Loading the buffalo from Bucklands.

This morning was the coldest day we have experienced in the Eastern Cape and I was up at 5 30!! We drove this morning to go fetch the buffalo (heifer and her 1 month old calf) it was freezing!! When we arrived it was a whole 0 degrees centigrade or for my foreign readers it was 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

On arrival we were greeted by a small family of Rhino, a bull, cow and their calf, it was sunrise and my camera was not on the right setting but here are the photos...

Upon arrival I was so glad to see I was not the only one wearing shorts after being told it is not wise. Moving off to the bomas where Hopewell’s buffalo and calf were, there was a lot of commotion as two other bidders had bought some buffalo and were also loading.

It starts where the vet darts all the buffalo in the boma and then he had four small teams of students who each had to look after a buffalo and monitor it while it was down, checking temperature, heart rate and breathing. Once that is done it is the fact of moving the buffalo into the truck and as you will see this is not light work!! The buffalo is moved by using a steel stretcher and on that is a tough material stretcher. The reason for this is so that the metal stretcher will close the gap from the ramp to the truck and then slide the material into the truck with the animal on it; this took about 10 or so men to carry it.

Hopewell’s buffalo were a bit difficult as they had to dart the mother then take the calf out and put it into the truck first which was not easy to catch the little girl!! As our buffalo had given birth a month prior she was rather on the large side and she was carried with great difficulty with almost two teams of men carrying taking turns.

Once in the truck the vet closes it and sent to Hopewell, arriving here was a safe trip for all and the releasing process was quick and simple which was great. The mother and calf ran off into the bushes and found the male and female which were offloaded on Friday!!

sorry that they are so blurry!! need and uto focus lense!!

Buffalo arriving at Hopewell!!

Today we had a male and female arrive and off loaded into the boma successfully. It was interesting to see them come out and run into the area, almost joyful to be off the truck which is great!! Found out some interesting information that it costs R18 per km when transporting game. Here are some of the photos from today

This is a lock that its put on by the vet to avoid any sneaky business that could go on(theft<swapping of game)

This is the bull emerging from the trailer.

Thabo the friendly cheetah.

This is one of those times I think how lucky us South Africans are and how we take the small things for granted and just focus on the negative things happening. #OnlyinAfrica smile! be happy! 

Yet another week has passed at Hopewell Exclusive Game Reserve and an interesting day yesterday as I was driving and came across thabo.  stopped and got out and started stroking him and giving him some loving. next thing I know he hops into the cruiser and acts as if he is "mufassa" on pride rock! was lovely to see him on top and just using it as his look out point! he is so friendly and loves to walk around and be interactive with people.

Buffalo seen!!

Here is a wonderful photo of our herd of buffalo which I ran into the other morning. It was for a brief time that they were standing there, once the photo was taken I looked down at my camera to see if it was a good quality picture and when I looked up about 5 seconds later , the herd had vanished into the thick bush. It was a very good find as in the bottom right hand corner of the photo there is the buffalo calf which was born of the 24/12/2013. Young calves are rarely seen as the mothers will leave them in the bush for a month and the will nurse it occasionally. As seen above, the calf is being protected by the herd and shall be for another 2 years.

This calf will follow its mom for around a year or so then will become more independent and if the female has another offspring it shall loose the maternal bond with the first young and focus on the newly born calf.

Serval bonding!!!!!!!

Good evening!!! Incredible week had so far as by the serval boma I was feeding and they were fairly shy, I was curious to find out why and then I heard the hissing of a cat behind me! I jumped and turned around so fast and it was the male we had released over a month ago coming back. It was amazing to see him there and doing so healthy, I crouched down and took a bit of time with almost getting my hand clawed off a few times, eventually made first contact with the big guy.

He seemed a bit uneasy at first so a stroked him once and then moved my hand. He looked towards me so I then moved my hand towards his face and next thing I know is he is licking my fingers! I obviously had to bring out my phone to take a few photos which made him a bit alarmed and became a bit angry so I backed away from him. 

 Going back a second time I went straight for his neck and gave him a good scratch! Was amazing to see this was happening as I fed him for about a month and it built a bond which is only going to get better

this is a video of stroking him for the third time so it was a casual gentle bonding time.

Remebering my camera!!!

So it has been yet another wonderful weekend here on the reserve where I was left alone to take the reins and manage this place. The day started with the bush cutting to keep the bush at bay. Checking the water holes and the serval, they are still doing well and he one is rather feisty! I went into the boma to feed them and took my camera with and got a few photos of him but there is one which I was rather impressed with.

after that was driving around the reserve checking up on the guys cutting and going deep into the farm on the old roads which is a lot of fun and a bit risky as the bush might have completely grown back in some places so it’s a bit daunting! Otherwise is it was a relaxed weekend nothing too serious happened which is a relief.

