Meerkats of the Kalahari

The diary of an Earthwatcher

Colin Rayner April 2006

Tuesday 4th AprilThe adventure begins.

Met up with Helaine at JNB as her flight from Sao Paulo had been delayed. Amy alsoon flight but not identified as no Earthwatch T Shirt. Greeted at Upington airport byHelene (pronounced Ihr laina) – mid twenties, born in Namibia and recently studied atthe University of Pretoria.

Went to “downtown” Upington (later to be known as the Emerald Oasis) – a smallmall anchored by Pick N Pay. Loaded up with Castle beer and wine boxes of the localOrange River red. It looked like we were complete alcoholics as we were stacking upthe trailer but Helene said that we were not the worst and that we had to get enough tolast 10 days before we could get to the local village. Had lunch then Helenetelephoned Tom – he’s the Project Manager despite being only 23 and looking likeShaggy from Scooby Doo. He had witnessed a car break in and had been subpoenaedto attend the trial of the accused. He had spent two days in Upington MagistratesCourt but in the end the thief had jumped bail.

We then picked him up and started the three hour drive to the Meerkat project.Unfortunately the A/C had broken and it seemed in the high nineties – very sweaty.The landscape reminded me of Nevada – no change in scenery and lots of roadkill.

Finally arrived and went first to Rus En Vrede which is the farmhouse where theresearchers live. Introduced to Sophie and Rob and it soon became apparent that thisplace is full of very young, very bright people and I was likely to be the oldest personon site. Helaine (pronounced Elai-knee) is perhaps 30 and a lawyer in HSBC’s HeadOffice in Curitiba which is south of Sao Paulo. Apart from a visit with a friend toItlay, this is her first real trip out of Brazil although she did live in Chicago for 8 yearsas a child. Amy is American although born in Haiti and I would estimate is about 40,with 2 children, Ben and Sacha. Her husband is with a software division of Hitachiwhich has meant them living in some exotic places such as Kenya and Japan. Lives inSunningdale, does not work at the moment but is looking for something inadvertising/PR.

We then went to Gannavlaktre (Grass Field). This is our farmhouse. There are sixrondavels for Earthwatch attendees. Mine is called Tsumma (I’ll have to find out whatthat means). I have a sink with cold water, a desk, fan and a hanging rail with chest ofdrawers for clothes. Once unpacked I realised how much I had brought out for theschool children – no wonder I was bang on the limit. Also stocked up on chocolate(the trashy kind) and newspapers/magazines for the researchers. Having now seen theaverage age I think I should have got copies of Loaded, Nuts etc rather than TheEconomist and National Geographic. I suppose at least I got Hello magazine.

Gannavlaktre – home sweet home for two weeks.

Tsumma – my own castle in the Kalahari desert (with door open).

In the farmhouse Helene has an apartment and a portion is rented to Mandy, Nicky &Lucy, commonly known as “The Babblers” because of the bird they are studying.Andy Radford is also a Babbler but lives in one of the rondavels – looks like my onlyrival for the male side of the washroom block!. Tina is our cook and lives with herfamily in a separate building which looks brick built with a little informal settlementextension on the side. After a tour and a shower, we had a safety talk – if you getbitten by a poisonous snake, of which there are basically two (Cape Cobra and Puff

Adder), or a scorpion (little pincers, big tail) you should try and identify it so that youcan get the correct vaccine at the hospital – this presupposes that you do not fall into acoma beforehand. Treatment for snake bites differs between the types as it depends ifyour local or nervous systems are being affected.

Then dinner – a taste of things to come. Lamb Curry, Lentil Dahl, Rice and YoghourtRaita. Huge quantities washed down with a glass of wine. For dessert we had CapeFingers. These are like a crispy doughnut and are supposed to be served mid point tofreezing. Nice but too sweet for me. After coffee early to bed – 6 a.m. looks like theusual wake up time around here.

Helene, Amy and Helaine getting used to Tina’s cooking.

On the way back to the rondavels, Helene pointed out the stars (which were amazing)and we saw the Southern Cross and Orion’s Belt. Will definitely spend more timeanother evening looking at the stars. A good start everybody is very friendly and welook like we will gel well in time. Can’t wait to see the Meerkats tomorrow – we areoff to do the morning weightings.

Wednesday 5th AprilFirst encounter with a Meerkat.

Up at 6 a.m. and after a quick bowl of cereal and a banana we were off. Helene usedthe radio transmitter equipment to check if the group (Moomins) were up. Whilst shewas confident they were still asleep, half a dozen came over the dune – never workwith children and animals!. The terrain is one of reddish sand with dense patches ofsourgrass. Due to recent rainfall, this was waist high and very thick. This was interdispersed with Camelthorn bushes – we had been warned – long trousers only. Wewere advised that when approaching Meerkats that you should hum which has beentaken by them over time to mean that you are not going to harm them. Tried this andit seemed to work.

Not the terrain we had expected!! Good old sourgrass.

A bit of sunbathing before we go for breakfast……..

First job of the day was for Helene to weigh them. She had some boiled egg andrepeatedly called “Yum, Yums….Yum,Yums” and it was surprising how many ofthem got into the Tupperware box on the electronic scales. There we were amongst20+ Meerkats who were really not taking much notice of us. In fact most of themwere either engaged in play fighting or sunning themselves to help raise their bodytemperatures.

We noticed a female was pregnant but she was not the dominant one and in theorywas not supposed to breed. This could spell trouble as she may be forced out of thegroup. One tactic of the submissive females is to try to get pregnant at the same timeas the dominant female. Once the pups are born she cannot tell whether they are allhers or not or if any of the other females have been pregnant. This is a dangerous ployas when the dominant female is pregnant her hormones are on turbo and she canviciously attach the other members of the group and will certainly kill any pups thatare not hers in order to preserve her blood line.

