Some brilliant feedback from Roland Pitts, one of our volunteers from our Kariega Big Five Game Reserve Programme in South Africa - and a great read for anyone considering joining :) I had a fantastic time at Kariega. I was very lucky to be able to take part in the darting of a young female rhino from a helicopter. No, boo, hiss, they didnt let me fly the helicopter or even go up in it or use the dart gun, but we watched as the vet went up in it and then after he had darted the rhino we helped get her into a trailer and then to release her in a different part of the reserve. Also with the release of a young male from a different reserve to keep her company. On another occasion a large lorry with about 10 new elephants arrived and we watched as they were released. The best though was when we spent 2 days capturing female nyala (a medium-sized antelope). The vet was in a land cruiser darting them and we took it in turns to be in the land cruiser with him watching, or following around in a second land cruiser. When he had darted one we followed it into the bushes, located it (the darts had tracking devices) and then blindfolded them, stretchered them out and into pick-up trucks and back to the holding trailer. It was hard and sometimes bruising work but good fun! Most days we did a combination of work and game drives, and we had fantastic and up-close sightings of all the game. It was good to see all the various antelopes, zebra and giraffe but we were always particularly excited when we came across elephants, rhinos and especially the lions. One day, just as we had got out of the land cruiser to plant Spekboom, Frances, our coordinator, held up the telemetry to check for the lions. There was immediately a loud beeping and Frances said They seem to be quite close, ..., very close, ...GET BACK IN THE CAR!. We had hardly got into the car when a small face appeared around the corner of the road in front, then another and another and soon we had all 5 lions in front of and around the car. After sitting on the grass near to us they walked slowly by (no volunteers were eaten...) and away. We also had some of the largest elephants walk past so close that you could have reached out and touched them. We saw the white rhinos quite often (although the ones on the dangerous side of the reserve kept a low profile after the young female had been darted and moved) but I only saw the black rhinos once, they spend most of their time in the bushes. Our accommodation was on the dangerous side of the reserve where the lion, elephant and black rhinos lived so we were not allowed out of the compound alone. On several occasions we had elephant and lions right outside the compound. Big Bull, the largest male elephant, visited a few times and ripped huge branches from the tree outside. The same tree where we had a tree house and where I often sat at weekends bird-watching! The staff from Kariega were all helpful and friendly, but the Jewel in the Kariega Crown was Frances. She is a lovely young woman, extremely focused on her job, well-organised and I really cannot imagine anyone doing her job better. She has a very positive attitude to life and her work, she is only a slip of a lass but strong and fit! I mentioned that we removed some old fencing posts. I remember one young fit farmer volunteer who had unsuccessfully tried to remove a stubborn fence post. Frances grabbed it, shook it like a dog with a rat and loosened it up! So definitely a fun and worthwhile experience... I hope I will be able to go back!
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 13:48:55 +0000
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