Found the Elizabeths herd today - a lovely herd who  do not mind us haning around - I know have to ID the elephants I do not know and catch up with who has had babies since we last met - so that will keep me busy for the rest of the day!!!!

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WE have a troop of banded mongoose that live in camp and have recently taken to denning under a pier to the lagoon in front of the office. There are holes everywhere where they have been digging up grubs and I am often treated to watching them from the office as they go busily about their day.

Yesterday I was sat here and there was such a commotion coming from them, chattering and chirping, and mongoose running everywhere. I went outside for a better look and discovered that the babies that I had been waiting to arrive had arrived and they were busy moving them from the den under the pier to a safer spot – I think to the termite mound by the kitchen. They were moving them part way to the scrub by the road and then seemed very confused as to waht to do – they did not have 100% agreement on what was best and some were moving them back to where they had come from. This to-ing and fro-ing went on for 20 mins before they were all in agreement and moved them from the scrub to a safer bolt hole….. or so I though a minute later and one mongoose brought a little one back to the pier – four more adult mongoose followed (without babies) and persuaded the other that the new spot was the best place for everyone.

I had a great view from the decking of the office (it is built on stilts) and got some photos and could see the little ones, eyes still closed. They were less than 24 hours old as I saw the pregnant female the day before.

Spring has definitely sprung and there are baby tessebbe, monkeys, elephants, impala, bushbuck, steenbok – babies everywhere……

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We headed out west today. We cannot go out west during the flood season as the water cuts it off and so we make the most of it when the floods have gone. New water from the rains we are having at the moment made certain areas difficult but we managed not to get stuck. I say we, as it was I, Mphoeng and the two guides at the local safari camp, Joseph and Thapelo. There are no guests in camp at the moment and so whenever they get the chance they are keen to join us. It is great to have the extra company, extra hands for when we get stuck, and their wealth of knowledge. We were not 100m out of camp when we had our first of three encounters with elephants in our 7 hour drive (there are not many elephants around at the moment, they have probably followed the rains in search of new grass) I spotted two young elephants feeding on the left of the road, a female of about 10 years and a male of about 7 years. I looked around for the rest of the herd and spotted an adult female to our right…. something was wrong though – she was standing funny – her head at a jaunty angle – was it because we were between her and her babies? I did a quick check and soon realised that she was badly injured, her front right leg was terribly swollen and bent in towards the other leg. The top of her leg had atrophied. The youngsters then went to join her on her side of the road and they all checked us out. The adult female was a little skinny, but at this time of the year a lot of the females and young males are and she was no skinner than others. I was desperate to get a better look at her leg and get some photos for ID purposes but did not want to stress her and so we waited and then they all crossed the road and we got a better look – it was a old wound, she was able to put a little weight on it and she was doing OK. It was distressful to see for us but what was striking was how the others rallied around her and protected her across the road – shielding her from us. Once they had moved on – we all began chatting about the other incidents we had seen injured, sick or crippled elephants and how their closest family members stuck by them and were so caring and protective –perhaps we can learn from them as in many human societies  disabled people are often ostracised.

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As I left camp at 0515 (I was following Graham has we had to lend our car to the other camp- a very contencious issue with me!!!!) I came across a clan of hyena so stayed to watch them - it wa orsome - they had obviously been busy during the night and com ing together to regroup, chill out and take care of obultions before returning to the den for the day. It was a real privalidge to see. Next I was treated to a pod of hippo at the bridge, they were quite close to the bridge so I got some good photos (I will try and upload them later). All in all not a bad start to the day.

I am hoping it will cool off a little later as I am trying to walk around camp for an hour a day in training for our fundraising climb up Mount Kilimanjaro in December. We are aiming to raise enough cash for a much needed car - so we don’t have to loose it when other people need it (our current one is on loan to us from Elephant Back Safaris =- many thanks to them).

If you want to sponsor me then you can do so through here or on www.justgiving.com/elephantkate

Bye for now - have to get back to a grant application - still really HOT

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The bridge is the only connection between the two camp and is made out of mopane trees (a hardy tree here in the delta) - it is a rickity old thing - but that only adds to its carm.

Mafunyane, Nandipa, Ntongeni and Pula are all back in the area of camp. Nandipa, Pula and Ntongeni were in thick bush most of the day yesterday so we only caught glimpses of their backs, tusks and collars - which was a little frustrating. Mafunyane joined the ‘B’ herd; a herd that is very calm and so we have been able to get to know quite well - the females are mostly have a name beginning with B. I say mostly as one is a tuskless female which I named Churchills Wife, as she was the first tuskless female I came across and I had an old tuskless males called Churchill, as I thought he looked like the famous man, bar the cigar!! Anyway we were with the B herd when Mafunyane turned up, and I was loving spending time with the herd as Churchill’s Wife has the newest of babies which could not be older than a couple of days - there were also three other newborns in the herd and they were all playing together, a mass of trunks, legs and ears = very cute.

