June 18: Really long weekend recap

A herd of African elephants enjoying a watering hole. (Click for a better picture)

My venture into the African bush this weekend was one of the best, if not the best, experiences of my life. I want to share as much of it with you as possible, so be prepared for a very long post. Plus I learned so much information over two days that it’s a wonder my brain didn’t catch fire from all of the data transfer.

Wallowing cape buffalo

We were at Gomo Gomo in the southern part of the park, which is reputed to have the best animals. After lunch, we got into a Land Rover with a guide named Iwan and a tracker for a night safari (it gets dark around 5 p.m.). Almost immediately, we ran into a herd of cape buffalo at a watering hole. There were hundreds and Iwan said they might travel in herd of up to a thousand. We were maybe 50 feet from a large bull that kept rubbing his head in the mud to coat his horns as a protectant and then just threw himself onto his back and started wallowing, looking a lot like my dog when she’s rolling in the grass trying to scratch her back. The buffalo covered himself in mud and would sigh and roll over in his contentedness. It was adorable and awe-inspiring all at once, since these buffalo are some of the most dangerous creatures on the bush. One guide said that if you were to encounter a lone bull while on foot, there would be a 95% chance that one of you would be dead and it’d probably be you.

The night ride was pretty fruitful after the buffalo. We found some male lions, one of which just sat in the perfect spot to catch the sinking sun on his mane and looked at us like a sleepy little house cat. Another male also displayed some of the pre-mating behavior with a female, which was pretty interesting to see so close. A number of herds of hooved animals was around, though they’re pretty skittish and would start leaping away when we drew close. My favourite of those is a steenbok, which is barely taller than the grass when it’s mature. The guides said we were immensely lucky to see two different leopards in a night, too, since they’re more elusive and they hadn’t seen them in a few days. I was hoping to catch site of a honey badger, which is also nocturnal, but they were well-hidden or maybe busy fighting some cobras in the thicker brush. Apparently they like to try to break into the kitchen at night. I would not want to meet those teeth in the dark. Or in the light. Just never want to come into close contact with one of those.

Dinner was set up in a large circle around an open fire outside the lodge. We had potato and corn chowder, grapefruit salad, and a little vegetable quiche. All the omnivores got to have impala as their main course, which was incredibly disconcerting considering we’d just watched a herd of them drink from the lake outside the lodge. But we know they’re free-range…

Towards the end of dinner, the lions started roaring to establish territory. They sounded so close (and actually come to the lodge occasionally and take up residence outside some of the rooms). They continued until late into the night and a bit in the early morning.

We actually ended up falling asleep shortly after 10, since it’d been dark for so long already and there weren’t many real lights. The lodge gave us walkie talkies in case an animal got into our cabins at night and we weren’t allowed to leave since the nocturnal hunters were about. There was a high electric fence around most of the area, but that was mainly to keep the elephants from getting in and damaging the buildings. All smaller animals could still get in.

The guides woke us up at 5:30 a.m. (I woke up naturally at 5:15 since I went to bed so early). We left in the car again for a morning ride. It took us a while to find any animals other than the birds, which were in every bush and tree and had so many different colours and varieties that the guide needed a book to verify species. Guinea fowl were especially present, running out of the bushes when we drove by and being stupid enough to run in front of the vehicle instead of off to the side, so we were constantly chasing them around unintentionally.

Iwan and the tracker were observant of tracks, dung, branches, and sounds and communicated with other guides out in the bush to locate the animals. I was impressed that they could find their way around such a vast area, first of all, and second locate a single animal over large expanses based on some fuzzy marks in the sand.

White rhino.

They eventually found some white rhinos, which I’d heard were difficult to see since they avoid the cars, and we were able to observe several rhinos and even a baby for a while as they grazed from bushes. These animals are absolutely beautiful and their faces are heart-wrenchingly adorable, though they could definitely spear a person with their horns. Poaching rhinos is a huge problem in the area, where people will shoot them from helicopters, land, cut the horn off, and fly away again, leaving the entire carcass to be picked by vultures. The horns are used in some superstitious medicine and a newspaper published an unfounded report that the horns could help cure cancer, so they can get maybe $60,000 per kilo for a horn and a typical male will have up to eight kilos. These prices are ridiculous considering the horns are made completely of keratin, the same substance that makes up our fingernails (but if I went to the black market with a kilo of nail clippings, I definitely wouldn’t get any money). If the killing rate continues at what it is now, estimates put total extinction at 10 years. A lot of preventative measures are being enacted, including nightly flight patrols around Kruger by the air force, vehicle patrols, and people who sleep in the bush near the rhinos every night. The government recently passed a law that says that a suspected poacher or poaching helicopter can be shot on sight without having to verify whether it was actually a poacher. A couple hundred have been shot since. Elephant poaching used to be a problem, as well, which is altogether slightly less stupid considering their tusks are made of ivory, but still atrocious. What the government did to fix that was to legalize the selling of tusks for about a week. This allowed reserves and parks to sell all of the tusks they’d collected from elephants who died naturally and it flooded the market, killing any illegal trading. Perhaps a similar method might help the rhinos. Their horns can also be harvested without killing the animals since they’ll grow about seven inches per year.