Each meerkat is identified by vegetable dye attached by the volunteers. For exampleleft shoulder, right thigh, mid back , tail base. Whilst some were obvious it seems thatour group were due to be ‘repainted’ hence it was a little difficult for the untrainedeye. The dominant male has a radio collar. All other meerkats have transponder chipsunder the skin like a domestic cat or dog.

After weighing the meerkats ( not us at the moment) they started to move off for theirdaily food foraging – they would usually go up to 2k away from the burrow but havea number of bolt holes in between in case of danger. We were taught to look out forbehaviours such as digging, sentry duty ( they are exactly the same as cats – they lookall embarrassed when they fall out of bushes!), vigilance, predator alarms andforaging competitions. The later was like Billy and Benny (my cats) at supper apart

from the fact that they would each try to fend off the other with their hips whilstgrowling.

Careful !!

We followed the group for 3 hours and the humming kept working. We saw a hugesociable weaver nest in a tree which was maybe 12 feet across. Saw our first lilaccrested roller which is a beautiful bird with a brown chest and almost turquoise wings.

On the way back we stopped off at Rus en Vrede to say hello to a few moreresearchers – Sam, Mike and Joel. I was right I am the oldest swinger in town! Theyshowed us around their farmhouse which looks just like a student squat but I supposeto be fair that is what they are with not many of them being out of university for long.Diversion to Big Dune on the way back - we are due to have sunset drinks here lateron in the week.

Back at Base Camp we met one of the Babblers, Mandy, she is a single parent with aone year old son, Kito, but she still continues to do her research in the mornings –very brave. Now off to lunch – self service and likely to be a cheese or tuna sarnie.

Much excitement! –after lunch we had a visit at the farmhouse from 4 meerkats whichwere just outside Amy’s rondavel. These are from the Gattaca group but have notbeen seen in the compound for some time.

Helene bought some Brazilian sweets to have with our lunch. One was a kind ofpeanut butter bar, passoco, and some chocolate creams – obviously a nation with asweet tooth. We are due over to the researcher’s house for dinner tonight and have allbrought newspapers, magazines and chocolates for them. Have decided to pool ourresources and send over regular food parcels rather than let them gorge themselvesstraight away – next project ‘Symptoms of obesity in the Kalahari’.

Just sitting under a tree outside my rondavel keeping my diary up to date and listeningto some music. It is too hot to do much else it is high 90s and very draining.*** Meerkat alert, Meerkat alert ***, this is not to be believed so I have a pictureas proof - a meerkat has just gone into my hut, the Gattacas have just come back andare digging under my tree including the pregnant dominant female. She seems to be avery good hunter with 2 insects in quick succession.

Visitor to my rondavel

Afternoon free time so I went with the girls for a walk in order to try to orientateourselves around the reserve. Limited ourselves to 30 minutes out and 30 minutesback. Got as far as ’Denver the Dinosaur’and ‘ Teepee’, both unusually shaped deadtrees which are local landmarks. It was in the 80s so glad to have a cool drink whenwe got back. We then spent time with Helene on meerkat behaviour (including herhilarious interpretation of anal marking!!) followed by a lesson on how to use ahandheld GPS. We need both these skills as we are going out individually with areasearcher soon. I think they know that we are new in town so hopefully they will bepatient.

Denver the dinosaur – can anyone vaguely see a T Rex?

Tom came by and gave us a presentation on the objectives of the Earthwatchprogramme and in particular the Kalahari Meerkat Project. In layman’s terms it isinvestigating why meerkats are social animals rather than adopting the strict laws ofnature which dictates everyone for themselves. In a typical meerkat group there is adominant pair which are the only ones (in theory) that breed with the others assumingroles of helpers – sentry duties, foraging and getting food for the dominants couple’spups who they also babysit. Why do the subordinates submit rather than attempt tobreed within the group? This was very interesting, generated a great deal of debateand set the scene for the next 2 weeks.

Dinner tonight at Rus en Vrede – springbok casserole, cauliflower cheese and mashedpotato followed by sponge cake. Sat with Lucy of the Babblers, Tom, Joel (an Aussie)and Sinead (a PHD student from Zimbabwe who works for the project director TimClutton-Brock) Amusing conversation then the highlight of the evening – thepresentation of goodies! Brazilian delicacies were well balanced with the trashychocolate bars I had procured at JNB. Sophie, Suz and Martha (aka Maple as she isfrom Vancouver) started hungrily on the aeros and the general feeling was that a chocfest was about to commence as these girls have a reputation for this!!. A good eveningin convivial company.

From left to right :- Tom, Martha (Maple), Sophie, Suz, Finnie, Amy, Joel,American Mike, Sam. enjoying some of the Earthwatch goodies.

Thursday 6th AprilStart of the new tax year and I am sitting in the middle of the desert. 5.30 start today –I seem to have assumed the mantle of wake up service as Helaine did not bring heralarm clock. Now a real dilemma between shower and breakfast – seems little need towash first thing as we can shower later and you soon acquire’ hat hair’. By the wayTsamma is apparently Afrikaans for melon – not sure of the relevance!

Helaine and I went out this morning with Finnie ( English Mike rather than AmericanMike) – he is a Brit in his early 20’s and his home town is Brighton. We went out tosee the ‘young ones group’ which number fourteen. Their burrow was only a shortwalk from Rus en Vrede and we were at the burrow at 6.45 and after 10 minutes theystarted to appear – stretching, cleaning themselves and standing in that famousposture sunning their tummies. Once they moved off they only went about 30 yardsdown the road and up a dune. They all then congregated around an old tree stump asthey seemed anxious and following a warning call from the dominant female they allclimbed on. At one stage 12 meerkats were together. Have to pray every night that Igot that shot ok – it is a real competition winner. Our duties were to take GPSreadings every 10 minutes and to help spot members for a group composition (which

they do every hour or so to check if any of them have gone off on their own foragingor have gone back to the burrow for baby sitting duties). Eventually the group movedoff – Mike thought they were looking at the dog back at the farmhouse which wecould see in the valley. We saw lots of typical meerkat behaviour – anal marking, hipslams and begging. Stayed with the group until 10.45 when they had only movedapprox 200 yards from the burrow. Walked back to Rus en Vrede and had a cup of teathen got to use the walkie talkie to ask Helena to come to pick us up.

