Can't wait to go back!

We've been back in our "normal" lives for a month now, and back in school for 3 weeks. I keep waiting for the memories and joy from our trip to fade, but it has not, so far. I remain in contact with Jessica, our amazing program organizer, and am consistently amazed how much we all miss her!

I am pretty excited, though, at the response of this year's Vet Science class. On Friday, I showed some photos and brought in some of my souvenirs for them to see, and they were really excited. When I polled the class, there was extremely strong interest in repeating the trip next summer, and Jessica is holding dates for us! It will be so wonderful to help another group of students have this outstanding experience!

So for now, we focus on learning the necessary background material and developing useful skills; soon enough the students will be able to put them into practice in species they never thought they would see up close! I don't anticipate updating this blog often as we prepare to travel, but rest assured, next year will bring a new blog full of news and pictures!

If you want to see what else is happening in the Vicksburg/KRESA agri-sciences department, check out our departmental blog at KRESA Agri-sciences blog!

Before we leave tomorrow...

Today has been a bit challenging for us all. Without Jessica, we all feel a little bit rudderless, and miss her quick wit and smooth organization. We are also really conscious of the fact that we have to leave this remarkable experience tomorrow. It seems impossible that 2 short weeks ago, we came not knowing what to expect, not knowing anyone. Today we feel devastated to leave! In addition, it has been an incredibly full and busy 2 weeks, and we are all a bit fatigued; our 5:00 am departure this morning to get to the elephants by feeding time contributed to this as well.

The elephant ranch had previously offered elephant safaris, but has recently changed to offer individual interactions but not rides. The staff feel that the elephants are happier: After their hour-long feeding session with the tourists at 7:30 am, they are let out into the reserve, where they are free to mingle with the other elephants and lead an essentially wild life. These elephants were mainly rescued as orphans, although several were born on the reserve. They are no longer breeding, preferring to use contraception in their herd in order to maintain space for additional rescues and orphans. The herd matriarch seems to readily adopt orphaned young elephants, so they gain a family and a herd.

4 elephants were brought up and lined up along a short wall, so that they could reach us over the wall with their heads and trunks. We were introduced and allowed to feed, pet and interact with them for an hour! It was amazing!

James makes a friend

Hannah has a hug!

I'm checking out that trunk!

Kait has a handshake

We are all loving being so close to these fascinating creatures! This facility does not use chains, electric prods or physical harm to train; instead, they use positive reinforcement. Their "sticks" are short, blunt versions of cattle show sticks, and they are only used to tap a given location if the elephant does not respond to a command. For example, if the handler asks for the left foot, and the elephant raises the right, the handler touches the left leg and the elephant then makes the needed correction.

Kait and James 

Hannah almost disappears behind this youngster. He is only 9 years old, and a bit mischievous.

Brooklyn 

Chloe

Kait

Hannah

James

Brooklyn is in love!

I had never looked into the end of an elephant's trunk before! The 2 little "fingers" at the end can be used to pick up tiny things; they are really dexterous! Inside, there are 2 large holes (nostrils), but they close them off when picking up food or accepting it from your hand. They then toss the food into their mouth. They have enormous teeth, and go through SIX sets of teeth during their lifetime! In addition, they have fit, smooth, soft tongues, which seems odd given the thorny nature of much of what they eat! How do I know all this? Watch!

(video pending)

A small group of warthogs was hanging out nearby, waiting to clean up any leftover or spilled elephant feed--we were feeding them pelleted horse treat- type stuff made of alfalfa and molasses. After we played with them and posed with them, it was time to leave the elephants.

Warthog waiting for breakfast

These guys are ugly and fascinating!

Back in the van for the panoramic drive. This would take us into the mountains (who knew South Africa had those?!) and along the Blyde River canyon. We drove off the lowveld, and started gaining altitude. Things became progressively greener, and small villages began to appear in the higher valleys. Then citrus and mango groves appeared in higher valleys. We continued to climb along a narrow, curvy, steep road. We were often caught behind extremely slow-moving semi trucks, and sometimes slowed by cattle on the road, monkeys crossing, and, later, rocks, trees, broken glass and other debris littering the road from a miles-long blockade protesting something. Police and firefighters were just beginning to clear the roadways.

We stopped to view the Blyde River Canyon first, which is the 3rd largest canyon in the world! Its terrain was varied, and we first viewed it as a series of waterfalls and rapids running over colorful rocks and entering the canyon. It was warm and the sun felt especially strong at that altitude, and I sat on a rock overlooking the rapids and soaked in the sound of rushing water, birds, and a light breeze bringing the scent of fresh water and green plants as well as warm rocks. I could have sat there for days!

