Photos!

Dear readers.
There have been a lot of photos taken of the course site guide and not put in in between my previous blogs. We are finally finished with the course and we are having a working week before a week of holiday. So here are the good times, the bad times and the times that could have been...

We went to the koppie and saw an amazing view.

The iron rocks found on the koppie.

Our own cruizer! To bad it was so cold that day.

Our very reliable driver for the day. Blond moment from the trip: " shouldn't we lock the cruizer?"

The ants that provided us with thoughts of rain.

In the office...

RIP puff adder, we found him behind the loerie being eaten by mongoose.

The site guide gang!

Arthropoda

Dear readers.
We have been doing insects for the last couple of days as well as reptiles.

In insects you get two types of metamorphosis: Hemimetobola(3stages) and Holomatobola(more stages). All insects can be classified under Athropoda.This will include Insecta(insects), Arachnida(spiders and scorpions) and Myriapoda(moths and butterflies). Coleopreta is all your beetles and Diptera is the mosquito's and flies.Hemiptera is the bugs and Cicadas is "sonbesies". The weirdest thing I have heard in a long time is that sand tics are actually known as sand tampons...Yes,have a laugh I know I did!

We also learn't the differences between centipedes and millipedes:

       Centipede:

• Poisonous
• Venom glands and claws
• Fast in nature

Millipede:

• Herbivore
• Non venomous and no claws
• slow in nature

The difference between a moth and a butterfly:
Moth:

• Hold their wings open when in landing position
• Feathered antennas

Butterfly:

• Close their wings when in landing position so it looks like one wing
• They have antennas with swollen tips

With this topic I realized how important insects are to the environment and the ecology. They maintain a balance in nature, they practice some form of waste disposal and the diseases they carry helps improve mans technology.

I found out that the Nile crocodile is the only reptile that looks after its young when they are born.Terrapins live in freshwater, tortoise lives in freshwater and a turtle lives in saltwater. All pythons are non-venomous and the nag adder is the only adder that does not give live birth it lays eggs. There are two types of cobra: s cobra and a true cobra. The difference is that the true cobras are the ones that spit,the rest of the characteristics are that they are both neuro-toxic and they have fixed fangs.The vine snake  is the only snake in S.A that does not have an anti-venom.

We also got our own cruiser and we went to the koppie where we looked at the scenery and discussed the grass and trees we see.Of course we had to have problems with it when we drove to the caravan park! It did not want to start and so it took a man close by to  look at it but when he got in and stated it, it worked...Very embarrassing but we survived.
We are going to welcome our parents today for a parents weekend and we will be doing a role play to show them what we have done so far.

See you next time!

The last strech!

Dear readers.
I can't believe it all happened so fast.This is our last week of site guide and we are getting the last bits of drips and drabs done before the end of the week.
Monday we finished our assessments and we did welcoming in the rain. Tuesday we went on with weather and climate and we also did geology which is the study of rocks.

It is very interesting to see that rocks form from minerals and that soil then comes from weathering rocks. There is a relationship between rocks,soil, vegetation and animals. Lightning strikes the earths surface depositing energy into the rock. When this rock weathers down it turns to a type of soil which then stimulates the roots of plants and they grow with better quality and therefor the animals are healthier when they eat it. Silly things we take for granted that are made to work like a puzzle.I also did a game drive at five last night and Salaminah came with to assess me. It went very well and I have been declared competent!

Today we are doing assessments again and we wrote the tests on geology,weather and climate. We did things like the types of erosion, how clouds form, soil identification and what the ocean does to effect our climate in S.A. Because the Benguela front and the Algulas front have an effect on the climate we have. And then of course the difference between weather and climate...Weather is the conditions over a short period of time like 24hours and climate is the conditions over a long period of time like 30years.

We are all sad that this is coming to an end because there is still so much to learn but I wont stop filling my aid memoir with knowledge because we all know, knowledge is power!

The working weekend!

Dear readers.

I had my first working weekend and it was very wet! It rained the whole weekend and so not many game drives went out. I did a drive on Friday evening with a second year and it was a lot of fun. We had Brazilians going out with us and they loved it! We saw an Eland with a torn up ear and it was horrific, its ear has been eaten up by tics and it was very sad to see.

We had a lot of rain and so Sunday morning I did a tractor drive. My parents came to visit for the parents weekend and it was fun showing them around and telling them about what I have done the last couple of months. We where soaking wet when I took them to the wildlife center because we walked around in the rain looking at the animals. Our role play on Friday was so funny! Everyone loved it and it was just such a fun day.

I am very happy that my parents could see what I do and how much I have grown and I hope they are proud of me.
This is our last week in site guide and a lot of work still needs to be done so until next time!

Almost there*

Dear readers.
It is unfortunately our second last week of Site Guide and we are getting our files and last bit of work done for next week. My week so far consists of caught up assessments, tests,biomes, spiders, scorpions and fish.

It is very interesting work but I will never see a spider as beautiful as Karen, one of my student colleagues, would always say.They are very mysterious animals and I love the way they use their senses to catch their prey. The spiders we see most here on Sondela is the Golden orb web, baboon spider, trapdoor spider and the kite spider.
The Golden orb web has a web that shines gold in the sun so animals will see it and not walk through it and the web is strong enough to catch a bird. The female is much bigger then the male and she eats him after mating.Poor guy does not even see it coming!

