After literally hundreds of emails being sent (the one thread had 52 conversations!), we actually did pull ourselves towards ourselves and managed to organise getting to Suikerboschfontein, near Carolina, with food and all other necessary stuffs for a hike, as well timing our arrival at the designated breakfast stop pretty much together. Amazing! Seriously!
After food (yes, I’m motivated by the availability of food), we continued on to Suikerboschfontein, with a stop at the OK in Carolina for, you guessed it, more food! Anyway, after almost destroying the shop (we needed a ball to play volleyball etc and needed to test it out!) and lots of laughs, we were finally on the last stretch! Lots of singing later and we could see the stunning Rooikrans camp. And then we stopped… puncture time! So Peter’s car was quickly unpacked, and all but Meg, Anne, Peter and I were left looking at the wheel in a surprising short amount of time. A quick wheel change and we were soon eating wors rolls (it was National braai day after all). And then it was off for a walk and swim to a waterfall. WOW! We started off in these rock formations that surrounded camp to an “uitkykpunt” overlooking the valley – beautiful! After going down some ladders (and Meg and I commenting that we were “so glad we’re not doing this with backpacks”), we descended into a forest, with some flowering Iris’ and huge yellowwoods and a clear mountain stream trickling over moss-covered rocks. And on to the freezing waterfall pool! FREEZING! Did I mention that the water was freezing? But it was beautiful!
We had potjie for dinner – yummy! And nice, hot showers courtesy of donkey boilers, which Anne had to start for the boys! And then we were walking around the camp (can’t remember why, except that we thought it highly amusing, but the other hikers thought we were weird) and ended up drinking whiskey coffees at another view point – also stunning!
The next morning was a late start. Backpacks needed to be packed, breakfast needed to be made/eaten, food needed to be evenly distributed, breakfast needed to be made/eaten, bags needed to be weighed and finally, breakfast was made and eaten – a huge cook up! YUM! A new standard has been set for hiking! So, eventually, after taking apples out of bags to eat on the path (in case we hadn’t had enough breakfast), we hit the path, or rock jumping with backpacks of 16 – 18kg (for Meg, Peter and I)! Awesome scenery again though. Our first break was on top of a gorge, and to the detriment of all others involved, I got introduced to Meg’s trail mix. Combine trail mix (aka energy booster) + an already energetic and happy me = super bouncy me! Peter kept telling me how far we’d gone and there was a little jump, or star jump or I’d convince Meg to skip or we’d start singing “it’s been a hard days night; and I’ve been working like a dog…”…
Anyhow, soon after my introduction to trail mix, we entered the forest where we were for most of the day. It was stunning, and I even got to vaguely maybe appreciate some of the millions of ladders, and did a slide or two on the ropes that were meant to be stablilising (Thanks Hardy for teaching me to NOT let go of the rope when diving!). Lunch was had in the forest, at the bottom of a little waterfall. Lots of up and down later (we went into numerous little kloofs), we arrived at the next camp – Oom Japies se huis. Together with dinner, the best thing was hot chocolate with whiskey! Awesomeness! Peter’s coffee flavoured whiskey wasn’t quite as yummy (sorry!).
The next morning, we took the boys coffee in bed on the condition that we got the favour returned. We’re still waiting… Anyhow, another awesome walk – this time mainly in the open but still stunning. At one stage the trail goes past bushmen paintings. We had lunch in a place called “Bobejaan’s hotel” – quite a scramble to a huge old tree, which was like the magic faraway tree, and great for climbing and for the view. Then it was back into the open. At this stage Peter and I decided to “follow the footprints” and devised all sorts of games from just standing on the trail markers (painted footprints) to including them into your stride – quite a challenge when they are 1m up on a vertical rock… We also went past some old Indian ruins which tracked the seasons and were all perfectly aligned and an old kraal. And then it was swim time! Bliss! And more trail mix (I’m convinced the powers that be kept it from me after seeing me the day before!)! More happiness! And then the final slog back up to Rooikrans.
Slog because those ladders that Meg and I said thank goodness we don’t have backpacks on for – yup, you guessed it – we went up there with backpacks on! So Marius, Peter, Karin, Anne, Meg and I had a break at the top at the “uitkykpunt” until we really needed to get back before it got dark while Theo went back for sunset pics. It was wonderful just sitting and chilling and watching all that was happening around us.
Back at camp, although there was no cold beer, there was a whiskey and water and hot shower! And food! And then suddenly it was midnight…
While the girls waited for coffee in bed, Marius and Theo sat around the now dead fire wondering where we all were. A quick tidy up and some breakfast later and we hit the road back to Jo’burg. Thank goodness we left earlyish – the traffic was horrid!
And then a quick unpack, and Peter and I were off to the cricket – and a much appreciated beer! It was awesome just chilling and chatting! But, Yay, New Zealand won :)
To finish off, thanks all, again, for a fantabulous weekend and just for those there, a reminder of the sayings of the weekend:
* “Long live [champ] Meg” – awesome catering, just awesomeness. As compared to Peter (awesome) and Anne (ness) who together make awesomeness.
* Johnny Clegg is the Man; and Peter’s cream is also the Man – Anne didn’t appreciate Meg and my singing to Johnny Clegg, and Peter had anti-bug cream that not only smelt good but worked!
* [in gangsta voice] “Anne is like a posh, old, zombie goat living on an island without a pet rabbit” – when Shona couldn’t come anymore, Meg said she was now significantly the youngest so Anne called herself an old goat. She then came up with friends are people and people are problems so don’t want friends (see the next saying) hence the island and wanted us to stop at the Belfast Pet Shop for a rabbit instead of friends – which we refused to do hence without a pet rabbit. Then, after a long day hiking, started using “big” words, like uncouth, while talking in a gangster voice.
* “You have issues” - but keep them to yourself, don’t make them mine – courtesy of Anne.
* “Those damn Mexicans” – coz you always need someone to blame when things go pear!
As usual, pics are: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/SoMuchOfAwesomenessTheSuikerboschfonteinHike?authkey=Gv1sRgCMLoxaydmrzUag#
Monday, 28 September 2009
Monday, 07 September 2009
Wonders of the gat at Wondergat!
It was with much trepidation that a group of us found ourselves at Wondergat. After all the stories about how dangerous it is, together with Shona’s infamous dive where she attempted to return to the shore with nothing, minimal sleep and a briefing lecture, I think Shona and I were ready to run!
But was it amazing – WOW!
