Kariega Journal: Wednesdays at the Farmerfield School

On Wednesday mornings we taught at a local primary school as part of Kariega's commitment to local community development.

The school had basically four classes. There was a preschool, a young class with students ages 6 to 10, a middle class with students ages 11 to 15 and an older class with students 15 and up. We were responsible for developing a lesson plan for the morning, preparing our lecture notes and producing any teaching materials we needed.

I partnered with Jake and Katy and the first week we chose the middle grade. We decided to teach them some geometry. We started the class off with a bingo game where the numbers on the bingo cards were answers to equations Katy wrote on the board to test their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills. They had to solve the equations and check their bingo board to see if they had the answer. Bingo!

presenting their list of objects with a shape

Next I presented four shapes - the square, circle, triangle and rectangle - and wrote some vocabulary words on the board for them to copy: circle, radius, diameter, the magic number pi, square, side, rectangle, length, width, triangle, base, and height. Then I presented the concept of area and perimeter and circumference and finally gave them the magic equations or formulas for determining the areas and perimeters for the four shapes.

Finally Jake had them break up into groups to try to first identify common things they see everyday that had the four shapes and then to come up with practical scenarios where they would need to find the perimeter and areas of these real life objects.

Like ...

How much fence do you need for the perimeter of this rectangular vegetable garden?











Or ...

What is the area of this circular flower garden?

They liked to pose for the camera.















The second week we took the younger class. We used crossword puzzles, word searches and fill-in-the-blanks to allow them to practice their letters and spelling for common animal names. We did a little animal counting exercise to practice their numbers. Finally we gave them the opportunity to teach us the Xhosa words and pronunciation for the animals we talked about. This is what we learned:

lion = ingonyama
giraffe = indlulamthi
elephant = indlovu
leopard = ingwe
monkey = inkawu
cheetah = ihlosi
hippo = imvubu
zebra = iqwarhashe
impala = impala
eland = impofu

Ndiyabulela kakhulu!

Kariega Field Notes: Habitat Conservation

A big job for the volunteers at game reserves is habitat conservation, mostly clearing the reserve of invasives and planting native species. Specifically, while I was at Kariega we:




cleared alien invasive such as the black wattle

using machetes and clippers and handsaws ...

clearing alien pine trees too!

poisoning native rhus bushes. Although they are native, they are not eaten by any of the game on the reserve and are pushing out edible natives,

Additionally we did some bush clearing on the roads 


















and border patrols to check the boundary fences for holes, obstructions, electrical failures and other possible security breaches.
















We hiked about 3 miles uphill to reach this border, but it felt good to get out for some exercise.

Kariega Field Notes: Game Counts

Sometimes it is hard to determine the sex from a distance

We all participated in wildlife management game counts for herds of zebra and giraffe. We tried to determine the number of zebra in each individual herd, the number of females and males in each herd and the number of babies and juveniles.

If you can't get a close-up of their private parts, there are other indicators to look for that will help with the sometimes difficult sex determination. For example, male zebras usually have a shorter stripe going down their rump while the females have a longer stripe.

fuzzy horned female

With giraffes we only needed to log a total number during a specific period, not individual herds. The sex of the giraffe is a little easier to determine too. The horns of the female are fuzzier and the horns of the male are smoother.

me with Geoffrey the loner giraffe in the background

Male giraffes are usually a darker orange color than females as well. Geoffrey was everyone's favorite giraffe. He is very dark and is something of a loner. Tall, dark and handsome.

Kariega Field Notes: Sleeping with lions and shooting stars

We had an unbelievable four hour night drive where we observed lion family life.

First of all, it was a beautiful clear night and we had several hours before the full  moon rose to experience one of the most star-studded night skies I have ever seen. It may have been the tail end of the Perseids meteor shower too because there were dozens of shooting stars as well.

We first encountered Mandoro, Mandoro's auntie, and the mother of the three cubs with one of the little cubs. We sat quietly in the land cruiser while the mother called patiently for the other two cubs to come join them. Finally they toddled in to join the family. Mandoro and the two females roared their displeasure at their tardiness. It is a sound I will never forget! You could almost hear the mother say, "If I have to call you two again like that, you will be in big trouble."

Back together again, the family wandered off in search of dinner. We slowly followed behind them to a spot where the two females left Dad in charge of the cubs while they went "shopping". At one point Mandoro even joined them and left us to babysit!

We finally left so as not to disturb the hunt by tipping off the impalas.

mom going shopping

two naughty cubs

three in a row

Wait for it .....

Kariega Field Notes: Elephant Encounters

We had some amazing up-close and personal time with the elephants at Kariega. At times we were literally surrounded by dozens of them for hours!

Kariega Field Notes: Elephant Impact Monitoring

We had several volunteers who were in charge of Elephant Impact Monitoring because it is a big job. There are many elephants and they need to be observed carefully to find and document distinguishing marks like holes or tears in their ears, bumps, scars or irregular tusks. Their movement and range are monitored to determine the impact on the local vegetation and habitat.

hole in the ear

keyhole cut-out in ear












We each had field note books with outlines of elephant heads which we used to transcribe identifying traits as well as the sex and approximate age of the elephants we observed.










Elephant identifications on the wall in the dining room.

Kariega Field Notes: Lion Monitoring

two females (one is the mother of the cubs)

We had many opportunities to observe the lions of Kariega including an incredible night drive.

a cub

Mandoro

the other two cubs safe in the bush

The primary pride consists of a male named Mandoro and two females, one of which has three cubs.

the reclusive female

mama

We also observed another female who had previously left the pride but we saw her attempt to reenter the group as well.












The details of each sighting was documented by the volunteer in charge of lion monitoring.