Today we are hoping to actually see Nandipa, Pula and Ntongeni. We are having problems with are tracking equipment, I had had to send one box in to get fixed and the other is not picking up Pula very well. So that is all rather frustrating.

Will up date soon with more news of the elephants.

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After supper I was quick to bed as a week of travelling around South Africa catching up with friends had tired me out - but I could not sleep. The noises were wonderful - I could hear hyeana near camp - a lion roaring in the distance and the frogs in the lagoon. It was magic.

Today I did a route with Mphoeng and came across lots of females and a few males but all were rather skittish and did not hang about for long. So by0900 we were back, whilst Mphoeng went off to do another route I headed out west with Graham to check out the fire situation. On friday night there were all up till 0130 fitting fires. We went 14 kilometers west and did not come across anything - so for now we are ok. But we shall have to be alert as these fires can spread fast and race towards us.

Now I am sat in the office listening to the gentle patter of rain on the canvas roof. Before I flew out Cally in the office had asked me to bring the weather as they were melting in 40+ degrees centrigrade. I said I would do a rain dance and it seems to have worked.

Hopefully it will stop in time for us to out this afternoon.

Kate

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I look forward to updating you from the bush

Best wishes

Kate

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Well its been an exciting few days as we headed out on a recollaring expedition last week.  Seba, a young bull who was released back into the wild in 2003 had gone AWOL.  The last GPS reading for him was on 18th May and given the floods we were unable to get out to look for him but now as the floods drop we took to the skies in the hope of tracking him by his VHF beacon.  With the aerial expertise of Tico McNutt of the African Wild Dog Project (www.wildentrust.org) we set out from Maun airport with his signal programmed in.  We had his latest movements mapped out, he seems to follow a regular pattern of movement between Seba camp, where he was released and the buffalo fence close to Maun.  We planned to start off along this course and see what we find out.  If we can’t find him then we will loop south on the way back into Maun to see if we can pick him up from there.

As the VHF signal follows a more or less line of sight, the range of the VHF beacon depends on its height.  We take off early in the morning while its cool and the air is still.  It doesn’t take long for us to get a signal and after some low passes we confirm a visual on him, only 13 km from Maun!

Now that we have a location on him we can now start organising a darting team to replace his collar and fix the GPS unit.  5 days later we are reassembling at the airport, those present includes Peter Pearlstein (Helicopter pilot) Rob Jackson (Vet) Suminadasa (Head Mahout with Elephant Back Safaris) and myself representing the EFA research project that is monitoring the released elephants.  We check and recheck all the necessary equipment while Tico once again takes to the skies to reconfirm his position.  Although elephants can move up to 50km in a day, Seba has not wondered far.  Tico calls in his GPS co-ordinates and we take off in the chopper to find him for ourselves.

Seba is still hanging out with the 2 males that we saw 5 days earlier with Tico.  Having confirmed we have the right elephant we land on a neighbouring island for Rob to prepare the dart.  We take the doors off to give him a clear shot and then Peter negotiates the chopper over to where we last saw him.  Using the noise of the chopper, Peter separates Seba from the other 2 elephants – the last thing we need is an unconscious elephant and us not being able to get close to him due to his over protective friends.  Once that is done we steer him into the open and away from any water.  Rob fires the dart and we pull back and wait for the drugs to take effect.

This is always a tense time in any wildlife darting mission.  The amount of drugs delivered has to be just right to match his body weight.  Too little and the elephant could wonder off into thick bush or deep water before they take effect.  Too much and it could be dangerous for the animal itself.  Thankfully Rob has judged correctly and Seba drops in a nice open area.  We land next to him and set to work cutting away the old collar and fitting the new one.  Once that is done we take some essential body measurements and Rob administers the reversal drugs.  From the dart being fired to when Seba was standing again took 31 minutes.  We retreat to the chopper and retrieve the doors from the next door island.  On our way out we fly past to check how he is doing, returning to join the other 2 bulls we had found him with.  Success.

For more information about the released elephants and the projects involved visit www.elephantresearch.co.uk

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Even when we are trying to have a day off the elephants demand our attention!!!!

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If not check out our website for the old ones and the new ones will be on their soon

Elephant Tails 7

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