Elephants of Botswana

Category: Fund Raising | Date: Oct 31 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

Sim and I have been taking it easy today, staying at a friends in NYC. Yesterday we went to the Expo to register and collect our numbers. We walked along 34th street and as we got closer there were more and more fit people carrying bags.  It was about then that I got my first nerves. Unfortunately Sim had not been receiving any of the emails and so had not been allocated any transport. they managed to fix him some but it means we have to leave tomorrow morning at 0450 to get to the bus for 0530 for a 1020 start!!!! I am not sure what is going to tire us out for the race or the time before we start. I was originally booked on the Staten Island Ferry at 0800 (a much more reasonable time) but I guess I am going to have to travel with Sim.

We will have lots of supporters tomorrow - not just the crowds but specifically friends will be cheering us on - and I know that this will help the 26.2 miles feel a little easier.

Wish us luck - we are going to need it. 

I am looking forward to seeing Central Park and realising that it is almost over!

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 24 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

Hello all,

Sim and I have had a rather hectic schedule on our fund-raising tour of America. First stop was the Elephant Managers Association conference in Houston, then we visited and spoke to the Chicago Zoological Society, next was the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, who have supported our work for the last 2 years and now we are heading to Syracruse.

With one week to go before our Marathon debut in NYC we are getting a little nervous and excited about the challenge ahead. 26.2 miles does not sound like a lot but I know that it is going to hurt….. alot.

If you would like to sponsor this event and help us reach our target goal and contribute to a 4×4 vehicel for the research then please donate through

http://www.justgiving.com/KateandSimsMarathonChallenge/

If you would rather donate another way then get in touch on info@ElephantsForAfrica.org and we shall provide you with the details.

Best wishes

Kate

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 06 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

Mafunyane was last sighted in May 2009. There after he disappeared until he emerged again at end of September. Mafunyane’s collar had not been functioning so we had been relying on visual sightings to gather data. We heard first of his presence by guides at Horseback (a nearby camp), it was a relief. Surprisingly the following day he was spotted near Seba Camp. We were delighted to see him though he looked bit skinny. It was imperative that we act promptly to re-collar him before he moved out of the area. We were bearing in mind that he had come before and disappeared for about four months. This was worrying as we did not know where he was at all. So we did not want to be in the situation again. The team took an immediate decision to re-collar him and went about getting Rob-The-Vet up.

On the 28^th of September he was re-collared; we went at dawn to locate him. Mainly looking for Mafunyane in his favourite spots, he was later spotted at Dec. 26 near Abu Camp.

The collaring went well, but whilst he was down it was discovered that Mafunyane he had an infection on the left tusk, his left lip was very swollen. An antibiotic was administered for the infection. We were glad that we re-collared him. Though he is smart he has now moved to Seba West where water level too high for us to access, but at least we now have the satellite downloads to know where he is.  

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 02 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

This week has been terribly busy, soooo busy in fact that we have not had time to blog about it, but we will get there. We have had aerial surveys, two collarings and we started the soft release process on an adult male elephants……. so come back soon to find out what happened.

Kate

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 26 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

Hi  Everyone,

I am living camp for a few days to help out with some aerial surveys that are taking place over the concession where we work and the neighbouring one.

I am very excited about it as I have only ever read about aerial surveys and the methodologies involved so I am looking forward to learning a new skill and helping out with this important work.

We work in a concession which is 1/2 a million hectares, the largest in the delta, so we shall be sampling it as it is too large to cover in the time that we have. I hope to see lots of animals and also see the affect of the buffalo fence on the western side.

We have had an increase in poaching in the area and so this will also be an opportunity to see what is going on there and if there is any patterns.

We have had three nights of early rains and storms and we shall also be able to see if the lightening has started any fires in the area.

So I will be very busy until Wedneday, but I am sure the rest of the team will be keeping you updated.

TTFN

Kate

2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 26 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

So, sorry about the double upload last time. Our current satellite Internet connection is intermittent and very slow. The upload didn’t appear to have worked at the first attempt, so we tried again and now we have two! Oh well.

I’ve been writing down some very short notes from each day, nothing more than bullet points as memory joggers and it’s already quite amazing to look back to see what’s happened and how my life has changed in such a short space of time.

