Big herd of buff

On Thursday, Shavaughn (my assistant) and I returned to camp after spending four nights in NG31 and NG32 sampling sites used by some of my collared buffalo. We started on Sunday in NG32, at the bottom of the Gomoti, on the buffalo fence. We were able to make our way up to the crossing between NG32 and NG34 without any difficulties. We got several samples on the way and negotiated quite a few muddy patches without getting stuck. As we set up our camp on the Gomoti, we were watched by the Matthews pack of wild dogs - eleven adults and 6 pups. We had spotted them a few minutes earlier as they chased an impala, but it appeared that they failed to catch it and decided to just watch us from a distance for a while.

The next day we continued northwards along the Gomoti through NG32 and into NG31. The sites used by the herds were similar to some used previously in the area, so I could use the tracks that I had recorded previously to find my way between islands. The water had also dropped significantly, which made everything easier. We saw two buffalo herds, one of around 50 and one of about 300, but they were both quite far away and moved off across floodplains too quickly for me to get much data from them. We camped along one of the main channels in NG31, which in retrospect was probably a bit close to several hippo pods. Shavaughn got a fright from one that came out to graze, but she managed to scare it more and it ran back into the water.

We kept travelling up the Gomoti, stopping to watch about 20 crocodiles ripping into what appeared to be an elephant's foot, although it could well have been something different. I thought that the crocodiles would therefore be suitably distracted and not in the spot that I found to cross the channel, seeing as I had to walk the crossing before driving it. It was a lovely sandy crossing to an island that I had wanted to visit for a while and have now found the best way to access it. We saw lots of elephants in that area, but none of them bothered with us too much.

We went back across the channel and drove up to the top of the Chitabe land mass. There we found another suitable crossing and passed into Moremi, into an area that I had not previously visited. It appeared that the area had only recently dried out, but was quite easy to drive around. We found a nice camping spot and were just cooking dinner when we noticed another camp fire in the tree line about 500 m across the floodplain from us. Soon after we spotted it, I watched through binoculars as someone hurriedly put it out. We concluded that they must be poachers, which made us slightly nervous. We got in touch with Guy (my camp manager) and gave him our GPS co-ordinates, arranging to contact him in the morning to check all was well. We did not have any problems, but the next morning a bush fire was started very close to where we saw the camp fire.

We spotted a few buffalo as we were packing up camp and headed over to investigate. It turned out to be a herd of over 1, 000 animals, including my recently collared cow, B2. I managed to age and sex 777 of the buff, which took a while! We headed back out of Moremi and sampled a few more points before stopping for the night close to a big lagoon.

The next morning we sampled our last few points (making a total of 40 sites sampled from 3 collared animals on the trip) and stopped off in Sandibe and Chitabe to say hello before heading back across the Gomoti. We were then called on to help with a zebra darting before we got back to camp for a well-deserved shower!

Darting and collaring nine cows

I have been preparing to dart and collar nine additional cows, so I arranged for Larry (vet) and Peter (helicopter pilot) to go darting on Monday evening and Tuesday morning this week. Guy kindly agreed to fly for me beforehand to save on chopper time, which is really quite expensive. Guy spotted several herds for me on Monday evening, when we were concentrating along the Santantadibe. We collared 4 cows in less than 2 hours of chopper flying time. All went well, and we put two satellite collars on and two store on board collars on.

We flew back to HQ to spend the evening. Larry and Peter were quick to partake of the pool and we spent a very pleasant evening chatting. Some lions came down to the pan as well.

The next morning, Guy flew for us again and found 2 more herds along the Gomoti. We were able to put 5 store on board collars onto cows in 4 different herds. Again, everything went well and we were finished relatively quickly. We were able to take Shavaughn up for the last collar, which she enjoyed very much. The longest period from the dart going in to the buffalo being up and fully mobile was 16 minutes.

This morning we were woken up by lion cubs calling outside our houses, which was rather a nice way to wake. They caused havoc in the workshop and carried a rag away with them.

Shavaughn and I are going across to the Chitabe area for a few nights from tomorrow and will hopefully collect a substantial amount of data from the three collared animals on the Gomoti side.

