Resource guardianship week 5

Dear readers.

On Tuesday we started off the day by unpacking unit standards and Cobus explained to us  the legal side of poaching and how to handle a poacher if they occur on your farm or area of operation. The fire alarm went off and we had to run to the pakstoor. It was not a drill and we were told to stand aside and listen for orders. The fire was not on Sondela but it was close and in our sector. The fire was safely put out and we heard that the other farm used pig fesses to put it out! We then moved back to class and continued with paperwork and U.S.

Wednesday Karen and I were nominated to help JP and Kyle with the Duncan applicators. We left to start with the work and collected rocks to fill up the Tambuki dam with because there are deep holes in it. We first fixed the dip bowl at Makhato 3 and then moved on to the main-gate hide. There we had to refill the Duncan applicators with Ambipor, a fluid that helps fight tics, and unclog the spout holes. We then saw the frame built to force animals to use one entrance was flattened and we had to rebuild it. We cut off branches and searched for thorny branches to build with.It was starting to rain very heavily so we waited it out and finished with the frame. After that we went back to the academy and did assessments and finished up some paperwork.

We got the chance to do blogs on Thursday morning and we adjusted our reports because they needed more detail. After lunch Sulize and I were sent to the Wildlife center to help out with the work that needed to be done. We cleaned out the dam and refilled it. We also helped with feeding and saw how big everyone got! Max and Lex are huge and porky is now larger then life. The three mongooses have been sold to one of our very own students and the teens have been returned to their rightful owner. Lucy and Phur are as big as the teens already and unfortunately my owl Patch has died. It was lovely to have seen the gang again and to spend time with them again.

On Friday morning the whole group went to refill the Duncan applicators at management houses.

 After we finished Cobus did a simulation with us in the donkey pen. We started by dividing into two groups  and structured ourselves into two lines on opposite sides of the pen. We had hand signals to communicate with each other and we had to count the wildlife and trees that we saw. The fun part comes in where we had to check for animal traps and poachers... Three second years were hidden in the pen and we found them in bushes and trees. We had to follow the legal steps when a suspect is found on your property but of course these poachers had to run and fight and speak a way out there language! It was difficult but that just showed us what we could be dealing with in the future. We had to collect the evidence without touching it and arrest the suspect. After lunch we did welcoming until 21:00.

A normal Saturday morning followed and we fetched the donkeys and Diablo for rides but the weekend was very quiet.After lunch we got all the equipment ready for ink-berry removal and we finished the whole hectar. The second years handled the brush cutters and we dabbed the stems. I raked the whole area and we picked up the plants and put it in plastic bags.

Sunday morning we did entertainment again with the horse and donkeys and friends of mine came to feed the baby sheep its milk. We then went to the Wildlife center again to help floor the new cages and to build a road to go to the new cages. We then had a 3 o'clock meeting and went home.

A start of a new week and again with the hard labor! We had to dig 40 holes for soil samples on the Buffel lands and the ground is very hard. We had to hit the ground with a pick to get depth and then we had to dig with shovels until it's deep enough. Then a soil sample needs to be scraped off and put in a plastic bag. The hole needs to be closed up again and then it's on to the next location. We took until lunch to fill a bad soil bag and a good soil bag. After lunch we had welcoming again until 17:00.