Looking back on a semester overflowing with life-changing experiences, the countless inspiring events and encounters make the words and images I can give you in this blog seem insufficient descriptions of the reality and wonder of South Africa. Really, my best advice for those seeking to understand where I’ve been immersed and why I’ve been out of contact is to go to such places as Kruger National Park and the South coast, to breathe in the surrounding beauty, to wake with the sunrise on a game drive, to soak your feet in the mixed Indian and Atlantic ocean waves as dolphins swim past. I truly found this country, its people, and animals amazing; a place I will never forget and where I know I must return as soon as I can.
With a timeline made of anecdotes, pictures and stories, I’ll lead you through the places I went with OTS and some of the experiences which stood out for me really making this an incredible few months. It will be very difficult to clearly represent the unique landscapes and activities I had everyday, but I’ll do my best.
Our final month was spent back in Kruger National Park staying in the vet camp in Skukuza. We jumped right into our final independent research project. With my friends Elizabeth and Benjy, I studied the rates of elephant utilization on the vegetation structure along two rivers. We studied the damage on the big trees caused by their foraging techniques, and found that despite having the largest documented elephant population in the park at 17,000 elephants, the utilization rates have not exceeded the levels determined by the managers of the park.
We spent many mornings on game drives to watch the sunrise and see as many animals as we could, and these were my favorite moments of the semester. Some days we were lucky in what we discovered, from the 11 lion cubs curious enough to stay close to our truck to the wild dogs we found along the road and spent hours watching them play around the car. My favorite were always the elephants, as I was struck by their size, their families, and even their ears. We were lucky enough to see them regularly, enough that we often wouldn’t slow down to watch them but I could never have spent enough time near them. My time in South Africa went so quickly I wish I could experience it all again.
Dozens of vultures competing for an impala carcass.
A helicopter herding a white rhino as we got to join the Kruger vets as they captured the rhino and moved it to another game reserve.
Elizabeth studying elephant utilization / damage on the big trees.
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