Day Three - Wednesday, October 30, 1996

We arrived at Madikwe (Ma-DEE-kwee) Game Reserve this morning after a four hour drive. We met up with wildlife veterinarian Dr Markus Hofmeyr, the Predator Monitoring Officer here. This private reserve is 600 sq. km., 75,000 hectares. I think that's around 125,000 acres. We no sooner came in the gate and saw a large monitor lizard in the road. And the bugs! I've never seen so many bugs and big ones. I am seeing bugs that I have only seen on television. Like the dung beetle (eats elephants dung thank goodness), the ant lion (eats ants), and the flying termite (huge and they build those 15 foot towers everywhere, they drop their wings in the night and burrow into the ground, lots of wings all over the ground this morning). It's getting hotter, probably 100 degrees Farenheit today. First we went out to the boma to release a black rhino. A boma is an enclosure of any kind. Here they act as an intermediate area where new animals stay for a while, like a quarantine. It has chutes and corrals and a large turnout area of about 3 acres. After they've been shipped they stay in the boma for a while.

There is a film crew here filming for a nature program. They've been following us shooting everything for the whole time. As I look behind me in our truck, I see their Land Cruiser with a camera mount following (at least attempting to keep up with Markus!). I am in a lot of the footage, but I don't think we'll get the show in the U.S. It's called the Green Machine.

Next we went out looking for wild dogs, also known as Cape Hunting Dogs and Painted Wolves. I love them, they're one of my very favorites. Some of the wild dog population here came from the captive bred population at De Wildt Cheetah Centre. A real success story. They've released many dogs into the wild that have successfully adapted. Anyway, we four-wheeled in the Rover vet truck for hours with radio telemetry tracking. Every now and then on a high hill, we'd pull over and Markus would climb up on top of the truck with his device and locate them and drive a bit more. They kept moving and then must have made a kill and settled in for the night in an unapproachable area. It got dark and we had to give up. I was riding in the bed of the truck, standing, holding the roll bar, just like you see in the movies. I real blast. There is caging on the side panels of the truck bed (the heighth of a camper shell), but not the top or the back of it. If I sat down I had to look out the caging, unless looking out the back. Highly appropriate as I've always felt that people should be in the cages and the animals remain free. I felt fairly safe; however, in the dark I was constantly watching my back. Again huge stormy skies were brewing and the night sounds were a symphony. Flashes of light in the thunderstorms on the distant ridge were incredible. We parked on a large plateau open area to meet with the film crew and discuss the plans about finding the wild dogs the next day. While they were doing that I stayed in the bed of the truck. I sat there and smelled the fresh African air and listened to the chorus of veldt night sounds. Just like the soundtrack of the many documentaries I've seen. I wanted to see the Southern Cross in the sky, but the clouds have prevented it every night.

After dark we were driving along the perimeter fence on the way back home. We had the night spot light on looking for nocturnal wildlife. There was a low-lying support cable that crossed the dirt road from the electric fence. We had to lift it up over the truck as we drove under it. There is a pulley on the top of the roll bar and it snagged the cable. Markus stopped quickly but we had pulled the cable and also the electric fence pole. This, in turn, snapped the connection of the electric wire. Markus had to work carefully to the light of a torch (flashlight) to reconnect it without electrocuting himself. Meanwhile the fence power was probably out and I was thinking of the animals that may discover this if it remained that way. Ahh, the life of a wildlife vet. Electrician, off-road driver, athlete, writer, tracker, guide...

Markus lives on the Reserve. There's a great River Lodge with 16 chalets. This land used to be a mission. Old relics here and there. Markus is living in one of the original buildings. A stately old turn of the century home about 15 minutes from the Lodge. The phone service here is on a party line. You have to hand crank the phone and sometimes an operator is there.

When we got home last night, the lightning show was incredible. I took my camera and set it on the car with the shutter open for about 15 minutes. I hope a nice photo comes out of it. Then the rains started and went all night long.