March 18, 2013
By Samantha Smith (University of Vermont)
Enjoying a cold soda at a community campsite
After being here in Botswana for a month now, I’ve certainly become familiar with the concept of being on “Africa time,” but I’ve also discovered the opposite: weeks somehow fly by as they are measured not in days but rather the number of transects driven and Grinnell journal entries completed. Some of us have been guilty of getting our Fridays and Tuesdays mixed up.
This week has been full of firsts and lasts. We are still based at Dibatana Research Camp and have continued our AM transect drives and PM point counts with the escort guides from Sankuyo to assess the demographics of herbivore populations in this concession. This week however, we began two new methods of observing wildlife that everyone, guides and students alike, were excited for: camera traps and night transects!
On Monday, five cameras were set up in trees above the reach of curious spotted hyenas. Boxer, with his years of expertise as an escort guide, selected the locations, all which which were along roads. This is because carnivores tend to use roads more in transit. Eagerly, the traps were checked Wednesday and much to our surprise (and sheer luck if you ask me), 4 lions were photographed on one camera while 5 different ones were captured on another camera! Of course, out of the roughly 5600 shots taken, most were of groups of impala and birds with their eyes gleaming or better yet, grass blowing in the wind.
Four lionesses caught on camera (remote-sensored camera traps)
Two male lions caught on camera (see the 2nd one in the back?)
Tuesday evening, everyone piled into the Land Cruisers, or in the case of Boxer and Innocent, on top, for our first jaunt out into the bush at night! In the cover of darkness, driving around is an entirely different experience, although somehow the roads seemed no more difficult to find than during the day. Even with the spotlight moving in a large arc to expose any hidden creatures, your eyes tend to focus intently on each nearby acacia tree, wondering if behind THIS tree lurks a leopard or a pack of elusive wild dogs! Your senses are also sharper, picking up the wild Silky Sage and the mix of grasses, as well as the absence of chattering birds. It’s easy to get distracted by the smattering of stars that highlight the sky, but luckily Boxer, holding the spotlight, was paying attention and pointed out several elephants, impala, spring hare, and a few sleeping giraffe!
In addition to the designated morning transects, we drove another night transect on Wednesday still hoping to see the more cryptic carnivores that are active at night. After a few kilometers without even any herbivore sightings, I asked Sixteen where all the animals were. He was silent for a second, and then after a classic Sixteen “Umm” he stated matter-of-factly, “It’s Wednesday!” as the reason. He meant to go on of course, but was cut off by Rita, Smally, Jack, and myself laughing at him. That night, we only saw two Genet and an African wild cat.
Thursday was the final day of transects in NG 34 with the guides. Half of us did the longer “Tico’s transect” for a third time while the other half of us patrolled the buffalo fence on the southern side of the concession. Along the fence that separates wildlife from livestock, there were numerous places where the wires could have been pulled apart to fit a donkey through (with a poached animal on its back), as well as evidence of some posts having been pulled up. We saw a piece of giraffe skin near a downed section of the fence that the poachers likely dropped in their haste to cross back to their vehicle. According to Sixteen and Boxer, poaching usually requires 3-8 people, depending on the species being poached. It was definitely disheartening to learn that, because the guides only have access to one vehicle from the trust to use for any of their duties, patrols only occur 1-2 times a month. To me, it is incredible that poaching isn’t a bigger issue when it frankly seems so easy to get away with it. The poachers from Shorobe even know when the Sankuyo guides from NG 34 are away in Maun because they have to drive past the town on the main road in the trust vehicle, giving the poachers the perfect heads up.
Matt shares the initial round of data from the transects with students and guides
On Friday we had a debriefing with the guides to ascertain their thoughts on the methodology so far. Like us, they all seemed to find the program useful to NG 34 and to Sankuyo, and offered some wise suggestions, one of which was to wear “bush colored” clothing while out! After our last lunch together, we said goodbye for now, knowing that with Sixteen being from Sankuyo, we would return for a volleyball match before long!
Zebras!
(Photos by Susie Dain-Owens, with the exception of the 3 remote-sensored camera trap photos!)