A day on the job

SH2015 Gaza Gray was an excavation of an 1850's military outpost probably established on a late Iron Age / historical era native African site.

signing in at the gate at 5:45 a.m.

We started each day before dawn leaving our campsite in time to take advantage of our early access privilege into the national park. We could enter before the gates open to the general public at 6:00 a.m. in the winter.

We then picked up Moffat, our dedicated game ranger and drove to the excavation site.

Most of us would then walk the last 300 meters.

arriving on site

There are a number of jobs to do every day.

scraping and digging

a double sifter (one fine and one gross mesh) ...

to sift the excavated dirt ...

... for artifacts such as pottery shards and bone

documenting the finds

measuring and delineating the dig site with string

Even though it was the second week of the excavation, Anton still wanted to open a third excavation site. I assisted with the measurement and outlying of the perimeter of the new site.

photographing the excavations

Some jobs required advanced skills. Like photographing the completed excavation sites.

The skeletons needed a 90 degree angled aerial photograph with a grid for an accurate rendering before being removed from their resting place.

the easiest way to photograph at a 90 degree angle

the site had to be surveyed in case of future excavation

And after all the excavations were complete and all the sites were photographed, documented and surveyed, we filled the holes back up again with all the sifted dirt we extracted.

Anton empties the ceremonial "last bucket" to close SH2015 Gaza Gray

What to wear on an archaeological dig in Kruger National Park

I am smiling under that dust mask!

Excavating in Kruger is a dirty job!

I wore long pants and a long-sleeved shirt to try to minimize the dust and dirt on my skin. Socks and boots to keep the dirt and ticks out, and a hat or bandana on my head. I wore my eyeglasses because I wear glasses. But if I didn't, then I would still have worn safety glasses to keep the dirt and dust from landing in my eyes. Ouch! I wore leather gloves to stop blisters from forming and to keep my hands from getting even more dirty. And most importantly, I wore a particle dust mask! Sunscreen and bug spray.

It wasn't pretty but it was effective.

Hats are a must!

look at that dust and dirt from sifting!

And when I was back home in Joburg, it took a world of spa products to help me feel clean again. Dead Sea mud from Israel, a seaweed foot scrub from Ireland, facial exfoliating cream from Denmark, and an olive oil and eucalypti Savon Noir body scrub from Morocco.

All before I went to Toast for my oxygen facial and spa manicure and pedicure.

Camping in Kruger

my "tent sweet tent" for SH2015

I am not a camper. I never really did it as a child with my family. We preferred going to our cottage at the Jersey shore. I didn't go to sleep-away summer camp or even to Girl Scouts camp. The first time I actually remember camping in a pup tent occurred after we moved to Florida.

In high school and college, I did go on a few canoeing trips in central Florida where we camped in tents on the shore along the way. I liked the canoeing part and the being with my friends part, but I only tolerated the camping. And once, I even camped in a replica of a Native American teepee which we constructed in our college Anthropology class! Talk about reaping what you "sew."

inside my tent

As an adult, I've only camped as a means to an end and if it was the only way to experience something else. For instance, we camped on the bottom of the Grand Canyon when we whitewater rafted down the Colorado River. (We did stay one night in a cabin at Phantom Ranch.) And we camped in pup tents inside the lighthouse on Monomoy Island off Cape Cod - no running water or electricity on the entire island.

It's not sleeping on the ground and cooking outdoors that I mind. It's just that I do not like to be quite that vulnerable to creepy crawly critters and I simply never ever feel really clean when I camp. And most importantly, I do not consider going to the bathroom a team sport.



But I decided not to dwell on the negatives at the Lower Sabie camp site where we were staying while we excavated SH2015 Gaza Gray. Lower Sabie graces the banks of the Sabie River, one of the few perennial rivers to flow through Kruger National Park.

I chose instead to concentrate on the positives. Like the continuous sounds of lions, elephants, hyenas, jackals, bushbabies, baboons and hippos in the evenings. Or the cacophony of birdsong to wake me up at dawn and the visits by little friends such as squirrels and agamas.

And the sky! I almost didn't mind having to walk to the ablution block in the middle of the night because if I looked up, I was able to experience the most beautiful celestial show above.

the deck of the Mug & Bean ...

... overlooking the Sabie River

And the view from the deck of the Mug & Bean next to camp. It overlooked the Sabie River which was always full of hippos and elephants, birds and antelope, no matter what time of day.









