1/2 LEO Africa - Life experience in South African bush with Leo's rangers

Our experience:

Two weeks in October 2022

Two adults 64 and 67 yo

LEO Africa

Limpopo Eco Operations

LEO Africa carries out a project for the monitoring, conservation and sustainable life of wildlife, including the "Big 5" in South Africa. This nongovernmental voluntary project, created in 2005, works only thanks to the participation and commitment of international volunteers of which we were part.

Currently LEO Africa manages the ecological aspect of the Abelana Wildlife Reserve (150km²), located in the North-East of South Africa, near the Kruger National Park.

I have the feeling that when the LEO team judges that the environment is well preserved, and that the fauna lives in an optimal and balanced way, it is likely that LEO will intervene in another wildlife reserve.

LEO's missions:

• • Wildlife management: collect data (number, behavior, state of health, etc.) on the main animal species present in the reserve (lions, leopards, elephants, cheetahs, buffaloes, brown and spotted hyenas, white rhinos).

• • Management of the environment and flora: eradication of alien plant species, removal of old fences and plastic elements. Pruning of trees obstructing traffic on the slopes…

• • The data collected is analyzed to assess the numbers of the main species and to help the management of the reserve to make the right decisions on future conservation practices.

• • Sensitization of volunteers to the preservation of wildlife and the environment.

The nearest airport to LEO is Hoedspruit AFB. After 55 minutes of flight from Johannesburg it takes about 1h30 transfer to LEO.

By car from Johannesburg airport, it takes about 6 hours to reach LEO, which organizes and takes care of ground transfers for volunteers.

Limpopo is the name of the province in the North East of South Africa where LEO's activities are located; it is also the name of the river that materializes the northern border of this province with Zimbabwe and Botswana.

The extreme east of the Limpopo province is still a border of South Africa, this time with Mozambique.

The northern half of Kruger National Park is also in Limpopo Province. The entrance to the Kruger National Park called "Phalaborwa Gate" is only 26km from the LEO buildings. LEO gives its volunteers the opportunity to spend several days inside the Kruger Park. This is an exceptional opportunity to discover this extraordinary national park with a qualified guide, member of the LEO team.

You must be over 18 to volunteer at LEO, the length of stay can vary from two weeks to several months.

The following pages give you an overview of the missions we have accomplished with other volunteers during two weeks.

The « BIG FIVE »:

Regarding the management and protection of wildlife, LEO's action mainly concerns all of the famous "Big Five" or "Big 5".

Who are these “Big Five”?

They are the african elephant, african buffalo, rhinoceros (originally black, now black and white), lion and leopard.

Crédit photo: https://a-z-animals.com/blog/the-big-five/

a fatal celebrity

If the objective of every tourist who goes on a safari in Africa is to see, or better still, to photograph the "Big Five", in this case the trophy is judged by the quality of the photo, but there is no not always been so.

In the 19th century, the “Big Five” designated the 5 most difficult african animal species to kill by a white hunter; to bring the trophy (skin, ivory, stuffed head or whole animal, etc.) back to Europe or the USA. In 1935, Ernest Hemingway immortalized these hunts in The Green Hills of Africa and The Snows of Kilimanjaro.

For 70 years, until 1930, each year up to 100,000 elephants were slaughtered; populations of rhinos, lions, buffaloes and leopards are decimated; in danger of extinction.

From 1930 national parks where hunting is prohibited are created by the States, but the decline of these five species (and others) continues. It was not until 1973 that an international moratorium prohibited the hunting of the “Big Five”.

Very quickly, hunting was then replaced by poaching. The "Big Five" continue to be decimated on a large scale.

Often associated with local corruption, poaching is today the main threat to the future of many animal species in Africa.

For example, in 2018, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated that the highly profitable ivory trade killed more than 300,000 elephants over the past decade in Africa, driving down their numbers. 415,000 to 111,000.

So-called “sport” hunting is still practiced in private reserves. The right to kill a rhino can reach over $50,000.

Live to the rhythm of the bush LEO Africa

At LEO, we live to the rhythm of the bush and the bush lives to the rhythm of the seasons.

The bush is a forest of leafy shrubs including many thorny ones.