It started VERY early on Saturday – some mad person/people decided that it would be a good idea to leave Jo’burg at 4am which meant getting up at 3 so we could all get to designated departure point, repack cars (any idea how much space diving stuff + camping stuff takes up?) etc and leave by 4. Except that not only were we late, but some of the mad individuals who decided 4 was a good idea (Paolop!) were very much later! Lots of coffee needed, so much so that we waited outside a Wimpy in Swartruggens for 20mins to get some – watered down Ricoffy would be a good description. So another coffee stop was required in Zeerust – watered down Nescafe… Mmm – not starting well!
But eventually we got to Wondies and set up camp. The desired power nap didn’t happen as need to do dive planning. And have an intro to the site - it is an advanced diving only site, formed by a natural sinkhole, near Mafikeng. It is the deepest natural hole in South Africa, with the shallowest part of the bottom at about 30m and a huge cave on one side extending much further and much deeper and where most of the fatalities have occurred. As it is dolomite that has been eroded over time, and due to stromatolites, the walls of the hole are amazing, with lots of nooks and crannies hiding the most amazing little creatures. The first dive was great – just an orientation at about 10 – 15m around the edge of the gat… We saw the wagon wheels (thought to be remains of stromatolites) and some living stromatolites (look like fluffy cottage cheese disks with a wavy surface) and an amazing variety of fish. Then it was back for lunch, filling of cylinders, finishing setting up camp, including putting up hammocks (thanks Peter!) and back into the water for our 30m skills dive.
And what a dive – any other attempt by Shona to have a shocking dive pales in comparison to this one! We went down to “The Bell” at about 30m to do skills – mask removal, DV (the tube that takes the air from the cylinder to your mouth) retrieval, buddy breathing if there was time… So Hardy (the awesomest instructor ever!) shows us how to do it, and Shona duly tries. Mask off = fine, DV out = fine, DV retrieved = fine, purge DV to put back in mouth (water goes into it) = problem. The 2nd stage/Octo (the bit that goes in your mouth) jams. No problem, Shona calmly reaches for her 2nd Octo – except that it starts free flowing, then stopping. So basically an out of air emergency at 30m. Not fun. But both Hardy and Shona were so calm (or appeared it anyway!) and Hardy quickly gave Shona his 2nd Octo (they are meant for buddy breathing so) and dive is terminated with an emergency ascent! Although scary at the time, it was an awesome dive to see how good our training at WUC is and that we can handle any emergency. And Shona even came up wanting to go down again! We blame it on Bastjin - he was our good luck symbol on Saturday and that was the only dive he wasn't with us!
Then it was night dive time with a full moon! It was almost brighter than during the day and the night life was amazing! Apart from sea dives, it honestly was one of the best dives ever! We all came up on such a high and with a lovely fire waiting once we were out of wetsuits, we sat and chatted (awesome chats and hilarious laughs – thanks especially Peter and Hardy) and drank wine until we suddenly realized it was 2am. After the fire and warmth of the conversation and presence of good friends, bed seemed colder than ever – it was freezing! But Shona managed to convince Paolop to bring us proper coffee (have to camp in style!) in bed!
Sunday was an awesomely warm day so we soon warmed up and were back in the water for skills again and some buddy breathing. This after some dive planning well explained by Francois. All went well at 30m this time (thank goodness), except that I didn’t get to do my skills. We came up to 10m and did some “blind” (as there are no reference points) keeping buoyancy and swimming at the same level and then came up. The comments on the surface (for people that have never been married, and are involved with others, Shona and Chris, you sure get divorced often - what about 3 times in 2 days?). Huge laughs on the surface and I still had to go down to do buddy breathing, but only at 8m so I think I got lucky. Thank goodness as I was still laughing and might have battled deeper!
Then it was packing up time – uuugghhh! I really didn’t want the weekend to end and the thought of driving back wasn’t great, so thanks Peter (again!) for leading the way!
Overall – “wonder”ful weekend with “wonder”ful people!
Very few pics – but check how beautiful the gat is:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/WondersOfWondergat?authkey=Gv1sRgCMCNkICmtc2_pQE#
But was it amazing – WOW!
It started VERY early on Saturday – some mad person/people decided that it would be a good idea to leave Jo’burg at 4am which meant getting up at 3 so we could all get to designated departure point, repack cars (any idea how much space diving stuff + camping stuff takes up?) etc and leave by 4. Except that not only were we late, but some of the mad individuals who decided 4 was a good idea (Paolop!) were very much later! Lots of coffee needed, so much so that we waited outside a Wimpy in Swartruggens for 20mins to get some – watered down Ricoffy would be a good description. So another coffee stop was required in Zeerust – watered down Nescafe… Mmm – not starting well!
But eventually we got to Wondies and set up camp. The desired power nap didn’t happen as need to do dive planning. And have an intro to the site - it is an advanced diving only site, formed by a natural sinkhole, near Mafikeng. It is the deepest natural hole in South Africa, with the shallowest part of the bottom at about 30m and a huge cave on one side extending much further and much deeper and where most of the fatalities have occurred. As it is dolomite that has been eroded over time, and due to stromatolites, the walls of the hole are amazing, with lots of nooks and crannies hiding the most amazing little creatures. The first dive was great – just an orientation at about 10 – 15m around the edge of the gat… We saw the wagon wheels (thought to be remains of stromatolites) and some living stromatolites (look like fluffy cottage cheese disks with a wavy surface) and an amazing variety of fish. Then it was back for lunch, filling of cylinders, finishing setting up camp, including putting up hammocks (thanks Peter!) and back into the water for our 30m skills dive.
And what a dive – any other attempt by Shona to have a shocking dive pales in comparison to this one! We went down to “The Bell” at about 30m to do skills – mask removal, DV (the tube that takes the air from the cylinder to your mouth) retrieval, buddy breathing if there was time… So Hardy (the awesomest instructor ever!) shows us how to do it, and Shona duly tries. Mask off = fine, DV out = fine, DV retrieved = fine, purge DV to put back in mouth (water goes into it) = problem. The 2nd stage/Octo (the bit that goes in your mouth) jams. No problem, Shona calmly reaches for her 2nd Octo – except that it starts free flowing, then stopping. So basically an out of air emergency at 30m. Not fun. But both Hardy and Shona were so calm (or appeared it anyway!) and Hardy quickly gave Shona his 2nd Octo (they are meant for buddy breathing so) and dive is terminated with an emergency ascent! Although scary at the time, it was an awesome dive to see how good our training at WUC is and that we can handle any emergency. And Shona even came up wanting to go down again! We blame it on Bastjin - he was our good luck symbol on Saturday and that was the only dive he wasn't with us!
Then it was night dive time with a full moon! It was almost brighter than during the day and the night life was amazing! Apart from sea dives, it honestly was one of the best dives ever! We all came up on such a high and with a lovely fire waiting once we were out of wetsuits, we sat and chatted (awesome chats and hilarious laughs – thanks especially Peter and Hardy) and drank wine until we suddenly realized it was 2am. After the fire and warmth of the conversation and presence of good friends, bed seemed colder than ever – it was freezing! But Shona managed to convince Paolop to bring us proper coffee (have to camp in style!) in bed!
