The new crowd is finally here, ready for our new programme. And boy what a start! Getting to know each other on drives is always a good beginning. It doesn’t always go as well as it has with this group though, and all seem to be well on the way to becoming firm friends. Martin was on a 25 day course with us last year, and decided to join us for the big programme, and George, who started on the 25 day course, decided to stay the full six months too. It is a smallish group, which suits the team here fine as we are able to spend more time with the guys. Surette, Chantal, Francesco, Fred and Jan-Dirk have a bit of an adventure ahead of them it seems. Joe, our American university student on the short course wishes he was able to stay for the six months, but has to finish his degree in English.

The game viewing has been excellent, with lions hunting, and killing wildebeest. Also the guys saw a rare sight of lionesses digging for warthogs. The zebras are getting pretty brave too, challenging our male lions perhaps a little too much…

There are two new cheetahs out on the reserve, the new males on the block! They were sedated and one was collared for their imminent release. The students went in with the vets and took a closer look than they ever dreamed possible.

Surette getting very cosy with a big cat, and Francesco enjoying the moment.

The birding has been awesome, with some unusual birds coming out of the bag. A sighting of an Ovambo Sparrow-hawk was a highlight for Ian and Lee, neither of whom had seen the species on the reserve before.

 

  An African Comb Duck and a Yellow-Billed Kite can be seen here.

The customary snake handling course with Jens from Ultimate Creatures was great, with a beautiful banded form of Snouted cobra being found as a subject. The students kept a very wide berth of the professional handler for this demonstration.

The cobra being brought out to the class by Jens.

Keeping well back!!

The guys also attended lectures on lion breeding with Oom Arrie van Deventer, who heads up the Cape Buffalo, White Lion and Sable breeding project at Entabeni. They had the rare privilege of spending some time with a rather large and boisterous lion cub.

Attending a lecture on lion breeding.

Close interaction with a young lion!

The rivers are flowing strongly, opening up a whole load of swimming holes for us to use on the hot summer days.

Guided walks are also proving popular with the gang, looking out for lion and rhino as they go.

Another major highlight has been the first aid level 1 and 2 with Andrew of SMART. The fire fighting and first aid techniques the gang have learned from this gifted teacher will be valuable for years to come I am sure. Andrew has proven to be an enthusiastic and invaluable addition to our programme, and we rate him as hands down the best first aid instructor available to us within the safari industry.

Andrew down on the floor with the students showing them how its done.

All training is carefully supervised by expert tutors, so DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME!

We have also been very busy with track and sign lessons in the bush too, preparing the guys for assessments. This fascinating subject is a firm favourite with all of our students. Ed Farrell has also permanently joined our training team, and with his FGASA level 3, and BSC, honours and Masters in Zoology and Botany he has a lot of value to add to our students stay with us. He is also a track and sign level 2 and an experience teacher. Read more about Ed on our instructor’s page.

The game is good, the weather is great, and thank goodness for all the rain. This is a great boon, and it will help the game through the hard winter to come. Above are some pictures of elephant and a waterbuck in the long grass.