October is the second and last month of spring, it is soon the end of the dry season and the end of the very hot weather. During our stay at LEO in early October 2022, the afternoon temperatures were 35°C, reaching 41°C for 3 days.

The vegetation is very dry, the trees do not yet have their foliage, the rivers and natural water holes are mostly dry.

This season is conducive to the observation of animals that concentrate aroundthefewwater points that arestill supplied. The manymigratorybirds will only arrive with the return of the rains in early November.

The life of volunteers is organized according to the sun and adapts to the rhythms of the seasons and weather conditions.

Afirst"drive" leaves afterbreakfast,alittlebeforesunrise,thereturntobase is around 11:30 am. The alarm clock is very early, around 4:45 am…

Everyone meets for lunch which is taken quite quickly.

The second “drive” starts around 3 p.m. and often continues beyond sunset for nighttime observations.

Everyone meets for dinner.

The volunteers take turns helping out with some household chores.

Friday afternoon is devoted to the supply of food in a supermarket in Phalaborwa, the volunteers take the opportunity to buy what they cannot find at LEO.

Sunday is a rest day.

Wildlife management Tracking a lioness

and her 3 young lions

To ensure the good health of an animal and to check that it has not been the victim of poachers, you must at least see it, but where to find it in the 150km² of thick bush of the Abelana wildlife reserve?

Without the help of a transmitter/receivertracker,it would be impossible to find a particular animal or group of animals.

At least one individual of each “Big Five” species is fitted with a radio collar. Using an antenna and a receiver, LEO's professional guides can locate the area where the animal being sought is located. If this information is essential, it is rarely precise enough and does not dispense with a long search or the use of old tracking methods, including the reading of footprints on the ground.

Wanted lioness paw print. For a better reading of the photo, the contours of the print have been marked with black/white lines.

The LEO guides are always armed, pistol and rifle with real ammunition.

Afteralongsilentwalkinthebush,theLEO guide in the lead gives a big sign. All the volunteers stop, motionless we look for the lioness. We need a few minutes and the directions given by the guides to distinguish the lioness in the branches.

All is well with the animals.

She heard and then spotted us a long time ago. Barely thirty meters separate us from the lioness, we struggle to distinguish her three lion cubs. The emotion, the adrenaline are at their maximum. In the silence of the bush time has stopped, we are present in a scene from an animal documentary, an unforgettable moment.

It'ssofascinatingthatwealmostforgetthat we have wild lions in front of us which can be dangerous.

In the lead, the LEO guide gives the signal for departure, we leave without haste, still in silence dazzled by what we have just experienced.

Photo: A young male lion observes us.

Rhinos protection

Representation

The protection and management of rhinos by LEO is a very important and very sensitive subject.

All volunteers must agree not to broadcast any image or video representing the rhinos of the Abelana reserve. It is not forbidden totakephotos of rhinos but you have to keep them for yourself.

The fear is that these documents will be used by poachers, the risk is real and omnipresent.

Poachers kill rhinos and then saw off their horns. The horns are consumed in China and Vietnam in the form of a so-called aphrodisiac powder and sell for very high prices, enough to attract poachers who often act with the complicity of corrupt locals.

To prevent the rhinos from being killed, private reserves and some national parks cut the horns of their animals, the horns grow back after a few years.

head, in the excellent Selati River Ruins hotel restaurant located between Gravelotte and Phalaborwa.

Representation of the evolution of the number of rhinos in Kruger Park

In 2010

According to the managing authority of the Kruger National Park, in 2010, more than 10,000 rhinos (black and white) lived in the Kruger National Park.

At the end of 2019, there were only 3,817! Rhinos are victims of poaching associated with local corruption, their numbers are decreasing from year to year.

End of 2019

If they are not effectively protected they will disappear.

The pangolin

Much less publicized than rhinoceros poaching, pangolin poaching is much more massive, systematic and also so much easier.

It is a species that is in danger of extinction.

It is consumed in Africa and especially sold in Asia, where its meat is considered a luxury dish.

In China and Vietnam, unsurprisingly, its scales are used in the composition of powders reputed to cure diseases and erectile dysfunction...

The other victim of intensive poaching

Its scales are composed like our nails, that is to say without active ingredient, these powders are once again without medical effects.