Sunday was an awesomely warm day so we soon warmed up and were back in the water for skills again and some buddy breathing. This after some dive planning well explained by Francois. All went well at 30m this time (thank goodness), except that I didn’t get to do my skills. We came up to 10m and did some “blind” (as there are no reference points) keeping buoyancy and swimming at the same level and then came up. The comments on the surface (for people that have never been married, and are involved with others, Shona and Chris, you sure get divorced often - what about 3 times in 2 days?). Huge laughs on the surface and I still had to go down to do buddy breathing, but only at 8m so I think I got lucky. Thank goodness as I was still laughing and might have battled deeper!
Then it was packing up time – uuugghhh! I really didn’t want the weekend to end and the thought of driving back wasn’t great, so thanks Peter (again!) for leading the way!
Overall – “wonder”ful weekend with “wonder”ful people!
Very few pics – but check how beautiful the gat is:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/WondersOfWondergat?authkey=Gv1sRgCMCNkICmtc2_pQE#
Sunday, 30 August 2009
OK, so it’s been a while in the life of me but…
... Mopane mapping finished, Magoebaskloof again, some diving, a bit more diving, fun times with friends and now in the Pilansberg J
To start at the most recent, sitting in the Pilansberg after an awesome weekend with my family. We saw the teeniest, tiniest elephant ever – literally a day or two old – it still had it’s umbilical cord and was in a small sub-herd. It explored our car quite closely and fitted under the side mirror. Actually, rather than walked next to our car, read lent on it - it was too unstable to walk on its own! Luckily, Mom (the elephant one, not mine!) was quite relaxed about the whole thing though. So Very Cute! We also some sable this morning, and a giraffe drinking which was quite cool! Other than that, we haven’t seen that much (unless you ask my Mom – we stopped 4 times for the same “rhino” aka a rock and slammed on breaks for running Wildebeest aka a car) but it’s great just being out of the city. And, very exciting, the kingfishers are back! YAY – that means summer is coming! We also had a Natal Francolin come and join us for the rugby yesterday (go BOKKE!) – literally. The door was open and he just walked in and tried to help himself to some of the snacks. Bit of a downer at the end – my sisters car broke down which meant a high speed drive to Hartebeespoort to get there before the AA tow truck did, but she’s safely home – think it’s time for a new car! As a friend, another Heather, who also came up this weekend said – when she wants the car to stop, it goes, and when she wants it to go, it stops (with reference to her “straight-after-service-please-check-the-breaks break-failure accident earlier this year).
Then, recently, I've got lots of diving done. I’ve just done my 2* and basic Nitrox so lots of dives. The 1st set was done at Miracle Waters. We did 3 dives – one “exploratory” dive to 27m and another to 30m to do skills, where we attempted to blow up condoms with various stages of narcosis. I couldn’t really be bothered and Meg next to me thought it was the funniest thing out! Laughter travels at 30m J We also did a night dive – extremely disorienting at 1st – imagine walking outside on a pitch-dark night blindfolded. Now add in the extra dimension of being able to go up or down, the neon lights of cylumes and the odd torch beam including your own and work stuff out! But it was pretty awesome! And as I wasn’t cold when I got out, I love my chicken vest and socks J Then, after only 3½ hours sleep (good pasta evening with friends and the subsequent chatting between Anne, Shona and myself to sort the world’s problems, mainly those to do with the male species), we headed to Bass for our next dive – an what an epic it was. After an almost rescue to go and fetch Paolo (too much working out = wetsuit doesn’t fit = can’t breathe when trying to swim 200m in FREEZING water), the 2 stars hit the water. Shona did so much yo-yo’ing (thanks to an auto-inflating BC) that navigation was impossible (Godfrey, Calley, you would be proud – I swam a rather large square at the same level using a compass! This is a challenge when visability is a couple of metres) but also managed to loose not only her cylinder (with a guffawing buddy, Anne), a fin and a mask, but also a weighbelt (so overweighted it was falling off – not a problem - we’ll just move it up and tighten it, except that now it’s sitting at the bottom of Bass Lake). So anyone who is diving there soon and comes across a blue weight belt with 9 weights on it (I said it she was over-weighted), please return it to Shona (or Dave, her now ex-bf!). And then Shona starts cramping. I said it was epic! But lots of coffee, more pasta and more Malva pudding later seemed to help!
Then back to the beginning - or the end of the last blog post - the end of Mopane Mapping and Magoebaskloof, again. Picking up from the last blog… more walking up near Phalaborwa. Practical tricks abounded - from attempting to walk stright over huge termitaria (had to keep a straight line), to running away from imaginary elephants when Godfrey was moving the vehcile to singing "yellow submarine" (I'm still asking why?!), I think we gave Godfrey, among others (sorry for the rocks Robert!), a hard time! Phalaborwa’s still not a happening place – I used to run EVERY road in the staff village, around the village and to the compound and back and it took 9 minutes! I had this theory that the 1st time the impala saw you, they would be skittish and move away, the 2nd time it would be a "what the....?" kind of look, the 3rd time (by now about 3 mins after the 1st time you saw them), they were going "didn't we just see you - like a minute ago", the 4th time it would be "we DID see you a minute ago", the 5th time would be "you are really mad or lost" and by the time I'd pass them for the 6th time, they would just ignore me... and this all on 1 loop! But at the end of the week, we had a great drive down to Skukuza – we saw the big 5, except leopard, on the road and a brilliant sighting of wild dog. Also moved the OTS vehicle, or rather turned it around. Hehehehe! When we got to Skukuza, there was a slight problem with our booking, in that we had none! Thank goodness for friends (thanks Laurence!)! I went out with the OTS REU people – some snakes (= herpers excited) and lots of small mammals (= me excited). Then off to rugby for the Super 14 final – except that trapping bats was strangely more appealing... Did watch the second half though – once it was clear that the bulls would win! It was back out with REU the next morning and while we were happy to work with a pride of lions about 200m away (some lady INSISTING that we get back into the vehicles even though we had a game guard with us!), the birding group, including Calley, Karen and Graeme) attempted to get eaten by a lioness (who had cubs!). A game of squash with Henri, a cup of coffee with Karen and we were back in Phalaborwa and then Balulue/Olifants. What a wonderful little camp… We had to awesome volunteers, Malcolm and Mike, come to help us and a great time was had by all. We started off walking in an area, where I’m absolutely positive there was the KNP giraffe convention going on. I have never seen so many giraffe in one place at the same time. Lunch for those couple of days was had in the Timbavati river – WOW! Also came across really fresh lion and rhino spoor but didn’t see them… there! But we did get to see something like 29 lion in 3 days. And the other group (Calley, Godfrey and Mike) tried to get eaten by another lion – they’d not seen a rather large male lion tracking a rather large herd of buffalo until they were about 10-15m away! Then it was back to Magoebaskloof again, this time staying with family friends and Henri and Leigh, friends from Skukuza came to join us. We had a wonderful day on Saturday wondering around the village and a beautiful sunset at the dam. The next day, Henri tried to kill me as we rode down the escarpment (dropped 800m in 15mins) and then realized we had to get back up… and hour later we didn’t want to see another hill! But we had a scrumptious breakfast with Linda and Stu before Henri and Leigh went back and Calley and I headed to the falls. It was Calley’s 21st birthday that week, and Nikki and Rob came for dinner. Apart from Nikki, nobody had seen magic candles… what non-South Africans miss out on! Calley then went back to Magoebaskloof after the last week of Mopane mapping to work at the stable where we had been riding before so when I went to pick her up, she had organized an lovely outride… even if the horse I was on decide that that was the day for being frisky and galloping.
