after  all better than the tourists who seem to think everything is beneath them. Whilst I am blasé about some sightings, the day a tourist points out a leopard I will come to a screeching halt while readying my camera. Leopard sightings in Etosha have been almost non-existent. [Editorial note: between the writing of, and publishing of, this blog I have seen a leopard only 30m away and without any tourists around, amazing] But, unfortunately it is mostly lions that elicit maniacal waving. Ok, I get that seeing lions is not normally considered unfortunate, but seeing a lion often falls into one of two categories. 1) The ‘too-far-to-bother-slowing-down’ category and 2) the ‘aha-now-I-know-why-I-can’t-find-my-wildebeest’ category, because unfortunately a lion sighting means I am unlikely to see any wildebeest around. The second category is likely due to the same rational fear that results in knowing that if you see a snake, you are unlikely to see a Rebecca around. So, after that sidenote, here is a bit of an idea about what a project like mine entails on a daily basis, minus the leopard searching and lion cursing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each morning, other than Sundays (because everyone needs some time off or at least that’s what I’m told), I get up before sunrise and head out into the field. I have five different areas in my study site and I go to each one at least twice a week, which are generally north, south, west, east and further east of camp. I drive around each area ~100km in search of wildebeest. At the start of my year it was somewhat a predictable exercise, finding wildebeest in roughly the same places each morning or evening. As of two months ago one of two things happened- it either got so dry that the wildebeest had to move into new, away from road, foraging areas or they worked out my pattern and started playing hide-and-seek. If it is the latter, I am down 100 to 1 to a species that has never been noted for its intelligence. When I do find a group I focus on one individual. I video its behaviour for five minutes and record information about what they are doing, how many wildebeest are in their group and what the environmental conditions are like before I move onto the next group.

 

Once I’m finished with the roads in that area I drive back to the office to analyse the videos, keep up on correspondence and my readings. Analysing videos is a lot of counting- I count how many times a wildebeest steps, or chews, or commences movement or becomes vigilant. And for something different I also get to time vigilance bouts and movements. The middle of the day is also a great chance to see other people, particularly at tea club. Tea club is a daily gathering of many Ministry of Environment staff and researchers so it is a good chance to catch up on the park news and remind myself how to engage in small talk and not just human-to-jackal small talk which is quite one-sided.

Some days, about 3 per week I stay out in the field all day so that I can record wildebeest drinking behaviour including how they approach a waterhole (very slowly if predators are around), how they drink, and how they retreat (very fast when they suddenly discover a predator around). These waterhole watches generally last 4 hours while I am sitting in my car in the tourist parking lot. So I get to see a lot of awesome things like sparring oryx, dust bathing elephants and flapping ostriches, not to mention the tourists who get out of their cars when a lion is walking towards them, block each other in in their eagerness to have the best view and drive off-road because the rules just aren’t for them. Oh, and occasionally I get to see wildebeest arrive and video their approach, drink and retreat behaviour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the evenings I repeat the morning routine, but in another area of the park. Normally I get in the gates just before sunset; the gates are locked from sunset to sunrise to keep the park car-free during the night. I’ve never been a morning person, and in Australia I am usually indoors at sunset, so to see almost every sunrise and sunset for months on end is quite a new experience. But, let’s be clear whilst I enjoy it, it certainly doesn’t mean I’ll be getting up before sunrise at home…At all.

 

Then when a Sunday comes around it is time for laundry, cooking, car washing and tent cleaning and once that is done it’s a well-earned beer (and sometimes braai) o’clock.