Blyde Canyon, the Tree Rondels (round huts) formation in the canyon. Note the Blyde river at the bottom.

This canyon is DEEP!

At one point, the river dams into a lake; most is invisible from our vantage point, and not very accessible.

Beautiful running water over rocks. If you look closely, you can see the students in the background on the left dipping their toes into the cold stream.

The students went and dipped their toes (and somewhat more, in some cases) into the cool water, while I climbed around on the broad flat rocks overlooking the canyon.


A second path led to a viewpoint where a deep, alpine-type lake lay, an impossible blue color contrasting red, brown and black rocks, greenery and an intense cloudless sky.


A short drive brought us to The Potholes, which are deep rock formations worn by the headwaters of the 2 rivers that flow together to carve out the Blyde River Canyon. The rocks were magnificent and the pools of water hundreds of feet below were so clear that we could see fish!

A view straight down into some of the clearest surface water on earth.

At Potholes, water has patiently worn away at the rock where 2 rivers converge and enter the Blyde River Canyon

Gurgling water, amazing rock

A broader view

Pools, potholes and waterfalls

Our last stop was at God's Window and the Rain Forest. We arrived there along with several busloads of uniformed students! A short climb brought us to God's Window, which is a view across the canyon between 2 cliffs.

God's Window

A long, steep climb, challenging at altitude, brought us to the Rain Forest. This area was lushly green and densely covered in thick vegetation. I identified lots of different ferns and mosses, succulents and many unfamiliar plants and trees. The shade and light breeze was lovely up here!


We were soon surrounded by students eager to meet the Americans and to try out their English. They were all so friendly and curious! It really made the climb twice as worthwhile!

Kait poses with some new friends

Brooklyn has a LOT of new little brothers!

2 hours drive brought us back to the lodge, where Jane had snacks waiting for us. The Wi-Fi was extremely slow, so we all struggled to upload our most recent adventures. Food is appearing, so supper is imminent. After that, I will do most of my sorting and packing, as we leave for good at 10:00  tomorrow morning. I am surprised by the depth of my sorrow about leaving here! I'm glad to have the long journey to gather my thoughts before we arrive back at home.

I don't anticipate that I will have another chance to update the blog before we arrive at home. I hope to add some final thoughts once we are home and rested. Continue to watch Facebook for updates regarding our journey home. And thanks for sharing our journey through our blog!

Our Last Vet Work

Today we completed the last of our veterinary work here in South Africa. In addition, the day was packed full of great things, intense emotions, and amazement. We started out working again with vet Rita, as she darted sable to relocate to start a new breeding herd about 2 hours away. 4 adult cows and their 4 calves, as well as an adult bull, were to be darted and loaded. This time the transport was a truck rather than a trailer, which would necessitate lifting the animals directly from the truck bed into the compartments in the truck. We split into teams, with 3 students at a time going with the darting crew in the truck, and 3 staying back at the truck to process the animals as they were loaded.

We de-briefed in great detail last night, and the students appeared to have decided to make today the best day of work so far. They were organized, anticipated needs, thought things through and acted very efficiently all morning! I was so proud of them--they performed at a level far beyond that which most people would expect of high school students.

The transport truck for today. For some reason, the scene here seems more wintry to me than our other locations.

Chloe, Brooklyn and Hannah are getting ready to process sables. The other students are riding in the truck with Rita to dart and bring to this truck.

After loading the sable, we drove to another farm, where Jessica's husband's family lives. Their home is also on this game preserve, and they run hunts as well as other animal-related activities. Rita came with us, because today was the day for her to teach us to shoot a dart gun. We checked out the target, which seemed awfully small for a bunch of beginners, then watched as Rita explained and demonstrated. We learned to load a dart into the barrel, load the charge, take off the safety, aim, and shoot. We were using empty old darts that had been recovered from the animals we darted all week, but we were also using Rita's gun, which seemed insanely generous, seeing that it is what she uses to make her living! I also confess to feeling pretty intimidated, since I was the oldest in the group (by a generation!) and had never fired a gun before! But I knew that if I didn't try it, I would regret it forever. At worst, I would miss the target, right?

Each of us took turns shooting, then going to the target to recover our labelled darts. I was quite amazed to have been quite close with my first shot, and to place my second in almost the identical spot slightly high and to the left. I over-corrected my third shot, but it was low and right just about the same distance as the first two were high and left, so I was figuring it out.