And that working backwards, is the story of the life of me from the last couple of months…
…Except for one thing…
… hold onto your chairs…
… I submitted my PhD!
Yip, it’s in and hopefully by November, my title will change properly! I’m still in the “was it really good enough for a PhD” stage and keep getting up to do it but then…
OK, that was a really long blog, but pics are:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OutAndAbout1?authkey=Gv1sRgCP7Y0IWjqKu06QE#
Pasta/diving pics are on fb - look for the 1 x pasta, 1 x CRAZY dive & 100% coffee... on my profile!
To start at the most recent, sitting in the Pilansberg after an awesome weekend with my family. We saw the teeniest, tiniest elephant ever – literally a day or two old – it still had it’s umbilical cord and was in a small sub-herd. It explored our car quite closely and fitted under the side mirror. Actually, rather than walked next to our car, read lent on it - it was too unstable to walk on its own! Luckily, Mom (the elephant one, not mine!) was quite relaxed about the whole thing though. So Very Cute! We also some sable this morning, and a giraffe drinking which was quite cool! Other than that, we haven’t seen that much (unless you ask my Mom – we stopped 4 times for the same “rhino” aka a rock and slammed on breaks for running Wildebeest aka a car) but it’s great just being out of the city. And, very exciting, the kingfishers are back! YAY – that means summer is coming! We also had a Natal Francolin come and join us for the rugby yesterday (go BOKKE!) – literally. The door was open and he just walked in and tried to help himself to some of the snacks. Bit of a downer at the end – my sisters car broke down which meant a high speed drive to Hartebeespoort to get there before the AA tow truck did, but she’s safely home – think it’s time for a new car! As a friend, another Heather, who also came up this weekend said – when she wants the car to stop, it goes, and when she wants it to go, it stops (with reference to her “straight-after-service-please-check-the-breaks break-failure accident earlier this year).
Then, recently, I've got lots of diving done. I’ve just done my 2* and basic Nitrox so lots of dives. The 1st set was done at Miracle Waters. We did 3 dives – one “exploratory” dive to 27m and another to 30m to do skills, where we attempted to blow up condoms with various stages of narcosis. I couldn’t really be bothered and Meg next to me thought it was the funniest thing out! Laughter travels at 30m J We also did a night dive – extremely disorienting at 1st – imagine walking outside on a pitch-dark night blindfolded. Now add in the extra dimension of being able to go up or down, the neon lights of cylumes and the odd torch beam including your own and work stuff out! But it was pretty awesome! And as I wasn’t cold when I got out, I love my chicken vest and socks J Then, after only 3½ hours sleep (good pasta evening with friends and the subsequent chatting between Anne, Shona and myself to sort the world’s problems, mainly those to do with the male species), we headed to Bass for our next dive – an what an epic it was. After an almost rescue to go and fetch Paolo (too much working out = wetsuit doesn’t fit = can’t breathe when trying to swim 200m in FREEZING water), the 2 stars hit the water. Shona did so much yo-yo’ing (thanks to an auto-inflating BC) that navigation was impossible (Godfrey, Calley, you would be proud – I swam a rather large square at the same level using a compass! This is a challenge when visability is a couple of metres) but also managed to loose not only her cylinder (with a guffawing buddy, Anne), a fin and a mask, but also a weighbelt (so overweighted it was falling off – not a problem - we’ll just move it up and tighten it, except that now it’s sitting at the bottom of Bass Lake). So anyone who is diving there soon and comes across a blue weight belt with 9 weights on it (I said it she was over-weighted), please return it to Shona (or Dave, her now ex-bf!). And then Shona starts cramping. I said it was epic! But lots of coffee, more pasta and more Malva pudding later seemed to help!
Then back to the beginning - or the end of the last blog post - the end of Mopane Mapping and Magoebaskloof, again. Picking up from the last blog… more walking up near Phalaborwa. Practical tricks abounded - from attempting to walk stright over huge termitaria (had to keep a straight line), to running away from imaginary elephants when Godfrey was moving the vehcile to singing "yellow submarine" (I'm still asking why?!), I think we gave Godfrey, among others (sorry for the rocks Robert!), a hard time! Phalaborwa’s still not a happening place – I used to run EVERY road in the staff village, around the village and to the compound and back and it took 9 minutes! I had this theory that the 1st time the impala saw you, they would be skittish and move away, the 2nd time it would be a "what the....?" kind of look, the 3rd time (by now about 3 mins after the 1st time you saw them), they were going "didn't we just see you - like a minute ago", the 4th time it would be "we DID see you a minute ago", the 5th time would be "you are really mad or lost" and by the time I'd pass them for the 6th time, they would just ignore me... and this all on 1 loop! But at the end of the week, we had a great drive down to Skukuza – we saw the big 5, except leopard, on the road and a brilliant sighting of wild dog. Also moved the OTS vehicle, or rather turned it around. Hehehehe! When we got to Skukuza, there was a slight problem with our booking, in that we had none! Thank goodness for friends (thanks Laurence!)! I went out with the OTS REU people – some snakes (= herpers excited) and lots of small mammals (= me excited). Then off to rugby for the Super 14 final – except that trapping bats was strangely more appealing... Did watch the second half though – once it was clear that the bulls would win! It was back out with REU the next morning and while we were happy to work with a pride of lions about 200m away (some lady INSISTING that we get back into the vehicles even though we had a game guard with us!), the birding group, including Calley, Karen and Graeme) attempted to get eaten by a lioness (who had cubs!). A game of squash with Henri, a cup of coffee with Karen and we were back in Phalaborwa and then Balulue/Olifants. What a wonderful little camp… We had to awesome volunteers, Malcolm and Mike, come to help us and a great time was had by all. We started off walking in an area, where I’m absolutely positive there was the KNP giraffe convention going on. I have never seen so many giraffe in one place at the same time. Lunch for those couple of days was had in the Timbavati river – WOW! Also came across really fresh lion and rhino spoor but didn’t see them… there! But we did get to see something like 29 lion in 3 days. And the other group (Calley, Godfrey and Mike) tried to get eaten by another lion – they’d not seen a rather large male lion tracking a rather large herd of buffalo until they were about 10-15m away! Then it was back to Magoebaskloof again, this time staying with family friends and Henri and Leigh, friends from Skukuza came to join us. We had a wonderful day on Saturday wondering around the village and a beautiful sunset at the dam. The next day, Henri tried to kill me as we rode down the escarpment (dropped 800m in 15mins) and then realized we had to get back up… and hour later we didn’t want to see another hill! But we had a scrumptious breakfast with Linda and Stu before Henri and Leigh went back and Calley and I headed to the falls. It was Calley’s 21st birthday that week, and Nikki and Rob came for dinner. Apart from Nikki, nobody had seen magic candles… what non-South Africans miss out on! Calley then went back to Magoebaskloof after the last week of Mopane mapping to work at the stable where we had been riding before so when I went to pick her up, she had organized an lovely outride… even if the horse I was on decide that that was the day for being frisky and galloping.
