I am finished with PSU semester (except for some things I need to hand in) and I have started at Cheetah.
I was sick for a few weeks at the end of March and I just got disgusted about several things so I decided not to blog. Some unpleasant things are best to not put in writing.
Anyway, I am happy to say that I enjoy being back in Strand/Stellenbosch area. Cheetah is different than it was last year, but I am still happy to be back. I have completed 6 days of work so far and from the first day I resumed the same duties I had last year and was giving tours by day 3. This was an accomplishment since I never gave a tour in my 4 weeks there last year.
I was in the same flat I stayed in last year for a week with 4 other people; 1 other from US, 2 from UK and 1 from Germany. Last night I moved with 1 of the UK and the US to a different flat since there will be more volunteers coming in and more space was needed in the main flat. In about 2 weeks I will be moving back to the main flat with the other US girl.
I am busy finishing up my work for PSU so I will finish this post now. When I complete my work I will post more regularly about Cheetah updates and whatnot. I have some plans coming up in the next few weeks so hopefully I will be able to report them here.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Some ehhh pictures
Well, my attempt at uploading pictures only produced these two which are probably the ones I cared to show the least. Oh well, I will try again soon. These two are from my brief time in London. I had 3 others from London that I wanted to show and also a few from Mkhambhati.
I will give an update later of what has happened this past week and camping in Dwesa last weekend.
I will give an update later of what has happened this past week and camping in Dwesa last weekend.
Me freezing on the top deck of the bus.I don't usually ride on the top, but I broke
my rules since it was open and the driver insisted.
Another sightseeing bus similar to mine.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Off to Dwesa
Ok, so I am back from Mkhambhati. We arrived back at the Haven on Monday afternoon.
On the way to Mkhambhati one of the Land Rovers broke and we had to push it so it would start a couple times along the way. It was very trying doing that every morning. Then midway through another Land Rover started to not work at all. That made all three of them duds since the one that didn't work in the beginning of the trip was the only one working in Mkhambhati. We called the mechanics and they had to drive down from Joburg. They worked on the vehicles for two days and stayed at our campsite. Those two vehicles worked and then the day before we are supposed to leave Mkhambhati, which is also the day after the mechanics left, I don't know which one, but one of them decides to break while in the field. We tried to get it to work, but it wouldn't so we left it there. We just had to overcrowd the 2 other Land Rovers to go home and we rented another car once we got to a larger city after 4 hours drive. NEVER use Land Rovers!
The time spent at Mkhambhati was a lot of fun and great experience. We worked with the lead ecologist from the Eastern Cape Parks Board and a herpetologist from a museum in Port Elizabeth. The students were split into two groups and rotated every other day doing the fieldwork with Dr. Smithwick or catching amphibians and reptiles with the ecologist and herpetologist. My job was to keep records of the animals that were caught so I worked catching animals everyday since I already experienced Dr. Smithwick's class last year and that is what Warren and Evan were hired for.
We got to catch things in traps and with our hands. The only thing that can be dangerous are some venomous snakes and we only caught one venomous snake and that was in a trap. Reptiles were harder to catch with our hands so the majority of them were caught in traps except for a few skinks, geckos, and rock agamas. It was fun to catch the frogs (the only amphibians found in Mkhambhati) because we looked crazy chasing them around. I caught a few frogs, but none of them were kept because once we got too many of the same species we would let them go. From what I was told, we were pretty successful. A few of the species we found were finally confirmed for Mkhambhati whereas before they were just on a list of possible species.
As far as sleeping in the tents went, it was not as bad as I was expecting although I didn't sleep through the night at all which is unusual for me. I was on breakfast crew also so I had to be up by 4:30 or 4am each morning because our days started at 6am. The bathroom and shower accomdations were pretty good though because I was worried about that before I got there.
Our campsite overlooked the ocean so I took advantage and went to the beach most days even though the water was freezing cold. Most days at lunch my group would eat at waterfalls and swim in the fresh water pools below them. It was really nice and refreshing after hiking around in the mornings. Don't get worried, the most harmful thing in those waters were frogs, tadpoles, and maybe zebra pee, no parasites! That was also our drinking water because the water bottles from the first day did not last long and boiling the water was too time consuming. I think it tasted great.
I was going to try to upload more pictures that one of the other students was going to let me use, but we haven't had time to do it yet. Hopefully I will get them out soon because he also has a website that he asked me to post the link for because he is an avid birder and he has a lot of great pictures.
