Walking with Wildlife

Have you ever wondered how game parks keep track of how many animals they have?  We found out recently.

My principal at KJSS was kind enough to realize that the opportunity to help count game in Bwabwata National Park was worth my absence from classes for a week. I’m extremely grateful for such a supportive Supervisor.  So, with the green light, Aaron & I packed our bags and headed up north for an incredible adventure.

If you’re like me, you’d probably imagine living in some hut with wild elephants and lions in the distance on a daily basis if you’re sent to Africa to live for 2 years.  Truth be told, we are in a city, and there is very little wildlife here, with the exception of some elusive snakes and maybe Springbok or Gemsbok.  Bwabwata is home to a number of incredible species of birds and mammals, including African buffalo, giraffe, ostrich, hippo, roan antelope, reedbuck, sable, zebra, warthogs, wildebeest, crocodile, lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena and wild dogs to name a few!  So, when I heard of a chance to help count some of these wild animals, my heart started pumping.

It did not disappoint.

Day 1

We went on a game drive the first evening through the park.

We arrived on a Sunday afternoon.  How do I explain Fidi, our host?  Nothing in print could give this guy justice.  He picked us up from the nearest town & drove us into the park and to our home for the next 4 nights. We unpacked our bags in two heavy-duty tents (there was a third volunteer who was with us – the one who had asked us to accompany her).  He gave us a tour of the place, which consisted of a home he had built over the course of the past 9 years: all outdoors.  No doors, no fences, nothing but a mosquito net over his bed that would separate him from the prolific wildlife around.  “They know this is my  home.  If they get too close, I just tell them, ‘you have everything else to eat around you, leave my home and food alone.’” 

This man lives with the animals, and chooses to live without fear. It’s a conscious decision he’s made in his life.

With Marissa, another PCV, checking out the game during the drive

Buffalo

One of 4 different herds of elephants we saw on the drive

Night 1

“If it sounds like everything around you is crashing and falling, stay in your tent.  Elephants don’t walk on tents.  They don’t trample humans.”

 OK. 

So, with this helpful speech, after an incredible game drive and a lovely outdoor dinner, in which we listened to a herd of elephants thrashing through the trees just beyond us to get their drink of water, we went to sleep in our tents. 

 3:00 am: “Aaron, is that you?”

“No.  That’s an animal.” 

A hippo or buffalo was about 6 feet behind our tent, grazing on the grass.  Forty-five minutes later our visitor ventured off. (Or rather, our local ventured off.  The visitors went back to sleep in their tents).

Day 2

At 5:00am we woke up with the sun and headed down to the main site, where people from several organizations were getting ready for the game count of the day. This included people from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), the Namibian Police, the Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC), WWF Namibia, Kyaramacan Association, locals (we were in the presence of what some believe are the first humans to inhabit the planet: the Khwe People) and finally neutral bystanders – that’s where we come in to play. In groups of 5 or 6 we all set off on our task.

On our way to our first walk!

The way that the Bwabwata community counts the big game within its boundaries every year is through a yearly census on foot covering the whole park (approximately 640,000 hectares). Instead of knocking door to door, people walk through the entire land, using a GPS device and a calculated trek, recording the number of animals they see and the animal tracks they observe.  Naturally, I had several questions.

“Animals move.  How is it that you don’t count the same animal twice?”

“We are only able to count tracks that have been made within the past 24 hours. We calculate the observations of others, and with our knowledge of the animals, we know what is possible and what is not.”

“How do you know what tracks are recent, and what are old?”

(this was answered on our first walk)

“What if an elephant charges me?  I hear that a rifle won’t deter them.”

(laughter) “Oh, yeah, an elephant charged me yesterday.  I climbed a tree.”

What did I get myself into?

Though we were walking through thick bush, the pace was quick.  I was breathless most of the time.  The only time I got to catch my breath was when they spotted something.  Each time there was a countable track or a live animal within our vision, we had to record it.  I volunteered to be the secretary, which only made me slower.  (But at least I didn’t feel completely useless).  The trackers were AMAZING.  They could tell when the animal had passed by the look and texture of its track.  And they could, almost instantaneously, know the number of animals in the group by the direction in which the tracks were going & their patterns.  I was totally clueless.