In the UK I used to commute for about 40mins in the car, each way, now I simply walk for a couple of minutes from our tent up to the office. Our camp is completely unfenced and as we left our tent in the early morning gloom a couple of days ago we hit our first traffic jam, in the form of a male elephant (I’m reliably informed that he was around 20yrs old). There he was, stood right on the path, enjoying his breakfast which was one of the large trees that provide some shade for us. For me it was a surprise and a great sight, although perhaps a little inconvenient. For Kate this was fantastic, a focal before breakfast without even having to get into the car!

The wildlife is literally all around us here. Just around camp I’ve seen Banded mongoose chattering away, groups of Yellow hornbills picking through the leaves, Kurrichane Thrush’s running around gathering nesting material, Vervet monkeys using the tent roofs as trampolines, the list goes on. Simply walking back from dinner the other night we saw a juvenile Baboon Spider, a Solifuge racing around (they’re know as “Kalahari Ferrari’s” here) and a large Scorpion trying to catch a moth.

During the intense heat of the afternoon I’ve started working in our tent as it’s almost unbearable in the tin roofed office, despite having the windows open and fans running. We’re very fortunate as our tent has a beautiful view over a lagoon and I can see the various water channels stretching away, interspersed by densely foliated islands.

There are two Fish Eagles that like to sit in the tree next to our tent, overlooking the water. Yesterday, one swooped down out of the tree, I didn’t see him, but I did hear the splash. Did he get something? I couldn’t see through the bino’s as he flew off, but he was soon perched in another tree and I could tell that there was nothing in his talons. He stood there and shook his tail feathers and had a preen. It was almost as if he knew that I was watching and was saying “Yeah, I’m cool. I wasn’t going for a fish or anything just then, just cooling my feet off.” As I lowered the bino’s I spotted an elephant emerging from an island about 250m away. I have to ask myself, could the view from an office window get much better than this?

We’re pushing on with our marathon training, putting the miles in as best we can on the airstrip, with one of us driving whilst the other runs. We’ve done a couple of late afternoon sessions when the car wasn’t being used for research. The temperatures are edging towards 40degC in the shade and needless to say I’m finding it hot, dusty and difficult. It would be more pleasant running in the mornings, but it’s even more dangerous because the predators have been moving during the night and at first light we haven’t had a chance to figure out where they are yet.

We’ve also started doing circuit training on our balcony; improvising by using 1l bottles of water as weights for lateral raises and a 5l container for tricep curls. The steps to our tent have been utilised for shuttle runs and dips. I hope that it’ll be enough on the day. Don’t forget to sponsor us at http://www.justgiving.com/KateandSimsMarathonChallenge/

It’s time for me to sign off for now, I’ve got lots to tell you about the days that I’ve be spending with the researchers gathering data for their projects, but it’ll have to wait until my next post. I really must get back to the important job of incorporating our ideas and aspirations into the business plan that I’m writing.

Stay in touch,

Sim

2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 23 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

I first meet Diana on the 22^nd of November 2008, whilst I was out doing field work with Kate and Joseph. We could tell something was wrong the minute we saw her as she was limping quite badly. We soon discovered that her leg was – or had been broken at some stage. At the time she was with her juvenile babies who were taking good care of her. When she crossed the road she was shielded by them. On the 16^th of September 2009 she was spotted again, almost a year since she was last seen. She was back with her natal herd and it seems like she is able to keep up with them. The herd is very protective, they must know that she is in need of a little extra help and they, shield her whenever she crosses exposed areas. Elephants are very resilient and it is incredible to think that she managed to survive, especially that when we saw her it was after the harsh October month of 2008 when the area is very dry and food scarce and we all await the arrival of the rains. Elephants caring for each other had saved her from predators who could have taken advantage of her weak state. I am glad she made it through thick and thin and I was very happy to see her again.

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 23 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

I first meet Diana on the 22^nd of November 2008, whilst I was out doing field work with Kate and Joseph. We could tell something was wrong the minute we saw her as she was limping quite badly. We soon discovered that her leg was – or had been broken at some stage. At the time she was with her juvenile babies who were taking good care of her. When she crossed the road she was shielded by them. On the 16^th of September 2009 she was spotted again, almost a year since she was last seen. She was back with her natal herd and it seems like she is able to keep up with them. The herd is very protective, they must know that she is in need of a little extra help and they, shield her whenever she crosses exposed areas. Elephants are very resilient and it is incredible to think that she managed to survive, especially that when we saw her it was after the harsh October month of 2008 when the area is very dry and food scarce and we all await the arrival of the rains. Elephants caring for each other had saved her from predators who could have taken advantage of her weak state. I am glad she made it through thick and thin and I was very happy to see her again.

