Letter from Jack Shepherd, 08 October 2001

Dear Everyone: I am sitting at an open window on the campus of the University of Pretoria and looking at masses of lavender jacaranda blossoms. These trees are now in bloom all over Pretoria and are harbingers of the coming rains. We returned late Friday from our first extended field trip, first to the Southern Africa Wildlife College on the edge of Kruger National Park, and then on to the remote farming village of Kaphunga in the mountains of Swaziland. The students are in good spirits, although we are following the news closely with regard to Swiss Air and Afghanistan. This is a crazy term here: from the tranquility of the African bush to the realities of global politics and economics. The Southern Africa Wildlife College (SAWC) is a new institution designed to train young men and women from Africa (although there are students from Australia and the UK as well) in the skills of wildlife management and conservation. We rode an ancient bus out of Pretoria and along the high veld for what seemed like most of the morning. This is South Africa's resource belt: farms irrigating newly-planted maize, sunflowers, tobacco; electricity plants billowing coal smoke across the undulating landscape. This land yields to pine and eucalyptus plantations where trees are harvested for paper pulp and mine shaft supports. In the early 20th century, the indigenous Africans were forceably moved from these highlands to the low bushveld, to make way for these tree plantations that at that time were necessary to the gold and diamond mining operations. As we dropped slowly down the escarpment we could see waterfalls and magnificent rock outcroppings, and the dramatic vegetation change as we approached the lowland bushveld. Here are the acacia, baobab and mopane trees of the African posters. SAWC is nestled in among them on a slight rise. Although the College is surrounded by an electric fence -- we are in the cage and the wildlife roam freely -- it is also opened onto the vast range of Kruger National Park. Our students were safe inside to walk around the perimeter fence (or go running), play rugby or cricket, walk to meals in the thatched-roof dining centre, attend classes in a seminar room; they all lived in two-person, thatched roof "dorm" rooms.One alert from the director did warn them about snakes, and for several days they were walking with their eyes on every stick (me too!). We didn't see a single snake, to much disappointment. After that seven-hour bus ride, they all went running, playing, swimming in SAWC's outdoor swimming pool. And that night, Kathleen and I found a group of them -- Sarah, Emily Barsky, John, Scott, Rebecca, Katie -- out along the perimeter fence excited about something with large bright green eyes that was seen first in a tree OUTSIDE the fence and then next in a tree INSIDE the fence. I told the students to listen quietly, and soon we heard the "Waaaa, waaaaa, waaaaa" of the African bushbaby. Then in the background, out in the veld, we could also hear the distance "aaaahrwwww" of a lion and the "wooo-hooop!" of the hyena. The next three days the students alternated between classroom time -- films, slides, discussions -- about wildlife management issues, large mammal identification, and tracks and spoors. I confess that tracks and spoors remains a favorite of mine, and our instructor, "JC" Strauss, who was born in the bush ved and knows it extremely well, makes the lessons fresh and new every year. For us, he alternated two hours in the seminar room with two hours in the veld, beyond the fence, softly and carefully tracking a variety of wildlife. Our first encounter actually came that evening, when "JC" took us outside the perimeter to see the southern cross, which this time of year is visible only in the early evening in the southern sky, and to listen in silence to the changing sounds as the African evening giveds way to the African night. Walking to this spot we suddenly came upon a large male giraffe nibbling the tops of the acacias. Quietly, we slowly stalked to within 50 feet of him. (JC had discussed with us the "comfort zone" an animal feels about being approached. When we got to the edge of the giraffe's "zone" he would snort and back away from us.) On other days we tracked hippos, impala, more giraffe, lions and leopard, although we have not yet actually spotted any of the big cats. That will come this week when we tent in Kruger and them move beyond the fence to camp for more than five days and nights at Timbavati. Tracks and spoors will be very much in use! JC also gave the students basic survival strategies and then, during our various walks, had them find our way back to the safari vehicle. They were splendid! Ryan, Pascal, Eben, Erin, Sarah and others often got us back at a fast pace. When we divided into two teams, we found that Anne, Ingar, Nikhil, Scott and others were learning the bushveld well. We will further test these skills during the coming week. Back on the bus, we drove among the impoverished African communities now caught between the highveld escarpment -- truly a wall of mountains to the east -- and the lowveld "wall" of Kruger National Park. Although we were only about midway "down" Kruger, it took more than four hours to drive along with the escarpment to our right and the fence to our left (and the poor communities among us) before reaching the park's southern edge and turning east to enter the gate into the Kingdom of Swaziland. How to describe this? We arrived in Manzini after dark and I telephoned our contact Myxo (pronounced "Me-so")who led us to his backpackers lodge in the hills outside this small African town. Everyone was tired, but listened intently as Myxo over supper described his village and how he brings people like us into it to meet his community. This insertion is carefully done, both to avoid the sense of being an intruder and to integrate all of us into the community's daily life. To get an idea of Swazi life, the next morning we all went to the Manzini open market, where we ate breakfast, practised our siSwati, and later bargained for crafts, cloth, jewelry; several students actually bought collapsible, wooden tables to bring home. No large drums, so far! After an hour's bus ride into the mountains, we emerged into Myxo's community of Kaphunga. We lived and ate in a compound of beehive huts made of bent saplings, mud and thatch. Very soon, our students were out running in the mountains, meeting the local school kids, learning more siSwati from them, and making of list of tasks for us to do over the next three days. We taught classes in the local primary school, helped a farmer thatch one of his huts (while sharing a swallow of local beer for our efforts), painted the entire side of the school buildings,and did other tasks. Some of us visited a secondary school and another primary school in the area, where the students discussed the events of 11 September, George Bush, US foreign policy, etc. We have some excellent young teachers among our students; one even received a proposal of marriage! Our evenings in Kaphunga were spent either in the cooking hut, an open-sided, thatched roof structure with seating around its edges and a small cooking fire in the middle, or out looking at the vastness of the heavens with stars from horizon to horizon. From one rise behind the primary school we could see 360 degrees, and all the days in Kaphunga ended there at sunset so we could watch the sun drop below the mountains to the west and the full moon, or lopsided waning moon, rise to the east. I like to meet regularly with the stdents in plenary sessions which they run, and we had several evenings of discussion about what we are seeing and hearing, who we are, what we are learning. The students themselves stayed up late one evening discussing the events of 11 September. For better or worse, that forms a backdrop for us here, even in Kaphunga, Swaziland. Mail arrived today. Thanks so much for writing. I got a bill! Tomorrow, Kruger NP and Timbavati. Then the students will go on break. Yes, we will continue to stay in very close touch with all of them, and Kathleen and I will remain in Pretoria during those three days. Then, it's classroom instruction, more field research, and the Kalahari to the Indian Ocean.Then the ENVS 84 paper, and the end of the term. The AFSP is going fast. I am already convinced that we have one of the finest AFSP teams ever. All good wishes, Jack and Kathleen