Santantadibe

Shavaughn and I went across to NG32, along the Santantadibe, for a couple of nights this week. From plotting the GPS fixes onto Google Earth, it looked like most of them were on the western side of the channel, so we first drove to the Thamalakane crossing. As soon as I caught sight of it I doubted our chances of crossing. We found a truck stopped in the water at the crossing point and very few tracks going into the water. An old man was on the other side and he waded across to show us just how deep it was. I tried to walk across at a shallower section, but the water was higher than my waist. I know I am not the tallest person, but I thought that was still a bit high for my car.

So we headed back up to the gate on the eastern side of the Santantadibe, without crossing any of the anticipated water. We followed a road along the edge of the floodplains and came across a herd of about 300 buff in lovely open grassland. At first we thought they were going to run for it, but they relaxed very quickly. In fact as we drove towards them, they stopped walking away from us and turned to walk right past us, about 50 m away, in a slow manner, which was perfect for working out age and sex ratios. I got quite a high percentage of the herd, and was then able to collect fresh faeces from the ground while they watched. By this time the sun was setting, so we drove a km or so and camped. The wind was howling that night, but it stopped eventually and we were able to get some sleep.

The next morning, we started sampling points used by Bianca. It was relatively easy to drive around and most of the points turned out to be on that side of the channel (not quite sure how, but will have another look at Google Earth) and quite easily accessible. We got ten points done before lunch and a further 7 after lunch. We found a lovely campsite in front of floodplains with pools. The next morning there were waterbuck and zebra splashing through the floodplains.

We continued sampling, but by that time had almost reached our quota of samples for the area. I want to avoid oversampling areas on trips, as that leads to a bias in the data. We found a few more sites, bringing our total up to 20. The second to last one was in riparian woodland, and I managed not to see a log that unfortunately cracked my windscreen. I am still upset with myself about this, and will endeavour to be much more careful in future.

I radio-ed camp and they kindly agreed to look up the latest fix for Bianca. I plotted it on my GPS and realised that she was on the other side of the channel. I think that there is a crossing for the Santantadibe, but I was not sure where it was, so decided to leave Bianca for next time. We obtained population dynamics data from the other herd, and I now know which coordinates will mean that Bianca is on the east of the channel.

We drove back to camp and arrived just in time for the end of lunch. It was a short trip, but would have been highly satisfactory if not for the windscreen incident.

Sampling on the Gomoti

Last week Shavaughn and I went back up the Gomoti on a day trip to collect some data from sites used by Nokya. There were several sites that we could not get to because of water, but I was really trying to continue the trip we started before having to hurry back for the fires. I somehow managed to delete some of the habitat photos that I had taken previously, so I wanted to take those again before it changed too much. I was actually amazed by how much the habitats had changed in two weeks. The grasses were quite similar, but the leaves have really started to come out in the trees. I managed to scare several giraffes by walking around without them being able to see me!

We came across a lovely little herd of buff, around 75 of them. They were very relaxed and content to watch us work and pose for photographs. Usually when we get close, they move off, but this time they stuck around. I needed to collect some faecal samples, so got the car as close to fresh poo as I could and collected it, keeping a wary eye on the buff of course. As I was counting them I saw a female with a young calf running about 50 m behind them, but she showed no signs of having seen the herd and just kept running, which was quite odd.

We saw the 4 resident reedbuck that don't seem to move from a patch of floodplain, quite a few lechwe (an indicator that we will probably not reach a site) and a lot of elephant. I darted through a gap in a herd only to find myself in between those elephants and the rest of the herd that were crossing the river. Shavaughn was enchanted by a couple of them submerging themselves completely, but I was keen to get out of the herd before stopping to have a look.

We went to town on Saturday morning to collect the collars that have been refurbished and returned to me. DHL had promised me they would arrive on Saturday, but this failed to happen, so I thought it would be easier to wait until Monday rather than come in and out of camp. The collars did arrive on Monday, and I did not have to pay any fees, despite what DHL in Gabs told me. I had realised by then that the older style collars needed a few more bits and pieces to be programmed. I decided to take a few more days rather than rush on with the darting that was due to happen yesterday, so it has been delayed until next week. I have been switching all the collars on this morning and decorating the area outside the office with them. So far they are behaving very well.