And that working backwards, is the story of the life of me from the last couple of months…
…Except for one thing…
… hold onto your chairs…
… I submitted my PhD!
Yip, it’s in and hopefully by November, my title will change properly! I’m still in the “was it really good enough for a PhD” stage and keep getting up to do it but then…
OK, that was a really long blog, but pics are:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OutAndAbout1?authkey=Gv1sRgCP7Y0IWjqKu06QE#
Pasta/diving pics are on fb - look for the 1 x pasta, 1 x CRAZY dive & 100% coffee... on my profile!
Sunday, 24 May 2009
OTS reflections
So, although I've started a Two weeks in... and still loving it, A Month in... and still loving it etc. I've never really finished any of the posts, so here goes...
... but how to summarise a truely amazing four months (yes four months!) into a couple of lines?
Well, I'll try to be concise and write in more detail elsewhere.
I've been to some amazing places -
eZemvelo – that’s the one I did manage to Blog!
Wits Rural Facility (base for time in Phalaborwa & school visits, Blyde River, indigenous nursery visits),
Shingwedzi (amazing sightings, amazing sunsets, the first scientific project and a one month "friend-a-versary" - a anniversary between friends),
Skukuza (projects, sunsets, parties...),
JHB (culture stuff but cool!),
Cape Town (Robben Island and time off - sushi, Table Mountain, sushi, sunsets on the boulevard and at lions head, sushi, prawns, did I mention sushi?),
De Hoop (wow - amazing place! anybody keen to do the whale trail anytime soon?),
Mapungubwe (it's a really long drive from De Hoop, especially if you go past Skukuza (maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that seeing as I'm trying to convince people to do the whale trail...), but Mapangubwe is an incredible place of incredible contrasts - red rocks, green trees, blue skies and HUGE baobabs - anybody with a 4 x 4 or car with good clearance keen for a visit?),
and finally back to Skukuza (friends again, lots of work... but still amazing!).
I've done some amazing things -
Walking in big 5 areas seems natural, running in them doesn't seem unsafe (except when running into warthogs), cycling in them even less so (except when you chance upon huge pythons) and playing soccer on unprotected fields which an ellie walked through creating huge potholes is now considered normal.
Some awesome projects - from looking at rooting strategies of rock figs and recruitment in baobabs to looking aggressiveness in ants – and that was just the independent projects (ones that all the students design and write up). The specific ones I supervised looked at rates of road kill, monkey (no, not the students!) behaviour inside and outside tourists areas, small mammal community structure in areas with different fire regimes, examining owl pellets to see if they eat small mammals in the same proportion as they occur in the field and looking at the effect of small mammals on seedling recruitment. There were also faculty projects (ones where leading scientists from Wits and UCT come and run projects for 3 days) – we taught scientific method and sustainable resource use in a township school in Phalaborwa, looked at gecko thermoregulation in Shingwedzi, examined spinescence (who would’ve thought that Acacia thorns could be so interesting?), insect community structure and dung beetle eye size (yes, you read correctly!) in Skukuza, tracked tortoises (they don’t move fast!) and played in rock pools in De Hoop and finally had a guest lecture, but unfortunately no project in Mapungubwe.
From a “non-work” perspective – I’ve been horse-riding, on boat trips, on sundowner drives – and other game drives, birding, tubing (I fell out lots in the beginning!), pushed cars out of mud, eaten fish fresh out of the sea, had sundowners over looking the Limpopo with Zim and Botswana both a couple of meters away, climbed GIANT baobabs, played soccer in dry river beds and had parties in the middle of Kruger. I can’t even begin to list all the amazing things – otherwise this post will end up much longer than it already is...
What do I remember?
Amazing people, amazing places, amazing times
What can I take with me?
The incredible amount I've learnt - academically and personally. WOW!
But most of all, the memories
…and the knowledge that I am incredibly privileged to have had this experience!
Some pics are:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSWRF?authkey=Gv1sRgCJK1i6jQxPLL0gE#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSShingwedzi?authkey=Gv1sRgCMj59KXB56vz5AE#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSSkukuza1?authkey=Gv1sRgCJvFor6ikcWNcQ#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSJHB?authkey=Gv1sRgCJHyzbaVu83iJw#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSCapeTown?authkey=Gv1sRgCP_G2ZT-u4WFaA#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSDeHoop?authkey=Gv1sRgCMethuL8ibrlVA#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSMapungubwe?authkey=Gv1sRgCNCG79-NrvO8Mw#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSSkukuza2?authkey=Gv1sRgCODSwo3dm_-OOQ#
... but how to summarise a truely amazing four months (yes four months!) into a couple of lines?
Well, I'll try to be concise and write in more detail elsewhere.
I've been to some amazing places -
eZemvelo – that’s the one I did manage to Blog!
