Monday 29 March

I helped move tick-offs to areas where the animals would have more access.
I learnt that a Tick-Off is a contraption with a nozzle that sprays insecticide for ticks onto the animals when they step onto the pressure plate that it is connected to. Two of the tree that we moved was in water we kept it near the water because it is convenient that way when the animals come and drink water they have to walk over the plate. We ensure this by placing branches in their way so that they have no option other than to go over the plate.
I Cleaned animal cages at the Wildlife Centre.
I helped clean out the cages and replacing the hay that they use for bedding. I learnt that this is necessary for the health of the animals because they defecate in their cages so it is potentially septic. I learnt that some of the animals you have to close off from the area you are working in and some you don't. This is simply for our own safety.
I did my first night drive and here I learnt how to use the light and that the things you speak about in the day drives are quite different from the things that you speak if on the night drives. This is because you speak a little bit about the nocturnal habits of the diurnal animals and speak more of the night life there is. For example the Jackal the Hare and the Owls.

Game Drives

Over the past weekend i did all together 5 game drives. Four of which i did the talking and one i did the driving. Myself and San-Mari did a Bush Expedition which consists of an hours game drive and an hours bush walk. I also learnt that when two guides work together a really successful is the result. This is because our interests lie in different areas and so our knowledge base lie in diffrent areas. Because San-Mari has a wider animal knowledge she did the game drive part of the Expedition and with my knowlege of plants trees and insect i did the walking tour. It was my first expedition and if there is one thing i learnt it is that in a crunch situation i can survive really well.

Sondela and its Cultural History

While we were at Tambouki were went on a walk to see the evidence of possible stone age inhabitants on Sondela.
We learnt about the San Khoi and the Khoi-San and the difference between them. the San were hunter gatherers and the Khoi cattle herders. the reason they were later called the khoi-San was because the San started working for the khoi people as cattle herders.
we learnt that they used a bigger stone (that they held in their hands) to chip off shards from a another stone, in order to make other tools and even spear and arrow heads.
on the rocks there are hollows and slits that were obviously used to sharpen various tools. We also found pot shards that also point towards human inhabitants. we also learnt that they probably used the koppie because it is a convenient lookout. Probably the most important thing we learnt was that there are undiscovered places like these all over South Africa and that we must not move anything from these places because that which we remove looses its value because it can no longer be identified with a specific area and thus with a specific culture.

Three days at Tambouki

We spent three days at Tambouki and it taught us lots.
I learnt that leadership means being able to delegate and communicate. It does not help that you take the lead and then proceed to do everything yourself. I learnt that even tough I have lots of book knowledge I need lots of practice giving that knowledge over to other people(in this case guests) in a way and manner that they understand and can relate to. If there is one thing that has drastically improved over these past few days it is my people skills. Being able to avoid conflict by talking and changing your attitude is vital in keeping a group together successfully.
I learnt that making eye contact with guests while you speak to them is vital in keeping their interest and attention by you. Using all their senses is another important thing because the more of their senses they use the easier it is for them to relate to you.
In terms of the positives and negatives of the experience the positives hugely ought weigh the negatives.
I learnt that the more you repeat something to yourself the more you associate yourself with that topic and then you will be able to remember and relate easier in the future.
One thing that definitely stands out is the importance of a secure information base in terms of knowing why thins happen. A good example of this is the Lichen that grows on trees. We learnt what it is and just by knowing that it is fungus and algae living together we can interpret the information that we learnt into:

• the algae is green and thus produces energy by way of photosynthesis
• the fungi likes moist areas and so grows more in the shady side of a tree
• this means that you can tell direction with the lichen
• this is because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west so the lichen then grows on the southern side so that it is moist,slightly shady, yet still partially in the sun so that te algae may photosynthesise.
• fungi is able to break down cellulose and lignin in other words wood.
• so the food that the algae is not able to produce is provided by the fungi
• there are two symbiotic relationships present 1 Mutualism between the algae and the fungus this means that they both benefit from the relationship 2 commensialism between the lichen and the tree because the tree is unaffected and the lichen has a place to grow.
  

