Into Africa

Chris Showalter '99 once said that Africa was in his heart and veins. His last trip tested this resolve!

In July 1999, Chris followed up his AFSP trip during W'99 by returning to Tembe Elephant Park with funding from the Dickey Center and a Mellon grant to undertake field research with Dr. Wayne Matthews, head of Tembe. After more than five weeks in the field, during which his father joined him, Chris came back to Dartmouth where he wrote up his field research as a senior honors thesis [Heather: the title is on the ENVS web page. Pull it off and insert it here, please.]

Goldman Sachs funded his next expedition: After accepting a position with the investment firm, but delaying his starting date, Chris took his employment bonus and flew back to Tembe again -- his third trip in 14 months! Here is an edited account he wired back to Dartmouth:

Greetings from Tembe!! I'm all settled in and have been enjoying my time back immensely.

It's been really interesting being back here and not having a specific project or thesis consuming my time. In a way it has been great because I've been able to involve myself in just about anything. I've continued the GIS work primarily, but also the elephant project.

There is a woman here doing rhino monitoring so I've gone out with her a few times. Her occupation far surpasses the most dangerous occupation in the United States (roofing). She works for KwaZulu Natal Conservation Service (KNC) and is trying to re-locate and identify all the rhino (black and white) in the park.

So every morning at 6 she heads out with her tracker and follows rhino spoor. Yesterday I tagged along and was treated with one of those experiences that is destined to be a story worth telling the grandkids.

We followed male black rhino spoor for approximately 4 hours through thick veld. For an hour we knew we were close and every footstep was carefully placed. Finally our tracker motioned for us to stop and eventually to come forward very slowly.

Lying down about 40 feet ahead on the other side of some bushes was the rhino (mean long horn included). We each identified and signaled to one another the respective trees that each of us would climb, just in case. That case arrived very shortly.

The rhino either caught our scent or heard us and quickly got up. Then it was a race to the trees. We had all just reached safe distances when he came right underneath us. Snorting and stamping his feet we could tell he didn't appreciate us having snuck upon him.

The unquestionably brave tracker started swinging his leg down and the rhino preceded to try and impale the bottom of his foot. After a minute or so the thundered off. And we all slowly got down out of the trees to continue tracking -- although with some greater caution.

A week earlier when I was out we were also treed and in another instance we confronted a female and infant rhino with no trees in close proximity.

But alas, my adrenaline junky days of rhino chasing have been sufficiently quelled, as my nerves are shot and I can't afford any more gray hair.

What has also been very interesting this time is that the breeding herds have started utilizing Mahlesela as a water source. The viewing has been spectacular, especially from the pit. I've also gotten a chance to visit some northern areas of the park that I've never seen, but the damn eland are still eluding me. There have been some blue-throated sunbird spottings in the past few weeks which is a new species for the park and has everyone excited. Wayne and I are going to go look for it this afternoon. The floods have made the swamp area a mini-Okavango with pans everywhere. Lillies and waterfowl are abundant; something very rare to see here .

Another fascinating day was spent with a lepodologist (butterfly guy). Myself, Wayne and the butterfly expert set some traps around the park and then collected the specimens. I was really amazed at how finally atuned this man's senses were to what he was looking for. Whereas I'm scanning the landscape for elephants, rhinos and big birds, his eyes are darting from leaf to leaf looking for pupae or instantaneously analyzing the numerous flutters of wings that are always within one's vision. It really made me realize how much is out there and that it really depends on what you are looking for. At this time of year you could go through Tembe not seeing one animal, but the butterfly activity is phenomenal.

In essence I really feel the more I come back to Africa and the more I learn, the farther I distance myself from the big five mentality of game viewing and really tend to appreciate the vast diversity that any given landscape really possesses.

The peace parks initiative is in full force but the usual quagmire of administrative/managerial is ever-present. I have been fortunate enough to learn a great deal from a number of those involved in peace parks in recent weeks. It's frustrating and exciting. It's an amazing idea but the implementation side is a potentially fruitless job. The process just seems to go from damage control to damage control and then a little bit forward, and then a long plateau. So I've seen firsthand the frustrations, but also the accomplishments, of those immediately involved.

I went down to Mhkuzi last week and drove around while Wayne and the others were attending meetings. The viewing was like a small scale Kruger-- pretty abundant. The rhino viewing is spectacular, saw one black rhino and six white rhino.

I leave Monday to go to Kruger for a week with a student who has been doing vegetation work here. He has a friend who works there so we are staying for free. Not bad,huh? Couldn't pass that opportunity up.

Then I head to Itala game reserve to rendezvous with Wayne and then we head to Kalahari Gemsbok, now a peace park. So I have definitely set myself up for a great experience once again. I'm soaking in as much information as I can and making lots of contacts in preparation of someday returning.

-- Chris