After the rhinos, we drove around for a long while tracking elephants. In the interim, we saw some more hoofed animals, like the kudo and some impala that were fighting. Eventually we tracked down a herd of elephants nearly stampeding towards water, which they hadn’t seen in days. We followed at a close distance, but made sure to stay out of their way. A large female got annoyed at us, however, and started charging. The tracker on the front of the vehicle banged on the hood and deterred her, thank goodness. The herd met with more elephants on the way and all made it to a large watering hole, maybe 20 elephants strong. They baby elephants play-fought each other for water rights and one of the elephants just plunged himself in. Whenever they walked back out of the water, their skin turned black where it was wet and they all looked like they were wearing boots. It was amazing to be so close to them, hear all of their noises, see them play and squirt each other, and enjoy the water and the chance to rest. The baby elephants were my favourite, since they just skipped along (as well as an elephant can skip) and flapped their ears around. I learned that they’ll actually eat their mother’s droppings for a while to develop a good immune system and to get some food that their small bodies can digest easily. It works for them since elephants only digest about 40% of the 250-300 kg of plant matter they eat every day.

At one point, a male elephant, visibly in heat, came to the lake. Iwan said that if the bull were to get near, we would definitely need to run away. The other elephants avoided him and he eventually left, but I felt bad for him- he can’t help it that his hormones were heightened to the point that he was literally dripping testosterone from his sexual organs. It was just time for him to reproduce. (Human males aren’t allowed to garner sympathy with that excuse, though.)

After breakfast and observing some shy turtles in the lake at the lodge, we went on a short bush walk with Iwan. He showed us some plants and how to identify dung and some tracks. At one point he picked a leaf off of a bush and ate it, telling us it was sweet and to try it. I did and it tasted awful, so I discreetly spit it out. Turns out he was lying and the plant, a silver clusterleaf, uses bitter substances to keep most animals from eating it. A few of the leaves will cure a hangover, though, if you ever find yourself with a lot of alcohol in the bush. At the very end of the walk he picked up a handful of dry impala droppings and gave us all one. We then had a spitting contest with them. It’s now at the top of my list of weirdest things I’ve ever done. They’re completely safe and made of repeatedly digested plant matter, but weren’t comfortable to have in my mouth. I don’t recommend trying it without a trained guide, though - you might end up with the wrong animal’s dung in your mouth.

After we checked out of the lodge (with a grand total of under $200 for all of the luxuries provided and wonderful experiences that can never be matched), our caravan split into two groups. My car went down the road to the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre, where we watched an informative video on the inception of the center, which began as a cheetah reserve and breeding program, and then went on a tour of the area. They understandably mostly have cheetahs, which are rapidly declining as a species since they’re at odds with farming and the small tracts of land available can’t support them. We saw many cheetahs and even a king cheetah, which has beautiful black stripes and tufts of hair due to a recessive gene (they were coveted by the ancient Egyptians). The center has a well-researched breeding program that has produced over 200 cheetahs for relocation and even some to act as “mousers” for air force bases that had problems with small animals on the runway.

We were able to park our vehicle within inches of a group of African wild dogs (close enough that if I reached my hand out, I could have pet one), vicious animals with the third hardest bite force in Africa. The ones inside the reserve are habituated to humans and ignored us while we were there. They urinate on each other to establish a social hierarchy, so they smelled pretty bad, but looked so peaceful sleeping in the sun. A pregnant female releases hormones that put the other females in the pack into false pregnancies. They’ll all start lactating and can help feed the one litter of 12 pups.