Rita demonstrating shooting the dart gun

Kait shot first, having learned when she was younger

Brooklyn was next. James is in the background taking video, and the rest of the group looks on

Summer aims and shoots

Hannah was next

Then James

Then Chloe

And this is a photo of me taking my first ever shot.

Results of the first round. Everybody hit on the target somewhere. We were aiming for the 3rd target down from the top.

We progressed through 2 more rounds of shooting, from a greater distance each time, and with each of us recovering our dart and improving our accuracy each time. Rita explained that she uses a sight, rather than a scope, because she has to remain aware of the movement of the animals around the one she is attempting to dart, and that a scope focuses in too narrowly for that. I was also impressed by how little kick the rifle had, and was grateful that it was also relatively quiet.

After we had all shot 3 rounds, we waited in the shade and students asked Rita tons of good questions about her career. At 2:00 sharp, we heard the distinctive sound of a helicopter coming over the nearby hill. A tiny yellow aircraft appeared and landed in the clearing in front of our target. Dust came flying and everything was instantly covered in grit. Jessica led Hannah to the helicopter, checked that the gun was correctly loaded with the safety on, and helped her into the seat behind the pilot. Seat belt on, headset on, and away they went! Since the helicopter is used primarily for hunting and darting, it is totally open on the sides, which means it is quite windy. As in, extremely windy! The helicopter rose from the ground, turned slightly and banked around in a circle. It returned to approach the target, and lowered to near the treetops and hovered briefly. It was impossible to hear the shot over the sound of the rotors, but as they rose and flew out away, the pilot reported back on the radio that she had hit the target paper. They flew in a large loop, then returned and landed, and the next student boarded and the routine was repeated.

Helicopter taking off. Our target is the tiny white rectangle just left of center, on the darker background of a board. Looks tiny, doesn't it?!

Helicopter hovering for a single shot

Then is away again.

I was both excited and nervous about going up and shooting. I was eager to be up in the helicopter, but pretty uncertain about my ability to actually do something as unfamiliar as fire a gun in such an unfamiliar situation. I went last, since the students were all so eager. I decided that at worst, I would miss and have a great ride!

Jessica walked me to the helicopter, took the gun from Chloe, checked that it was correct, while I got in. The cockpit was surprisingly tiny, especially with the unfamiliar bulk of a rifle in there with me! But I got buckled in and put on my headset, realizing too late that wearing a bun clip was not very compatible with a bulky headset. We ascended smoothly, then tilted and zipped off around the practice area. the wind was so strong that I worried a bit that my glasses would blow off! The pilot made a nice wide circle, so I felt like I got a feel for flying before I had to shoot, which helped. Before I could really even spot the target, the pilot's voice in my ear said, "safety off. Aim." At that point, things happened fast. I raised the rifle to my shoulder, took the safety off, and pointed toward the target. At the same time, my headset slid off the back of my head, so that I could no longer hear the pilot's directions. The wind was buffeting the gun so hard that I was afraid to reach for the headset, so as soon as I felt us stop moving, I sighted the target and fired. We were instantly up and away, but I couldn't hear the pilot call my shot, either. I stowed the gun, recovered my headset and began to enjoy the sweeping views. We made a wide circle, taking in huge vistas and spotting game below. I think that pilot may have enjoyed playing with us a bit. because at one point we swung far sideways! Sadly for him, I loved it! I decided that I should take a selfie to remember the occasion, and then realized that my phone was in the pocket toward the outside. I managed to reach it and hold onto it--the wind tried hard to snatch it out of my hand! I got one photo, then just held tight to the phone and enjoyed the ride. Too quickly we were hovering and landing again, and I disentangled from the seat belt and headset, and left the helicopter. A moment later, it rose and flew out of sight.

This is what a very dusty, freckled teacher looks like taking a selfie in a helicopter. It was much more fun than it looks in this picture!

After everyone had flown, it was time to move on. We made a quick stop to meet Jessica's horses, one of which will be competing in an endurance event this weekend. The open barn, exposed water systems, and large number of employees continued to surprise me.

A bit of a drive took us to our next stop. The students were surprisingly quiet on the drive, as was Jessica. I couldn't tell whether she had already mentally moved on to the endurance ride, or whether she was tired, or both or neither. I was swinging quickly between exhileration from my flight and an unexpectedly strong sense of sadness and loss at losing the company of Rita and Jessica. In two very short weeks, these two remarkable women had spent countless hours with us, patiently answered millions of questions, and shown us more than we could have ever dreamed of seeing. If I weren't so blessed in what life has brought me, I, like the students, would want to stay with Jessica forever, and to be Rita! For the first time since we left home, my mind traveled back to the life awaiting me back at home. I have many great things to look forward to, but it suddenly hit me that no matter how great things were, it would be a letdown from this experience. I want to be certain that I talk with the students about that tomorrow, so that they don't get blindsided by those feelings. Meanwhile, I am trying my best to keep my brain on where I am now, having already thought through what I will need to do to prevent a mental "crash" once I get home.