I do leave this afternoon for camping at Dwesa which is across the Mbashe River and is the other side of the nature reserve. I will bring my computer and hope that there is charging capability since I know that internet service is possible in this reserve. I think that there is a diesel generator available, but if not I will be back next week!
On the way to Mkhambhati one of the Land Rovers broke and we had to push it so it would start a couple times along the way. It was very trying doing that every morning. Then midway through another Land Rover started to not work at all. That made all three of them duds since the one that didn't work in the beginning of the trip was the only one working in Mkhambhati. We called the mechanics and they had to drive down from Joburg. They worked on the vehicles for two days and stayed at our campsite. Those two vehicles worked and then the day before we are supposed to leave Mkhambhati, which is also the day after the mechanics left, I don't know which one, but one of them decides to break while in the field. We tried to get it to work, but it wouldn't so we left it there. We just had to overcrowd the 2 other Land Rovers to go home and we rented another car once we got to a larger city after 4 hours drive. NEVER use Land Rovers!
The time spent at Mkhambhati was a lot of fun and great experience. We worked with the lead ecologist from the Eastern Cape Parks Board and a herpetologist from a museum in Port Elizabeth. The students were split into two groups and rotated every other day doing the fieldwork with Dr. Smithwick or catching amphibians and reptiles with the ecologist and herpetologist. My job was to keep records of the animals that were caught so I worked catching animals everyday since I already experienced Dr. Smithwick's class last year and that is what Warren and Evan were hired for.
We got to catch things in traps and with our hands. The only thing that can be dangerous are some venomous snakes and we only caught one venomous snake and that was in a trap. Reptiles were harder to catch with our hands so the majority of them were caught in traps except for a few skinks, geckos, and rock agamas. It was fun to catch the frogs (the only amphibians found in Mkhambhati) because we looked crazy chasing them around. I caught a few frogs, but none of them were kept because once we got too many of the same species we would let them go. From what I was told, we were pretty successful. A few of the species we found were finally confirmed for Mkhambhati whereas before they were just on a list of possible species.
As far as sleeping in the tents went, it was not as bad as I was expecting although I didn't sleep through the night at all which is unusual for me. I was on breakfast crew also so I had to be up by 4:30 or 4am each morning because our days started at 6am. The bathroom and shower accomdations were pretty good though because I was worried about that before I got there.
Our campsite overlooked the ocean so I took advantage and went to the beach most days even though the water was freezing cold. Most days at lunch my group would eat at waterfalls and swim in the fresh water pools below them. It was really nice and refreshing after hiking around in the mornings. Don't get worried, the most harmful thing in those waters were frogs, tadpoles, and maybe zebra pee, no parasites! That was also our drinking water because the water bottles from the first day did not last long and boiling the water was too time consuming. I think it tasted great.
I was going to try to upload more pictures that one of the other students was going to let me use, but we haven't had time to do it yet. Hopefully I will get them out soon because he also has a website that he asked me to post the link for because he is an avid birder and he has a lot of great pictures.
I do leave this afternoon for camping at Dwesa which is across the Mbashe River and is the other side of the nature reserve. I will bring my computer and hope that there is charging capability since I know that internet service is possible in this reserve. I think that there is a diesel generator available, but if not I will be back next week!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Home Sweet Haven
Okay, so it has been another week since I wrote last and a lot has happened. This will be very disjointed because I don't have much time so I am trying to write as much as I can as fast as I can.
I started developing my possible thesis topics more and more this past week. My prof still has to submit paperwork to the Eastern Cape Parks Board before I can technically begin, but that is how my main schoolwork is going. I also finished my online classes and took the exams the first three days at the Haven. Now I work on my things while the other students are in class. We meet up for discussions and meals and fieldwork though.
We did a hike to the waterfall on Monday and that was nice.
On Wednesday we had a meeting scheduled in Hobeni with Chief Patrick. We waited for him to arrive for a long time so I ended up getting sunburned. It is already gone now though so nothing major. I had already met with Chief Patrick a few times last year so nothing important went on. We were just introducing him and a few members of the community to the new students.
Evan and Warren arrived on Thursday with Dr. Smithwick and I hung out with them for most of Thursday and Friday afternoon. On Friday morning we went into the forest and learned some tree species with some experts and revisited one of the plots that we did last year.
