Another day in paradise

30 October 2010
As you gathered, it was an amazingly scenic flight up the Wild Coast on Friday. On arrival we went straight to work and after loading darts we set out looking for our patients. Spotting a single animal in a herd, with a tracking collar around its neck sounds easier than it is! We got lucky with a zebra and managed to dart it first time, but it had other plans….it kept running and would not slow down, until my worst fears came true – the only thing that was going to stop it was a physical obstacle and that came in the form of a stream. In its intoxicated state, the zebra misjudged the jump and landed on the far bank! I feared for the worst but after the reversal the zebra was just lame on the right front leg, which I could not examine because it was lying on it and I could not move it in that position, so it seemed better than expected. Although I did not see it again the next day, I believe it had a good chance of making a full recovery and hope it did since there was nothing more I could do for it.


Head winds and fuel shortages forced us to stay in a town called Margate for the night, after refuelling at the local airport – not what we had planned! After the noise of a “small city” overnight, we were on our way back to the reserve at 5.30 am on Saturday.
Winds picked up but we found the large eland herd with two collared females near a massive cliff, which is home to a vulture colony. Dodging vultures and fighting sudden downwinds, we decided to drop one of the team to make the helicopter lighter, and proceeded to dart two eland and remove their collars. It was not all plain sailing with the herd running into an area about 50m wide – flanked by a boundary fence on one side, and a sheer cliff on the other….not the time to be pushing the animals too hard…… I think our pilot, Marius, gained some grey hairs as he dodged vultures, fought the winds and tried to fulfil my requests for darting form the back seat….. With our fuel running low we finally found the red hartebeest too. Jan was dropped once again and after some pushing, the female we wanted split onto her own, but she was not slowing down or giving us a shot….. The wind pumping and the red hartebeest galloping left and right at high speed, I was unable to get a shot, and then we were low on fuel again. Off the pilot went with Jan to refuel in Margate, again. On their return they decided it was too dangerous to keep trying in the increasing wind with the weight of the fuel, chasing a nippy red hartebeest, so we packed up and headed home.
Three out of four collars retrieved was not too bad, I just wish we could have finished the job, but one thing we cannot control is the weather, and safety comes first.

All in all an amazing trip not to be forgotten and some video is sure to follow. You wanna see it?

Working in paradise

Dr Brothers flew to a remote game reserve along South Africa’s wild coast this morning to do some work. He has never been to this reserve personally, but believes it is stunningly beautiful with waterfalls that cascade into the ocean…It promises to be a scenic flight! He will be darting several antelope to remove tracking collars that have been collecting data as part of a research program. They landed in East London and  refuelled and are on their way again, the adventure continues... The scenery is magnificent according to Dr Brothers, who will post some video in due course.To make things even better, they are stopping on route to check some marine areas for the ecologist he is doing the work for. What a trip, and they haven’t even started darting!!

Big Cat Safari - 26 September - 4 October 2010 by Jackie and Colin Morris

Wednesday 29th September – Woke at 4.30am for a 5 am breakfast. Cool wind blowing but mostly fine weather. A group of 7 Australians was driven into the reserve and found the location of the lioness we wanted using telemetry and the help of other trackers. Dr Peter Brothers prepared his drugs for the dart gun and a kill was set up to lure the lions out of the scrub so he could get a clear shot at her. Well that took some time having to sit perfectly still and quiet but finally the chance came and she was darted. Of course, she took off into the denser scrub but we found her. Once the cars were in position, Peter and his helpers jumped out to pick up the lioness but we were told not to look at them. Why not, I thought, until Peter says we have to keep a lookout for her sister, her cubs or the male lion to come out of the scrub to help her. But you could only see a metre or two through the bush! Thank goodness we were in the safety of the vehicle. All being well, we drove down the track to a clearing where we could work on her in relative safety. It was a well-oiled operation where Peter got to work replacing her collar and inserting a contraceptive device while we had smaller jobs to do like monitoring her pulse, breathing and body temperature. One of our group was a veterinary nurse so she helped take blood samples. After many photos, an antidote was given and while we watched from a distance, she got up groggily and wobbled into the bush back to her friends. I felt like I’d done a day’s work but it was only 1.30pm and time for lunch. The experience gave all of us a deeper understanding and appreciation for the work wildlife vets do and Peter’s title respectfully grew from the “driver/tour leader” to “the vet”. Overall an immensely exciting and humbling experience putting into perspective our normally humdrum lives.

Thank you Jackie and Colin for your blog and for joining Brothers Safaris on The Big Cat Safari.