The scorpions are divided into four groups known as: Burrowing scorpions, Bark scorpions, Thick-tail scorpions and Sand dwelling scorpions. There are 172 different types of scorpions in S.A.
The biomes are a bit boring because we have done it in school and it's all about the climate and soil types of a specific area. The fish are fun because they do funny things that we never notice. Most freshwater fish do a mating dance during courtship that is a part of a ritual.
Back to my "favorite" subject..spiders. The Trapdoor spider has a nest that has a trap door effect to catch prey but there is the spider wasp that gains access and stings the spider. It then lays eggs inside the spider and when they hatch they eat the spider alive!
Hope you don't have nightmares tonight...

Follow up!

Dear readers.

Our nests were a success in the way that they did not fall apart but now the question remains if birds will use them. Our excitement is all about our hammerkop nest because it's a mess and we really hope it attracts the hammerkop. Here are a few photos that I promised:

 On Thursday night we went to the guest house and used the telescope to identify the constellations and things we learn't about the night sky. It was a lot of fun and we saw satellites and Orion. And in case you were wondering a satellite can be the machine or the semi shooting star. We were all shocked when she said no not the machine. The glowing satellite we see every now and again is indeed a ball of gas and rock that is moving through the air due to gravity and lights up because of the gasses causing friction. Who knew???

We will be going back to see Scorpio in winter and yes we were the first to use the guest house telescope!
Until next time, twinkle star goodbye!

DIY at Sondela...

Dear readers.

Hello to one and all or should I say tweet tweet! We are currently busy gathering material to build a...wait for it...A Birds nest!
We walked long and far to gather things like grasses, twigs and leaves to build our nest with. Also no job can be done without a little research. Try typing in " build your own birds nest" on Google. To my surprise we aren't the only ones! You can use all kinds of things especially to make it colorful.

This morning we wrote a test on amphibians and I got 100% ! Guess I know my frogs better then I thought... We will be going on a game drive at nine and then we are going to build our nest. I love the fact that we can already do game drives on our own! We are very confident and we were trained well by Salaminah herself.

I will be posting pictures of the building expedition but here are examples of what we will be creating.

The Hammerkop's nest is going to be kind of tricky but we will see if we can't steal a ladder and build it in the Marula tree! But as I said I will keep you posted on our challenges and how it whent.
Until next time, tweet tweet!

Sondela frogs and toads*

Dear readers.

This week started off with a bang! I'm healthy and loving life...
We are currently busy with frogs and toads and it is very interesting. Today we had class in the Loerie and we wrote down a whole lot of notes. Like the difference between frogs and toads.
Frogs:

• Smooth moist skin and they jump well.
• They have teeth on the upper jaw and they aren't nocturnal.
• Their tongue is attached in the front of the mouth and the tongue is covered in a sticky substance.
• They are very good swimmers and their tadpoles are big and light in colour.

Toads:

• Rough skin and they don't jump as well.
• They lack teeth and they are nocturnal.
• The tongue is also attached in the front of the mouth but only the tip of the tongue is sticky.
• They are poor swimmers and their tadpoles are small and dark in colour.
• They have a toxin skin for self diffidence because they are slow to get away.

We also learn't that frogs call to attract mates, to space themselves evenly to avoid compitition and when they are threatened.They have three different types of vocal sacs and various types of skin differences. They thermoregulate their skin so when it is cold the skin darkens.

The frogs and toads found on Sondela are:

1. Olive toad
2. Guttural toad
3. Red toad
4. Plain grass toad
5. Giant frog
6. Bullfrog

My favorite one is the giant frog because its weird and wonderful at the same time!

Until next time...RIBBET RIBBET!

Identifying nature.

Dear readers.

We started the day off by going on a drive with Mabula. He took us through the Springbokflats and further to show us the different types of grass and trees.
Salaminah explained that some grasses are palatable(edible by animals) and others are non- palatable(not edible by animals). Grasses also grow in certain soils which can also indicate your nutrition level.

My favorite grass is Natal red top grass because it looks pretty when the florescence is present and it has a soft look to it.
The trees are tricky because some of them look very similar. For example the sweet thorn and the scented pod. The sweet thorn is a darker green then the scanted pod and the scented pod has pods hanging from the branches that when you brake them open it smells nice.

There are also medicinal uses for most trees. The marula fruits are used for the drink and some believe the bride needs to bathe in a bath of marula juice before the wedding for good luck and blessings to the marriage.The sekelbush looks like it has thorns but in actuality it is extended branches for other plants to grow on.
Things we take for granted everyday are actually very interesting when given attention to detail.
Hope you learn't as much as I did, until next time!

Sondela birds

Dear readers.

This week we started to get to know the birds we will be seeing when going on game drives and bush walks.
There are really a lot of different types and I didn't think I would know half of them in time for assessments but it is not that bad once you see the animal you are naming and repeating the same birds over again.
My favorite one is definitely the glossy starling because of its intense color.

When in the shade it looks like a common crow, pitch black and ugly. But when the sun shines on it the feathers reflect this lovely green-blue.
The Blue wax bill can also be considered one of the beauties of nature because of its powder blue color that looks lovely with the cream- gray.

There are many more we were taught and we will identify them now with guests that are your typical bird lovers.


Tweet you later!