Fishing for reedbuck, notching rhino and collaring ellies

A thin sliver of moon cuts through the pre-dawn sky in the east. It’s 4:30am and it’s crowded on the back of the Cruiser with the reedbuck capture team. They spend the journey north, to the marsh, to Bischoff’s, to reedbuck country, joking in Sotho and ducking from thorn branches that grab for them as we speed by. Kristal sits up front, next to Phillip.

The convoy of Cruisers pulls up to the capture site. A huge open area of grassland disappears over the rise to our left and in front. Terrain you just know will be thick with reedbuck! A thicket of thorn bushes crowds us on our right and behind us. Nets and poles are unloaded, and then strung up on poles in a giant 90 degree V against the thicket. You can already feel the excitement…Of course it is something of a mixed feeling, for it is stressful for the animals. They will go to Makalale Game Reserve at least, and not to a hunting farm.

The nets extend for a hundred or so metres each side. The vehicles, with trailers to load the animals, wait on the outside of the V. High up on one of the trailers the blue and white of a Blue Bulls flag flaps in the early morning breeze. Marinus, the owner of Bundox Wildlife is something of an avid fan and avid Bulls fans are sometimes not too opposed to stirring things up when they come to Natal, Sharks country.

We are briefed by Marinus and Simon. “Stay hidden until the animal is in the net and when you grab it, stay away from the sharp bits. The horns and the hooves,” we are warned. “And if you grab the horns of a ram, only do so from behind. Reedbuck can kick forward. Only them and giraffe”. And now that everyone – Kristal, Nico, JR, Skattie, Rodger and Cliff – are nice ‘n nervous they throw a, “But don’t hesitate whatever you do” at us.

The white Robbie 22 chopper has arrived and flies off in search of our quarry. We too peel off, into the bushes to find a concealed ambush spot amongst the 20 or 30 Bundox capture guys.

Kristal and I squat down behind a small thorn bush. Careful to avoid the thorns scattered on the ground. The buh-buh-buh-buh-buh of the chopper approaches us. Over the ridge now. We scan the ground ahead. There she is, a lone female. Running for her life. She ducks and dives and bounds effortlessly through the air. And then straight into the net. Within seconds her captives are on her, little concerned about her hooves it seems, and she is truly caught. Simon rushes up, to inject the valium tranquilizer to keep the stress down. Her eyes are covered with a hat, for this also helps. Many pairs of hands then lift her and carry her to the trailer, to load her.

Suddenly I hear Marinus shouting. A warthog has moved into the V and is about to become an unsuspecting, but very unwanted captive. His tail raised in alarm he darts away from Marinus. Straight for cover. Not seeing the net blocking his escape he ploughs straight into it. He squeals as a stuck pig should. Simon is quickly on him and with a Bundox captor frees the squealing hog from the net and drags him by the back legs outside of our V. They release him, minding the sharp tusks as they do.

The hide, chase, capture and load is repeated again and again. Many animals break free from the nets before the captors hands have secured them. For some their freedom is momentary and they crash straight into another net, with quick hands closeby. Others survive one, two and even three encounters with the net and still manage to make good their escape.

Keeping low, next to a bush I hear the chopper coming over the ridge, chasing a buck towards the far end of the thicket. Straining through the tangle of thorn branches I get a glimpse of the chopper, flying low, in pursuit of a fleet-footed female reedbuck. Her silhouette against the bright morning sky bounds high in the air, legs fully extended, front and back. And in the same, small frame of branches the chopper maneuvers just above her. An extraordinary chase and a beautiful picture.

It is early, but the sun is high already and we must be off. There are rhino to notch and today it will be baking hot. Phillip stays behind, intent on securing his maiden reedbuck capture. The rest of us pile into Simon’s Cruiser and speed off down to Izwe, where we will load the gear. Musa joins us at Izwe, with a few of the lodge staff too. A number of us are given tasks before we set off. Mine is that of scribe.

A bigger Robbie 44 chopper arrives with the buffalo capture pilot, Craig. Vet, Chap and Phinda researcher Tristan jump in, drugs and dart gun in hand. They take off and head south. We speed off behind them in the two Cruisers, Simon and Musa. Some of the chaps from Inyathi anti-poaching have joined us too and the bumpy ride is also a crowded one. Dirk, one of the main guys from Inyathi phones someone to notify them that a chopper is flying over Phinda. He gives the reg number. All of this will be sms’d to farmers in the area, so that we are not mistaken for poachers. We rush to area where the chopper is flying and wait. Hurry up and wait is very much what game capture is about it seems.

