KANAAN DESERT RETREAT: AKA THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

Welcome to the Desert!

When  people think of Africa they most likely have one thought: There’s South Africa and every other country is just classified as being in the middle of nowhere, including Namibia. Well this past week not I was not only in a “middle of nowhere” country, but I was in the middle of nowhere within the “middle of nowhere” country! Na/an kuse has a desert research center bordering the oldest desert in the world, the Namib desert, which is where they conduct research on cheetahs, hyenas, leopards, and the other wildlife running around in their 35,000 hectare reserve. So this weeks blog is based on that experience, so brace yourself because this is a long one!

On Saturday 17 October a small group of us volunteers headed out to the desert retreat, south of Namibia. The first 4 hours of the journey we got to enjoy the luxury of a minibus, which stopped along the way for us to get our first taste of ice cream in 6 weeks! The next 4 hours were not as smooth, as 4 of us (11 volunteers in total) had to sit in the back of a pick up truck (known as a “bakkie”) with all the bags. After enduring the longggg ride and being covered from head to toe in sand and dust, we had finally made it to Kanaan. We met Karl, who is the coordinator there, had a quick meal, and headed to our tents where wer all passed out within a hour.

On the Bakkie

Cheese!

The scenery at Kanaan is absolutely breath taking, and can almost not be described with words. I have seen a lot of different nature sceneries; from the glaciers of New Zealand, the tropical rainforests around Asia, the Alps of Switzerland, to the beaches of Thailand, and now I can add the serenity of the Namib desert to that list. The photo’s can justify my point! Along with that, another beautiful sight was the stars above us, with absolutely no light pollution, you could see millions and millions of stars along with the very clear milky way! Definitely the nicest night sky I have ever seen.

DAY 1: Let the work begin!

So day 1 started at a nice 7am to check the camera traps around the reserve. These camera traps are essential to the research as you can monitor the different species around the reserve, population sizes, sex distribution, etc. You would think that this would be a straight forward process… think again! Collecting camera traps around a 35,000 hectare reserve takes long time, especially as the cars we took had to stay on the designated sand road, so a 20 minute walk was included in the package ;) Whilst on our mission we also brought the telemetry gear to track one of the collared cheetahs, “Number 87”. He had been spotted 3 times in the past 15 months so we didn’t get our hopes up! As the telemetry gear indicated that he was closer and closer we were able to determine that he was on the mountain directly ahead of us, yet we had no sights of him. At this point Karl decided to hike up and scare him out of his spot, which had worked! For about 15 seconds we saw number 87 climb up the mountain and over to the other side. Absolutely awesome to see a cheetah in the wild, especially as he had been so difficult to see. 

Searching for Cheetah 87

Getting Close!

In the afternoon we headed back to the lodge (the lodge is an old farmhouse that has a couple of rooms for tourists) where we would do our data entry. This meant going through thousands of camera trap images and recording the species of animal, the amount, the gender, and the age. After about 600 images you become an expert in identifying sex and age of the animal! Sometimes the color of the wings gives it away (ostrich), other times you see by the horns, and sometimes you go back to the old fashioned way and see if you can spot something under their legs (if you get what I mean!). That evening we went out with a black light to try and find some scorpions (they glow when shining a black light). The scorpion walk ended turning into a lizard walk as we saw a handful of desert lizards but not a single scorpion (My mom would be happy!). 

Barking Lizard!

Day 2: The big hike

On our second day at Kanaan Karl had planned for us to explore a mountain for signs of hyena dens and to check up on a camera trap set 3 weeks ago. So starting at 7:00am we started our ascent towards the peak of the mountain, which was about 1500 meters tall with a 60 degree gradient making it quite a challenging hike. Fast forward 3 hours and we had made it to the peak of the mountain, discovered a hyena den, finished about 4 liters of water, and had a good laugh with each other. May I remind you that it was hot, and by hot I mean very hot (over 43 degrees celsius) which made a hike a bit more interesting! The peak of the mountain was also a great place to eat our packed lunch with a view of the distinct red sand dunes of the Namib desert. 

Climbing up the mountain

#CandidCamera

Signature Move!

That View...oh and me!

Taking it all in!

