Elefants at sundowners

Its been a while since I last posted something.. but below there is a very nice elephant video which is worth checking out.
We had a bunch of elephants coming right to the sundownsers at the dam. I have never been that close to them outside of a car which was a very nice experience and an example of a peaceful coexistance of elephants and humans ;)

 No, that is not a Photoshop manipulated picture. I was really standing there!!!

Elephants visiting us for sundownwers at the dam

Wild game - wild life is a game and the game is wild!

Herd of Buffalos

	hmmmmm lecker!

That 'bird' was sitting on a tree in the exclosure one early morning.. No idea what it is, but enjoyed it.

	Gecko living around my tent catching insects in the night when my light is on..

	We found these young male and a female right one early morning on the dirt road to the exclosures.

 

Those guys were having a 'lobola' party, wearing traditional cloths. Lobola is the ceremony where a man pays cows or in some cases cash to the parents of his future wife. The lobola can include excessive partying and usually takes a couple of days. The happy folks on the bakkie overtook me on the road showing their excitement when they saw I'm taking pictures.

away from the Animals and wildlife in the Province KwaZulu-Natal I was doing some wetland hydrology survey with Eddie and some two guys from the University. The countrywide energy company Escom called us to investigate a huge wetland in mountains on 1700 meters altitude. We were accommodated luxuriously in a 4 star lodge with great breakfast and restaurant everyday. Quite a contrast to my tent accommodation here.. but I still love me tent and being outdoors so much!

The wetland is huge and exclusively in a stunning mountain landscape.

The sun burn aggressively and after 3 days in the field I'm a mixture of cancer-red and brown.. but we work bloody hard fighting ourselves through reeds and ponded water.. no trees or other shade sources. I'm still waiting for pictures form the other guys from the reeds..

It was a nice feeling to work in a almost pristine 16,000 year old intact wetland..

The sap is finally flowing under surveillance...

About 10 days ago I finally installed sap flow (xylem flux in trees) in the exclosures. It was a extremely busy week which was followed by one week of wetland fieldwork in KwaZulu-Natal province not related to my masters thesis. Being so occupied with work I wasn't able to write anything but I will catch up now.
I just downloaded my first data set from the sapflow and it looks very promising! Over the ten days that I have been away all probes were successfully logging and the car battery which is fed by a solar panel just survived.

Roughly the steps of setting up a sap flow probe on a tree

The upper 'needle' has a heating coil wich heats the conducting sapwood on a very low rate (about 0.3 watts). Both needles measure the temperature difference between them. Accoding to the rate of sap flux the heat will be carried away from the heating coil faster or slower. When there is no flow the heat accumulates and the temperature difference will be at maximum. Usually the sap flux is in order of a few centimetres per hour maximum.

The casings around the needles are filled with insulation material to prevent possible biassed readings from external temperature influences. Glueing them to the stems with silicon is a good way to keep all sorts of insects out.

For just 13 probes I had to lay out 1.5 km of single pin cable. Tomorrow I'll install the remaining 3 sap flow probes.

All the heating takes up nearly 10 watts which is provided by a car battery and a solar panel

Today I downloaded the data for the first time.. looks very good so far.

An is Acacia nigrescens
Ag is Acacia granitulata
Ca is Combretum apiculatum
D  is Dichrostachys cinerea

I'll write more soon about the wetland work and Tenele's home in Swaziland where I've been too. Hope you are all well! Warm greetings from hot Sk;)

tourists blocking bridge and steal our beloved knocking-off time

 

There were about 80 cars blocking the bridge watching a male lion, two females and two lion cubs, elephants and a leopard all very close to the bridge. My accompanying game guard tried to organize the traffic but the only thing he archived with that was making everyone getting out of their cars... He then gave up telling everyone off and we just decided to take a detour instead of waiting for an hour for the traffic jam to clear up.

  

 

Much appreciated and voluntary support in the field from Tembi and Moffat (game guard) 

 

 Looking for some network on a termite hill or tree alternatively..

Today was 38 Degrees C! So a new record not only in heat but also in dehydrating and getting fried.. Since spring has only just started it can only get hotter ;)

Next week I'll be finally installing my sap flow probes in the exclosures.

Hippos and Shisha!

There is nothing nicer than having hippos right next to the sundowners spot at the dam on a Saturday evening while you sitting with your girl on the back of you bakkie... Amazing stuff!
Last weekend Tenele was here again and in contrast to the weekend before we enjoyed the comforts of a house. Eddie and his partner let me stay in their house while they away.
Since Tenele came into the park after closing hours on Friday night I had to organize a late permit for her. When I told the lady giving me the late permit that Tenele is my girlfriend she started calling me Sbali which is brother in law in Siswati. She also gave me her number and told me that she so much wants to meet Tenele. On Saturday she invited us for a braai (barbecue) and we actually found out that Tenele and her do have common relatives and the same sir name. Was an amazing evening in terms of hospitality and warmth from the first minute!
This week I'm going to the field a lot since there won't be any guards available for next week. So I'm keeping this brief and way too exhausted to write long stories.. Just enjoy the pictures!

When I'm getting bored I'm smoking Guelph - Shisha in the field...

The game guard felt sorry for me sitting in the sun.. he built the wheelbarrow-umbrella for me.. we had 38 degrees C that day.. After I finished my 2 litres of water I felt like I hadn't drunken a bit..

Spider hanging on his thread from the roof of a house..

Elephant crossing

More fieldwork...

Yesterday and today we had 36 degrees C. Almost too hot for being in the field but I'm already getting much more used to it. The nights still get quite chilly but its already getting much warmer and summer is at the doorstep. The current game guard accompanying me this week likes my music so we would listen to my crappy cellphone loudspeaker while we in the field watching bubbles from the tension infiltrometer. These measurements can be very tedious so that you have to let it run for up to 5 hours... But there is always lots to do in the meantime and I'm having loads of equipment to play with!
Not much news for now, but a few new pictures!
I changed the settings so now anyone can leave a comment. Maybe now I can also reply to comments....
Hot regards!!!

My supervisor Eddie came to the field with me for one day to check loggers

Game guard enjoys posing....

 busy busy busy

A reminder why you should drive 50 only...

 

Winter drought specialist