Serval Release

Wednesday 18th August 2010

Today we found out we were going to be present for the release of a Serval that was captured at Forever Resorts in Warmbaths. We travelled out to the Vleilande along the fence of the 400 hectre. There we found Sieg and the guy who brought the Serval to Sondela. We were each given a chance to look at the Serval in the cage, whilst Sieg explained the release procedure to us. There were a few beautiful Kudu bulls present for the release as well though they lost interest once everyone was there. The Serval was a large, beautiful male, although he was very wild. Once we ere all done looking at him, the cage was offloaded from the back of the bakkie and placed so that we could watch the motion of the Serval once he was released. The cage was placed on the floor and the door was opened. The Serval took off in a hurry straight into the long grass. It was incredible to see just how quickly they move and how well they camouflage in the long grass. Thereafter we had a debrief and headed back to the academy. It was overall a fantastic experience, a first for me.

Cultural Heritage

17 August 2010

We did the cultural heritage part of our course today. We got taken out to the Waterpunt Koppie to go look at Stone and Iron Age artifacts that could possibly still have bn there. Cobus explained alot about the history of the people here long before Sondela was ever born, how they lived, what they used the Koppie for, the different types of rocks that were found there and how they were shaped into weapons and tools. We then looked for artifacts ourselves, I found an old pot rim and a cuck used for breaking and shaping rocks into tools or weapons. There were lots of photos taken, it was an interesting and enlightening experience... and we got to play in the dirt and get our hands dirty.

Crocodile Farm

Monday 2 August 2010

We went to the Thaba Kwena Crocodile Farm and had alot of fun. Learned quite a bit about crocodiles while we were there. All the students did presentations about crocodiles, where I learned about evolution of crocodiles, their scientific names, who Piet and Battleaxe are, I was assigned to find out about Crocodile Ranching, who CITES is and threats to crocodiles in the wild and in captivity. Making the posters was also fun, explaining what we had learned while on our visit. Then just before we left we had to do a sort of welcoming for a guest as if we were tour guides there ourselves. For me, CITES is a fantastic initiative. CITES is the Convention for International Trade of Endangered Species. Formed in 1975 to limit trade on Endangered wildlife. Until I had to cover it, I didnt know CITES existed. I noted what was required to open and run a crocodile far, what conditions are necessary for crocodiles to thrive on a farm, and what can be done to prevent harm from other threats to the crocodiles. Overall it was an amazing, inciteful and very enjoyable trip.