At around 3:00pm we made it back to the lodge where we jumped into the “pool” too cool off. I’ll intervene right away as its not the pool you might imagine in your head, this pool was a large cement structure that collected all the excess water from the water storage tanks, so it was filled will algae and 5 fish! That night we packed our stuff and headed to a remote area of the sanctuary to have a sleep out in the mountains. Which as you can imagine was a lot of fun, some of the girls were scared of the potential hyena or leopard encounters, and therefore my sleeping bag got strategically moved to the front of the rest, so if something were to come up I’d be the first one to go ;) Sleeping in a desert is something I can check off my bucket list now. During the night one person had to stay up for an hour to keep watch while the rest slept just to ensure that we weren’t a hyenas next meal! Whilst most people had trouble sleeping I slept the whole night (apart from my watch hour, I have to say this in case karl reads my blog!!).

The Sleep out!

 Day 3: Digg’n in the Desert

After a good nights rest in the mountains our 3rd day consisted of project work, which refers to any work that needs to be done within the reserve. Our job was to dig up old fence posts (They recently bought their neighboring farm so all the border fences had to be removed) and transport the fences coils to the scrap yard. Along with Ralf and Adam we were dropped off at the first site where we had to remove two large fence posts. This might sound easy, but you could not have been more wrong. With cement going a meter deep into the ground the task was absolutely grueling. Here we are, in the middle of the desert, not a bird in sight, digging holes, at temperatures reaching 45 degrees. A nice 1cm splinter in my thumb didn’t make it any better, and to take it out we had to use the old fashioned way of getting a knife, slicing over the splinter and pulling it out! Anyway, for those that have read the novel “Holes” this was almost exactly the same! After 4 hours of working we managed to remove both posts which felt like a major achievement! Another thing to note, you know when you watch those desert movies and people are stuck without water and they see a pool of water distant, well that mirage effect is definitely true as even I was tempted to walk toward it and take a nice fresh dip! 

Digging em' holes

Celebratory Photo

Once we got back for lunch, which was top notch, we all felt too drained to go out and work again as it was just too hot! You’d think that having lived in Asia for 15 years would prepare me for the heat, but no, even for me this was waaaay to hot! 

In the evening, once it had cooled down a bit, we climbed a small mountain for our sun-downer which was beautiful! The sky was lit with the colors of the rainbow, from the dark blue night sky, to the purple, orange, yellow, red sunset. At 9:00pm we headed out for a night drive in an attempt to spot the less seen animals. Looking forward to seeing potential hyena and aardwolf we headed out in the bakkie and a strong flashlight. Unfortunately the most we saw was some springbok, but hey! that’s nature for you! 

No Caption Needed!

Stunning Sunset

*Jaws Drop*

Day 4: A Hike with Drama

On Wednesday we headed out at 6:00am to explore another side of the reserve. By now I had earned the reputation of being the last one to be ready, as…well, I would set my alarm for 5:55am and run down to the lodge ready to go! For the second exploration hike, we didn’t go as high, but we covered more distance along a former river bed. Having split up the groups, I went with Karl and 3 others whilst the rest went with Stu (another coordinator who came up with us). Never in my life have I looked at so much poo! To track hyena you look for footprint in the sand and their poo, which is very distinct. I also never expected to be so excited when I found poo, I guess that’s what the desert does to you! After 2.5 hours we had finally spotted a hyena marking area, this is an area full of hyena poo which is their way of marking their territory, letting others know they are there, and even telling other hyenas that they are ready to mate. Karl put up a camera trap and only time will tell if there is actual hyena activity in that area. Another thing to note is that man has most likely never set foot on the the lands we walked, which is quite special. 

With Some Hyena Poo

Without a single area of shade the heat was getting to all of us, and this is when the drama comes in! Just after setting the camera traps, one of the volunteers suffered from heat stroke and fainted! This resulted in Karl and I running back to the car as fast as possible to get her back inside. Never did I expect to be running 5km in the middle of the Namib Desert, but then again you never know whats going to happen! After probably setting a new record for the fastest 5km in a desert environment, we luckily got the volunteer back without any more problems! We ended the day with a delicious Braai, where I ended up being the butt of the jokes as I probably ate a whole lamb to myself!

Day 5: What a Game Drive!

