Wildlife conservation in South Africa

 Day 11 We had an early rise this morning to help take the cattle from the farmstead to their grazing area on the other side of the village, we didn’t do much as the cattle know exactly where they’re going. We then had breakfast and whilst doing so shared our scrapbooks from home containing pictures of my family and hometown – Pilile asked “how is that your mum?!” – I am mixed race haha. We took some lovely photos together and had an emotional goodbye before being picked up by Zama in the minibus. Our journey to our final camp at Hluhluwe-Imfozoli reserve. This was the largest reserve and the oldest in the whole of Africa, covering a huge 96,000 hectares. On the way we stopped at a restaurant for lunch before continuing our journey. Upon entering the gates of the reserve, we were greeted by our first sighting of a white rhino, then to everyone’s surprise we were stopped by two lions sat in the road, one male and one female. To see wild lions metres in front of us left everyone ...

 Day 9 – Candover Liam’s birthday!!! We got up and sang Liam happy birthday before heading to the museum to look at the results from our camera traps and give Liam his card. Over the few days we managed to get pictures of a leopard, hyena, porcupines, mongoose, stork and many more. We then said goodbye to Pongola and headed for Candover community. First, it was necessary for us to visit the Nduna (similar to mayor), she was known as Mama Nduna and was rare to be a female. We had a very interesting meeting with her, discussing her role as leader and how she operates. We had some good discussions about her struggle as a female leader, the structure of politics, COVID and much more. We then drove to see the traditional healer to learn her craft. This was a fascinating experience and gave us further insight into their beliefs and function within the community. They gave us a demonstration of one of their rituals, which allowed them to see beyond the normal eye by contacting the anc...

Day 7 A great activity this morning – a boat cruise along Lake Jozini!! We were taken out on two boats and cruised along the river with amazing views of the mountains and could catch a sight of the border to Eswatini. We saw huge herons, hippos, crocodiles, water buck and more. Got some great photos too. After chilli for lunch we went out for another game drive in which we also learnt a new skill - telemetry. This entailed using an antenna and radio to track collars that are put on certain animals to record their movements. To practice, we were not tracking a moving animal but a collar that had been hidden somewhere on the reserve by the other group, this was still harder than expected but by the time it was getting dark we were right on top of it, just as the other group had encountered the first rhinos. We were a bit jealous of this but then just in that moment we caught our first sighting of buffalo, another of the Big Five. We also got good sightings of giraffe, a fisher eagle,...

  Day 4, 9 th June – To Pongola We had an early morning and watched the sunrise before packing the buses for our road trip to the next destination – Pongola Game Reserve. This day consisted of mostly travelling, as the journey took 9 hours in the minibus. We had a good singalong and was able to see the change in climate and environment as we ventured further south. I was particularly interested when travelling through towns and villages to try and gauge the way of life beyond a game reserve. We arrived at Pongola and took in the amazing view of Lake Jozini that runs alongside the reserve. By this time, it was the afternoon and the sun sets at about 5:30 pm this time of year, so decided to call it a day before exploring the reserve tomorrow.   Day 5 Today we got up early to go for a bush walk, which is an apt description as Pongola is a savannah with wild bushes rather than the grassland of Ezemvelo. We first stopped by the vulture diner, which is where carcasses are...

 Day 1 The camp at Ezemvelo was really nice, with 6 person tent, actual beds and a swimming pool which we tested right away and realised it was absolutely freezing – no wonder the workers were looking at us like we’re crazy. We were again divided into two groups which we would stay in for activities during the entire 2 weeks, with Zama us our groups guide and teacher – what a result!! Our first walk took us to a recently devoured ostrich carcass, where we decided to set up a camera trap to record any animal activity during our 3 night stay in Ezemvelo. We got our first sightings of zebra, impala, eland and ostrich.   Day 2 The first night was an early one. As it was winter in South Africa during this time, we had been warned about the cold nights, especially at our first camp. However, we all underestimated just how cold it may get. Temperatures went below freezing, waking up to frost on the morning grass and mist on the water of the reservoir. We began the day with brea...

  Hi all!! I am a level 6 Archaeology and Anthropology student at Bournemouth University and have been preparing for my 2 week placement in South Africa to engage in wildlife conservation. This may seem irrelevant to my course but in fact one of the most prominent discussions in conservation is its impact on people and the relationship between ecology, human communities, and economics. Here, anthropology and an understanding of local cultures is valuable and attending the placement will give me insight into a side of the discipline that I have not yet explored. I have completed other placements whilst being at university, many with less organisation than this one, so felt comfortable with the process and knew that this would be an opportunity for me to learn and grow personally and professionally. After seeing the placement advertised by Bournemouth University through a friend and lecturer, Stephanie, I knew this was an opportunity that I could not turn down. I received all the...