Friday night we stayed up late and partied for Dr. King's last night in South Africa and we had a nice time.
Today was a rest day for the other students. I slept in so I missed breakfast again and then I did some more work. After that I helped pack and do grocery and camping supply inventory for our journey to Mkhambhati tomorrow. We will be in Mkhambhati for over a week. Actual days are TBD. I think we will be back on Monday the 14th, but nothing is certain.
I will not have internet there so I wanted to make sure that I let everyone know that I will be on about a two week hiatus from posts and contact. We are supposed to be doing animal trapping while there so I am excited to find out how it will go. Last year I had already broken my toe by this point so I didn't have as much to do in Mkhambhati as everyone else. Oh, and I guess I should explain that Mkhambhati is another nature reserve in the Eastern Cape that is about 6 hours away from Dwesa-Cwebe. We will be camping in tents this year instead of staying in the cabins that they have there.
Aside from that, I hope everyone in the States is happy and healthy. Have a Happy Valentine's Day! I was not able to upload any pictures. I will try again sometime when I have more patience for the internet.
I know this post is particularly boring so I just want everyone to know that I know that. I just want to pack and get to bed since I have to get up early tomorrow for the long drive. Thanks everyone for your comments. Special thanks to Lexi and Melissa for what you said. Everyone has asked about all of you and we miss you!
Final Thought: Packers ALL DAY.
I started developing my possible thesis topics more and more this past week. My prof still has to submit paperwork to the Eastern Cape Parks Board before I can technically begin, but that is how my main schoolwork is going. I also finished my online classes and took the exams the first three days at the Haven. Now I work on my things while the other students are in class. We meet up for discussions and meals and fieldwork though.
We did a hike to the waterfall on Monday and that was nice.
On Wednesday we had a meeting scheduled in Hobeni with Chief Patrick. We waited for him to arrive for a long time so I ended up getting sunburned. It is already gone now though so nothing major. I had already met with Chief Patrick a few times last year so nothing important went on. We were just introducing him and a few members of the community to the new students.
Evan and Warren arrived on Thursday with Dr. Smithwick and I hung out with them for most of Thursday and Friday afternoon. On Friday morning we went into the forest and learned some tree species with some experts and revisited one of the plots that we did last year.
Friday night we stayed up late and partied for Dr. King's last night in South Africa and we had a nice time.
Today was a rest day for the other students. I slept in so I missed breakfast again and then I did some more work. After that I helped pack and do grocery and camping supply inventory for our journey to Mkhambhati tomorrow. We will be in Mkhambhati for over a week. Actual days are TBD. I think we will be back on Monday the 14th, but nothing is certain.
I will not have internet there so I wanted to make sure that I let everyone know that I will be on about a two week hiatus from posts and contact. We are supposed to be doing animal trapping while there so I am excited to find out how it will go. Last year I had already broken my toe by this point so I didn't have as much to do in Mkhambhati as everyone else. Oh, and I guess I should explain that Mkhambhati is another nature reserve in the Eastern Cape that is about 6 hours away from Dwesa-Cwebe. We will be camping in tents this year instead of staying in the cabins that they have there.
Aside from that, I hope everyone in the States is happy and healthy. Have a Happy Valentine's Day! I was not able to upload any pictures. I will try again sometime when I have more patience for the internet.
I know this post is particularly boring so I just want everyone to know that I know that. I just want to pack and get to bed since I have to get up early tomorrow for the long drive. Thanks everyone for your comments. Special thanks to Lexi and Melissa for what you said. Everyone has asked about all of you and we miss you!
Final Thought: Packers ALL DAY.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Finally found The Haven
Ok, so my internet is working! This is a good thing because I have online coursework to complete as part of my research for my thesis. The online coursework was supposed to be completed prior to my arrival here since internet is terrible, but I was not sent any access codes until a few days after I got here.
It seems as if most of the plans I have in South Africa will be changed or delayed due to obstacles. It's all good though since the obstacles have provided some great surprises so far. The latest since I met with PSU on Wednesday was that we were staying at a nature reserve close to East London in Kei Mouth called Morgan's Bay Nature Reserve. At least I think that is what it was called. We were scheduled to spend two nights there and then travel to Dwesa-Cwebe on Thursday morning. Well, Thursday morning arrived and one of our otherwise super cool Land Rovers was not working properly. This delayed our trip for one day while the one vehicle had to be towed and worked on which was a very long ordeal. The positive side of this is that one of the students brought Phase 10 with her and we played that while waiting to hear the news about our new plans from the profs. I don't know if Ms. Ev is reading this, but props because I won!! I was soooo excited that someone else knew what the game was. There were actually two other people who knew it and we taught a few people how to play.