All the praying paid off!!

Well, what an eventful second part of the day! Firstly, we had a training session onforaging focals. Basically you follow a meerkat for 15 minutes and have to recordwhat size hole was being dug and what if anything they recovered to eat. This tries toassess how efficient a food hunter a meerkat is and how much energy it puts intolooking for food. You work in tandem with a partner with one logging informationand one operating a stop watch each time a dig takes place and calling out what wasbeing eaten. Tom then came over and gave us an overview as to how this data wasused by the researchers.

Concentrating on foraging focals.

Then a call from the Babblers!!- a Cape Cobra had been spotted in the yard. Lookingthrough their window we could see that it had attacked a juvenile squirrel which waslimping and when it looked around you could see a head wound – poor thing. Tomwent out and temporarily chased the cobra into a patch of bushes. We waited forabout 20 minutes but could not see anything apart from the squirrel falling into acoma. Mandy was very worried as apparently Cape Cobras are territorial whichmeans that it was likely to return and she was clearly worried about Kito. Tom puttogether a ‘Heath Robinson’ type of capturing pole made out of a broom and somerope. However although he searched for it he thought it had gone down a bolthole andhad escaped.

I then went out with Sophie to practice foraging focals and Helene came along as mypartner. We went to see Lazzuli of Meerkat Manor fame although I understand thatmost of the footage is of the large Whiskers group. It was very difficult to observewhat was going on with their digging in waist high grass – I was trying not to think ofa Cape Cobra laying in wait !!. Sophie is in her mid 20’s and has lived in a number ofcountries although she is originally from Reading. More recently she worked atShamwari. She was inspired by the Meerkat Manor filmcrew who were here lastSeptember and wants to do something in film making when she leaves the KMP inAugust. She apparently spent a lot of time with a cameraman who works for DavidAttenborough, so who knows. She would, however, not confess to how manychocolate bars she had consumed the previous evening!!.

One of Sophie’s tasks was to ‘repaint’ the group with vegetable dye for identificationpurposes and I got a fantastic picture of her ‘touching up’ a meerkat on sentry duty. Alot of females are pregnant in this group but not the dominant female so it will beinteresting to see what happens. Saw a herd of Eland come past on their way to awater hole – they are huge up close! After tracking the meerkats to their usualsleeping burrow they then decided to go back over the other side of the valley wherethey have another one. Amusing to see them running through the long grass in singlefile.

Sophie applying the final touches.

Tom came over for dinner which was ‘ Flying Jacob’ – a dish of chicken in peanutbutter with banana – very good. Banoffee pie for dessert obviously using up theleftover bananas purchased in Upington. We then went out on a night drive in an openbacked truck. American Mike drove. Disaster struck!! We went past a Camelthorntree and nobody yelled “duck” so I got a branch full in the face. It just stung a littleand I pulled a thorn out of my chin. We got to see Wildebeest, Springbok, Daiker,Cape Foxes and a Gemmet – a type of South African wild cat.

Back at base we inspected the damage which looked worse than it was – somescratches on my forehead and along my neck. One thorn was still sticking out of myforehead and Helene attempted to pull it out but the tip stayed in. Helene got the firstaid kit and Helaine wiped the scratches with alcohol and attempted to get theremaining thorn out with a needle but to no avail. Oh well, my boyish good looks willnot be the same for a couple of days !!

Anyway, we downloaded our GPS tracking information for the afternoons work andnow ready for bed at midnight.

Friday 7th April

Our first day out actually getting our hands dirty. Helaine and I went out with Joel, theaussie. Arrived before they got up and I spotted the first riser. Did a Groupcomposition, whilst Joel started the weighing.

When water and egg fail !!

Once the meerkats headed off we started our foraging focals. One person times 15minutes on their stop watch and scribes whilst the other starts and stops the stopwatchfor actual digging time and notes if anything was found to eat, its size and what itwas. The last requirement can be tough as the meerkats are quite quick to consume

anything they catch!! – unfortunately “small insect unidentified” was a regularconclusion. Helaine and I worked together, swapping roles until we had got our sixrequired focals completed.

Helaine concentrating….. another small insect, unidentified entry?

We were with Moomins which were the group we saw on our first day. The dominantfemale is called Pig due to her size and the fact that she pigs out on the boiled eggused to entice the others into the weigh basket. There is also a pup who was bornwithout claws – poor little soul – his prospects do not appear great. He spends a lot oftime “begging” which is a constant high pitched whine which tries to persuade oldermembers of the group to share their food with him. I saw him trying manfully to digout food without success. It was great that towards the end of the session I spottedhim with a beetle which was just walking along – no digging required!. He devouredit expertly, so he will live to fight another day.

We were doing quite well on the focals and had got five done early on. However, partof the art of doing them is locating your chosen meerkat first!!. Our last one took along time to find and his discovery coincided with a couple of vultures flyingoverhead. Our chap was one of the sentries and he therefore leapt onto a bush to get abetter view. Whilst the vultures passed overhead (these are not a predator usually ofmeerkats – the Marshall Eagle is what they are really scared of) they went under ahuge bush in order to start digging a bolthole. Without observing the meerkat foragingfor 15 minutes continuously the data is not as useful so we decided to call it a day andhead off for lunch.

Tom and Helene came to pick us up but took some time to arrive as whilst out doing acapture in order to inject antibiotics into a poorly meerkat, one of them had driveninto a felled tree – nobody was owning up but I suspected it was Tom as he was quiet.This contrasted with his merciless criticism of Helene’s driving in terms of animalsnearly killed on the drive up from Upington!!.

