Challenge Accepted

Landed in South Africa.

Traveling across the world to a place that I love, doing what I love, can’t get any better. What am I talking about? I have accepted the challenge to relocate over to South Africa for a few months, to help my friends who own/operate the Garden Route Safari Camp. It felt like home when I arrived and was quickly embraced by my friends/family.

The travel to South Africa was long, but so worth the hassle! This is the beginning of my South Africa journey for 2022. I plan to blog about my job which is to work with their horses, train a guide to become a horseman (should be challenging, considering the language barrier), and to surround myself with learning more about the wildlife, nature, conservation and people.

Once arriving, I realized that I have so much to learn and immediately started with birds. So many birds. Coming to the conclusion from the start – I realized that I have to embrace the love of birds to really appreciate them. So many sneaky birds and behaviors, that now I am fully dedicated to being a “birder”! For example, the Jacobin Cuckoo, shown below, is one of the most clever birds since arriving.

This is a juvenile who actually is being raised by a Cape Bulbul. What happens is the adult Cuckoo will find the nest of a Cape Bulbul and lay her eggs next to the Cape Bulbul’s in her nest. The baby Cuckoo typically hatches first and will usually get fed first by the Bulbul. When the eggs of the Bulbul are hatched the Cuckoo will either smother them or kick out the eggs before being hatched. The entire time the Bulbul does not realize it is not her chick… pretty clever! In fact, the Adult Jacobin Cockoo never raises her own chicks. This young chick is close to leaving the nest and her adopted parents.

Next, my accommodations, currently the new wilderness camp is being developed and will soon be my new “home”. The site is close to the horses and is a magnificent location.

Along the way, as you drive to my location, you might have the chance to encounter various wildlife such as the two male waterbucks.

Or a giraffe or two.

This is the beginning of a series of blogs that I plan to write and share with photos, information and so much more. Please stay tuned and we will go on this adventure together. If you have any questions – please email me and I can answer those for you. I am hoping to do blogs on the various animals and birds with some useful information about each one and things that I find fascinating.

COME ALONG FOR THE RIDE.