Wits Rural Facility (base for time in Phalaborwa & school visits, Blyde River, indigenous nursery visits),
Shingwedzi (amazing sightings, amazing sunsets, the first scientific project and a one month "friend-a-versary" - a anniversary between friends),
Skukuza (projects, sunsets, parties...),
JHB (culture stuff but cool!),
Cape Town (Robben Island and time off - sushi, Table Mountain, sushi, sunsets on the boulevard and at lions head, sushi, prawns, did I mention sushi?),
De Hoop (wow - amazing place! anybody keen to do the whale trail anytime soon?),
Mapungubwe (it's a really long drive from De Hoop, especially if you go past Skukuza (maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that seeing as I'm trying to convince people to do the whale trail...), but Mapangubwe is an incredible place of incredible contrasts - red rocks, green trees, blue skies and HUGE baobabs - anybody with a 4 x 4 or car with good clearance keen for a visit?),
and finally back to Skukuza (friends again, lots of work... but still amazing!).
I've done some amazing things -
Walking in big 5 areas seems natural, running in them doesn't seem unsafe (except when running into warthogs), cycling in them even less so (except when you chance upon huge pythons) and playing soccer on unprotected fields which an ellie walked through creating huge potholes is now considered normal.
Some awesome projects - from looking at rooting strategies of rock figs and recruitment in baobabs to looking aggressiveness in ants – and that was just the independent projects (ones that all the students design and write up). The specific ones I supervised looked at rates of road kill, monkey (no, not the students!) behaviour inside and outside tourists areas, small mammal community structure in areas with different fire regimes, examining owl pellets to see if they eat small mammals in the same proportion as they occur in the field and looking at the effect of small mammals on seedling recruitment. There were also faculty projects (ones where leading scientists from Wits and UCT come and run projects for 3 days) – we taught scientific method and sustainable resource use in a township school in Phalaborwa, looked at gecko thermoregulation in Shingwedzi, examined spinescence (who would’ve thought that Acacia thorns could be so interesting?), insect community structure and dung beetle eye size (yes, you read correctly!) in Skukuza, tracked tortoises (they don’t move fast!) and played in rock pools in De Hoop and finally had a guest lecture, but unfortunately no project in Mapungubwe.
From a “non-work” perspective – I’ve been horse-riding, on boat trips, on sundowner drives – and other game drives, birding, tubing (I fell out lots in the beginning!), pushed cars out of mud, eaten fish fresh out of the sea, had sundowners over looking the Limpopo with Zim and Botswana both a couple of meters away, climbed GIANT baobabs, played soccer in dry river beds and had parties in the middle of Kruger. I can’t even begin to list all the amazing things – otherwise this post will end up much longer than it already is...
What do I remember?
Amazing people, amazing places, amazing times
What can I take with me?
The incredible amount I've learnt - academically and personally. WOW!
But most of all, the memories
…and the knowledge that I am incredibly privileged to have had this experience!
Some pics are:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSWRF?authkey=Gv1sRgCJK1i6jQxPLL0gE#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSShingwedzi?authkey=Gv1sRgCMj59KXB56vz5AE#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSSkukuza1?authkey=Gv1sRgCJvFor6ikcWNcQ#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSJHB?authkey=Gv1sRgCJHyzbaVu83iJw#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSCapeTown?authkey=Gv1sRgCP_G2ZT-u4WFaA#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSDeHoop?authkey=Gv1sRgCMethuL8ibrlVA#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSMapungubwe?authkey=Gv1sRgCNCG79-NrvO8Mw#
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSSkukuza2?authkey=Gv1sRgCODSwo3dm_-OOQ#
Magoebaskloof Meanderings
With Phalaborwa being the throbbing centre that it is, and with Calley (an ex-OTS student also doing the Mopane Mapping) wanting to experience as much of South Africa as possible, we decided to head to Magoebaskloof for the weekend.
Saturday was a late start – we played card games until 1am the night before, and both needed to send some e-mails. After a brief panic (temporarily misplaced my ipod), we eventually hit the road. The road to Tzaneen is not the most interesting but we both had a good chuckle at a sign – “Giant Baobab – 2001 years old”! Why 2001? Do not forget the 1! And after the baobabs we’d seen in Mapungubwe we were sure this might look like a baby baobab. Calley almost missed Gravelotte (she blinked!), but didn’t miss Tzaneen. From there we headed up Magoebaskloof – it really is an impressive road! My little car battled in some places it was so steep. Unfortunately no pics from going up there – there’s only one little place to pull off and it was packed… We had booked into a cute little B & B – Cherrio (I can recommend it to anyone who goes that direction – it was R150 pppn) and then my tummy was talking – loudly (it was now 2pm and I’d had nothing to eat!), so we headed into Haenertsburg. After a quick bite to eat, we went to find some family friends who live in the area.
We headed back to Cherrio - via an organic cheese farm that many people had recommended but it was closed – to watch the 2nd half of the blue bulls match (the first half was spent talking to Linda). It was freezing so we attempting to get warm in our room. Then it was back to Haenertsburg for dinner – we met Linda, Sturat and Liesel. It was really great catching up with them and as Calley said, they made us feel like family. We went to a really yummy restaurant called The Red Plate – power failure and all they made a plan and still served the most yummy food. There was also another friend of theirs there who had a pet grey wolf. We had seen it in the village earlier and it looks like a husky x alsation. She was quite skittish but let us stroke her when he was around. Then it was back home to attempt to get warm – thank goodness for hot blankets. We watched Madagascar – well Calley watched and I fell asleep within 5 minutes!
But then again, I woke up early this morning to watch the start of Comrades. After convincing myself that I did want to wake up, bundling myself up in a duvet (it was still freezing!) and walking into the cold, I realised that the door might lock itself and the idea of sitting in the freezing TV room til 8 did not appeal and my bed looked far more appealing. So I went back to bed! Breakfast was yummy! The full hog – fruit, cereals, bacon etc. The property is really pretty – they have a couple of trout fishing dams and still have some small patches of indigenous forest in between remnants of pine plantations and kiwi vines, so we went for a quick walk.
We also went horse-riding and Liesel was able to join us with her horse. An hour long outride ended up being 2 hours long. It was amazing – some pine plantation, some natural forest and some grasslands at the top of the mountain. We got amazing views and also really close to game – an impressive Nyala bull about 5m away, and some zebra that decided to join us while we were having a break. One of the horses also had a foal that they were weaning so the foal came along as well and it was very cute seeing her play. We were joined by another foal who just wanted to play and had to convince him to stay with Mom.
Lunch was at the Red Plate again – and it was just as yummy with electricity. The thought of Phalaborwa was not pleasant so we went with Liesel to look at all her animals – and there were lots – from cats and dogs (included a 3-legged one who’s other leg got munched by a leopard and a great dane) to Chinchilla’s, 4m long pythons, tarantula’s… They have a permit to hold indigenous reptiles for re-release as well but didn’t have anything then. Then it was back to Linda and Stu’s for coffee and it really took a lot to convince us to leave.