Weather and Climate

I learnt the difference between weather and climate. Weather is a short term analysis of a specific area usually a small area. Climate is an analysis of a large areas weather over a long period of time. I also learnt about winds and what they really are, it is simply the movement of air from a high pressure to a lower pressure. I also learnt how the sea and its movements affect weather.

Ecology

This is the study of the environments abiotic( non living) and biotic (living) elements and their relationships with each other that ultimately creates an ecosystem. in order to be able to understand these relationships we were taught about the trophic pyramid the food chain and food web. With the trophic pyramid we learnt why the bottom levels need to be bigger than the upper levels. This is because there needs to be more producers(green plant material) than primary consumers otherwise there would not be enough food to go around. this then applies to all the different levels. I can now easily identify relationships between organisms and explain the importance of these relationships.

Birds

Precocial, Cocial
I learnt that you get basically these two differences in hatch lings with birds the precocial means that they are 'ready to run' as soon as they are born. this is as opposed to the cocial birds who usually are nesting birds and need to be nurtured for a while before they can up an go.
Passerine or perching birds this refers to basic foot structure and non passerine which is ground birds.
Cuckoos
Black eyed bull bull and a Jacobin's Cuckoo. This is a symbiotic relationship between the two the cuckoo being the parasite. The cuckoo's mother lays her egg in the black eyed bull bulls nest because she is too lazy to raise her own chicks. This is definitely something you can tell the guests because they will find it interesting. Other examples of Cuckoos is the Diedricks cuckoo and the Queleas that we had exterminated earlier this year.

Reptiles

I learnt that:

• Reptiles are all lizards
• they are not cold blooded they are exothermic this means that they cant control their own body temperature they must rely on external factors to keep body heat up or down.
• There are three different types of venom. Neurotoxin(nervous system) hemotoxin(hemo means blood) and cytotoxic(the tissue is affected).
• that reptiles are either oviparous(they lay eggs. or ovi-vivi-parous (they lay eggs but internally so the snake is born live.)
  

Geology

I learnt that geology is the study of the earth and its processes and cycles and history.
That the earth consists of diffrent layers and each layer contributes a diffrend facet to the earths current state and shape. like for example the lower layers of the earth being hot enough and under enough pressure to break trough the crust to form phenomena like mountains and volcanoes.

Doing a game drive

My workplace experiance on the 13-22 was doing game drives. this involved two things: driving the land cruiser while a seconyear student did a game drive; and doing the talking on the tractor drives at the carevan park.

Fire Fighting

what did I learn?
preplanned-identifying
-elimination
-controlling hazards and risks
-what to do when the fire alarm does go off.
Positives

• we learnt what equipment to use.
• teaching was quick and thorough.
• learnt how important it is to have equipment that fits you well in order to cover and protect your whole body.
• we learnt how to use the available equipment.
• that we must help each other to get ready and get gear that fits us properly in a rushed situation.
• we had lots of fun and laughs.
• everyone understood what the facilitator told us.

Negatives

• it was really hot it made us aware of how hot it will be running around in a fire in thick fire protective suits.
• jugging the cloths sizes was really hard.
• water packs are awfully heavy.

I can now

• do a veld fire drill on Sondela.
• use and replace equipment as i found it.
• use appropriate equipment without causing damage to myself or other fire fighters.
• use the fire hose and assist in unrolling and rolling it from and back onto the truck.

And then we learnt some more!

On Tuesday the 9 th of March we started officially with our course, this means the section of guiding specifically on Sondela. I learn about;
Taxonomy: this is the categorising of organisms in a universally recognised fashion. Biomes: this is the different sections of plant growth we have in and around South Africa. Geology: this is the study of the earth its history and its processes. Ecology: this is the study of all organisms both living and non-living, and their relationships with each other. Weather and climate: what is wind, erosion, weathering

Roll Playing

To end off the gap year and as a summary of all that we have learnt trough the period. we did 23 different ole plays all to do with situations that we will face while doing our experiential learning.