Its NOT a Holiday....!

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Another week, more work and wildlife. We were out on patrol at the start of the week, on the other side of the reserve, with one of the game guards. It was hard going in the heat. First day we went up the mountain to do some game counts. Saw a lot of Hartebeest, Blesbok, Giraffes and Kudu, as well as some birds like vultures, eagles and hawks. The second day we went along a river valley, seeing skinks, crabs and frogs. Then in the afternoon we worked on our presentation we are giving to Colenso Primary School next Thursday.
We also set up camera traps on Monday, and collected them on Thursday. The traps that I set up caught footage of Porcupine, Kudu, Zebra and Bush Pig, which I was very pleased about. Then we did more presentation work, ready for next week.
Friday was the Game Auction in Durban. We were hoping to buy some more Zebra but didn't get the funds sorted in time, so we just went to see what it was all about. It was held in a large casino on the outskirts, a very rich looking area. There was all sorts on offer, Nyala, Kudu, Ostrich, Impala, Springbok, Wldebeest, Hippo and then a lot of White Rhino at the end. Took about 4 hours to get through it all, over 200 lots, but was very interesting.
Saturday we went to the Drakensburg Mountains, which was really nice. We stopped of at a dam, which had Beware Crocodiles signs around it, but unfortunately we didn't see any. Then we drove higher into the mountains, very scenic.
Today we are going to a Big 5 game reserve. Big 5 is the animals that are most dangerous to hunt, apparently, so hopefully will see Buffalo, Elephant, Leopard, Lion and Black Rhino. They have all sorts of other things too, so hopefully my next post will have a lot of photos with it.
That's not until this afternoon though, so I am relaxing in the sun at the moment. Back to work tomorrow again, never mind.
See you all in a couple of weeks. Check out the UmPhafa website, click on UmPhafa video link to see out camera trap footage. It's not all there yet, but hopefully will be soon.

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