News Update from April 2007
We had 6 students on this course. 4 of them were from RSA and the other 2 were from the UK. Their ages also ranged from 19 to 50 something. 5 of them passed the course.
The highlight of this course as always was the trip to the Kruger. We managed to see all of the Big 5 during our visit. We also saw Roan antelope which was even a first for me in the Kruger. Seeing rhino this far north was also very rewarding. Other memorable sightings were a yellow-billed oxpecker, a pair of leopards crossing the Shingwedzi river on our very last morning about 200m from the camp and numerous big herds of elephants along the river almost daily. We were also privy to a few idiotic visitors to the park who had climbed out of the car and were sitting on the rails at the end of the bridge. I heard from the students afterwards that in fact there was a third person who had walked down below the bridge and was sitiing at the waters edge. I noticed a photo in our local paper a couple of weeks after the end of this course whcih had been submitted by one of the students in an attempt to highlight this irresponsible behaviour.
On the one walk we took we came across a clay pot that had been unearthed to a certain degree. It was in a termite mound that we have been walking over for the last 7 years and it was only now being exposed. We decided that it would be better to remove it before it got more damaged as there were regular animal movements in that area. It turned into a bigger task than I first imagined but we managed to piece about 90% of it together and glue it back in place. I have sent off photos to a specialist to see if we can get any further information about its history, but have had no response so far.
The 1st aid course once again was a great success and has now become a very important part of the course and enjoyable. The students seem to appreciate the efforts that Andrew goes to in putting across his message, something that I wasn't getting from the students beforehand.
Once again the course was an overall success and I am sure that everyone went home at the end of it far wiser than when they arrived.