 By the end of our 10km journey through the African savanna that morning, I was in utter awe of the people who led us.  At any given moment, I had to keep my head up to push branches away, my head down, to not trip over bushes and roots, and my feet moving through the thick, beach-like sand, to not fall behind.  (No one wants to be in the middle of a game park without the guy with the gun). But the experts seemed to walk effortlessly, all the while noticing the slightest details of faded prints in the sand, or a movement from an animal 100 meters away.  Totally in awe.

Night 2

I was a little nervous falling asleep, but no friends woke us up.

Day 3

“Did you see who walked through camp last night?  A leopard,” Fidi told us as we jumped in his truck. Sure enough, if you walked about 10 feet from our tent, you could see the fresh prints of a cat who wasn’t around the day before.

With tired legs, but unmistakable adrenaline, we set off for our second foot game count.

We arrived minutes later at the camp site where everyone else was staying. The sun was still rising, the stench of old cow meat hung in the air.  The sounds of rifles loading hit our ears.  We were ushered into the back of a truck with a new team for the day. 

Today the bush was extra thick.  The first hour of the morning was more eventful than the following 4 hours.  But, when you think about it, uneventful is a good thing, considering you could –at any moment-unknowingly cross a lion’s path.

The day proved just as tiresome (on my part) and impressive (on the trackers’ part) as the day before.  We came across an elephant’s graveyard; they could name the month in which it was killed – and that it was poached. We crossed an ostrich’s path: a mother, and her two young.  They could tell by a second’s glance who was walking there.

Night 3

After a soul-nourishing day of living in the bush, in the wilderness, eating fresh food, waking with the sun, sleeping after dark, an exciting evening enfolded.

Elephants were everywhere.  Thrashing through brush and trees, growling occasionally, (“is that a lion?”), and then the occasional comforting noise of the traditional trumpet: this was unreal. A herd of elephants were walking past us, leaving our tent alone as Fidi had assured us on day one.  I knew that I would never have this opportunity again, and relished the sounds.

Day 4

Eventually we had to go home, back to Keetmanshoop.  But I left with a renewed sense of gratitude, strength to continue volunteering, and hope.

Highlights from the week

One of the greatest highlights for me was encountering three zebra.  I had seen zebra before, but never on foot.  When they saw us, they ran away – the deep thunder of their hooves against the earth at 1oo meters away was felt beneath my feet.  It was magical.

We spotted a few Sable – a species of antelope that I had yet to see before, even after a year of living in Namibia.

We also crossed a buffalo (one of the most aggressive of African animals), and my heart dropped as I saw it move – not knowing if it was coming toward us in aggression, or away in retreat.

Grateful/Awe-inspired

Animals and their kingdoms

Humanity and their resiliency

Animals and humans living together

Humans and their ability to understand and track animals

Fidi: one who is dedicated to “dignity restoration” of the Khwe people, and dedicating his life and work to that mission, while living in harmony with birds, insects, big and small African game

The chance to witness this

For more information about the Khwe People, tracking animals, or to read more about some really exciting projects that are happening in this unique place in the world, please contact me:  megansammy@gmail.com.   If anyone is interested in the TEKOA (Traditional Environmental Knowledge Outreach Academy) proposal that Fidi has submitted, please contact him: falpers@iway.na

One of the incredible Khwe trackers

OUR HOME FOR THE WEEK

Fidi's home

The kitchen

The office

Our tents

This bushbuck was a daily visitor

For me, this outdoor shower was the highlight of each day in the bush!

A herd of about 15-20 elephants walking about 100m in front of us at dusk in front of Fidi's house on our last night 

THE GAME WALKS

Waiting with the trackers for the evening meeting to start before our first walk

The trackers' campsite (the large cauldrons are where their meals were prepared everyday)

Getting ready for Day 1

One of the trackers' rifles

Buffalo skull

We came across the remains of a poached elephant.  Poaching is still a huge problem in this park. 

Skull of an elephant

Checking out our route before heading out on day 2.

Aaron recorded the animals and tracks on the 2nd day

Giraffe print

Leopard

Elephant print

This stuff is hard to walk through!  Especially while simultaneously trying not to be eaten by a lion. 

AFTER THE STORM

by Mumford & Sons

And after the storm

I run and run as the rains come

And I look up, I look up

On my knees and out of luck, I look up

Night has always pushed up day

You must know life to see decay

But I won’t rot, I won’t rot

Not this mind and not this heart, I won’t rot

And there will come a time, you’ll see, with no more tears

And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears

Get over your hill and see what you find there

With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair