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ÎÞÂ붯»­ students have just finished a week at Nambiti Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

This is the first of two weeks that they are spending in South Africa, attending a trip organised by . This trip is part of the International Perspectives on the Management of Animal Populations module but is open to all animal, zoology and wildlife students.

In this blog, Dr Ellen Williams, Senior Lecturer in Animal Behaviour and Welfare, sets out some of the first week's highlights.

_{The sun setting over Nambiti Big 5 Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (Photo credit: Ellen Williams)}

The first week was full of really fabulous opportunities.

Day one we went out as a full group to help collect data as part of a post-doctoral research project being undertaken by Dr Craig Cordier, a post-doctoral research fellow who was using Nambiti as one of his field sites for his project entitled Land use impact on mammals and herpetofauna in the Drakensburg, Midlands of kzn South Africa.

Before we even got to the study area we had spotted our first animal, a water monitor lizard was just sitting in the shallows at the first dam.

After that initial excitement we continued on our way and the students were all taken to a section of the reserve and asked to flip over rocks. They then had to record any amphibians or reptiles they found – the herptile fanatics were in their element! It was a really fruitful day with many rocks flipped and many arm muscles put into action. Not all of the species found needed to be counted - but that didn’t stop the enthusiasm.

Among the highlights were a short snouted grass snake (too fast for a photo!), a spotted gecko, many variegated skinks, a thread snake, a girdled lizard, a flat rock scorpion, carrying her offspring on her back and a tailless whip scorpion. A lion print was also spotted on the way back to the trucks, which was cool!

_{The idea was to carefully pull the rock towards you – this meant you could see what was underneath it without running the risk of any injuries from any snakes! Team work was the best way to tackle some of the heavier rocks! (Photo credit: Ellen Williams)}

_{A spotted gecko that was found under one of the upturned rocks! (Photo credit: Ethan Fowler)}

_{A lion print which we spotted on the way back to the trucks – human hand for scale! (Photo credit: John Wild)}

Back at camp we were always welcomed home by the resident ostrich, they had a penchant for toes, food and shiny things!

 _{One of the over excitable ostriches in camp! (Photo credit: Toby Price)}

The next few days the students were split into three groups and they cycled round a number  of wildlife conservation and wildlife monitoring activities:

A big 5 bush walk

A chance to be on foot around the reserve, this was undertaken with three field guides to ensure everyone was safe.

All of the walks were led by Sean Pattrick, author of the book Game Ranger in Your Backpack. These walks are a really great way to see the wilderness - you get to experience the bush in a much more up close and personal way on foot and you really get your ear in for the slightest little rustle in the bushes!

_{Students out on the bush walk with Sean Pattrick (Photo credit: Andy Cherrill)}

Predator tracking

Nambiti monitor their lions and cheetahs via radio collars – using a radio telemetry kit to tell them the approximate location of their animals.

This means that they can be tracked to ensure they are fine and still secure within the reserve. The predator tracking involves an early start, on the road at 5.30am, as many of the predators will take to the shade as the sun starts to come up.

Sometimes the predator tracking comes with some nice surprises, which the final group to go found out – as they travelled around the reserve looking for predators they saw the herd of elephants, multiple rhino and the two male cheetahs frolicking in the sun!_{One of the two male cheetah rolling in the African sunshine! (Photo credit: Amelia Hotchkiss)} 

Radio telemetry

Whilst the pros do the tracking for predator tracking, the students also get to have a go at doing some radio telemetry and tracking a static collar.

It is significantly easier to track a stationary animal than a moving one, but the process is the same so this is a really great way to learn some new animal tracking skills which are frequently used in the field.

In essence you walk around with a receiver which looks a little bit like an old tv aerial and listen for the beeps. The loudest beep is the direction where the animal is! All of our groups successfully found the collar, which was stashed in one of the trees!

_{One of students giving radio tracking a go for the first time, open spaces are the best for signals but the hills on the reserve meant there was still signal bounceback which made it difficult (Photo credit: Ellen Williams)}

Tracks and signs

Another method of finding out which animals are sharing the space with you is to look really closely at the floor. Animal droppings and footprints give lots of information, including species, time since movement, direction of movement and size/age of the animal.

We did this activity just near to the camp and tracks found included impala, kudu, mongoose, ostrich, black backed jackal and giraffe!

_{Students on the tracks and signs walk, looking out for signs of animal presence (Photo credit: Michael Anker)}

_{An impala print, identified by its heart print shape (Photo credit: Charlie Wanstall)}

Anti-poaching unit walk

Footsteps aren’t just about what the animals are doing, they can also tell a tale about poachers!

The anti-poaching unit (APU) at Nambiti work around the clock to ensure the safety of all of the animals on their site, but particularly the rhino.

On the antipoaching unit walk we spent some time walking along the reserve fence line, looking for gaps under the fence or domestic dog prints – both of which may symbolise the recent presence of hunting dogs.

_{Walking the boundary at Nambiti Big 5 Game Reserve, part of the anti-poaching unit work undertaken at the reserve (Photo credit: Andy Cherrill)}

The domestic dog print can be told apart from the black -backed jackal by looking at the presence of the cross within the paw print.

_{This is a black-backed jackal print, you can see the cross going through the pads. Try doing this with your domestic dog the next time you are out! You can also see the claw marks – dogs do not have protractible claws (claws which are predominantly kept in and then only put out by choice), unlike cats (Photo credit: Toby Price)}

We also learned how the APU can tell the height and weight distribution of poachers, information which is integral to them in their fight against wildlife crime!

For a little bit of extra fun during the APU walk, we played a game of bokdrolspoeg, which is a bush game when you see how far you spit some poo! Impala poo was chosen for one of the groups, which saw the students beating one of the Nambiti guides, a high bar was set!

Rhino monitoring

The final experience was to help with rhino monitoring. All of the rhino on the reserve can be identified by their unique ear notches.

As part of the rhino monitoring, students learned how to ID these beautiful animals. This information was then reported to the APU to help in their routine monitoring. As part of this we also learned how to tell white rhino and black rhino apart from their dung… black rhino are browsers and so there are bits of twigs in their faeces, but they also chew branches at a 45 degree angle!

The final full day was what turned out to be both amazing and saddening in equal measure. The students had the opportunity to assist with some essential rhino conservation work. The rhino poaching crisis in South Africa is escalating daily.

Nambiti is home to an incredible team of people who dedicate their lives to safeguarding wildlife on the reserve.

As part of protecting rhino species from extinction, Nambiti undertake a range of work on site, including moving animals to new sites for ensuring genetic diversity in the breeding population across South Africa and monitoring the rhino on site to ensure they are protected from harm from poachers.

On Wednesday, the students had the opportunity to take part in a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Nambiti needed to undertake some work with their rhinos - two rhinos were being moved – one to support breeding and genetic diversity of the white rhino species and one to ensure safety of the rhinos on site.

To make sure this important work could be done and to give the Harper Adams students an additional incredible experience of part of their trip, GAP Africa Projects funded this management intervention.

The process was the same for both – the rhinos were darted from a helicopter by the vet and then were guided to a safe area. The execution of this was textbook, everyone was amazed at how smooth experienced people can make something look!

Once the medication had taken effect, the veterinary team set to work, covering the rhino's eyes and putting some ear buds in to reduce the stress from external stimuli and keep the animal as calm as possible.

_{The male white rhino with a blindfold over his eyes (Photo credit: Andy Cherrill)}

Once this was done, we were able to get out of the vehicle and go and assist. The first rhino to be moved was a mature bull.

He was being moved to a new reserve to help increase genetic diversity of the white rhino species (this means the species will be healthier and will have a more secure future.)

The students played a really important role here, helping to keep the rhino upright while it was on the floor and then helping to move it towards the container and ensuring it didn’t fall over while it was still under low levels of sedation.