The afternoon was spent on learning about drongos – sounds a bit like an Australianwild dog but it is a black bird with a forked tail. The interest in drongos is that theyappear to hang around meerkat groups, particularly in the late afternoons andsometimes imitate the warning calls of other birds in order that the meerkats run forcover and leave their food behind, which they then steal. We have to take 10 minuteobservations to firstly spot drongos. If they are there we then record what they do andhow successful they were in getting the meerkat’s food..

An elusive drongo.

Helene, Amy and me went to the Gattaca group and walked with them but nodrongos. However, we did see four of the infamous babblers and radioed in details oftheir leg rings to Lucy. Helene was getting set to do the evening weights when theyjust all disappeared down their burrow – sweet dreams !!.

Sociable Babbler

Back at base we entered our day’s data into the computers to keep our records up todate. All feeling a bit tired after a long day in the field so it was to bed at around 9.30.Thought about phoning home but Alison will probably be at operatic rehearsalstonight – I’ll have to get a calling card from Helene.

Another wholesome meal tonight – butternut squash followed by salmon pie andsalad. Finished off with leftover banoffee pie. Over dinner we got into a deep andmeaningful discussion over relationships. Helene says she is glad that she did not staywith her boyfriend of university days as it would have prevented her doing what she isdoing now. Helaine is unattached and claims to have no intention of getting married –a corporate slave as she describes herself. She feels that she would be too awkwardfor someone to handle as she is very set in her ways. I was congratulated at beingmarried for so long but could not really come up with what the secret was – perhapssometimes you are just lucky enough to find your soulmate earlier on in life. The girlsthen said that it would have been fun for it to have been an all female line up at thefarmhouse so that they could have girly chats – only joking really I know but Ifeigned being hurt at this suggestion.

Conversation got around to relationships between the researchers at Rus En Vrede. Igot the impression that Helene holds a torch for Joel, who we were out withyesterday. Have to see if I am right at next week’s braii.

Saturday 8th April

Foraging focals with Lazuli today led by Rob. The group were already up when wegot to the burrow and it was amazing to see 22 meerkats standing upright showingtheir tummies to the sun in order to get their blood temperature up. For the first hourwe could not get any focals done as the group were very nervous. It would appear thateither there was a wild group around or they had caught on to an old scent. However,they eventually settled and we got down to some observations – pretty mixed really asthey travelled over 1km and this was either open ground (10%) or waist high grass.Helaine was my partner this morning . Managed to get 4 focals done but we also hadto cross on to an adjoining farm to follow the group which meant climbing an 8 foothigh wire fence ( and also on the way back).

Rob helping out with sentry duties.

Saw drongos – this appears to be a better bet here than at Gattaca yesterday. Thisafternoon went out with Helene again to Gattaca to do a drongo focal - no drongosseen but we did spot a yellow mongoose which looks a bit like a light coloured foxand which are apparently fairly rare – there is a researcher at Rus en Vrede (Sam) whois studying them. Towards the end of the session the meerkats ran towards to road andstarted a semi- war dance with tails in the air – we thought an ‘IGI’ was about to takeplace (inter group interaction) however Helene thought that it may have been due to areturning member who had been off roaming. However, they then ran off into the longgrass and we lost them. Helene tried to pick up a signal from the transponder on thedominant female but nothing doing. As it was getting dark we decided to call it a day.

Dinner was down to us as it was Tina’s day off – we all helped and cooked stir fryveg with bacon, couscous and salad. Amy had some maltesers which we used asdessert. We then went out for a night walk to see if we could spot any wildlife – onlywildebeest seen.

Sunday 9th AprilDAY OFF!

Got up at a slovenly 8.30 and went for a jog down to Denver the Dinosaur and back.Felt hard, must be;

a) altitude

b) 100%

c) Getting out of shape

“C” could be the answer!

Did my washing – a fairly ancient contraption that looks like something from anAmerican basement. Then made scrambled eggs – the girls had already eaten. Sat onthe porch drinking my tea and saw a yellow hornbill in the tree. Also a tortoise ( 8inches high by 10 inches wide) drinking from a puddle.

We then took a drive north ( 14 km) to the Botswana border for a picnic. Lucy camewith us. The landscape changed quite dramatically and the view eastwards looked likeArizona with a butte and west there was a terracotta coloured big dune which wasmore like what I had imagined the Kalahari would be like. We stopped under a treewhich had a huge sociable weavers nest in it. Tuna salad and squash then the usualarray of chocolate treats we still had around. Idyllic!! Looks like this excursion willbecome a firm inclusion in future Earthwatch timetables. Had our pictures taken in theno-mans land between the borders for posterity.

Helene, Lucy (of Babblers fame) and Helaine picnicking at the Botswana border.

The Earthwatch team with Botswana in the background.

Uneventful evening with menu of aubergine bake, mashed potatoes and beans cookedin garlic and sesame seeds – need to jog every day if this keeps up.

Monday 10th AprilNot an early start today as we are not going to the meerkats. However, woke at about6.20 and went for a jog down to Denver and back.

After breakfast we went out with Helene to do some insect transects. Insect were hermajor at university and she is trying to set up some studies here into the insects thatare found in different parts of the reserve and what the meerkats eat and why. Wewent out to Gattaca were there were 5 marker posts each 50m apart. There were 3tasks;

1) dig a pitfall which involves burying a yoghurt pot in the soil and then makinga little muslin bag with some banana in it which is then suspended by woodenskewers over the hole. The insects then get attracted by the smell of thebanana and fall in were they are then killed by the soapy water in the bottomwhich prevents them climbing out.

2) When moving between marker posts we sweep the tops of the vegetation witha butterfly net – any insects captured are then identified, put into an alcoholbag and labeled

3) At each post a metre square plot is dug to a depth of two inches and the soilsieved. Again any insects are identified and put into the bag.

