August 27, 2012

ON CLOSER INSPECTION…: UPDATE FROM NAMIBIA (27 AUGUST 2012)



EcoTraining's first venture to Namibia in helping to improve the skills and knowledge of field guides in this part of Africa has come to an end. And what a great experience it was for the group of students who attended the 28 FGASA Level One field guide course in the Erindi Game Reserve! With Ralph Kirsten as their instructor (and MJ Kirsten as camp coordinator), the participants can now go out into the field to share and impart their newly acquired skills. Perhaps then the last word should belong to student Gift Inambao and a sighting that put the cherry on top of an amazing adventure: 

What a lovely morning drive we had, seeing a lot of game! Amongst other things – a giraffe feeding on an acacia tree, a steenbok running into the bush, Damara Dik-dik walking into the thicket, a secretary bird, helmeted guinea-fowl in a large group all running in the same direction, and a pearl spotted owlet looking for prey.  We also saw lots of springbok, some started to run and jump high into the air off the ground, and this is known as pronking.  

Later on during our morning drive we saw a gemsbok looking concerned. We moved closer and the gemsbok didn’t seem to take any notice of us, he just stared into a direction. We looked the same way and in front of some rocks we saw four cheetahs!  The cheetah started to walk away, so we slowly followed them, they seemed unconcerned.  Every tree they came to, they cent marked, tree after tree.  We spend around half an hour watching the cheetahs, they were so relaxed climbing termite mounds and just lying around.  


For me it was definitely my favourite day of training with EcoTraining at Erindi!

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