Well, it’s been another good year, with some of our best adventures yet and our June intake of students has now moved on to their practical placements. Nicolai has a placement with Amakhosi Game Lodge in Northern Zululand. This is a beautiful lodge with all of the big game, where we are sure he will do very well. Tilanie, Anaschka, Tom, Kallie and Nick will be guiding in the Entabeni Safari Conservancy, being based in various camps within the reserve. They are currently busy with an in-house training program, learning the roads and so forth on the reserve. Daniel has taken a position guiding on foot in the Klaserie Game Reserve, with Africa on Foot, which should be quite an exciting time for him to say the least. Jan Martin has decided to continue with his degree in tourism management and Helen and Duncan have decided to head back out to bonny England and continue with their lives after their African learning adventure. Rickus has moved to the Thornybush Game Reserve, and is going to guide for the Waterbuck Game Lodge. Diana and Virgil have taken up positions with Okavango Wilderness Safaris in the Okavango Delta, where they will be based for the foreseeable future. It seems a fun and valuable learning time is in store and they will all be missed. Here are a few highlights of our last month or two.

There was a sad instance of a breach birth in one of our buffalo cows. Presumably the baby died in the night, but the next morning the students were called to assist the vets in capturing the cow and helping to repair her injuries. The students helped with every aspect, such as cleaning, injecting, cooling and even holding her upright so as to prevent further complications.

On the left he students assist the vet, and on the right the severe tearing of the buffalo cow can be seen. Fortunately, although it looks terrible, the swelling subsides very quickly after such a birth, but it still looked scary.

, Suzanne and one of the boys giving the buffalo anti-biotic injections.

We also had to dart one of the young lionesses in the white lion breeding project due to a shoulde3r injury, and touching her paws was a highlight for young Kellen, while Kallie and Jan Martin held the unconscious cub.

This was a serious part of the training for the guys on the year programme. They were very keen to achieve trails standard riflery and made a great effort. By the end of the course, all but one were at trails standard which is a fantastic achievement all round.

Nerves start to show, while Tom does the first exercise, blind folded loading.

Nicolai in action, and Rickus checking his ammunition before an excercise.

Firstly you need a sleeping bag which you can get into. The one on the left is wrong, but the one on the right is right. According to Dwayne anyway!

A torch is always a good idea, so you can see where the log is that you are carrying.

 But, don’t fall while collecting the fire wood like Tom did, much to Nick’s amusement…

We were fortunate enough to be invited by Lawrie Roux of Mabula to see the reserve and went as a group to visit. We had a fantastic day and saw awesome game such as lion, elephant, white rhino and ostriches, as well as a few new birds for the group.

We did a little bit of advanced Euphorbia work with Prof Rolf Becker and his partner Alma. They gave us an awesome presentation on Euphorbia’s, and took us for a day in the field GPS ing various species. It was an interesting day enjoyed by all. We hope to see them back soon and that they will join the family here at the school.

Rolf and Alma are busy with an international project on Euphorbia’s, working with American universities to atlas these interesting plants.

This was definitely a fun series of groups to train. But of course the Wombats of June 2008 1 year course were a fun crowd, with a load of potential, and the right attitude. They did well and are all well on their way to a great career in the nature industries.

Dwayne, Nicolai, Rickus, Virgil, Daniel, Tilanie, Nick, Anaschka, Jan Martin, Kallie (lying down), Helen, Tom, Duncan, Diana and, of course Banie…

Well now we get ready for the next program, say good bye to the 2008 January intake as they depart upon their careers, and monitor all of the June 2008 guys on their practicals. The January intake starts our new program over six months so we all are looking forward to the new course material here on the team. It will be an exciting and fun new year for the team and students and we wish you all the same!!!