2015: Highs. Lows and a Look Back

This year has been a strange one, from completing a placement year to travelling with my best friend and then having to head back to university. I have experienced pretty much every type of emotion and gained a better understanding of who I am as a person along the way so I decided a look back at the largest events this year was in order.

Coming Home For Christmas

So in December I left South Africa after an amazing 3 months. I surprised my boyfriend my coming home 5 days early which after lots of coordination between my mum, Jordan's mum and I we got him to the airport without knowing anything.

Kruger, Mountains and So Much More

The past 2 weeks really have flown by! 

The Vervet monkey females had babies which are all adorable and I got to see them throughout the week. 

A baby Vervet monkey

My mum also arrived for a visit which was definitely just as exciting. She came up to Lajuma, where I got to show her around and we saw all 3 types of monkeys. We also climbed Mount Lajuma before we headed back down the mountain and traveled to Kruger Park.

Samango monkey feeding

Me at the top of Mount Lajuma

On the way to Kruger we stopped at the Vervet Monkey Rehabilitation Centre which was really interesteing. We got to hear all about the monkeys and some of their stories and the problems facing them. We even got to see 2 blind monkeys that had lost their sight when shot by farmers which was so sad.

After we left the centre we reached our hotel, the Sabie River Bush Lodge. The lodge was beautiful, our room overlooked the garden and had a huge high thatched roof which was just stunning. The main deck area looked out over the river and Kruger Park and one night we were lucky enough to see elephants by the water.

The first evening at the lodge we went on a sunset drive where we got to see Elephants, Rhinos, Lions and Giraffes and Impala which was amazing.

Wednesday morning Mum and I headed in to the park early and drove around all day.  At lunch I had a baboon steal my blueberry muffin which was a little unexpected!

We were so lucky to have a female lion walk out right out in front of our car and got to see the back end of a leopard as well!

On Thursday we went on a morning game drive and managed to see all of the big 5 before midday which was incredible. We then headed back to the lodge and spent a relaxing afternoon by the pool.

Friday seemed to have arrived far too quickly and we went to Maholoholo Rehab Centre where we had a very informative talk about the poaching issue, not just for the Asian market but also for traditional African healers who pay people to illegally hunt the animals because they don't have easy access to their native species.  We were also told about how the trophy hunting trade funds a great deal of consevation efforts as well as provides meat for rehab centres like Moholoholo.

 I also got to get close to see wild dog, a leopard and some cool birds.

We then drove back through the park and saw hyenas and lions on the way before reaching the hotel and having our last dinner in Kruger overlooking the river.

We left Sabie River Bush Lodge on Saturday morning and headed up into the mountains. The cloud was still low first thing so instead we headed to Pilgrams Rest, a small town that used to mine gold. From there we drove back up to the mountains calling at the view points of the Panorama Route before reaching Graskop and our hotel.

On Sunday we headed back down to Hazyview and did a 1.2km zipwire ride from near the top of the mountain down to the bottom which was so much fun! We got to see some great views as well. We then headed to the airport and mum got on her flight home and I headed back to Lajuma.

1 Month In

It is crazy to think that I have now been here for over a month. Recently I have just been following the monkeys as expected. We are up at 4.30 and dont finish until 6.15 which certainly feels like a long day, especially as you are on your feet the entire time.

Last weekend we all had a cheese and wine night which was great fun and then on the Sunday, because it was really nice weather we all headed to the waterfall lodge and went swimming in one of the pools there, it certainly wasnt the clearest water I have ever been it a good excuse to enjoy the sunshine and top up our tans.

Most evenings we are all in bed by 9 as we are up so early but there are certainly really lovely moments in the past 2 weeks which makes the long days worth while, such as the 2 samango juveniles who continue to visit my bedroom window to play peekaboo, finding the vervet monkeys when there are only 8 of them and they are silent, along with getting to play with the 4 kittens here. I certainly wish I could take one of them home but when it costs nearly £1000, I dont think I would be able to explain my spending of my grant to the university.

Veg plot fun with the primate people

The weather is starting to become quite tempremental with thunder and lightning waking me up in the night but thankfully so far I am yet to be caught in a big rainstorm when out following.

This weekend my mum will arrive in Africa for 9 days in which we will travel to Kruger national park to try and find some animals along with travelling over the mountains back to Joburg before she leaves.

So, my next post will update you all on what I have gotten to see with her, lets hope I see some amazing wildlife.

Until next time

My Africa Update

So the past two weeks have been crazy busy, from finishing my final training for the Samango Monkeys and experiencing my first 12 hour watch of them on my own, to learning 24 African tree species and somehow fitting a trip to Botswana in as well, it really has been go go go.

 The most exciting thing has got to be my trip to Botswana! We left last Sunday morning at the very reasonable time of 7am and then it took 3 hours to get to the country and through border control (half the time it takes to get from Johannesburg to Louis Trichardt!), Crazy hey.

My hammock

Once we arrived we pitched the tent and hammocks, and I was lucky enough to sleep in a hammock under the stars for a night. We then went on an afternoon game drive where we saw crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, zebra, blue wildebeest and some spotted hyena cubs which were pretty cute!

We returned to our little camp and cooked tea before retreating to bed. It took me a while before I managed to fall asleep. Sleeping in a hammock definitely requires practice. In the morning we set off again on another game drive at 6 where we saw very similar things to the day before, sadly there was no sign of cheetahs, lions or leopards but our hyena was visible again which was cool.

Elephants!!

It truly was a whirlwind trip and we got to see so much in a 24 hour period. We then returned, stopping off for lunch on the way where I had a HUGE smoothie and stocked up on fresh food for the next week.

Spottedd Hyena

On Tuesday we were out conducting veg plots in horrendous heat and in bush that you really would say there was no chance of fighting through, the week before had also been just as brutal. On Tuesday night I was awake for ages with 100's of bites all over my legs and arms, the same had happened the week before and so mine and Onnika's rooms had been fumigated (she had the same thing) as we thought we had bed bugs, but we have now realised we are being bitten by something in the field. I had hardly gotten any sleep before I had to be up at 4:45 to start my full day with the monkeys and by Friday I was so tired due to the bites waking me up on Wednesday and Thursday night that I was so relieved to have my non follow day on Saturday!

On Thursday I did get to see the two troops that we follow have a fight as barn troop had been caught in house troop's territory, interestingly only the females fight, the men just observe from at the back.

Friday night I experienced the first rain out here in Africa, hopefully it won't rain for another few days but apparently this week is meant to be REALLY hot. I think the 37degrees on Thursday was plenty hot enough for me though.

So that's my update from the past two weeks, it's crazy to think that I have already been here for 3 weeks, and that in 10 weeks I will be nearly on my way home.

Love