Yes WeeCan(d)!!!

Its Sunday night and a lion is groaning just outside of the fence of the researcher's camp. We are protected by a two meter high none electrified fence with plenty wholes dug by Hyenas that come during night to patrol the rubbish bins for leftovers or sleepwalking scientist.. maybe. For the first time I wasn't working on Saturday because Tenele came to visit me. It goes without saying that we had a very nice and relaxing weekend together having a nice braai (barbeque), a game drive during day and night and sweating in my tent which gets way too hot during day.
This week I managed to get a Kudukop for my car, wich is a kind of a certificate for staff of the park and therefore allows you to drive through one gate and around Skukuza even after dusk. I was very happy to get that since otherwise gates already close at 5:30 PM. So without a Kudukop travelling during weekend and shopping outside gets very difficult. I was so happy that they actually gave me such a Kudukop and it allows you to drive a little faster than tourists which reduces my travel time to my research plots which are about 35 km away.
However, this is too much text already...

My new home.. actually I'm having electricity, a real bed, a shelf and a small desk inside!

 That baby Lizard was trying to escape the heat of the braai by climbing to the very top of it.. luckily I found it there in time.

 On the way to the gate some more Rhinos

In my bukkie

This is our spot at the dam right next to Skukuza where we go after work at 5:30 for a sundowner (beer). Once the sun has set usually the Hippos start their concert. I love it.

Also at the dam

Sweat, Thorns, Snakes, Sun and Hydrology - one Week in the Field

Finally I'm able to post a couple of own pictures. And next week is going to be even better since I got Tenele's camera this weekend. So coming up is definitely a lot of game pictures, certainly in much better quality than those below.
Except for Monday I was in the field every day working my butt off to get data for soil characteristics such as unsaturated and saturated conductivity. Despite all the labour I quite enjoyed and I even witnessed some very seldom winter rain on Wettnesday!! But generally it is rather hot during the day and I'm really sweating trying to get prepared for the summer... I'm actually really worried about the heat in summer here..

Tree snake right next to the kitchen of the research camp...

 

 Some Rhinos...

Lepard chilling in the morning sun right next to the road. I know these pictures are horrible but so many tourist were blocking the way for picture taking and I only had my cellphone camera... But I saw a couple of other Leopards and will see more while I'm with a proper camera.

 

In the field doing tension infiltrometer test.. can take up to 5 hours to get one unsaturated K-value..

My every day life saver with a 9mm rifle!

My internet bundle is nearly finished.. I'll update much more pics soon!!!

Groet, Gruesse, Besos, Regards!!!

Arrival in Skukuza, Kruger National Park

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm writing this block to keep friends and Family up to date. I'm not a fan of group e-mails, especially if they come with several pages of text!!! Who reads these travel mass mails anyway?
So I decided to rather write a little blog with plenty pictures and little text. Only problem I don't have pictures yet but will get pictures from last week from others and the camera from Tenele very soon.

About a week ago I arrived in Skukuza, which is the little Staff/Researcher/Administration village of the Kruger National Park where I'm accommodated in a little tent in the researchers camp. I got a rental car for my fieldwork and came with equipment filling my bakkie (pick up) up to the roof.
Last week I was doing fieldwork with my two supervisors (Eddie and Prof Simon Lorentz) and a group of students from the university of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The follwoing week I'll be able to focus on my research sites which are the exclosures plots at the Sbie River.

For those who don't know yet, I'm monitoring different hydrological processes such as soil moisture, weather, xylem flux in trees (transpiration of trees), surface runoff, and soil properties in order to model hydrological processes in the hillslope during dry season (now) and wet season which will hopefully start in the end of October. The Exclosures plots is a long term experiment to examine the impact of herbivory and fire. So they basically installed a fence in 2002 at an hillslpe right next to the Sabie River which does not allow any animal into the full exclosure plot.  The map above shows my research site next to the Sabie River. The red lines are the fences of the exclosures where the upper one is a partial exclosure fence and the lower the full exclosure fence (picture below). The partial exclosure fence only allows access to animals smaller than rhinoceros, so basically it keeps away elephants, giraffes and the larger rhinoceroses. The dotted lines are transects on which measurement instruments are installed.
The vegetations changes so far are already very distinct and hopefully the hydrology will reveal nice results too. I'm comparing these measurements and model runs with same measurements in an control areal with no fences just next to the exclosures.

Sorry for the dryness of this first entry but many pictures and more funny stories will follow very soon!!!
I'm sending best wishes to home and friends!!!