The next day we headed out early to do a game count of the reserve, so fully equipped with binoculars we set out with the bakkie to count the game! In two hours we counted over 140 animals, which mainly consisted of oryx, springbok, and ostriches. Midway through the count I was guilty of accidentally falling asleep (The night before was late, I promise!) and this was noticed by pretty much everyone in the car! But other than that, It was a great ride. In the afternoon we cleaned the cheetah enclosure; at Kanaan they have one very large enclosure for four cheetahs that cannot be released back into the wild. Their enclosure includes a dune which allows for some great photos!

Chubby with her meat!

Chilling Together

Day 6: Final Day

The last day we woke up at a mesmerizing 5am to cater for a dune sunrise breakfast! Although waking up was hard, very hard, this was another cool experience. We were also greeted with a pleasant surprise, a desert coral snake, which are quite rare! We got that afternoon off, to relax, play cards, and make the most of our last day in the desert!

Dune Breakfast

Sunrise

The Coral Snake

All in all this trip to Kanaan was an absolutely amazing experience that I will remember for a long, long time. I’m back at Na/an Kuse for a week before heading on my own Namibian adventure. Renting a 4x4 truck with camping i’m going to go explore Namibia for myself! Till then, have a good week :D

P.S shout out to Adam and Nici for these Photos!!

Turning 21 in Africa

On Sunday, October 4th I celebrated my 21st birthday here at Na/an Kuse. The night before we celebrated with a couple of drinks but nothing too extravagant! On the day, I had booked a Sunday brunch trip to the tourist lodge (also on the reserve). After helping out in the morning at food prep and getting greeted with tens of “Happy Birthday’s” I headed over with a group of volunteers. The lodge was absolutely beautiful and the food was to die for! CAKE!! When you’re in the middle of nowhere little things like a piece of cake becomes a BIG deal! Chocolate cake and apple crumble was definitely what I needed on my Birthday :)

That Cake!

The Lodge

The Lodge

After spending a couple hours at the lodge relaxing we headed back to the farm. Within 15 minutes of coming back to the farm, Stu came to us and said there was a big forest fire by a neighboring farm. Outside Windhoek there is no fire brigade so instead neighboring farms help each other out in the case that a forest fire does break out. So everyone that was fit and up for it got changed and got ready to help out. Three pick ups were loaded with large fire extinguishing containers along with us volunteers. Never in my life have I gone that fast in a pick up truck whilst standing in the back! Stu, who was driving, put the pedal to the metal and reached speeds what felt like 100 km/h! The ride was definitely and adrenaline rush, but at the same time very beautiful as the sun was starting to set. 

After a 45 minute drive we got to the fire and were ready to go. Given that the fire was on a mountain, we had to get out of the car and attempt to fight the fire with shovels, rakes, water towels , etc. The strategy to fight the fire was to go from the back (where the forest was already burnt down), this would prevent us getting burns! With some flames about 10 feet high, this was definitely a challenge. Every little fire we would extinguish by covering them up with dirt, whilst the bigger fires were a different story. Hats off to firefighters around the world, my god, the heat and the smoke made it a very grueling task!!

The Forest Fire!

As the sun set the area was lit by the forest fire, which we were slowly able to control after a lot of hard work and effort! We then maneuvered our truck motorcade back through the forest and onto the road back to Na/An Kuse. When we made it back everyone was starving and exhausted, which is when I got a very pleasant surprise. The kitchen staff had made me a very nice birthday cake, and Hannah (and the other volunteers) had gotten me an awesome shirt and a poster signed by everyone! It was a hectic day but definitely a very memorable birthday. It might not have been the crazy party 21st birthday that most people have, but nevertheless a birthday that I will won’t forget!

My Cake :D

Clever Cubs School

Here at Na/an Kuse we have a small school for the kids of the staff/bushmen that work on the sanctuary. Given that we are located an hours drive from the city, these kids had no/limited access to the education they deserved. So in 2009, the Clever Cubs School was set up to educate the little ones (before going to school in Windhoek) and help the older kids with their home work after school.

Over the past couple of weeks i’ve dropped by quite often. The kids are really great and always have a huge grin on their faces. I’m one of the few volunteers who enjoys playing with the kids!! On that note, I’m already their favorite. This however does have its consequences! I can’t pass the school without the kids running out and shouting my name and persuading me to push them on the swings or throw them around on the trampoline. 