Craig’s voice over the radio keeps us in touch with what is happening in the air. They have found two rhino, mother and calf. The calf is un-notched. “The dart is in”. Cruisers rush in and people jump out. The calf has toppled over on the rocky ground, drunk on M99. We wait for the signal from Chap that we can move in. And then the people with tasks get to work. A blindfold goes over her eyes. Simon cuts the ear notches as indicated on the data sheet I’m holding, keeping the little pieces for genetic analysis. I note down the sex. The location is Saddle Cutline, Simon tells me. The age is 20 months Chap tells me and the condition is 2.8. A condition of 5 is fat and perfectly healthy and 0 would be, I guess, dead. Weaned in the dry season this calf will have lost a bit of condition but should pick up again now that the rains have arrived. A hand-held GPS tells me our position, which I note down, pressing on the page on the rough skin of the rhino’s shoulder.

Tristan reads out the Trovan numbers – one microchip in the front horn and one in the shoulder.

I read them back to double check. We take horn measurements too and then we are done. The whole process took not more than about 5 minutes. We all move back to the vehicles and the choppers rotors start to spin. Chap stays behind and when we have all cleared away he gives the anti-dote and moves away a short distance. A groggy rhino calf rocks up onto its feet. A successful capture is complete.

We repeat this process again. Twice. With little incident. The next rhino is a full grown female, and she is reluctant to go down, stumbling from bush to bush, with Chap following close behind. Then she trips. And she is down. But not out. Not just yet. Chap moves in and Nico moves around the back. “Can I support you he asks Chap?” his voice disturbs the rhino, who swings her head wildly knocking Chap almost off his feet. “Thula, quiet!” he says, clearly irritated. Another calf after this one and we have three rhino, safely notched. It’s hot now and we are done. Almost a full day’s work finished and it’s not even 10 o’clock.

The hot midday is spent relaxing at the Izwe pool, reading and sleeping and trying to escape the heat. And before we know it 3’oclock arrives. Time to head off for elephant collaring. Kristal, Nico and I jump in with Simon and shoot up north to the junction of Sodwana Bay road and Corridor, the meeting point.

Four o’clock and the four guests pull up with specialist ranger, Daryl Dell. A family with two young teenage boys. American. It is they who have covered the costs of the capture. This Phinda adventure costs R55 000! At R65 000 each the collars are not covered, but at least the vet, the chopper and pretty well everything else is. Simon welcomes them and briefs them on how it will work and then we pile into vehicles and chopper and set off. Further north, to the marsh.

Right up on the marsh now, we can hear that the chopper have located the herd. They push them to a favourable, more open area and then try separate one of the matriarchs. “The dart is in!” Again, our signal to move in. We bounce around on the back of the Cruiser as it weaves through the bushes on the carpet of new, green grass. We can see the ellie now and jump out.

I am scribe again and with the tape measure and paper in hand I run up to join Chap and Tristan beside the huge, grey beast, lying peacefully on her side. Her huge ear is flopped over to cover her eye, minimizing the stress. The Inyathi guards have formed a perimeter just within sight of us, in case the rest of the breeding herd comes our way. I record position and so on while Chap administers an anti-biotic and Tristan and Musa attach the collar.

This is the cow called Dentine. One tusk faces up and the other, oddly, curves down. Simon and I measure the tusks, length and circumference and stand back. All much less hurried than the rhino. Her giant chest heaves up as she slowly sucks in a deep breath. The air is slowly blown out through her mouth and her trunk, the tip of which is kept open by a small broken twig. Nico sprays her with water to keep her cool. Soon we are done. Photos with the guests. Team photo with the Phinda guys, me sitting on her belly, and we move off. Chap injects the anti-dote when all is clear and soon she staggers to her feet, the proud owner of a shiny, new GPS collar, a device that will email her position and temperature to Simon every half hour for, hopefully, the next 4 years.

There is time for another and the whole process is then repeated, with another cow, One Tusk. The guests are overjoyed at this experience. Feeling the rough skin, with tiny bristles of hair. The dry, cracked soles of their monstrous feet. And seeing and touching the wiry tail hairs. And they get to make a significant contribution to conservation. Simon is just as happy, for 2 of the 4 ellies that need collars are now wearing them.

It feels like a week’s worth of experiences packed into just a single day. We settle into bed early. For tomorrow is another chance to finally catch a reedbuck!