News Update from January 2005
Once again we had 7 students on the course. We had our first black students as well which was fantastic. One of them was from the local town and was sponsored by his company, Basambilu Lodge,to attend the course. Sadly neither of them made the theory aspect of the course but from a practical point of view they were both very strong and I have no doubt that they will one day make fantastic guides.
Sinky, the local student, kept us entertained for many an hour on walks and drives with his own stories about what to use certain trees for and he backed these up with personal experiences. This is what being a guide is all about and I sincerely hope that he will continue to strive to attain the required qualifications.
This was the first course where the students did not write the FGASA level 1 exam at the end of the course. The system has now changed and they instead complete a workbook during the course. They all said that they found it very rewarding as it is a great way to learn as well as being evaluated at the same time. All 7 students went on to achieve high marks in their FGASA results, ranging from 95% - 97%. Our congratulations to them all. They must now be practically evaluated to achieve their full qualification and I have no doubt they will do well.
The larger game was again scarce on the course and it was only once we went to Letaba Ranch for the last week did we get to experience any elephants, lions or buffalo. We had an eventful time during this last week, with one female elephant deciding that she would have preferred us not to be there. The students tell me that they couldn't believe the speed she came crashing through the bushes to get to us. Needless to say I was just concentrating on the rough dirt track and trying to get some distance between us. She eventually stopped her charge thankfully. She gave us no warning beforehand either and I was glad that I had spotted her start coming from 80 m away otherwise we could have had a more eventful encounter! The first evening was also a memorable one for the students as a pride of lions started calling not too far from the unfenced camp and by the time it was bedtime, they sounded as though they were only a few hundred metres beyond the last tent. We followed up the next morning and in fact came across two different lion sightings. Sadly the one was off into the bush and there is no off-road driving permitted on the reserve. Anyway we decided to go back in the evening and see if they were out on the road. It almost worked, we found the lion about 50m off the road and could just make out his body through the bushes with the spotlight. However the highlight for the students was that he was roaring at full volume and with all the lights switched off it was a very enjoyable and memorable experience for all involved.
As always we concentrated on the birdlfe during this last week and we recorded 150 species over the four days. This included 7 new species for our list for the reserve and takes our findings to 219 species now. The highlight for me was seeing so many raptors. They seemed to be everywhere. Among them we had a Crowned Eagle and a Lanner Falcon, which for me were really special.