Playing with the kids!

The Classroom

Funny Faces!

And Again!

Some afternoons I skip my activity to help out at the school. Helping the older ones with math and physics, and the younger ones with simple addition (Elliot you could join this group!). After 15 minutes they finish their homework and play outside. Yesterday, after refusing to get my face painted by them for about 20 minutes, I finally gave up and let one of the girls, Jessica, paint my face… The moment I sat on the chair I had about 14 hands and brushes completely smothering my face with paint… soo much for the lion face paint!!

Its all good fun though, you have volunteers who go there (on a 6 group rota one of the afternoon activities is school) and sit and watch the kids and have no interest in them at all, and then theres people who play with them, have fun, and make the most of the experience!

I have also found out that being in fluent in Dutch really, really helps! Given that Afrikaans is based on the Dutch language, I can understand about 80% of what they say and what they have to read. They do also speak very good english but its always a plus to know their local language!

Week 5 Highlights

On Monday the 5th life on the farm continued as usual except for some slight changes. Every week volunteers come and go, which means that the people in your group change as well. This week I had 3 new volunteers join me in my group, so 4 of us in total. The new people in my group were definitely here for vacation… they often just left to go relax at the Lapa, they didn’t help with enclosure cleaning, and basically saw me as their tour guide. This of course resulted in a very busy week for myself. 

Little Emma

Horseback Adventures

That same Monday I also decided to do something new. Every week Mette organizes and afternoon horse ride for the experienced riders to do some trotting and galloping. Me being quite cocky, I thought that horse riding was a piece of cake and that I could easily join, and thus I signed up to join the afternoon ride. It had been a longgg time since I last trotted on a horse (on the beach in hua hin) so I braced myself for a good ride. I did ask around before for any tips which turned out to be quite useful. The ride began with a nice long walk to get the horse warm before the real deal. After about 15 minutes Mette gave her horse the signal and off we went. Riding on Jules, I started off at the back asI thought that was the safest option. The moment we began trotting my foot came off the stirrups ( I thought in my head…this is it, I’m falling off right away) and then the galloping began, for about 300 meters I was holding on for my dear life as Jules start surpassing one horse after the other to go right in the front of the pack. Luckily I had gotten my foot back into the stirrups so I had a bit more control. Whilst galloping, I was advised to just stay up on my feet and not sit on the saddle, this proved to be the key to me staying on the horse. Once we stopped, my heart was beating like the cylinders of a v8 engine. This feeling came back when we went on our second gallop, which felt like the most exciting and adventurous thing I had done all week, for about 800 meters the horses galloped at speeds that Mette considered “uncontrollable”. She had never gone that fast, which I took as a good achievement given that I managed to stay on Jules with considerable control! At the end of the ride, Mette applauded my ability and I was invited to join again next week! #WINNING!!

Giraffes!!!

Another big highlight of this week was that I finally got to see the Giraffe during a horse back game count! The sight was absolutely stunning! Seeing 10 Giraffes (including 2 juveniles) right in the wild about 50 meters in front of us was breath taking. I’m glad I could finally check that off my bucket list! That game count was also made a bit more interesting as I rode another horse, Sir Alfred, who was a complete pain in the ass! By now Mette, who is in charge of the horses, views me as an experienced rider, so gave me Alfred as Jules was given to a “larger” volunteer. Alfred had a complete panic attack midway through the ride, left, right, left, right, anything but the direction I wanted him to go. After 15 minutes I finally calmed him down, but my god, I was shocked myself with my ability to control him!

Giraffe!!!!

Last week we had baby Emma come to the farm after her mother was shot, and this week we welcomed two more monkeys; a baby baboon and a baby vervet monkey. The baby baboon (about 3 months old) came in after his mother was shot that same day. When he arrived he was completely covered in his mothers blood and was absolutely traumatized. Like Emma he was to receive 24/7 human care to calm him down and help him out, which turned out to help quite well as towards the end of the week he was starting to play again. The baby vervet monkey was added to the baby vervet enclosure where she would have Gollum and Precious (2 baby vervets) to keep her company. As sad as their stories are, seeing the little babies around during food prep and at the Lapa always gives you a smile on your face!

Sad faces!

Weekend Activity

The weekend activity this week was darting some ostriches that were causing problems at the lodge (biting guests and destroying windows). We wouldn’t be the ones shooting the darts of course, but we would watch Rudie(the founder) attempt to get them! After being given a brief introduction on how the process worked and how we would proceed to dart them we headed out towards the lodge. I was quick and joined Rudie and Marlice in the Range Rover Mamba (think of a heavy duty jeep, 30 years old, no windshield/roof/doors, and totally indestructible). After spotting the first male ostrich, everyone got out (the rest were in pick ups following us), and we watched Rudie try and dart the ostrich. Darting an ostrich is very difficult as you need to get the dart underneath their wings. The difficulty plus the fact that the ostrich was very scared of Rudie made the process impossible by foot. So we reverted to plan B, we would chase the ostrich through the bush and try and shoot him from the car. The others would stay in their pick ups and drive towards a higher view point to see the action. I however was right in the action! In it was for moments like these that I wish I could upload videos! Chasing the ostrich at speeds well above 50 km/h, going from left to right, and completely running over huge bushes was another great adrenaline rush. I was so lucky that I joined their car as the rest just watched from a distance. Unfortunately after a 20 minute chase, the ostrich went into an area that was inaccessible by car so we had to end our pursuit. Instead we headed to another ostrich who was known to be very tame. This time around darting the other ostrich was a lot easier, she didn’t move away, and could be darted without any complications. She was then taken onto the pick up and driven to the other side of the sanctuary, where she could live happily every after (blah blah blah!)

The Mighty Mamba!

Rudie trying to shoot the Ostrich

Helping out!

Marlice with the Ostrich

Anway, that it for this week! 

Signing out from Namibia :D

Week 4 Highlights

After 4 weeks here at Na/an Kuse things are starting to settle down, and slowly its become part of my routine. We still have the same activities on a 5 day rota this week (due to less volunteers) but nevertheless its always enjoyable. The horseback game counts continue to be one of my favorite activities as the sights we see are absolutely breath taking. Although I’ve seen zebra’s almost every time I’ve gone out, it remains surreal to see.

Large Herd of Zebra

The days here a long and tiring, and as a result I noticed that my thoughts are completely here. You don’t have much time to think about the “outside” world as you are so busy with the day to day activities. During the day you think about the tasks you have to do, and at night you socialize with the other volunteers. Speaking of the other volunteers, people come and go every week, which is one of the less fortunate things here. At the moment we are at a mere 14 people, which means there a lot of work to do, but within those 14 there are a couple very cool people around my age which is always a plus!

One of the stand out activities of this past week was the leopard release. Its that time of the year when the calls come in on a weekly bases to come and retrieve a problem cat (cheetah/leopard that goes after livestock). Unlike the caracal release where we could all stand around the cage and see them go, due to the nature of leopards being very aggressive, this release was a closed release. This meant that we all sat in closed vehicles whilst Stu pulled the cage open with a rope from the window of his car. Within seconds the leopard was out of sight and off to explore his new home. Always a fascinating sight releasing an animal like that back into the wild. 

Weekly Walk

Leopard Release

Our weekend activity for last Saturday and yesterday was a cooking activity and dodgeball. For the cooking activity we were shown a video on how to make a traditional Afrikaans stew on the campfire. The elderly volunteers loved this as it didn’t require much excise (unlike football or dodgeball). The more exciting activity was dodgeball, which was a great laugh. I was the biggest target to get as I got everyone out without ever getting hit. All with a bit of banter!

Saturday Night Karaoke!

Gomez invading the Lapa

Dinner for the Leopards and Lion

Jules and I

Relaxed Saturday Afternoon

Baboon Update!

Emma and I

No caption needed!!

More than a week after they first escaped, the junior baboons still escape their enclosure every evening. Every night new measures (Shooting them with paintball guns) were taken to keep them in their enclosure, but unfortunately with little success. Thus every night at around 8pm we completely clear the Lapa and head to our rooms as these guys are a bit more aggressive than the big babies. Whilst coming out of the shower I got the shock of my life when I saw this big baboon right in front of me…He grabbed the toothpaste out of my hands and gave me a pretty nasty bite on the foot. Hopefully next week their new enclosure (which lies about 800m from the farm) will be done, so we can finally have our peace again!