Now back in Phalaborwa, wondering how we are going to walk 15km tomorrow after the long ride today…
I’ve posted pics at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/MagboebaskloofMeandering?authkey=Gv1sRgCOn0qZHpg6_BSA#
Saturday was a late start – we played card games until 1am the night before, and both needed to send some e-mails. After a brief panic (temporarily misplaced my ipod), we eventually hit the road. The road to Tzaneen is not the most interesting but we both had a good chuckle at a sign – “Giant Baobab – 2001 years old”! Why 2001? Do not forget the 1! And after the baobabs we’d seen in Mapungubwe we were sure this might look like a baby baobab. Calley almost missed Gravelotte (she blinked!), but didn’t miss Tzaneen. From there we headed up Magoebaskloof – it really is an impressive road! My little car battled in some places it was so steep. Unfortunately no pics from going up there – there’s only one little place to pull off and it was packed… We had booked into a cute little B & B – Cherrio (I can recommend it to anyone who goes that direction – it was R150 pppn) and then my tummy was talking – loudly (it was now 2pm and I’d had nothing to eat!), so we headed into Haenertsburg. After a quick bite to eat, we went to find some family friends who live in the area.
We headed back to Cherrio - via an organic cheese farm that many people had recommended but it was closed – to watch the 2nd half of the blue bulls match (the first half was spent talking to Linda). It was freezing so we attempting to get warm in our room. Then it was back to Haenertsburg for dinner – we met Linda, Sturat and Liesel. It was really great catching up with them and as Calley said, they made us feel like family. We went to a really yummy restaurant called The Red Plate – power failure and all they made a plan and still served the most yummy food. There was also another friend of theirs there who had a pet grey wolf. We had seen it in the village earlier and it looks like a husky x alsation. She was quite skittish but let us stroke her when he was around. Then it was back home to attempt to get warm – thank goodness for hot blankets. We watched Madagascar – well Calley watched and I fell asleep within 5 minutes!
But then again, I woke up early this morning to watch the start of Comrades. After convincing myself that I did want to wake up, bundling myself up in a duvet (it was still freezing!) and walking into the cold, I realised that the door might lock itself and the idea of sitting in the freezing TV room til 8 did not appeal and my bed looked far more appealing. So I went back to bed! Breakfast was yummy! The full hog – fruit, cereals, bacon etc. The property is really pretty – they have a couple of trout fishing dams and still have some small patches of indigenous forest in between remnants of pine plantations and kiwi vines, so we went for a quick walk.
We also went horse-riding and Liesel was able to join us with her horse. An hour long outride ended up being 2 hours long. It was amazing – some pine plantation, some natural forest and some grasslands at the top of the mountain. We got amazing views and also really close to game – an impressive Nyala bull about 5m away, and some zebra that decided to join us while we were having a break. One of the horses also had a foal that they were weaning so the foal came along as well and it was very cute seeing her play. We were joined by another foal who just wanted to play and had to convince him to stay with Mom.
Lunch was at the Red Plate again – and it was just as yummy with electricity. The thought of Phalaborwa was not pleasant so we went with Liesel to look at all her animals – and there were lots – from cats and dogs (included a 3-legged one who’s other leg got munched by a leopard and a great dane) to Chinchilla’s, 4m long pythons, tarantula’s… They have a permit to hold indigenous reptiles for re-release as well but didn’t have anything then. Then it was back to Linda and Stu’s for coffee and it really took a lot to convince us to leave.
Now back in Phalaborwa, wondering how we are going to walk 15km tomorrow after the long ride today…
I’ve posted pics at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/MagboebaskloofMeandering?authkey=Gv1sRgCOn0qZHpg6_BSA#
Saturday, 23 May 2009
Mopane Mapping
So I’ve been asked a couple of times when I’m going to update my blog… well here it is! Some of it at least – the last 4 months on OTS is going to have to wait.
At the moment, I’m busy helping map the southern border of Mopane with SAEON (South African Experimental Observer Network as part of SANParks). The theory is that with climate change/global warming, and with Mopane being such a versatile tree and occurring EVERYWHERE (or so it seems!), the southern border should move south. So we go walking… and walking… and walking… I think today we did about 15km in 5 1/2 hours. We have these “blocks” which we walk transects through every 50m, and on each transect use a nifty program on a PDA called CyberTracker so we can record when we walk into a mopane patch, when we walk into “other” patches (not often) and the density of mopane in a 10 x 3m strip on the transect. Then we get back to the office (in Phalaborwa – although in 2 weeks we move to Olifants for a week) and download the data and use GIS programmes to draw pretty maps of where we think the border may go. That’s the project in a nutshell…
… but it’s a lot more fun than that! Everyday we have walked into the big 5, and got relatively close as well. The first day, we followed elephant around, and then right at the end of the morning, when feet are dragging and the thought of lunch and a nice shower (preferably cold – there’s a reason Phalaborwa is said to have the 2nd mildest winters in the country!) are overwhelming all other thoughts, we literally stumbled upon a leopard, but didn’t see it. It was the only time our game guard, Godfrey, loaded a round in his rifle! This thing was so close, that when it “sawed” you could feel the vibrations in your chest! We’ve also walked into buffalo a couple of times and more elephant. We also get to see all the other stuff as well – I’m beginning to get concerned at the number of vultures we are seeing – do they know something we don’t? We saw a huge chameleon one day, a striped grass snake on another and there are these awesome ants which make paths because so many of them walk along the same route so often.
We’ve also been down to Orpen where most of the mapping happened last year to try and determine what the optimal plot size for accurately doing counts and demography is so that permanent grids can be set up. Afterwards, we stopped at Wits Rural to say hi to some friends.
But all work and no play is no fun – it’s impala rutting season so I often try to head butt others in the group with impala horns that we find lying around. Mental note: Buffalo horns and skulls are heavy! Don’t try to head butt someone with them! Flicking of impala droppings at the person in front of you has also become a favourite pastime – the problem is getting the droppings without them seeing you get the droppings! We tend to finish most mornings by lunch time so also get to do some game drives. Last night, we went to the Grand Opening of Woolies in Phalaborwa – a much anticipated event. So much so, they had a band going and the traffic cops for crowd control. I’m not joking! After struggling to find parking (I think every car in the greater Phalaborwa area was there!), we decided it was too much and waiting in a queue about 100m long to get in just didn’t seem worthwhile, so we turned around and came home! That’s right – we missed the event of the month if not year!