Thought this was a lovely photo #mothersday

Here are just a few photos of the land scape that I took on the south west side of the farm.

my gorgeous little serval!

My two boys, Monty and Mitch!

As you all know it was a while go that we got the two serval males who I have grown to love as they have become friendlier towards me and accepting me in their territory slowly but surely. I have been feeding them once a day or even twice a day depending on the weather. a few little interesting things that took place was that the elephants decided to make it their stomping ground and stomp down a few trees , one almost landing on the boma. This tree used to stand about 7m high so it was a large piece of wood which could have easily damaged the boma and set the Servals free.

Speaking of setting free, that is what shall be happening to them which is sad as you build up a relationship but it is a wild animal and needs to be free. I will do it the same as last time and set meat by the entrance of the boma with the gate open. Seeing as they are both males the dominant one will stay in that territory and then the other brother will have to find his own new territory somewhere else.

this was a photo i found of shiela! such a lovely little one!

I believe it shall be interesting to see if the male who keeps the territory won’t just live in the boma with the gate open because there is enough protection for him there to live. The one thing game need is water and you can in a way control them with it. If I stop filling up the water trough he will move to find water and if it’s too far for him to walk every day then he will just make a new territory for himself there.

having a wee bite of water buck for breakfast

The other Servals which have been let loose have only been sighted once and that was at dusk about a month ago. Was such a relief to see that she had been surviving and doing well because she looked healthy and when we saw her she was hunting a small little mouse or shrew? At the time we had a group of guests who saw the female cheetah with her cubs on a bush buck kill, the serval and a caracal on a baby bush buck. 

These were the last Servals that will be coming onto the reserve so now we will have a total of 6. 

I would love comments or any questions about my year or about Hopewell! Thanks

Termites

We were sorting out the lodge and double checking that all was done and looking good. That morning it had been raining quite profusely and we had received around 50mm of rain. Luckily it was an hour before the guest were meant to arrive and I walked down to the last room and saw almost a curtain of flying ants! I could not believe it as back home when I see them it’s usually at night hovering around a light so this was very interesting. Upon further investigation I saw where they were coming out of! Holes linking to the main termite mound and they were literally crawling out of the hole and learning to fly for the first time.

In the video I will show you, you can see that there are the small almost translucent termites and then the bigger ones coming out to fly away and recolonize

General update

My word has it been a long time!!! I wish I could say it’s due to the lack of internet but just been busy and lazy which is shocking need to keep you guys entertained! 

Been busy with guests over the past few weeks and interacting with people from Germany and England, lovely people and so interesting to speak to. 

I have seated a few meals in the 5 star lodge hosting guest and I must say that the food is exquisite! So many flavours and such a variation to the daily menu.

On one of my drives to feed my serval I got caught up with the heard of elephant that roam this farm, there are 11 in that heard with 2 large male bulls that roam with the heard but not in close proximity. The one, Bryce, has got one of his tusks missing but otherwise he is a gorgeous big male. I took a video to show how they will take the easiest path through an area which at Hopewell is our main road which is used every day!

As shown above you can see how the heard will protect their young and keep them safe in the middle and the two larger elephants with lead and follow.

I was driving and saw this small little elephant and before I could get my camera out to video it the heard had appeared behind it! They have this ability to appear and disappear in a matter of seconds! It’s an amazing talent but also so frustrating.

Great Hunt and feeding!!

Saturday morning was a lovely late start here on the farm as if you are on duty, which I was, you need to be up by 8AM. Went on the roads to check the water and the fence to make sure all was working well and found an elephant had snapped a 6m Acacia tree at the base of the truck!! It is astonishing how much power they have. the two guys I had with me wanted to go back and get the chain saws and machetes but I had rope in the back of the bakkie so I said I’ll show you something new guys. I tied the tree to the tow bar and dragged it a few meters off the road and sorted, let nature take its course with the tree. Once that was done and I had explained to them about the micro ecosystems that can form from that we headed to finish the rounds.

All was good and we got back to the work shop and then got told to go hunt. Don’t get me wrong I was not the slightest bit phased as long as it’s done properly and ethically then im good to go. We headed back out to find a male water buck that had a decent amount of meat on him. Finally after an hour of driving we tracked the herd down and saw that there was a decent male with them. As soon as the door opened they ran off into the thick bush and one would say the hunt was over. Water buck will run into dense bush and then stop as they camouflage really well, hence them stopping. I took a good walk around to the other side of the thick bush where I found the clearing and waited for a decent shot. Eventually I saw the male about 80m away and was standing at a strange angle so shot placement would have been difficult.