_{One of the ÎÞÂ붯»­ students helping to push the rhino into the transportation crate (Photo credit: Ellen Williams)}

They also got to help the veterinary team with checking the pulse of the rhino (in the ear and the base of the tail), monitoring respiration rate – how many breaths the rhino took per minute (by putting their hands near the nostrils) and generally giving the rhino a once over to make sure he was in good health.

_{One of the students checking the pulse of the rhino – it can either be done under the tail or in the ear of the rhino (Photo credit: John Wild)}

As this rhino was being moved to a new reserve we watched while he was loaded onto the back of a truck and then waved him on his way. He is going to a reserve with lots of females and he is a beautiful big bull so hopefully he goes on and contributes to the preservation of his species!

_{The rhino bull, being loaded onto the truck before beginning his journey to his new home, where breeding females await him! (Photo credit: Ellen Williams)}

_{The guides were fantastic and ensured that even travelling across the reserve came with opportunities to get up close and personal with the animals, here are two of the reserve’s southern lion pride, just lioning around...(Photo credit: Michael Anker)}

After a quick lunch break and a walk to the top of Reflection Hill near the camp we had been staying at, we were called to help with the second rhino of the day.

The reserve recently welcomed some new rhinos. Unfortunately, some of these had settled near the fence line, which significantly increases the risk of them becoming a target to poachers. The reserve has an extensive protection system, including intense monitoring.

Due to the rhino's behaviour the reserve had put them under close protection but this meant they couldn’t support other rhinos on site in the manner required. To ensure their long-term survival and protect them from harm, a plan had been developed to move these animals to a safer location within the site.

The darting followed the same process and the students again stepped in to help. This time the rhino was also dehorned whilst it was under sedation.

Rhinos have a large horn made of keratin which is used to protect their young, defend themself against predators or other rhino and move through thicket. Although rhino horn is made from keratin, it is the same material as our own fingernails, these beautiful animals are being persecuted for these horns and suffering brutal attacks from poachers as they try to get as much rhino horn as they can for sale on the black market.

The dehorning process itself, whilst necessary to ensure the rhino are not persecuted and left to suffer, is a hard process to watch. The rhino is sedated and feels nothing during or after the process, but the horn has to be chainsawed off just above the growth plate.

This means that the horn will regrow (it is just like us cutting our finger or toenails) but also ensures there is no horn for poachers to take.

Seeing an animal as majestic as a rhino lose a part of their body, regardless of the fact it is able to regrow and won’t affect their day to day lives, was quite upsetting for some of the students. It is a crying shame we aren’t in a world where there are no poachers but the work Nambiti do is without doubt contributing to the safeguarding of this species. 

 _{The rhino doesn’t feel a thing as they are under sedation and the cut being above the growth plate means it is no different to use trimming or own finger or toe nails, but the students found it hard watching a rhino being dehorned (Photo credit: Andy Cherrill)}

_{The male rhino after he had been dehorned, this is regularly done at Nambiti to ensure the safety of the rhino on site (Photo credit: Andy Cherrill)}

As the second rhino was staying in the reserve, we were able to follow the truck to the new location and watch the release.

Seeing the rhino trot out of the container and start investigating his new surroundings is something I am sure will live on in everyone who was there. It was an early start as we had to head out at 4.30am but I don’t think any of the group would change that experience for the world!

The goodbyes when we came to leave were hard and many tears were shed.

There is no doubt that at least some of the students will return, and when we had ourlast induku around the fire (where students share experiences and reflected on the journey undertaken in the last week) there were a number of students remarking that they couldn’t even choose a favourite moment, because the whole thing had just been ‘life changing’.

At the time of writing we’d just finished walking to the next destination, Zingela River Safari.

Everyone is really excited for what the next week has in store. More to come on that soon!

_{We paused for a break on the way from Nambiti to Zingela, the walk was hot but beautiful (Photo credit: Ellen Williams)}

_{Enjoying the walk through the grasses but trying to avoid the ticks (Photo credit: Ellen Williams)}