Days 10-11: Nelspruit

July 28, 2022

We left before dawn (4:00 am, to be precise) to drive to a 2-day job near Nelspruit, about 4 hours from where we stay. Rita (the vet) typically schedules work here all at once, so that she doesn’t have to make the drive often.

Carli driving, with help from Pila the pup. Pila was rescued, near death, from the middle of the street about 6 weeks ago. Although she is only about 12 weeks old, she is already training to be a locator dog for darted game. She stays with us and accompanies us in the field, and is already showing some impressive abilities.

Gorgeous kudu buck, spotted on the way to find something else.

Loading impala into a trailer and partially reversing their sedation so that they can stand but still be calm.

Looking into the loading chute of the boma (pen) where 3 wildebeest are being run into a trailer.

Using a pole syringe to sedate the wildebeest that were run into the trailer from the chute. The top of the trailer is covered with liftable panels of rubber so that they can be individually opened.

Springbok. We needed to dart and relocate 4. These guys are small (smaller than impala), very shy, and super fast. Not easy to dart, and once down, not easy to find!

Trent with a tranquilized springbok. They jump straight up into the air!

This is where we stayed overnight. Both Rita and Carli were born in this area. It is very diverse in terms of terrain and agriculture. We passed lowveld, mountains, verdant valleys full of citrus and banana trees, and large cattle farms, as well as game reserves. Nelspruit itself is a sizable city, about comparable to Kalamazoo. It was very odd to be driving in traffic again!

View from the veranda

More sable bulls, a bit more difficult to find in this mountainous, rocky reserve. Add in a flat tire on one of the retrieval vehicles, and this became quite a challenge!