Just as I was circling back to these thoughts for about the fifth time, we arrived at our next destination. We pulled through yet another gate into another game preserve, and drove a shortish (relatively!) distance back to a house surrounded by bright green grass! This was the first grassy yard we had seen since the nyala wound repair last week. Jessica let us into the gated yard, where we met dogs, and looked through the fence at young orphaned kudu, nyala and impala. In a small side building, a bush buck and a baby impala were contained until they were old enough to join the others. A separate pen held several young daikkers, one of which was predominantly white with blotches of the brown and black banded (agouti) hair typical in the rest. When we entered the pen with the young animals, a very curious sable came right up and began inspecting us. We quickly discovered that he had a real taste for human hair, and would nibble at any opportunity. A few minutes later, one of the staff appeared with bottles for feeding the youngest 3 animals in the pen, which we were pleased to do!

Hannah feeds a baby sable

Then we got into a vehicle called a game viewer: This is essentially a modified pickup. The top of the cab has been removed, and the bed is fitted with 3 bench seats, each higher than the row in front so that all have a good view. A canopy provides shade. We went zipping off along the farm roads. It was less rocky here than in many of our previous locations, so the roads themselves were relatively smooth, except for the berms created to prevent washouts during rainy season. Think in terms of humps about 5-10 times the size of a speed bump, placed often about 50 yards apart. Whee!

We zipped along for about 5 miles, then came to a stop in front of an enclosure containing 5 lions. They were eagerly waiting at the gate, but they were not being fed until tomorrow. They looked at us looking at them. There was a large female, an immature male (looking startlingly like an adolescent boy, all legs, big feet and just a weak suggestion of the magnificent mane that would eventually appear.) The male lion stayed somewhat aloof. When we returned to the vehicle, two young males and the young female ran alongside it inside the enclosure. Keeping up with our 15-20 mph speed didn't even seem to challenge them.

Our next stop was a large pen of African wild dogs. These have become less common in the wild, but these dogs were magnificent! Their large, round ears set off their intelligent faces, and the 3-colored spots and blotches of their coats were clearly defined and glossy. As soon as the adults assembled along the fence, about a dozen pups spilled out of a large mound where their den was. They looked remarkably puppy-like, and ran and tumbled just like pets.

After the dogs, we drove quickly back to the lodge area and changed into the back of yet another railed-bed white pickup. Jessica had mentioned taking pictures "on the mountain" at sunset, so we assumed that was where we were headed. The truck zipped along, providing an active ride! I was a bit more grateful than usual for the rails to hold onto. As we drove the red roads, curving and twisting around, I began to notice that the light was changing. The brightness of midday had mellowed to a golden color, shadows were quickly lengthening, and the air was changing, making scents more apparent. We seemed to be going faster and faster, and I realized that the light was already turning to that distinctive red color that appears here just before sunset. And unlike in Michigan, when the sun starts to set, it is completely down in about 5 minutes! 

After bouncing and jostling, then a steep climb up a rocky, twisting track, we arrived at the top of a small mountain. A picnic area had been created there, and we could see for miles. The mist had begun to obscure details, and the outlines of the mountains and hills became outlines in different shades of grey. The sun was a red disc, rapidly falling into the crevice between two distant mountains. We took group pictures there, with what felt like all of Africa laid out behind and before us. 

Kait, James and Hannah

And Brooklyn

And everybody, with Rita back right

The sun sinks so quickly here! I felt a bit guilty for wishing I were up here alone, to allow the enormous peace to settle into me

Us

Back, left to right: Rita, James, Jessica

Front, left to right: Chloe, Brooklyn, Kait, Summer, Hannah and me

Something about this place has affected us all in ways we never could have anticipated. I suspect I will be some time in being able to put words to it.

We returned to our lodge, and had another wonderful meal prepared by Jane. Rita came with us, and we enjoyed one final evening together, before saying goodbye to these 2 amazing women. We will miss them dearly! The opportunities they have provided, teaching they have done, questions they have answered (millions!) and ways they have touched our lives forever is completely amazing. In many ways, it feels as though we have packed a lifetime into 2 too-short weeks!