Elephants of Botswana

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