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 22 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

Its 2pm on a Saturday afternoon when I hear the splashing.  It’s too regular to be one of the juveniles playing in the water and too fast to be one of the adults drinking.  I climb down from my perch on the termite mound and walk out into the flood plain to see if I can get a better look. 

I have been joining the mahouts during the day for about 4 weeks now.  Every Friday and Saturday afternoons I catch up with the herd in the bush so that I can start recording their daytime behaviour.  This involves collaring them in the boma just before they head out for the day and walking with them recording various behavioural events and degrees of visual contact between the herd members.  By the end of the morning we have normally reached a suitable spot close to the edge of the floodplain.  There are good shade trees, plenty to eat and water- and mud-holes to wallow and play in.  By 2pm in the Delta in September temperatures are topping out at the mid 30’s Celcius and the whole place has that lazy, hazy feel to it; like its too hot to move. 

But something is moving, and it sounds big.  I skirt the edge of the island using the bushes for cover, trying to get a better look at whatever is making the splashes.  But by now the splashing has stopped.  Cathy, the matriarch is on our island and she is looking , well, not relaxed.  She is looking across to the neighbouring island where Sherini and her 3 year old Abu is located.  I peer into the island and make out the form of Abu and then of another elephant, much bigger than Sherini.  It’s a wild male elephant, he’s about 20-25 years old, taller than Sherini at the shoulder, maybe over 2 meters but his tusks are thin making him a little on the immature side.  The wind is in my favour and despite being only 20m away he hasn’t spotted me. 

Interactions like these are exactly what I am after.  Collecting vocal exchanges between herd members has been fairly straight forward but where things start to get really interesting is when the herd comes into contact with other wild elephants.  Despite technically being a captive herd, my study subjects, the Abu herd, are ideal as they have this exposure and have had this exposure for the past 15 years.  Therefore if they are communicating with other wild elephants I will be able to see exactly how their calling behaviour varies when these events happen. 

At the moment this exchange seems amicable enough but I need a second opinion.  Using the cover of the island again, I head back to the shady termite mound to inform the rest of the mahouts and they come to have a look.  Most of the time these exchanges are allowed to play out but with Cathy carrying an injury the mahouts are unhappy about leaving him so close by.  They bring the car and start to move him off the island and back to the main land.  From splashes to waving goodbye takes less than 20 mins but having had the collars on Cathy and Sherini at the right place and the right time, the second by second exchange has all been documented. 

Tags: elephants, infrasound, PhD, research

One response so far

Category: Fund Raising | Date: Sep 21 2009 | By: elephantsofbotswana

 http://www.justgiving.com/KateandSimsMarathonChallenge/

Sunday morning and the alarm went off at 0530. We left for the airstrip at 0600 and after checking the perimeter for animals, I started running at 0630.  Sim was driving and in charge of the iPod stereo to keep me motivated. The target was 16km (10 miles). There were a few Zebra’s grazing on the side of the airstrip when we started and they looked a bit perplexed by this white lady running by the side of the car, but they soon got bored and moved off to other pastures, leaving us alone with the crowned plovers - that would buzz me whenever I ran past them.

We considered running around the perimeter but decided that the western side was too close to thick vegetation and something could ambush us and so we carried on with the up and down. At the 10km mark I grabbed an energy bar and as I concentrated on eating that I ended up going flying head over heels having tripped on a half buried stick. I lay there for a while wondering what the hell had happened before I picked myself up, blew the sand off my energy bar and carried on. At about the 12km mark my hip and knee started hurting and I kept having to stop to stretch it. I wondered if the fall had down it or it was my old knee injury returning., Hopefully the former and I will be OK for the weeks training ahead.

Running up and down was very boring indeed, and save for the plovers and an eagle of some discription that dropped in to say hello teh scenery did not change much. Thankfully General Jones (great band featuring my friend Matthew Shartsis www.thegeneraljonesband.com)

, Johnny Cash and in the final 1km when I was in need of more motivation, Dolly Parton - kept me going and I completed the 16km in 1hr48. We returned to camp and I enjoyed a guilt free fried egg breakfast before cracking on with report writting.

3 responses so far