Getting our hands dirty surveying the reserve.

We came across a number of flies, grasshoppers and small spiders. This afternoon wewill go back and see what is in the pitfalls.

At lunch Helene made another one of her ‘humungous’ sandwiches. Toast, cheese,mayo, frankfurter, sweet corn, apple and topped off with chutney – yuck!! She musthave the same metabolism as Alison – stick insect like but afterwards finished off thetuna/ couscous salad from the picnic and then had a PB sandwich with about a _ inchof PB on it. She then had the audacity to refuse a malteser to finish off with!!

This afternoon we went out to Moomins to undertake a bio-diversity study. Thisinvolves walking a 500 m track (using your GPS to keep you in line) and then notingdown specific trees, plants, burrows, termite mounds and birds nests that are in yourpath. Managed to keep going with the aid of the GPS which I appear to be mastering.

We then drove back past Big Dune which is the highest point in the reserve and due tothe rain and the establishment of sourgrass, only the top looks like what your typicalimage of a sand dune would be, although this one has a red tinge – a very very poormans Ayers Rock. We saw meerkats on the top and decided to go back to the house tocollect some beers and watch the sunset. By the time we got back the group hadmoved on! Anyway we sat at the top taking photos and watching the sunset – nottremendously spectacular (although the photos later discounted this theory) as it hadbeen cloudy during the day but we have another chance to got later in the week.

Relaxing on top of Big Dune…. Helene, Sophie, Helaine, Amy, Joel and a coupleof cold ones.

Joel and Sophie came to join us and we sat around in the moonlight (very bright _moon ) and chatted. Sophie then noticed something moving on the sand a quicklyrecognised it as a scorpion – the poisonous variety . You could tell because it hadsmall pincers and big tail. It came close to stinging her but fortunately we just movedaway in time and left it to it’s own devices.

On the way back home we came across a herd of Gemsbok – quite striking antelopeswhich are members of the oryx family. It has straight black horns and white and blackunderbelly and legs.

Sophie and Finnie joined us for dinner – fish pie, cheese bread, potatoes, beans andpineapple tart to follow. Up to the usual standards recipies can be had at the end of theweek I am assured. Great company – it is nice to talk to people who are clearly sopassionate about what they do. I showed Sophie the pictures of her I had taken whenshe was ‘ painting the meerkats’ and have promised her a copy when I get home.

Getting meerkat withdrawal symptoms as we have not seen them (apart fromfleetingly at Big Dune) for 2 days.

Tuesday 11th AprilToday started off with thunder and lightning but only a few spots of rain. Once we gotout into the field it was quite cold in the wind and I was glad of the waterproof jacketI had remembered to stash in my rucksack. Whilst the odd meerkat came above thesurface, they quickly down again – too cold! It took almost 2 hours before they wentoff foraging. We were glad to be on the move. Before heading out from Rus en Vrede,American Mike had told us that he had been with Lazuli yesterday and that one of thepreganant females must have given birth as a dominant female was eating a new bornpup – life is cruel. We therefore went in trepidation as to what we would find with thisgroup today

After the slow start the meerkats moved off as normal and Helaine and I got our 6foraging facials done. Whilst we were waiting for action I talked to our researcher,Rob. He is leaving in a couple of months to take up a position as project manager on a

research study of striped mice on the west coast. I think it is in the area that Alisonand I previously thought of visiting. He will have a team of 5 people reporting to him.He feels however that one day he will return to his home town of Oxford.

After lunch I went with Helene and Amy to collect the results of our pitfall traps setyesterday. Helaine stayed behind to do her washing – she travelled light. There was agood selection of bugs including beetles, moths, caterpillars, and a couple of differenttypes of spider.

Big news is that we are going to visit the Whiskers group later this week. They are 42strong and form the bulk of the Meerkat Manor filming. Familiar names such asFlower and Youssarian are on the marking sheets. Saw another yellow mongoosedown by Socks Dam.

Out with Joel and Helaine in the afternoon with Young Ones. Not much action withthe meerkats moving no more than 50m from where we found them to their sleepingburrow. Drongo survey not successful as a) no drongos and b) the meerkats were notforaging. Then I had a heart stopping moment as suddenly my foot disappeared as theground beneath me gave way – a burrow had collapsed!!. As we surveyed the damagewe could hear the pups down below. This was just bad luck I know but I would havebeen distraught if I had harmed the pups. It would have been nobody’s fault and Joelsaid he had done it lots of time before but maybe this was just meant to make me feelbetter. However it still shook me up but the good news is that the burrow was notblocked and the pups seems safe. The other meerkats were of course by then verynervous and decided to have an early night.

Joel allowed Helaine and I to try weighing them which was with mixed success. Imanaged to coax one into the weighing tray with some water. Helaine than had abattle with an insistent meerkat pup which latched on to her bag of egg. It really heldon with tough jaws and sharp teeth and served as a reminder to us all that they arewild animals no matter how cuddly they look.

Helping out at playtime

Rob, Joel and Suz came over for dinner – chicken fajitas. A researchers favourite Iunderstand with keen competition to attend that particular night. For dessert wefinished off the pineapple tart and had some brownies that the Babblers had made.One of the researchers, Alex had overturned and written off Andy Radford’s car on atrip to Upington and was very shaken up. He returned today so the girls made himsome brownies which was nice of them.

Helaine, Lucy & Helaine preparing fajitas.

Mandy was having problems with the electrics in her part of the farmhouse and hadcalled out an electrician who I think was well known to the project. When our guestswere leaving, the electrician said ‘good night, don’t stop under any bridges on the wayback’ – referring to no monkey business. Helaine did not understand what this

referred to and had to have it explained to her. She then said “ Oh yes, I was confusedas in Brazil the homeless live under bridges” - we laughed so much I thought Helenewas going to wet herself!! A good evening and a couple of cold ones all round.

