Another semester finished

Monday morning we had the last tests of this semester – woohoo! We then had our final lectures on historical human habitation and viewing potentially dangerous animals which was really interesting. Many of us will be driving vehicles and some will be walking on placement as well, so the lecture on dangerous game was really important to teach us what to do in various situations whether on foot or in a vehicle. It’s something we will continually revisit now too with our ARH (Advanced Rifle Handling) coming up soon.

Tuesday afternoon was reserve work time, and despite the recent rains and cool weather it turned hot and sunny just in time for us to get our sweat on. Our group had a great time with Ed, ploughing through the encroaching trees and whipping up grass as we went. I’m convinced we worked harder and cleared more than the other groups but don’t tell them that! Although it may seem destructive to cut trees down, it’s necessary to prevent species such as red bushwillow and sicklebush dominating an area and stopping other species growing. We also help to maintain the roads by building bolsters and mitre drains to prevent erosion by rain and we also fill in gullies where the road has been washed away. This not only makes driving on the roads more comfortable for us and guests, but it maintains our relationship with the reserve managers and keeps us on their good side!

Everyone hard at work

Wednesday and Thursday morning were the last chances for some of us to get a drive in before our mock assessments – we can’t believe they’re coming up so quickly! We were lucky enough on one of our drives to see the hyena cubs that were rapidly growing since our first sighting of them in January. We also got to see mum returning to the den to check up on them, and boy was she a big girl! You could definitely see why she was the dominant female.

The pups are much bigger now, but still cute!

Then it came to mock assessment time on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. We had Lucia as our guide for one of the drives and we went to Pidwa (a different section of Makalali) where we had a great time doing some gardening. Gerhard picked a few water lilies for us to take back to camp and plant in the dam and hopefully some birds, like the African Jacana, will be attracted to make it their home! Ryan’s mock assessment was on Friday morning and from what I hear they were very lucky with lots of mammal sightings and he did a great job, as I knew he would! I’m sure he’s going to absolutely sail through his practical drive assessment.

Gerhard doing some gardening

Ryan on his mock assessment

Friday afternoon we did a recap drive of all of the botany we’ve learned so far – trees, grasses, forbs, and flowers. We started off on campus before driving to the riverbed in Makalali. After about an hour of revision we all moved on to a different spot, however our trainers saw a small herd of elephants grazing and walking down the river so thankfully our plans changed. They parked the vehicles by the road and scanned the area before leading us down the hill towards the riverbed. We stood and watched for about 20 minutes while the herd grazed and moved slowly towards us. It was an amazing thing to be so close and be tolerated by them! No photos to show for it though as we were under strict orders of no phones and no photos to be taken as we were at a close distance and it may have upset them, especially as there was a small calf. Of course, after that our revision drive pretty much ended and we drove off for a quick drink stop before some students had a go at night driving with the spotlight. What a way to end the semester!

As always at the end of the semester, lots of people left on Saturday morning to go home. Becka went with Gabe to meet his family for the first time, so we’ll see how that goes! My family landed on Thursday and did some sightseeing for the first few days. They picked me up on Sunday from campus which was great as they got to see where we live now and met a few of the Bushwise family. We headed into Hoedspruit and had a traditional Sleeper’s lunch before checking into our hotel – Kubu Safari Lodge. It’s a gorgeous, rustic lodge in the middle of the bush and is total luxury for me! We were treated to a lovely Sunday braai with traditional singing and dancing from the staff under the stars and by the fire. What more could you ask for!

Gabe and Becka ready to ride

The family arrived!

Next week I’ll be taking the fam on some personal tours around Kruger so wish us some good sightings!

Another awesome semester finished - time is flying!