Ulovane and Amakhala Game Reserve Work is work as they say but working for Ulovane has been unlike any work I’ve done before, no massive commute to the office - just a 30 minute walk across the farm and the only rush hour traffic is game viewers all converging on a cheetah sighting. Working with Candice and Schalk has been awesome it’s great to be able to use our skills to help such committed and genuine people. I hope that we have been able to help enough to help them fulfil their dreams in the same way that they have taught [View Full Entry]

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Its been a while so no doubt an update is well overdue, the last 6 weeks have been hectic, studying for our Level 2 FAGSA exams and sorting out the next 6 months but more of that later…..The last instalment left us in Mozambique, after leaving Tofo we moved on to Limpopo Transfrontier Park (which boarders Kruger NP) once again its rugged going and a 4x4 is definitely needed. The Park has suffered the same fate of most Moz parks, poaching encroachment and settlement in the park itself. But there is definitely a difference you can see the hand of SAN [View Full Entry]

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The last week was pretty hectic with mock assessments and getting ready for the final exams. Added to this four of us have started walking as lead rifle approaching dangerous game in order to build up enough approaches (and confidence) to attempt our Viewing Potentially Dangerous Animals on foot assessment. This is part of the Trails Guide and means you are qualified (after the required level of approaches) to lead walks in dangerous game areas. Being at the front, responsible for others’ safety, really focuses the mind. There is nothing like approaching a breeding herd of elephants on f [View Full Entry]

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The Eastern Cape is renowned for weird weather and this week we got it all, a tropical start to the week followed by 4 days of hard rain and cold conditions more like being back in the UK. It was miserable all the animals were hunkered down out of the rain and the problem here is that the set up is not geared for rain. The tent leaks, the sides of our lodge leaked and let’s face it driving around in an open topped vehicle is no fun. Well unless you happen to be driving it in which case trying to [View Full Entry]

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No, we haven’t been gored, eaten or otherwise destroyed (although Alex and Chris tried the best last Friday night but more of that later). It’s just been sunny, busy and generally hectic. We had a great week with the breeding herd of elephants who charged us twice, once on Monday when we returned from canoeing to find them coming down to drink. Chris bumbled into the matriarch while heading for the little boys bush. Cue mayhem, trumpeting and very scared looking Chris leaping into the Land Rover. Friday night our braii was rudely interrupted by them trumpeting and running past agai [View Full Entry]

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Friday was possibly the best day yet, we were asked to assist with the darting and capture of Damara and her two cubs. The objective of the exercise was to dart damara and move her into the boma for surgery to replace the transmitter which stopped working a couple of weeks ago and is essential for the monitoring programme undertaken by the conservation centre. The aim was also to take the cubs as well, both adolescent. This would enable measurements and health checks to be done as well as keeping mum and cubs together. It was a precision operation with the [View Full Entry]

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Last week I faced down a charging lion; I shouldered my rifle shouted clear instructions to my guests to stand still, dropped to one knee and fired a brain shot, quickly followed by an insurance shot. Gladly the lion was just a picture on a sled pulled rapidly towards me from 30m away. It’s all part of our assessment for Trails Guide rifle handling, which is a requirement for being able to guide people on foot in dangerous animal areas. The rifle was a .375 H&H which could take down an elephant and definitely feels like it could when you fire [View Full Entry]

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Two weeks of waking at 5.30 and I’m still not used to it, at least the daily commute only involves walking to the shower, mind out for snakes and scorpions, and then down to the main lodge. The resident bushbuck and its baby like to wait in ambush on the path which can be a bit disconcerting if you brave the walk to the toilet in the middle of the night. Rio swears she has a zebra stalking her which leaves only its tracks outside her tent each morning. In addition life has got serious with a Monday exam each week, [View Full Entry]

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After rain, rain more rain, broken fuel pipes and water in the diesel it felt good to finally leaving Cape Town, not to mention the rain. Our last week in Cape Town was fairly unmentionable; we did get to use all the public transport from trains to buses to minibuses while the Land Rover was in getting fixed. The whales turned out to say good bye and last week on Saturday we left Cape Town, next stop Ulovane. We arrived at Ulovane Environmental Training in Amakala Game Reserve on Sunday morning after a short drive from Storms River Village. Ulovane means [View Full Entry]

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Everyone’s looks for a magic bullet at one time or another. In my case, I wasn’t sure what it was, except that a road trip seemed important. Not so surprising, when I’d just spent a large chunk of time cooped up in the studio. So, when I got invited to show Cognition Factor at the 2008 Grahamstown Film Festival, I made plans to ensure that a road trip was also what I got. I’d been to Grahamstown once before in 2000. At the time I’d promised myself that when I returned to the festival I would bring my own show. Eight [View Full Entry]

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