Last week, Roz and I collected some samples from both Valkyrie and Jezebel. Valkyrie chose a relatively dry area of Khwai to use, which made me rather happy. We used the eastern boundary road for Moremi, which I had not driven up before, and was mostly fine, except for some very bumpy sections that must have been a nightmare in the rainy season. Valkyrie had moved back into NG41 by this time, so we did not find any buffalo, although we did bump into several waterbuck, which was lovely as I do not get to see them very often.
At one of the points that I wanted to sample, we found a large bull elephant resting in the shade. We left that point for a couple of hours in the hope that he would move on. By the time we went back, he had only moved as far as the next tree, but looked like he might move further, so I drove away to wait for him to move on under a tree. Unfortunately it turned out that the tree I had selected was also his next target, because the next I knew was Roz saying he's here, and there he emerged from the bushes, mere metres away. It was too late to move away, and my car was not starting on the first try, so I just decided to sit and wait. He was after the camelthorn pods and when he had scooped up the ones that were already on the ground, he shook the tree for more. As he picked them up delicately one by one, he stared at us from just a few metres away. After about ten minutes, he moved on to the next tree and we went back to sample the site.
Despite a bit of waiting, we managed to get everything done in time to get back to camp that night, and then sampled a few sites used by Jezebel the next day. On the way back from Khwai, my accelerator had become stuck and was progressively getting worse, but Moses had a look at it and made a plan with something he found in the workshop. His plan stopped the accelerator sticking, but created another problem, but that was fixed this week.
I flew up to Kasane this week to give a talk to the heads of primary schools in Botswana. It was lovely to go somewhere new, and they covered all of my expenses, including a cruise on the river. I thoroughly enjoyed watching elephants chasing baboons on the bank, as for once their trumpets were not directed at me!
At one of the points that I wanted to sample, we found a large bull elephant resting in the shade. We left that point for a couple of hours in the hope that he would move on. By the time we went back, he had only moved as far as the next tree, but looked like he might move further, so I drove away to wait for him to move on under a tree. Unfortunately it turned out that the tree I had selected was also his next target, because the next I knew was Roz saying he's here, and there he emerged from the bushes, mere metres away. It was too late to move away, and my car was not starting on the first try, so I just decided to sit and wait. He was after the camelthorn pods and when he had scooped up the ones that were already on the ground, he shook the tree for more. As he picked them up delicately one by one, he stared at us from just a few metres away. After about ten minutes, he moved on to the next tree and we went back to sample the site.
Despite a bit of waiting, we managed to get everything done in time to get back to camp that night, and then sampled a few sites used by Jezebel the next day. On the way back from Khwai, my accelerator had become stuck and was progressively getting worse, but Moses had a look at it and made a plan with something he found in the workshop. His plan stopped the accelerator sticking, but created another problem, but that was fixed this week.
I flew up to Kasane this week to give a talk to the heads of primary schools in Botswana. It was lovely to go somewhere new, and they covered all of my expenses, including a cruise on the river. I thoroughly enjoyed watching elephants chasing baboons on the bank, as for once their trumpets were not directed at me!
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