Now to back up a few days, the flight on Wednesday was fine, no problems. I like the new group, not much to really talk about there. It is definitely a different dynamic than we had last year so I hope everyone gets along for the rest of the time. I am also anticipating Warren and Evan's arrival. They were two students with me last year who were a part of Parks & People 2010. Since they are graduated and graduating respectively, they were hired as research assistants for Dr. Smithwick this year. She is the second of the series of three professors who taught us last year and are teaching this year.
For the three nights in Kei Mouth we used our sleeping bags on cots so I didn't get as much rest as I would have liked. I am glad to finally be here at Dwesa-Cwebe and The Haven.
We left early on yesterday (Friday) morning to get to our final destination and made it in about 6 hours for lunchtime. When we arrived at the Haven, I heard the women that work here cheering and running towards the vehicles, so I hopped right out and ran down to greet them. It was so nice to see them again and such a great welcome because the students followed me and they all got a hug from the staff even though they did not know each other. From there we had lunch and I did some of my coursework. Last night we got to unwind since today was a free day for us to relax (something they specially built in for the students to recharge because we did not have these days last year). I slept in past breakfast since I only got about 4 hours of sleep each of the previous three nights.
Now I am just taking the time to update the blog and do some of my online work. There is nothing extremely exciting that I have to report. I have to take some pictures and hopefully I will soon be able to upload a few. It may or may not work. If there are any picture requests, just write a comment to let me know. I already have a request for what the Land Rovers look like.
It seems as if most of the plans I have in South Africa will be changed or delayed due to obstacles. It's all good though since the obstacles have provided some great surprises so far. The latest since I met with PSU on Wednesday was that we were staying at a nature reserve close to East London in Kei Mouth called Morgan's Bay Nature Reserve. At least I think that is what it was called. We were scheduled to spend two nights there and then travel to Dwesa-Cwebe on Thursday morning. Well, Thursday morning arrived and one of our otherwise super cool Land Rovers was not working properly. This delayed our trip for one day while the one vehicle had to be towed and worked on which was a very long ordeal. The positive side of this is that one of the students brought Phase 10 with her and we played that while waiting to hear the news about our new plans from the profs. I don't know if Ms. Ev is reading this, but props because I won!! I was soooo excited that someone else knew what the game was. There were actually two other people who knew it and we taught a few people how to play.
Now to back up a few days, the flight on Wednesday was fine, no problems. I like the new group, not much to really talk about there. It is definitely a different dynamic than we had last year so I hope everyone gets along for the rest of the time. I am also anticipating Warren and Evan's arrival. They were two students with me last year who were a part of Parks & People 2010. Since they are graduated and graduating respectively, they were hired as research assistants for Dr. Smithwick this year. She is the second of the series of three professors who taught us last year and are teaching this year.
For the three nights in Kei Mouth we used our sleeping bags on cots so I didn't get as much rest as I would have liked. I am glad to finally be here at Dwesa-Cwebe and The Haven.
We left early on yesterday (Friday) morning to get to our final destination and made it in about 6 hours for lunchtime. When we arrived at the Haven, I heard the women that work here cheering and running towards the vehicles, so I hopped right out and ran down to greet them. It was so nice to see them again and such a great welcome because the students followed me and they all got a hug from the staff even though they did not know each other. From there we had lunch and I did some of my coursework. Last night we got to unwind since today was a free day for us to relax (something they specially built in for the students to recharge because we did not have these days last year). I slept in past breakfast since I only got about 4 hours of sleep each of the previous three nights.
Now I am just taking the time to update the blog and do some of my online work. There is nothing extremely exciting that I have to report. I have to take some pictures and hopefully I will soon be able to upload a few. It may or may not work. If there are any picture requests, just write a comment to let me know. I already have a request for what the Land Rovers look like.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Faith Goes to South Africa...and London...and Chicago...
Most of you probably heard what happened on my way to South Africa so I will give a Faith-style brief recap (that means not brief and wordy for those of you who just tuned in).