But as nice as it was sleeping under the stars at Lower Sabie, I still prefer National Park Lodges with private toilets and showers. Does anyone want to buy a used sleeping bag?

Skukuza

Gardiol across the river from her old home in Skukusa

For Gardiol, SH2015 Gaza Gray was more than just a chance to participate in an archaeological dig in Kruger National Park. It was a chance to come home.

You see, Gardiol grew up in the village of Skukuza in the southern part of Kruger. Her father was the general practitioner for Kruger National Park and she lived and went to primary school in Skukusa.

Gardiol entertained us with many stories about growing up in Kruger. For instance, instead of "snow days" - days where school was cancelled due to snow - like we had in the United States, kids in Skukusa often had "flood days." The village was on one side of the river and the school was on the other. Too much rain meant you had a good chance of a "flood day" off from school.

Or how about the time she and her brother couldn't go to school because a lion blocked their path? I hate it when that happens!

And I for one am oh-so-grateful that Gardiol was on the expedition with us. When she found out we would be re-filling all the holes we had made during our two week excavation using only buckets, she flew into action. Gardiol used her familiarity with Kruger to commandeer two wheelbarrows for us to use to make the job easier. A miracle!

Gardiol was my "sifting partner" during the excavation and we worked extremely well together. She is kind, considerate, generous, very smart and has a wicked sense of  humor! And I have never seen a harder worker in my life. She simply could not be idle and pitched in to help wherever and whenever an opportunity presented itself.

In the future when I think of the best example of the finest South African Afrikaner woman, I will think of Gardiol.

Skukusa is also home to the Skukusa indigenous plant nursery.

Here was a chance to buy one of the Impala lily plants that Gardiol pointed out in bloom all over southern Kruger.


 

Impala lilies for sale!

I did buy one, but in the end I gave my new plant away to one of my fellow excavators. A mere four days after returning from Kruger, I would be setting out again for three weeks in Tanzania and Zanzibar. My new Impala lily deserved better attention than I would be prepared to give it in the early days of its adoption.

Women's Day with the Women of SH2015

with Melindi, Gardiol, Leonie, and Liezel

I shared Women's Day weekend in Kruger Park with the fierce women of SH2015 Gaza Gray. ... and a few men too!

Demi and Estha

Jonnie, Sara and Pat

Martha

I break for leopards!

SH2015 Gaza Gray ran for two weeks, straddling the long Women's Day weekend in the middle of that time. Being a public holiday in South Africa, people took advantage of the Monday off from work to visit Kruger National Park. A lot of people. The park was groaning over the three-day weekend with the extra cars, bakkies and 4X4's all anxious to catch a view of the Big Five.

A few times traffic in the park ground to a complete halt and vehicles stretched the road into four lanes where there should have only been two.

We soon found out that this behavior meant that apparently a leopard had been sighted.

And sure enough, there is the leopard, ably hidden deep in a thorny thicket. I shot this photograph with my little point-and-shoot Canon and quite frankly I thought the leopard was a log when I took it. It wasn't until afterwards that I could zoom in and see the familiar spots!

the scene in front

Not long after the first leopard spotting, traffic slowed down again to a complete stop. Apparently, it was another leopard.

and the scene behind us

And sure enough, just as we inched forward to where everyone was looking, out of the bush came leopard #2.

He / she slowly crossed the road in front of us ...

... and then disappeared into the bush on the other side!

All the Big Five in one game drive!

that's a herd of elephants on the riverbank behind me and Jonnie!

I usually reserve a minimum of three days when planning an African Safari. That amount of time generally equates to four or five game drives. And in a well-managed and relatively balanced game park or reserve, three days should give you a more than likely chance to see all of the Big Five during your stay. At least four of the Big Five anyway. Nobody ever "counts" on seeing the elusive leopard!

But Kruger National Park is no ordinary game park. It is the Big Daddy of South African game parks. And on our very first game drive during our stay in Kruger to excavate SH2015 Gaza Gray, we saw all five of the Big Five! In one game drive! Amazing!

a female lion nursing her three cubs

We saw a female lion nursing her three cubs and then we saw a male lion sleeping off breakfast. We saw loads of ellies, a few rhino, and some Cape buffalo. And finally we saw not one, but two leopards!

And if the Big Five weren't enough, we also saw two more cheetah!

a male lion sleeping on the river bank

cute baby elepant

an elephant resting her trunk ...

... on her tusk!

a rhino with benefits

a Cape buffalo

a leopard hiding in a thicket

and another leopard crossing the road!

 A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity ... or so I thought!