Tomorrow, Calley and I are heading into Magoebaskloof for the weekend – might try to do some hiking and just visiting places – about to do a “things to do in Magoebaskloof” search. Then next weekend we are back in Skukuza for the weekend and then off to Olifants. Will attempt in that time to start getting some of the last 4 months “journalled”
Haven’t taken many pics from the Mopane project yet, but there are some at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/MopaneMapping?authkey=Gv1sRgCKmHs6CRi9mVMA#
At the moment, I’m busy helping map the southern border of Mopane with SAEON (South African Experimental Observer Network as part of SANParks). The theory is that with climate change/global warming, and with Mopane being such a versatile tree and occurring EVERYWHERE (or so it seems!), the southern border should move south. So we go walking… and walking… and walking… I think today we did about 15km in 5 1/2 hours. We have these “blocks” which we walk transects through every 50m, and on each transect use a nifty program on a PDA called CyberTracker so we can record when we walk into a mopane patch, when we walk into “other” patches (not often) and the density of mopane in a 10 x 3m strip on the transect. Then we get back to the office (in Phalaborwa – although in 2 weeks we move to Olifants for a week) and download the data and use GIS programmes to draw pretty maps of where we think the border may go. That’s the project in a nutshell…
… but it’s a lot more fun than that! Everyday we have walked into the big 5, and got relatively close as well. The first day, we followed elephant around, and then right at the end of the morning, when feet are dragging and the thought of lunch and a nice shower (preferably cold – there’s a reason Phalaborwa is said to have the 2nd mildest winters in the country!) are overwhelming all other thoughts, we literally stumbled upon a leopard, but didn’t see it. It was the only time our game guard, Godfrey, loaded a round in his rifle! This thing was so close, that when it “sawed” you could feel the vibrations in your chest! We’ve also walked into buffalo a couple of times and more elephant. We also get to see all the other stuff as well – I’m beginning to get concerned at the number of vultures we are seeing – do they know something we don’t? We saw a huge chameleon one day, a striped grass snake on another and there are these awesome ants which make paths because so many of them walk along the same route so often.
We’ve also been down to Orpen where most of the mapping happened last year to try and determine what the optimal plot size for accurately doing counts and demography is so that permanent grids can be set up. Afterwards, we stopped at Wits Rural to say hi to some friends.
But all work and no play is no fun – it’s impala rutting season so I often try to head butt others in the group with impala horns that we find lying around. Mental note: Buffalo horns and skulls are heavy! Don’t try to head butt someone with them! Flicking of impala droppings at the person in front of you has also become a favourite pastime – the problem is getting the droppings without them seeing you get the droppings! We tend to finish most mornings by lunch time so also get to do some game drives. Last night, we went to the Grand Opening of Woolies in Phalaborwa – a much anticipated event. So much so, they had a band going and the traffic cops for crowd control. I’m not joking! After struggling to find parking (I think every car in the greater Phalaborwa area was there!), we decided it was too much and waiting in a queue about 100m long to get in just didn’t seem worthwhile, so we turned around and came home! That’s right – we missed the event of the month if not year!
Tomorrow, Calley and I are heading into Magoebaskloof for the weekend – might try to do some hiking and just visiting places – about to do a “things to do in Magoebaskloof” search. Then next weekend we are back in Skukuza for the weekend and then off to Olifants. Will attempt in that time to start getting some of the last 4 months “journalled”
Haven’t taken many pics from the Mopane project yet, but there are some at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/MopaneMapping?authkey=Gv1sRgCKmHs6CRi9mVMA#
Tuesday, 03 February 2009
One week in…
… and I’m still loving it!
After driving with nothing but my singing as company (despite the purchase of CD’s in Nelspruit), I arrived in Jo’burg. It was amazing how after just a week in Skukuza, I felt myself tense up as I drove in. A bit of shopping and I was at Wits for a very welcome cup of coffee and an attempt to organise most things. Notice the attempt! Then home to a yummy dinner. The next morning was a bit of a rush, but was spoilt for my Birthday! Back to Wits to attempt (again) to sort stuff out, then shopping (again) and to the airport to pick up students. I now know the airport relatively well, and after the 1st lot of students, also managed to ID OTS students as they were coming through! We eventually left the airport just after 8pm (even when travelling, I don’t think I’ve ever spent that long in an airport!) and drove through the rain to eZemvelo. Lectures started the next morning and by that afternoon the students were really happy to get into the field. Little did they know that the next few days would be grappling with the idea of science and quite a bit of rain later, a bit more field work and model testing. There was the occasional break though – we managed to go on a game drive when the rain let up a bit to allow the roads to dry enough to drive on. I took the students to the Wilge river – you couldn’t even see where the bridge should be! Laurence, Karen and I also went on a bike ride on the muddy roads and the occasional HUGE puddle (read we had wet shoes!). We also managed to get the students on a night drive and saw some springhares – really cute! The staff have also ended up playing scrabble a couple of times – I fluctuate between uselessness and the odd brilliant word. Then it was on to stats and the intricacies and wonder at what excel can do (I wish I knew about pivot tables BEFORE I did my PhD!) and some theoretical modelling. Even if their brains weren’t fried, mine was and I really appreciated the day off today – some PhD, some horse-riding (amazing… even though I’m stiff already!) and some sleep.
Not many pics yet but check out:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSEzemvelo?authkey=PR6nJ4khAwI#
After driving with nothing but my singing as company (despite the purchase of CD’s in Nelspruit), I arrived in Jo’burg. It was amazing how after just a week in Skukuza, I felt myself tense up as I drove in. A bit of shopping and I was at Wits for a very welcome cup of coffee and an attempt to organise most things. Notice the attempt! Then home to a yummy dinner. The next morning was a bit of a rush, but was spoilt for my Birthday! Back to Wits to attempt (again) to sort stuff out, then shopping (again) and to the airport to pick up students. I now know the airport relatively well, and after the 1st lot of students, also managed to ID OTS students as they were coming through! We eventually left the airport just after 8pm (even when travelling, I don’t think I’ve ever spent that long in an airport!) and drove through the rain to eZemvelo. Lectures started the next morning and by that afternoon the students were really happy to get into the field. Little did they know that the next few days would be grappling with the idea of science and quite a bit of rain later, a bit more field work and model testing. There was the occasional break though – we managed to go on a game drive when the rain let up a bit to allow the roads to dry enough to drive on. I took the students to the Wilge river – you couldn’t even see where the bridge should be! Laurence, Karen and I also went on a bike ride on the muddy roads and the occasional HUGE puddle (read we had wet shoes!). We also managed to get the students on a night drive and saw some springhares – really cute! The staff have also ended up playing scrabble a couple of times – I fluctuate between uselessness and the odd brilliant word. Then it was on to stats and the intricacies and wonder at what excel can do (I wish I knew about pivot tables BEFORE I did my PhD!) and some theoretical modelling. Even if their brains weren’t fried, mine was and I really appreciated the day off today – some PhD, some horse-riding (amazing… even though I’m stiff already!) and some sleep.
Not many pics yet but check out:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSEzemvelo?authkey=PR6nJ4khAwI#
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