This was the water buck that got shot over the weekend for food, all part of game farm management

#selfie with a cheetah, not many of those selfies going around.

Thankfully I moved a few steps over and my jersey got caught on a thorn tree alerting him making him look directly at me, shot on target and trigger pulled. The male dropped and was dead as I arrived up to him which makes me happier knowing there was not a lot of suffering.Loading the buck onto the bakkie was another story which took about half an hour and eventually led to success.

as soon as i dropped the leg off for him he was on it!!!

 The reason for this hunt was 1. For my servils, the two boys Monty and Mitch who are doing a lot better now. I went for a walk in their boma today to clean the water and make sure the fence was still alright and the one came pretty close which is great progress!! 2. The male cheetah Thabo, friendlier then most domestic cats and loves a good stroking! I gave him a leg today just to make sure he is doing well and he enjoyed that immensely.

this was after his meal, just giving me a bit of loving.

So my weekend and Monday has been a fun exciting one and looking forward to more interesting things going on here.

Monty and Mitch,my two new servils

On Saturday morning got up fairly early and doubled checked that the vehicle was prepared to go to Grahamstown for the collection of the two brothers, Monty and Mitch. They are both one years old and are a lot smaller compared to the breeding male who has been shown in previous posts. 

I arrived in Grahamstown strictly for business otherwise it would be a good party weekend!! Got my permit for the transportation of the servils and headed back to Hopewell. they got delivered straight to the boma area where they will be kept for the next month just to let them realise their surroundings and calm them down a bit.as with the others I will be feeding them twice a day and checking on their basic health to make sure that they are doing well at all times.

There is a complication that had risen as the male who was let out, that is his territory and will probably not move away as the other males are younger than him. I thought this may be a problem but following orders had to do as instructed. Upon arrival this morning with food I heard something in the bushes and looked back and could see nothing, so I thought nothing of it until I felt a wet nose on my knee. It was a high adrenaline moment, even though it’s a small cat, it can still send you to hospital for stitches. Backing off slowly and giving him a piece of meat he was very relaxed after that, depending on if he stays there he could maybe become slightly tame???All will have to wait and see. 

Will keep you updated on the boys

Hunting for servals

Our freezers are slowly running down to their last bags of meat that we cut off from the eland that I shot last month. We need to go shoot this week so we can always give the little guys their food but today is just so windy and the game usually goes into the dense bush which we have here on the reserve which makes that a little bit problematic. I am waiting for the manager to be free so that we can go use his rifle to take down hopefully two male water bucks, they are not from the Eastern Cape areas yet they seem to thrive here for some reason. I believe because they have go glands under their skin which excrete an awful smell so the ticks don’t go for them rather other animals. With predation on them they get eaten but are not first choice on the hunters menu. Here are some shots that I have taken at Hopewell of some of the water buck. il keep you updated on the whole process.appreciate the views and interest.

reasonable male close to the water hole

Animal darting

So I know it has been a while since I last posted but have been suffering from tick bite fever and it’s not pleasant!!! Recovering slowly from it but any ways, on Friday I was involved in some animal darting on the reserve. The helicopter landed nice and early right next to the lodge, no matter how many times you see a helicopter it’s still amazing! I took our guests even though I would have rather been in the helicopter, we went and were on the chase and were contacting the pilot to know if he had found the animals. Didn’t take more than 10 minutes to locate and dart, seeing the animal come about 50 meters in front of the car and then the helicopter landing right by us, it’s just something. With that we checked blood and put a radio tracking collar on the animal so we will be able to know its where abouts at any time. Over all it was an amazing experience and so thankful to have participated

Mother Nature

The past two days I have been going through the reserve getting a general view and understanding of how nature works. I came across a baby zebra which, from my assumptions looks like it died from a tick born disease. I knew that the cheetah female, Bukeka, and her cubs where close by so I loaded the zebra and went to find the cheetah. Upon arrival they could smell that something was dead and they slowly started making their way towards the vehicle. I dropped it off and then they came when they felt I was at a safe enough distance. It is truly amazing to see how Mother Nature works and to see the circle of life right in front of my face.

Bukeka and her cubs in the back ground

Welcome to Hopewell

I have started up this blogging page to document and share all my experiences in the year to come. I'm currently hired by Hopewell Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, as a student from Tshwane University of Technology study Game Ranch Management. 

My purpose for the year is to complete a management plan for a game reserve and learn all the daily activities of a game farm manager as well as completing 30 small tasks which I shall be posting throughout the year so stay tuned and enjoy!

The view from the watering hole right in front of the Main lodge.