Ranger Report - Oct 2011

Update from Madikwe!!!

Finally winter is gone and we are full force into spring. Everybody in Madikwe is extremely happy since it has been a long and cold winter. The coldest it has been including the wind chill factor was 7 below freezing and the earth was white all over from the frost. That morning?s severe frost resulted in what we call black frost. This is a phenomenon where the ambient temperature drops so low that the individual cells in the plants freeze solid. The water expands and results in the rupture of the cells. After thawing the plant looks wilted and soon takes on a very ominous black colour where green used to be. These areas are now dead and can result in the death of the plant itself. This phenomenon is feared especially by vegetable farmers, who can lose their entire crop in just a single night.

All that cold weather coupled with no rain for more than 5 months also results in the grass layer turning yellow and totally desiccated transforming it into the most formidable fuel just waiting for that spark. Everybody on the reserve is on high alert for any fires that might develop. Some areas support nearly 5 tons of grass per hectare and can turn into a raging inferno in just seconds, devouring everything in its path. This is the main reason why we do controlled management burns, and it is aimed to prevent the fuel load to get to such a high level where a fire would be catastrophic for plants and animals alike. If you have ever seen a fire coming your way with the flames nearly 5 stories high, you would know what I mean.

Even though fire is a very destructive event, it does play its part in the ecology of this system. In fact it is critical to the survival of this ecosystem. If a fire fails to burn through a certain area for many years (10 years +) you will start to get a build up of what we call moribund material. Grass dies back every year and then start growing in the spring from nearly at the ground level. If all the previous growing season?s material keeps heaping up it will end up ?smothering? itself in the end and that will result in a decline in the quality of grazing. If a fire then comes through it will burn so hot that the normally fire resistant plants will also die and in extreme cases it could even sterilise the soil and prevent anything from growing there for years. If a fire burns at the right time it helps put back essential carbon and nitrogen into the soil, fertilising it for the onslaught of growth coming with the rainy season.
Looking at all the animals on the reserve it looks like everybody is fat and happy. Even though it is long into the dry season there is still ample water left and food is also plentiful although not so palatable any more. Nutrition in all plants has dropped considerably which will result in a higher food intake amongst the herbivores to sustain their weight and nutritional levels. Elephants might consume as much as 250kg-350kg of food during this time each day.

The last couple of months we have been noticing a remarkable increase in Black Rhino sightings. Those of you who know these animals would know that you either get a very quick glimpse of them as they retreat back into the bush and their shy nature or you get a really good look from very close up with some very tense and hair raising encounters. Naturally they are shy animals and avoid human contact at all costs but that said they are very short tempered, aggressive and dangerous animals as many a ranger have found out over the years. Many times I have found them in the bush only to see their backside as they disappear back into the bush, but sometimes they feel like they have to come for a closer look. This was the case not so long ago when we found a mature bull not far from our airstrip. When we saw him I tried to approach him a little to see if he would allow us to get a better view of him. He turned and slowly walked of in the opposite direction. We followed him at a respectable distance of about a 100m or so. We didn?t follow for long when he stopped and turned around to look at us. That?s when I realized that the tables have turned. He slowly started approaching us and not long he was only 20m from us. I thought that he would stop there and satisfy his curiosity and move on again. This was not to be, he continued approaching us and every step he took closer I could feel the collective anxiety in the vehicle grow like an archer slowly pulling back on his bow. He continued closing the gap and stopped literally not 2m from the vehicle. By now the tension was tangible, thick as soup, and everybody was holding their breath. Now it is a standoff between us and a one and a half ton nuclear bomb. He inspected the vehicle carefully looking up and down and left and right. We just stared back in amazement holding our breaths. Then he put his head down and gave a short charge at the vehicle. He stopped short and backed off about 5m or so. By now our hearts are in our throats and everyone was whishing for their wings to start growing so that we could just fly away. He charged us again and stopped just short of the vehicle and backed off another 5m into the bush. With a loud snort he flung his enormous body around and ran off into the bush disappearing in an instant. The only thing that you could hear was his bulk bashing through the bushes as he was running away from us. A collective sigh of relief followed in the vehicle and I think it was the first time anyone dared to breathe for the last ten minutes.

With everything said, all and all everything is going well in Madikwe and we are now awaiting our first rains. It does look promising though since we had a cold winter and very windy August and September. According to the locals that is the best combination for good rains this season.

Until next time kind regards from
The Madikwe Hills team

Ranger Report – Oct 2011