News
Update from November 2004
The course started of with 7 students from all across the globe. Unfortunately one student dropped out of the course half way through for personal reasons deciding that guiding probably wasn't their right career at this stage of their life. 4 of the group passed the course as well as the FGASA exam. Well done to them and for the very good marks that all 4 achieved. Hard luck to the other two but maybe a second crack at the FGASA exam will get them through.
The group was also quite diverse in the ages as well with two students being 19 and the oldest student being in their fifties. Despite this the group gelled together well and there was a good spirit among all the students and a great deal of fun was had by all.
Most weekends saw most of the students visiting the Kruger Park or other nearby attractions. On one weekend, one student went on a walking trail in the Kruger and sadly experienced a hippo being shot dead after charging the group. It didn't end there either as they were charged by a Black Rhino in their vehicle on the way back to the camp. Although the whole experience was a good learning curve for her, she was understandably shook up for a while afterwards and has now appreciated the other aspect of guiding that fortunately most guides never experience.
The large game was rather scarce on this course as too were the grasses. The rains arrived late and we only got our first decent storm in the middle of November. This meant that teaching the identification of trees was very difficult and restrictive and as for grasses-it was nonexistent. What the students did learn to appreciate though was how quickly the bush does change after the first summer rains. We are unfortunately still in the grip of a severe drought and it has affected the game viewing to a degree. We did however have one weekend when we had lion, elephant and two cheetah within 100m of the centre, but everyone missed them and the only proof we had of their passing were the tracks in the sand.
We had a very successful evening looking for frogs and managed to identify over 10 species in a very short space of time, again recording some new species for the reserve. We also had a couple of days when we could observe the effects of vultures and crocodiles feeding of an adult giraffe that died on the banks of the river. The students got some great views of large crocodiles out of the water as well as up to 70 vultures in the area. Sadly for the "birder" the Lappet-faced vulture chose to stay away!
Yet again the 3-night visit to Letaba Ranch proved to be a highlight for most people. Unfortunately the game viewing was not great but we did have a fantastic sighting of a 6 ft Snouted Cobra rearing up at us. We also had a fantastic sighting in the camp of two Spotted Bush Snakes mating. This was all fantastic except that Carina had a real phobia of snakes and wished that she was elsewhere. The bird spotting was also a great success with 160 different species being seen and taking our total for Letaba Ranch to over 210 species for the year. This was all helped by the fact that Jim was a typical British "twitcher" (sometimes to the annoyance of the others within the group!). Personally he had a great 6-weeks birding and had spotted over 290 species during the course, not only on Grietjie but in the Kruger and other areas he visited at weekends. He managed to add to the Antares list with a few species that we hadn't recorded here before, notably a Bat Hawk hunting above the centre buildings one evening.
It was with great sadness that most of the students left the centre. For some it meant leaving Africa and returning to their "miserable" countries. For others the course had run its time and they were keen to get home to their families and spend Christmas together.
From all at Antares we wish everyone reading this a very happy Christmas and maybe one day we will meet you as a new student.
