Bucket List

Yesterday was SUCH a cool day in the field.  I woke up super early (before 6, which is super crazy early when you’re still dealing with jet lag) to head out into the field, only to find that there was an issue and we weren’t going out until later (the issue turned out to be that one of the guys who had to be with us when we went out had to go and arrest 10 poachers.  So that was a pretty good reason for delay).  But that was fine.  I went back to my room and found my food bag crawling with ants, so it took me most of the waiting time to deal with that.

Super early start

Then we went out.  Ryan (one of Rob’s ex-post docs—ex because he accepted a teaching position at a university in Idaho) is doing collar work on antelopes of three size classes here: bushbuck (smallest), nyala, and kudu (biggest).  We were working on kudu capture yesterday.  For kudu capture, there is a ground team and an air team.  Ryan and a few others were up in a helicopter with a dart gun, and there was a whole group of people (including myself) down on the ground in a vehicle.  We followed the helicopter and had communication with them via radio, and we drove up to the kudu that Ryan had successfully darted after they’d fallen.  As soon as you reached the kudu, she was blindfolded, collared, and a whole bunch of information was collected about her (DNA sample, size stuff, etc.).  This was done as quickly as possible to minimize the time spent sedated.  There were two vets out with us during the capture work who made sure that the individuals were safe while Ryan was collecting his data.

One of the kudu we collared!

I got to hold her head (which has to be held the entire time she's sedated so her breathing isn't interrupted)

We captured and collared four kudu before lunch, which made for a very productive morning.  I got to help with some of the data collection, which was really cool.  It was crazy to be so up close to these animals that you usually see from at least a little distance away.

Then after our last capture of the morning, Mike (the helicopter pilot) was going to head back to camp while the data was being collected, and everyone else was going back in the vehicle.  Rob suggested I head back in the helicopter, and it was AMAZING.  I had never ridden in a helicopter before, and it felt like I was flying.  You literally just lift off the ground, and I got to sit in the front (so all windows in front of me) and the doors were off on either side, so I could see everything around me.  It was only a few minute-long ride, but it was still awesome. 

We flew over a herd of sable antelope on our way back to camp

After lunch, we went back out in the field and Ryan darted one more kudu.  We couldn’t stay out much past that because of the 5:00 sunset.  The evening was pretty chill, with some rest time and dinner at the restaurant here.  I got to check two things off my bucket list yesterday: be a part of an animal capture and collar effort and fly in a helicopter.  It was a good day.      

This morning we had another really early start and actually ended up coming back for a bit of a break because the kudu were not really that dart-able so early.  It was a lot harder to find/dart the animals when we did get back out, but Ryan and the helicopter team still got two individuals.  I got to ride back to camp in the helicopter again—it was decidedly as cool the second time.  I don’t know that I’d ever get tired of going up like that.  After lunch I chatted with Rob some about my project (we’re still figuring out exactly what I’m going to be looking at, and it will probably take at least a few days of trying out different things before I know anything more specifically) and then took a much needed nap. 

One of the places we were driving this morning

The view from the helicopter on the way back

I’m hopefully headed to bed soon, so good night!