The Venetia Experience

It was the GVI get together trip and we had dropped by Venetia Nature Reserve for an afternoon, another project that GVI is engaged in. We were going to try and track a wild dog.

Despite having to sit in the open 4X4 safari vehicle for the next one or two hours under the sourcing 40 degrees heat from the afternoon sun, I was looking forward to the experience. I threw aside my self image and put on my super big wide brim japanese tourist hat and sunglasses to protect myself from the sun.

“Watch out for the branch!” I shouted and pointed. Both me and Melissa, a GVI volunteer from Khgalahadi ducked to avoid smashing our faces against the low branch that our 4X4 safari was driving into. Strangely, it reminded me of those coaster rides that I took where one would be on a safari, going through tunnels and adventures like Land of the Dinosaurs or Tomb Raiders etc.

Pete had explained and taught us on how to use to the tracking device. We took turns to use the device while Pete drove around the area to track the dogs. Even David had the opportunity to try out and helped in establishing the location of the dogs. Unfortunately, the dogs seemed to be on the move as their location was not stable. After two hours on the road, we still had no luck. Nevertheless, there were still various good sightings along the way, including seeing a bustard (the largest flying bird), a flock of around thousand swifts flying from tree to tree, and a suicide bird (see blog entry on “A Suicide Bird”)!

As we drove back to base camp, I could not help but smile to myself as I enjoyed the beauty of the South African sunset, along with the long awaited cool evening breeze. It had been a wonderful day!

“Watch out for the branch!” Melissa shouted and pointed.

Both me and Melissa ducked.

“Er Chi, did you just lose your hat?”