Wednesday 12th AprilA bit of a lie in this morning as we went off to undertake a veld survey. This is to tryand determine the species and density of plants growing in different parts of thereserve. This involves measuring out a 20m x 10m square of ground and then stickingin a metal pole every metre or so into the soil and investigating what it hit (ifanything). Helaine seems to have developed a particular liking for stabbing ratherthan recording. She is not to be messed with – visions of the Kill Bill movies spring tomind !! As would be imagined, a lot of sourgrass was noted but we did come across acouple of interesting plants which we think were herbs - have to look them up back atbase.

Staking out our claim in the Kalahari

Did some washing when we got back. Have more than enough clothes to see me backto the UK. Great difficulty here is socks and trousers as the sourgrass gives off asticky substance and the ears stick in your sock. By the end of a session your socksare quite literally “crunchy” and can start to irritate your ankles. My walking boots arestarting to look a little the worse for wear with the ears embedded everywhere. Willneed a thorough brushing out when I get back.

We decided to have lunch outside today although the weather has not been anydifferent since we got here. The good thing was that Nicky and Mandy (plus Kito)came over to have a chat. Whilst we say Hi to them around the house, we never reallyget to know the Babblers. Mandy is perhaps late 30’s and has her PhD. She is

managing the project. Nicky has a masters and is halfway through a PhD course sohas, in theory, another 18 months to go. Lucy is Nicky’s field assistant. This makessense now !!. I suggested to Helene that she should include lunch with the Babblersformally into the timetable, perhaps early in the first week so the Earthwatchers couldget to know them – dinner I know would be difficult due to Kito.

This afternoon seems to be free before we go out for our afternoon meerkat/drongosession. I suggested to the girls that we might think of something fun to do for thebraii on Saturday night – perhaps some awards ( Joel – Joey Tribiani award, Sophie –painting by numbers trophy, Suz – best meerkat sentry post, Tom – Heath Robinsondevice for capturing Cape Cobras). However this received a resounding “No” – theydo not want to do anything – I can but try!!.

This afternoon I went to Lazzuli with Sophie – a nice sedate afternoon but no drongosto report. We started on evening weights when we were shocked to find one of themeerkats eating a newborn pup !!. It was gruesome. The reason for this was that thereare four pregnant females but not the dominant one. She is therefore not too botheredabout them being pregnant. However, as pups are born, the still pregnant females tryto kill them so that eventually when their pups are born they will have the best chanceof survival. This is nature but it still is there to shock. We tried to find if there wereany remains which could have been used for DNA sampling to determine parentagebut to no avail. This is of course the second pup to be killed in the last couple of days.

The cruel face of nature.

On the way back at Rus En Vrede, we met Alex’s dad who works for HSBC headingup Premier in Mexico – it’s hard to get away from this organisation!!.

Evening fayre was Bobotjie, rice and salad followed by Cape Brandy pudding – Tinaapparently does not drink so perhaps she cannot be entirely blamed for the copiousamounts of alcohol that were in it. Steer clear of naked flames !!.

After dinner Helaine and I showed each other our stuff for the school trip tomorrow.Curitiba looks to be a beautiful modern city which is within a state called Paranawhich also includes the Igauzu Falls so who knows we may move Brazil up our list ofplaces to visit. She seemed impressed with London – she may get there later on in theyear with HSBC. Either way I would like to think that we will keep in touch.

Thursday 13th AprilLate start as we are going into Van Zylsrus, the local town for our long awaitedschool visit. First went out for a jog down to Denver the Dinosaur. Tina came with usin the car as she had to go to the clinic there. We offered her the front seat as she is arather large lady. She then went into the farmhouse and brought out a blanket to siton. Helene later explained that this is a throwback to apartheid – black people nevertravelled in the front and always covered a seat before they sat on it.

The school was a complete surprise as it was very modern – much better than some ofthe schools in the UK. There are usually 450 kids here ranging from 7 to 18. Theseare all children of farm workers and, consequently, are all black. The white Afrikaanskids go to private schools or are home taught. Didn’t I read somewhere that apartheidis over?

Education in the third world?

We got to meet some of the teachers and I was impressed with their enthusiasm. Wesaw the work log of a girl called Agnes who was obviously a grade A student – verybright and streets ahead of most of the other kids. Her teacher said that she willquickly start outgrowing the teaching abilities of the school and really needs a bursarywhich would allow her to study at a more advanced school. I asked Helene over lunchwhat this would involve and she said that she did not know for sure but though itmight be ZAR 10k p.a. There are no school fees payable here as the area is classifiedas category one for financial assistance. Some of the children live in the boardinghouse part of the school and others with relatives in the informal settlement on theoutskirts of town.

As it was the brink of the school holidays an awful lot of the pupils had already beentaken back to the farms. There were only approximately 60 in the hall when wearrived. I was up first and talked about England and London in particular. Helene dida great job of translating into Afrikaans. I then asked them if they had any questions.They seemed to latch onto the animals angle and then I had a succession of questionsabout wildlife in the UK – Giraffe?, Crab?, Monkey?, Horses?, Lion?, Donkey, Dog?,

Cat?. Amy talked about her time in Japan and particularly the life of school childrenthere. Helaine then talked a little bit about Brazil but the kids really liked the thoughtof learning new words such as Ole (Hello) and Caio (Goodbye).

Talking to the kids about England………obviously impressed !!

The teacher in the hall was handed the various goodies we had brought but started tounwrap the sweets to hand them out!! – potential riot situation!! I suggested that wewould take them to the Principal’s office. She thanked us and said that the bookswould be put in the school library and the other things would be put to one side asprizes to give to high performing or improving students. I must remember to sendsome photos to Brenda (who looks after Billy and Benny when they go on theirholidays) to thank her for the stuff she gave me to bring out.