In Philadelphia my plane to D.C. was delayed and would cause me to miss my connection to Joburg so my arrangements were changed to Philly, Chi-town, London, Cape Town. It was the best they could do and my layover in London was 9 hours. I told the woman who did it for me that it was ok because I figured what the hay, I've never been to the UK.
I had no trouble getting to Chicago and waving at the huge 25 years of Oprah signs that greeted me. (Aside: I felt technologically deficient on this flight because while I was reading my paperback book, the old man next to me was on his smartphone reading a book from some app, the old lady next to him was reading a book on her kindle, and the old guy across the aisle next to her was on his laptop.)
The flight from Chicago to London was fine. The seat next to me was open so I could stretch for a bit. There were two screaming infants and a toddler behind me that made noise now and again, but it was tolerable. I also finally got a chance to watch The Social Network. (Nice recommendation Tia A- I did enjoy it)
London was greeaaaaaat. I had no problems at all and I admit that I was a bit nervous. Everyone I encountered in London that seemed to be from the area was very helpful. I had an informative and freezing bus tour of the city and then made my way back to the airport via train. When I got to the airport, I immediately went to the check-in line and was stopped before I got to the counter because my flight had been cancelled. They scheduled me for the next flight to Joburg and then from Joburg to Cape Town.
Heathrow to Johannesburg was a long flight. It was full of turbulence so I did not get much rest and just me and the woman next to me had faulty entertainment systems. They offered for us to change seats, but only middle seats were available and I prefer to have a window to lean on so I just read and tried to sleep. MY BAGS WERE THERE!!! I couldn't believe it! I had to re-check them to Cape Town.
Finally my last flight was from Joburg to Cape Town. That was a short flight and I slept for most of it and skipped lunch. I picked up my bags and met Patricia. Everything turned out ok in the end. I think the trip was 44 hours with a 2 hour flight, a 7 hour flight, an 11 hour flight, and another 2 hour flight. About half and half waiting time and flight time give or take a few minutes.
Strand has been great. I have just rested and walked around in the area and become reacquainted with the suroundings of the flat. I went to Cheetah for a few hours this morning and had a nice visit with the people I met last year. I didn't really bother meeting with the animals since I will see them in a couple months and I would have needed someone to go in the enclosures with me because I need to redo my clearance.
Tomorrow I will go to the airport and head to East London to meet up with PSU.
It will probably be another week before I post again due to internet availability issues.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
From Oudtshoorn to Grahamstown
Monday the 25th
So it took a while to get to Grahamstown because it was about a 7 hour drive. Grahamstown is where Rhodes University is located, but they were on summer break so we weren't able to meet with some contacts we had there. The actual ride from Oudtshoorn to Grahamstown was nice, but I was in the back seat most of the time. The scenery is unbelievable! We stopped several times for petrol along the way and we picked up Bertha before the bulk of our journey since she was being fixed from the day before. We stopped for a fast food lunch in Port Elizabeth along the way and finally ended up in Grahamstown around late afternoon/early evening. I facebook chatted (SHOUT OUT) Margie before dinner.
We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant at the hotel and had a discussion from after dinner into late evening. I was supposed to have read more articles that night for discussions the next days but I fell right asleep right after our night class session. Don't worry, I found time to read the articles before our next class session though! This night I had a single room to myself. (I forgot to say in Oudtshoorn there were 4 of us to a room).
END DAY 6
So it took a while to get to Grahamstown because it was about a 7 hour drive. Grahamstown is where Rhodes University is located, but they were on summer break so we weren't able to meet with some contacts we had there. The actual ride from Oudtshoorn to Grahamstown was nice, but I was in the back seat most of the time. The scenery is unbelievable! We stopped several times for petrol along the way and we picked up Bertha before the bulk of our journey since she was being fixed from the day before. We stopped for a fast food lunch in Port Elizabeth along the way and finally ended up in Grahamstown around late afternoon/early evening. I facebook chatted (SHOUT OUT) Margie before dinner.
We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant at the hotel and had a discussion from after dinner into late evening. I was supposed to have read more articles that night for discussions the next days but I fell right asleep right after our night class session. Don't worry, I found time to read the articles before our next class session though! This night I had a single room to myself. (I forgot to say in Oudtshoorn there were 4 of us to a room).
END DAY 6
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