Written October 6, 2015

By Forrest Rosenbower (Northland College)

 

The last two weeks have been some of the best times of my life. This is both because of the amazing location we are in as well as the incredible group of people I’m with. In case you don’t know or haven’t been told this great group consists of 8 students – Sierra from Minnesota, Lauren from Massachusetts, Annie, Drew and Amanda from New York, and Louise from Alaska, Fen from Florida, and myself, Forrest from Minnesota – and our four program leaders – Ben, Sixteen, Vehi and Kaggie.

As Fen I’m sure already stated in a previous blog, Khwai was fantastic. We saw more incredible things in the two weeks there than many people will see in a life time. We had African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) run through our camp two mornings in a row. Unfortunately, the first morning (10/3) I missed, because Fen and I had decided that this was going to be the one morning he and I would sleep in (until 6:00am) – we promised each other we would never sleep in again after that.

The next morning (10/4) the early rise proved worth it. While we were getting ready to leave for our transect we saw an impala (Aepyceros melampus) sprinting full bore past our camp site.  As we stood there wondering what caused it to run like that, someone shouts out “WILD DOGS”! It was spectacular to watch them run. Their loping gait carried them effortlessly across the open grass, disguising their deadly speed and endurance. After the show the dogs put on was over, Amanda and I went out on our herbivore survey transect with Sixteen and Amous, a Community Escort Guide from Khwai who was camping with us.

Before we even reached our transect we spotted the pack of beautiful wild dogs again lazing in the morning sun after an unsuccessful hunt. One male was laying so close to the road that if I had been ignorant, or courageous, enough I could have reached my hand out my window and run my hands through his beautiful mottled black, brown and white coat.

 

Red lechwe

 

After that minor distraction, we reached the beginning of our transect, where we saw some of, what I believe, the most stunning of the antelopes in the area: the red lechwe (Kobus leche). Their coats appear to be a dull tan on first glance but, on closer inspection, a rainbow of fiery tones become obvious. The darker burnt red of their backs give way to a beautiful dusky orange which continues almost all the way to their stomach which is a brilliant white. After collecting data on many species including impala, lechwe, reedbuck (Redunca arundinum) and more impala, we were stopping to collect data on a herd of waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) when, from behind, an adult female impala came blasting past our cruiser at top speed. Knowing what direction the impala was coming, everyone in the car knew exactly what was chasing that unfortunate animal.

Sure enough, immediately after the impala passed us the whole pack of nine wild dogs came running past. They were dodging between leadwood (Combretum imberbe) saplings and jumping over Kalahari star bushes (Diospyros lycioides) with the lead dog periodically jumping five feet straight into the air, both to reassure himself of the position of the prey in front and his pack behind. Nothing like that morning has ever happened to me in my entire life.

We left Kwhai that next day. Today I am writing from a Wilderness Adventures safari camp in Banoka, where we are staying (in the staff village). We just completed a class discussion on the importance of community involvement in the conservation of wildlife. Right now I am sneaking a little time to write this while the others prepare our lunch of delicious camp made bread by our incredible instructor Vehi. I can’t wait to find out what other amazing adventures are in store for us in this continually sublime place.

Photos courtesy of Amanda Ramsing-Lund.

 

Yours periodically when internet is accessible,

Forrest Rosenbower