A little bit of Murphy’s Law with my research, please

Back where it belongs!

Kayaking through the lost world, deep-sea fishing, and learning how to increase the amount of carrion available, all took a backseat to the real problem this research trip: we lost the car keys.

I say ‘we’ loosely here, because it was one of my volunteers that misplaced the keys, but my fault for not keeping a closer eye on them. 

Once we got back from our hike and crossed the river, we realized we didn’t have the keys. My volunteers decide to go back and check on the other side of the beach. But after they were gone for about 2 hours, I knew that they must have gone back up to the viewpoints (a 3 hour round-trip hike). These boys did not have shoes, water, or any form of communication with me. Can you tell I was nervous? When they finally appear kayaking in the sunset, I was ecstatic! But we were still up the creek without a paddle….

We had to walk back about two hours in the dark to the accommodation on the reserve. We see one car. After much excitement, the gentleman in the car says he can’t give us a lift. It is only 3 km.

Ok, now how do we get the spare keys to us? We can mail them, but there are no safe places for the keys to stay overnight. Hmm, anyone want to drive down for a mini holiday? One of the technicians in the Botany department decided to jump on this opportunity. As he is driving past our house at the reserve, I get a phone call from the other side of the river. THEY FOUND THE KEYS! 

Imagine telling the technician, who just drove 4 hours that we found the keys! A worker picking up trash on the beach found the keys, and a woman at the campsite recognized the university logo and phoned my supervisor, because everyone in the world knows my supervisor! The next day we pick up the keys from her, giving the man who found them a small reward. Turns out she worked for two years on vultures with the man who used to collect data on this colony! A great contact is made. 

 And although the problems did not end there, every time I see the colony, those troubles disappear. Imaging observing about 100 birds circling in a thermal while another 100 are incubating eggs. May they continue to watch over everything, as well as reporting any missing keys.

Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres

The Reserve

Cape Vulture

The first research trip.

The last time I was in the Mkambati Nature Reserve was in 2010 observing herds of eland, zebra, and hartebeest. I did not see the vulture colony…

I am happy to report that after two years of planning and shopping for a week’s worth of food for me and three guys (the field crew), I SAW THE VULTURES!! 

The first one observed was actually in route to the reserve. We decided to follow road signs and not stick to my written directions and hence took a very long detour. While trying to navigate the almost identical dirt ‘roads’, we saw a Cape Vulture; a good sign! After asking almost everyone in the village for directions a taxi driver asks “Where you want to go?”. “To the vultures please!”

Once at the reserve, our travels were not done.  To observe the cliffs on the reserve, one must view them from outside of the reserve. So the next day we drove 20 minutes to the beach, set afloat two kayaks, and crossed the river. Then a two hour hike in good snake territory was the last leg.

My breath was taken away when I realized this was my study site! A river gorge with hundreds of vultures circling. Although tired after the two hour hike, I made sure to yell to the vultures “I’m not dead yet!”.

After the initial sense of awe, it was time to get down to business. The first day I was overwhelmed with all the data keeping and people management. On the second and third day I was more prepared and, therefore, enjoyed it more.

We observed stacking (kind of mating dance), copulation, nest building, and incubation. Overall there were about 115 active nests. The data collected this time will be cataloged and compared to the subsequent monthly visits as well as historical data.

The group - Notice my badly blistered feet!

I owe a big thanks to my field crew: The “ANES” aka Shane, Shane, and Dane. This being my first trip, none of us knew what to expect. We all went with the flow (and the 4:30 AM mornings).
Since I have been back at the office, I have a hard time not thinking about my next trip down. I can’t wait to see how the pairs progress. Which will succeed and which will fail? And more importantly why do they fail?