little spot. We had a little hut made of rock pieces that was a fully fledged bathroom with a running sink, toilet, and shower. You had to heat the geyser (or water heater) with fire wood on the outside of the bath. I thought it was so neat. And then up on a small hill behind a screen made of bamboo, completely exposed to the outdoors, there was a running bathtub. We all took turns at night taking a hot bath under the stars. It was sooo cool although I have to say if the wind is blowing it's a bit nippy.
Saturday
Early morning in the cliffs.
Can you see the baboon? There were two, in particular, super early in the morning who gave us a rude awakening. They sounded like they were beating on each other and the male made some ridiculously scary calls to claim his territory. All this sounded like it was right outside our tents. To say the least, Stephen was the only crazy one to go searching for the animals to see what’s going on. The rest of us stayed safely in our tents till it all died down.
The goats roaming past our site.
Breakfast. We did a lot of talking about books while all together.
The scenery on the way to the Nature Reserve.
Notice the blue bushes here. Once away from the farms these are the only natural flowers growing. You’d see blue patches here and there. I thought they were lovely.
Here's a close up of the blue flowers.
Somehow we all managed to ride in the bakkie. For those who sat in the tailgate it was a rough ride. Due to this, we switched quite often to give our sore bums a rest.
Within the Nature Reserve.
Our group.
We stopped for lunch in a little picnic area. Due to the extreme heat our carrots had soured. One of our
Kudu. Check out its horns!
Bush buck.
Stephen and I got the chance to ride on a donkey kart! It was so crazy.
This is what it felt like…you might just topple backwards!
Home sweet home. Our private campsite.
Leave it to guys to find amusement in throwing rocks at a sign and seeing who can hit it.
Stephen and I stole a few minutes away to climb the rocks and watch the sunset. It was simply dreamy.
Watched the sheep go by.
It’s simply beautiful.
Here’s the stone bathroom I was talking about.
The inside.
And the outdoor tub!
Our braai area.
Sunday we leisurely got ready, ate, and then headed out. We probably arrived home around two or so in the afternoon.
We then had Sunday night to recoup before our next big adventure…Cape Town…
Sunday
Although it’s hard to see here, these mountains had the most vivid jewel colors. It was beautiful.