Having been to the school we then went to “Downtown” Van Zylsrus. This consists ofa supermarket with a scant range of foodstuffs and clothes and a liquor store. Seemsstrange as there is a big drink problem here and it is prevalent for babies to getalcohol poisoning in the womb. Anyway, we stocked up on biscuits and then red wineand beer for Saturday’s braii. All the volunteers are coming over to us and it coincideswith a public holiday on the Sunday so no early morning weights the next morning.Whilst they bring their own booze, it is nice to get them a drink when they arrive.They are planning to turn it into a punk rock themed night – we looked for suitablestuff in the store but to no avail.

First retail therapy in 10 days

On the way back we stopped by the town sign which says “Relax, this is Van Zyslrus”which always brings a smile. I had remembered to bring the mobile phone and as we

had reception I texted Alison to tell her I would call her tonight. I wonder if she gotthe flowers?. After lunch I spent part of today’s siesta time writing out a list of thingsto do in Cape Town for Helaine with hints and tips – better than any guidebook.

Went out this afternoon with Finnie to see Gattaca. A fairly slow session as they onlymoved 150 metres from our spotting them to the burrow. However, we got all theweights done and I managed to sit for about half an hour on a log with a meerkatstanding sentry some three feet away. Managed to work out that my digital cameracould take short movies (Helaine had pointed this out with hers) so I took a couple.

Before dinner I called Alison – hope Benny will be ok at the vets. Tom came over andwe had Biltong soup (which is a very rich and cheese based), rice, boer sausages andsalsa. Afterwards Tom gave us a talk on drongos that we missed last week. This lookslike it will form the basis of his PhD so obviously it is of interest to him as is the datathat we are collecting. Drongos have the ability to mimic other birds and what they dois to keep trying to imitate other birds so that the meerkats react to their alarm calls byrunning away. They can also leave behind their food which the drongos then steal!.Unfortunately we have not seen drongos in the afternoons which supports the theorythat due to the recent rainfall there is lots of natural food around and therefore they donot need to steal from the meerkats.

Friday 14th AprilFirst encounter with the famous Whiskers group this morning – 42 in number which iswell in excess of a normal size group. They stayed around the burrow for a while andthen moved on to the top of Big Dune. I went with Helene, Tom, Sophie and Sophie’sfriend Emma who is here as they go on holiday next week and will be travelling downto Upington with us in Monday. Tom and Sophie ware taking sound recordings andSophie was also repainting their dye marks ( seems like this is her field of expertise)The foraging focals were hard as the grass was very high and most of the meerkatswere habituation status 1 and 2 which means that comparatively they are very timid. Ithink the rustling of the grass as we tried to follow them caused them to run off. Wegot two full focals done but the other two lasted only seven minutes of so before welost them. Tough work.

Whiskers out in full force.

Whos watching who?

During our siesta I worked on my outfit for tomorrow night. I got a couple of binliners to make a sort of poncho and put on them with the names of punk bands andfamous lines from songs. Highlighter pens were used to reflect the dayglo coloursused widely at that time. Thinking about it, it seems a strange theme as most of theresearchers were not born when the music was in vogue. I am probably the only onewho was a teenager at the time and almost certainly the only one to have seen any ofthe bands play.

Helene’s sister Salma and her husband Gary then arrived for the weekend. They bothwork in the meteorological department in a diamond mine for DeBeers – have to getthe low down from them on Tanzanite. Is it just a marketing ploy or are reservesrunning out?

I think the girls are starting to loose motivation as they seem to spend copiousamounts of time playing solitaire on the computers. They also seem to want to keepswitching field groups. Amy was quite vocal in wanting to go to Whiskers so that shecould tell her kids that she had been to the group on Meerkat Manor. This afternoonshe did not want to go to Whiskers as ‘it was boring – they don’t do much’!! I said Iwas happy to swap if it suited them but I have to question how you can get bored ofmeerkats. Helaine seems to get led along by Amy but this may just be her trying to besupportive as I now understand that she is going through a messy divorce process andwill be going back to the States shortly. Anyway, I am sticking to my principles andmaking the most of this fabulous opportunity.

Whilst sitting outside writing up my diary at lunchtime I was visited by 6 babblersplus a juvenile. We are told that there are similarities between meerkats and babblersin terms of behaviour. At a fleeting glance the youngsters continually beg – thejuvenile babblers made a fearful noise!

This afternoon was out again at Whiskers with Finnie. A fairly relaxed session withthe meerkats not moving more than 100m. We managed to get 23 out of 42 weights sonot bad as this group do tend to disappear en-masse at sleeptime.

Dinner was pasta, Bolognese sauce and salad. American Mike and Sinead came overfrom Rus en Vrede and we of course had Helene’s sister and brother in law around thetable – quite a gathering. After dinner Mandy gave us a talk on babblers They areinteresting birds as they spend most of their time on the ground rather than in treesand also have a supportive/ dominant social structure. Amazed to find out that Mandyis only 28 as she has just finished her PhD – she looks early 40’s- perhaps that’s whatchildren do for you.

Saturday 15th AprilOut to Moomins this morning with Helaine, American Mike together with Rebeccaand Lorna who are 2 new volunteers. Rebecca is an Aussie and Lorna is fromScotland. Both have just got their degrees and are looking to add some practicalresearch experience to their cv’s. Better terrain for today’s session and we got 4 goodfocals done.

After lunch the girls got talking about who they have their eye on at tonight’s braai –time to make my excuses and do some work on my diary!!

Before our afternoon session we went out to collect wood for the bonfire tonight –here we are on an ecological expedition and we are looking for trees to burn up intothe atmosphere – oh well at least I suppose they are only dead ones we are taking.

