Congratulations go to Danya Bush, Josh Connon and David Benson - members of the Swaziland GAP team out in Mozambique at the moment who have just completed and passed their PADI Open Water Dive courses and are now qualified divers! The team are currently making their way back down from Tofo beach to Maputo before heading off for some adrenaline-filled activities in Sabie, South Africa.
Update from the team to follow soon!
So after our weekend of rafting we headed back to Mbuluzi and were greeted with the task of anti-poaching patrols. Probably the most uncomfortable experience of our life. We did find one snare, which had wrapped itself around the leg of an unfortunate Wildebeest. We also carried on with the giraffe surveys and seemed to be getting the hang of it a little more. Matt then took us to the Mbulizi shooting range where Danya proved she was more man than the rest of us by beating us all with a rifle. Later that day she got to go impala hunting with Matt, though sadly the prospect of meat was not realised until the following day when Toby "the tweed man-child" managed to kill a female impala. That night we celebrated Rich King's birthday with beer and animal. Lucky, the rangers, and some of the maintenance boys popped round for some food, beer and a little bit of spontaneous marriage. Colin+Danya=4evz. The rest of the week was spent repairing many flat tyres and polishing off the giraffe surveys.
That weekend we set off to celebrate Toby's birthday at a rock lodge near to the Ngwempisi River. As he had finally hit double figures (at least in terms of maturity) Toby was very excited for these celebrations and bought as much budget rum as he could carry. Having been told to expect a 100m walk we arrived at the rock lodge after what can only be described as a lengthy sweaty trek near to sunset. The views from the rock lodge were fairly sweet to say the least and the open air shower and loo looked over the entire valley. That night we munched on some marinated impala steaks and had a few drinks to celebrate Toby hitting the age where training wheels were no longer necessary!
One birthday later and we were back into the bush, this time at Mlawula Game Reserve, which sits right next to Mbuluzi, but is about 5 times the size. We camped out again but with the added bonus of a roofed kitchen area, that was unfortunately swarming with fiery-eyed moths. BATMAN TO THE RESCUE: our resident bat was at hand to save us, munching up his foes on a nightly basis. Our park guide, Teddy, who looked more like an Indie rockstar than the education officer he was, showed us the way all week, and what a hectic week it was! Anti-poaching patrols along the railway tracks (tight-rope walking along the rails), alien plant control (thrashing some bushes with machetes), window repair (smashing old windows), trail mapping (looking at some native plants and animal tracks) and refurbishing the ecology office (well, practically rebuilding it from scratch). Any free time was spent perfecting our left handed catching skills with a tennis ball or reclining in our array of camp armchairs and sofa. Standard game reserve working days.
We headed to Simunye Country Club for the weekend where we indulged in the fine food on offer; buckets of fried stuff basically. Danya being obvious man of the group had 3 meals to her self; started with an enormous burger and all the trimmings followed by a pizza and for dessert a potato salad; Wow!
With food in our bellies we head off on the Sunday to Shewula Mountain Camp.
I HATE ICELAND! It changed everything, everyone was late...Two arrived at two in Joburg from Nairobi, they were tall Toby and the often oblivious Dave, it was supposed to be three...where was Whalley? He had lost his passport in Nairobi airport and was pretty much an illegal citizen for 2 days! Zac Effron-esque hard rocker James arrived later that night...Whalley then arrived finally on the Friday night! On Saturday we decided to go to a local Super 14 rugby game where the cheer leaders could not have led a pack of lemmings. Later that night we went out for same late night fun where James and Toby met some lovely ladies although we did think at first that we had sighted our first game! Richard requested that we risk assess the situation.
Danya 'the American' arrived a few days later and our team was almost complete. We lived in a hostel in Pretoria for a few days and there was also a dove, which Dave befriended then ate RAW! Josh came on plane from the wonderful world of Aberdeen and we all finally went off to Swaziland! We are working for another week in the Mbulizi game reserve. Here we are dominating predator holes and counting the hell out of giraffes. Our original idea of identifying them by the number of spots they had turned out to take a little too long but now it is a fine art! For the first half-week we were guided round and instructed by Chuck Norris' brother Tal. Tal knows what, where and who everything is in the bush! Tal once found a revolving door in the middle of the bush and then slammed it! There was a rogue lion in the game reserve which we were all very scared of while we were camping under the stars but the thought that Tal had once fought of a whole pack of lions with nothing but a pair of sunglasses made us feel safe!
This weekend we have been staying at Lidwala backpackers which has been really great fun! We went out on Friday night to the legendary club "House on Fire" - it was super sweet and the dancefloor was dominated by some sweet as dance moves from Rich 'ginger' King (our team leader, who is wise like an owl). Toby had the best night of his life. For all intents and purposes it was 'just like Fulham'! He genuinely still believes he was the DJ for the night lol! Then on Saturday we went river rafting which was again super sweet especially for Toby who could barely move...and here we are! Back to Mbuluzi...
Richard Whalley and team...
The Swaziland Team are hard at work in Mbuluzi game reserve at the moment, undertaking giraffe surveys and building predator passageways to allow predators to move easily within the reserve. The team have another week left at their Mbuluzi camp, baking fresh bread over their fire - all very domesticated - before heading to Mlawula Reserve to take part in some much needed renovation of Sara Camp. Sara Camp with it's wildlife and stunning views should be the jewel in the crown of the Mlawula Reserve, brining in much needed revenue for the park and local community. The Quest team will be working to get the camp up and running again with a week of maintenance tasks along with further giraffe surveys in the reserve. It's not been all work and no play however, last weekend the team took to the Great Usutu River, testing their nerves on the rapids with a day's white water rafting. Even a few wet team members and a lost paddle couldn't spoil the fun. Update from the team coming soon!
With Icelandic volcanos behaving and cancelled flights now flying the Swaziland team have finally been able to get stuck into their project work in the Lubombo Conservancy reserves. We're assured an update from the team will be winging its way through cyberspace shortly so keep do your eyes peeled. At present the team are taking a game ranger and bush interpretation course, learning to understand the environment around them and identify different species of flora and fauna. Highly useful skills as they will then be working in Mbuluzi Game Reserve, clearing alien invasive plant species, conducting ongoing giraffe surveys and undertaking general maintenance work. Other parts of the project will involve passing on their new-found knowledge and experience during an environmental education week at local Primary schools in the Shewula area.
Update from the team and photos to follow!
Experience life in the African bush on next year's Swaziland Gap project and expedition.