Besides those, we saw an orphaned zebra roaming free around the park that was adopted by two goats (the guide said that the goats were too stupid to recognize that the zebra wasn’t theirs, so they’re perfect surrogates), a genet (looks like a tiny cat), a variety of antelope, many ugly vultures, and a bunch of lions. Most all of the animals that we could see were abused somehow and couldn’t be released. An older male lion with a black mane had been raised as a “canned lion,” a practice where male cubs are collected and raised by humans and once they’re old enough they’re sold to foreigners who come to South Africa, enter an enclosure with a lion who is drugged, and shoot it. Like the guide pointed out, it’s murder, not hunting, and is illegal in most provinces. There was another lion there who didn’t have a mane. He used to belong to an Asian circus and had been castrated before the hormones that make him grow a mane kicked in. The circus went bankrupt and abandoned the lion and a female on the road. They were tracked down and prosecuted for animal cruelty since the lions were abused beyond belief. Neither of them could possibly interact normally with other lions and have such a fear of humans that there’d be a huge risk of one feeling threatened and attacking someone.

Tortoise! This guy is the largest species in South Africa.

The best part of the center, by far, was the enclosure with TWO TORTOISES! They were kept as pets and had holes drilled into their shells for a chain, but since keeping wild animals as pets is illegal in the country and they were only being fed lettuce (not good for a tortoise as the primary food!), they were brought to the center.

Every time I do something related to animal reserves, I get largely concerned that I’m headed in the wrong direction by going for an MD/PhD for research. I’m certain that I would enjoy working as a vet or an animal specialist at a reserve like this one or the one that I visited in Ecuador that rehabbed animals confiscated from traffickers. Instead of studying for years towards a job that I might end up getting bored with, I know I’ll love every minute that I act as a guide and get to teach people about my animals and work to preserve species or even one abused animal’s life. I can’t see myself not getting a research degree either, though, and I want the chance to work to build up the knowledge base in my field and become an expert on the immune system. It’s quite a quandary, especially since I’ll have to take the GRE to apply to grad programs that would let me study zoology and I’ve barely enough time to take the MCAT and apply to medical schools in the couple weeks after I’m back from South Africa.

Anyways, there is a program for students where one could spend three weeks at the center helping with all of the animal care, breeding, learn tracking, sleep in the bush, and take the elephant-back bush tour. It sounds amazing and if I had the financial means and the time to come back, I would seriously consider it.

We got back to Thohoyandou late Sunday and got up early on Monday to meet with a psychologist at Univen. The rest of the day wasn’t too eventful, but we did get a very good lunch that was catered for someone’s birthday. There’s a staple food here called pap that’s made of finely-ground cornmeal. Nearly everyone we’ve met since we got here has asked us if we’ve tried it so it was high time we did. I thought it was mashed potatoes at first, but it was a very thick, heavy bowl of plain cornmeal. It tasted like very fine grits all smashed together and with no salt at all. Not too bad, but definitely needs gravy or something. There are a few different types, including a fortified version since straight cornmeal has no nutritional value. Besides that, we had rice, beetroot (one of the best recipes I’ve tasted yet!), butternut squash, and a yellow coleslaw that I was hesitant to eat since the cabbage was raw. Haven’t gotten sick yet, but I don’t think I’ll attempt raw green vegetables again unless someone offers me some toboulleh.

Surprisingly, there was one soymilk brand at the store. It’s called Ma and tastes like normal soymilk, just saltier. I can’t guarantee that it’s not GMO, but it’s handy to have to use in coffee (fake coffee…there aren’t even any ground coffee beans at the store) and cereal. There are a lot of foods that I can’t find, though, including dark chocolate, grapefruit juice (or any juice that’s real juice and/or pasteurized), any snack food not made of maize, and fresh green beans. All the canned green beans are soaked in brine, which is unfortunate, and there’s no frozen section in the grocery store except some open cold bins that have ice cream and frozen chicken and beef.

This week is mainly devoted to finalizing our project topics, so I expect to spend most of it sifting through literature. I’m having a lot more trouble choosing a topic than I expected, since I’d wanted to do something related to disease but most of the children in the study are pretty healthy and I can’t get a high enough sample size for any disease that is statistically valid. Good for the children, bad for my topic choice.

As if this post wasn’t already a novel, I’d like to share some interesting facts about horseshoe crabs I picked up from a magazine. They have blue blood, of course, but that blood is very sensitive to toxins from bacteria and will clot immediately to shut down blood flow to organs to protect the animal. This property is utilized in a process called Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate (LAL) to detect toxins in body fluids and to monitor contamination in medical supplies and intravenous drugs. About 30% of a crab’s blood can be withdrawn without affecting it negatively, so they can be caught, stuck, and released. The article also said that a component of the blood called T140 might inhibit replication of HIV, so it’ll be interesting to see how research on that turns out.