The A team in action

Last official session at Elveera (a new group of me) with Finnie again…..people aregoing to start to talk!!. At least we get to talk footie for a couple of hours. This was agreat visit to end of a small group of 9. We located them close to the sleeping burrowand only moved 200m in the whole session. Highlight was that we saw the babysitterschange and they brought 3 pups who are only 3 weeks old to the surface – cute!! Lotsof pics taken. The burrow is on a working ostrich farm so we popped in to see themon the way back. Also spotted a yellow mongoose – again it dashed off really quickly.

Meet the new additions to the family……

Back to Gannavlakte to get ready for the party to go with my outfit I waxed up myhair hoping for a punky spiky look but I think it is too short and so I got more of adishevelled look. The girls also experimented with eyeliner and black eyeshadow.That goodness I’ll never see these people again. The photos are not for publishing onthe HSBC group internet site (I have Helaine’s promise on that (I hope)) but I mayinclude one in my presentation at work for a bit of fun. Perhaps along the lines of…‘Sunstroke is a problem in the Kalahari – it can cause people to act strangely!’ Thevolunteers came over at about 9 o/c and we took lots of photos.

Helaine, Helene and I getting into the spirit.

Rebecca, Lorna, Rob, Sophie

Helene did a great job getting together a fare of sausages, lamb chops, bread andpotato salad. Maple brought some fudge for dessert. Helene’s brother in law cookedand it was about 11 o/c when the food was ready which made me wish I had had asnack earlier. We sat around the campfire chatting, eating and drinking. A great timewas had by all but I called it a day at 12.30. There was chance to go out on Sundaymorning with Tom for a last look at the meerkats – the girls did not want to go so theystayed up later. I think it ended here at about 3 o/c and then the party moved on to Rusen Vrede.

Sunday 16th April

Got up at about 6.30 and went for a last jog down to see my old friend Denver. I waslucky enough to see a rainbow with clear blue sky in the middle – a beautiful country.When I got back I saw Helaine who had just got back from Rus en Vrede – dirtystopout!! She just wanted to get some sleep. I saw Helene before I went out and shesaid that Tom may not go out now till 9 – 9.30. With Amy still in bed I was left on my

own when Helene took Salma and Gary to see Whiskers. With nothing better to do Itackled the mountain of tidying up and washing up. I must have slept soundly lastnight as I do not remember the bomb exploding! However with a little bit of music –O Rappa and Maria Rita courtesy of Helaine I had it done in about an hour. WhenHelene et al got back she said I was a true star and insisted on preparing a cookedbreakfast. The scrambled egg, biscuits, bacon and sausage went down very well.About this time the heavens opened ( the rainbow was there for a purpose) and wesaw the first real rain here which lasted for about 2 hours – should ensure thatEarthwatch group 3 have the same problems with the sourgrass.

Thoughts now start to turn to going home and I think that I have done and seenenough for this adventure. It has been a fantastic experience but I miss Alison terribly.I wish I was going home directly and kind of regret planning to overnight in CapeTown. It will be great of course to have dinner with Helaine (assuming we both makein there) but I want to get back now to see Alison and check on Benny – I hope he’sok.

For the first time homesickness is starting to kick in and I could really have done withthe field session this morning to keep my mind occupied but it looks like it will beabandoned by the weather. I’ll start packing soon – that might cheer me up. Hopefullyeverything will go in ok as I now have all the room from the stuff we took to theschool. I have checked the clean clothes situation and I have enough so luckily I donot need to do washing today.

Unfortunately a pretty drab day to end with – just loafed around listening to ipod’sand reading. We went up to Big Dune tonight and toasted the group with Amerula. Ithink everybody it just hit with a combination of the late night and the thoughts home.

Tonights dinner was spiced mince with voerkhof (like a savoury doughnut and are asouth African (and Afrikaans) speciality) Phoned Alison to see how she was and Ithink she is relieved that my journey is nearly over. Good to hear that Benny is ok.Early to bed as we have to be away from Gannavlaktre by 5.40 – ugh.

Monday 17th AprilThe local cockerel complained today that I had woken him up !! Real rain thismorning. Loaded up the trailer and headed off to Rus en Vrede. Sophie and Emma(aka Big Bird) together with Sam are going on holiday to Mozambique. The originalidea was that Sophie and Emma were going to follow us in the open backed pick-upbut they need us to take Sam and the luggage. Somewhat frustratingly they found outthat the windscreen wipers on their vehicle did not work! We then left approx _ hourlate and Amy was starting to get stressed as she thought that she was going to missher flight. However, we made up time and ended up all having a coffee in the samecafé that we had lunch in on that first day – it seems such a long time ago!!

We then took Amy and Helene to the airport for their flights. Amy was very tearful –this represents a new beginning for her in her life. After a brief visit to the OrangeRiver we then went back to the ‘mall’ and whilst Helene went to Pick n Pay I went tothe internet café. Great to see a couple of Spurs wins whilst I have been away – theChampions League is still possible. Andre and Nadine then turned up. She is avolunteer at the project and he is a technician there. They have been away on holidayand Andre had family in the area. We then went with Sophie, Emma and Sam over to‘The Backpackers’ which is a hostel we have heard a lot about. As it is a bank holidaytoday and a lot of shops are closed, Helene will stay with them overnight. A bed in adormitory costs ZAR70 per night. Not to my taste but lots of volunteers have stayedthere before – it is clean and they know the proprietors very well. I am not sureSophie was so convinced!!

Anyway we made our goodbyes and Helene ran me out to the airport. She wasabsolutely fantastic over the two weeks, made sure everything ran smoothly for us andwe part as good friends. She said that Alison and I could go at anytime and stay withher and she would take up out to see the meerkats. We said that we would stay intouch.

Well I am now sitting at Upington airport waiting for my flight to Cape Town and Isuppose that it is now time to bring the diary to a close. It has been an amazingadventure and I have met some wonderful people and enjoyed every moment of it. Ican’t believe that HSBC has paid for me to have such a wonderful experience.

The meerkats are true characters and the memories will stay with me forever.

The End