This smallmammalof about 5kgand about 60cm is the most unusual animal on the planet and certainly the most endearing as it seems fragile despite its apparent armor of scales.

Itwalks(quitequickly) onitstwohind legs, its long tail serving as a stabilizer.

Its front legs with large claws are used to enlarge the holes of anthills or termite mounds.

It feeds on insects, ants and termites. It detects the presence of insects, then uses its front legs to enlarge the galleries. Its long tongue plunges into the galleries, the ants and termites are brought back into its mouth which ends in the end of a snout.

In case of danger he curls up. Poachers can pick it up without any difficulty.

In addition to being the cause of poaching, China has wrongly accused this harmless animal of being the source of the Covid19 virus!

Photo credit : https://www.nationalgeographic.fr/animaux/le-pangolindafrique-est-le-mammifere-le-plus-braconne-du-monde

Wildlife management Night sightings

Some animals are only visible at night; this is particularly the case for the Cape genet, porcupines, hyenas, owls and eagle owls…

If these observations are essential to know the populations of nocturnal species, they remain difficult to carry out.

At night it is no longer possible to look for an animal by walking in the bush, which is too dangerous.

The night makes it very uncertain to take photographs of these animals, especially without using flashes which momentarily blind some animal species. Some animals like the genet are too fast to be photographed.

To see spotted hyenas, you have to be cunning, have a strong stomach and be patient.

The technique involves tying up a stinky carcass of a mammal and waiting nearby. The first animals to arrive are the mosquitoes.

Cries resound, answer each other in the distance in the bush, including those of hyenas.

After 1h30 of waiting quietly, we realize that the vehicle in which we are is surrounded at a reasonable distancebyseveralspottedhyenas: our reward. The bones of the carcass are quickly crushed by the terrible jaws of the hyenas, their reward.

We go back to dinner for those who are still hungry…

Wildlife management Camera traps

Camera traps are firmly fixed to trees in places deemed strategic. That is to say in places where the passage of animals is very likely.

These cameras are either powered by small solar panels (like here) or by rechargeable batteries that need to be replaced every week..

These cameras are equipped with a motion detection cell andareautomaticallytriggered when an animal passes by.

They work both day and night. The images are recorded on a standard SD memory card, and used in the office by the LEO guides.

Well placed, these camera traps make it possible to confirm the presence of animals that are very difficult to observe during the day and very difficult to encounter at night.

Two leopards on July 18, 2022

3:36 p.m.

Aardvark on September 21, 2022

11:59 p.m. (Orycteropus afer)

Tea and coffee break

in the bush

Tea and coffee breaks in the middle of the bush are part of the ritual of any day spent in the bush. A break is planned in the middle of the morning, another in the middle or end of the afternoon depending on the time scheduled for the return to base camp.

This is an opportunity to get out of the vehicle,tochat withtheLEOguideand with our fellow volunteers, it's a moment of convivial relaxation. The places chosen by the guide are always open spaces all around us, safety always takes precedence.

Tea and coffee break at the end of the afternoon before a nocturnal observation.

Each day, a volunteer is responsible for the morning tea and coffee break, another is responsible for the afternoon one. This involves preparing thermos bottles of hot water, tea bags, instant coffee, sugar, milk, cups and spoons. He is also in charge of placing theboxcontainingall thisinthevehicle before leaving, then serving the drinks during the break.

When you return to base life, all that remains is to clean the cups and cutlery.

There is an air of Tea Time or Five O'clock in English, all that's missing are the cupcakes.

More than a tradition, it is a real ceremonial which has a name specific to LEO, this name is “Phusa”, its meaning is still unknown to me…

Pruning along the tracks Environmental management

For the safety of the volunteers transported in open vehicles of LEO and that of the tourists transported in the vehicles of the two lodges of the Abelana reserve during safaris, it is importantthatthetracksarefreeofany branches, especially with vegetation made up of thorny shrubs.

Obstacles are most often made of branches that lean naturally into the right-of-way of the track, but there are also large branches or whole trees broken by elephants. LEO and the volunteers are in charge of cutting and evacuating these branches or trees off the slopes.

These trees have been snapped by elephants.

Environmental management Ga-Selati river bed cleaning

Elephants are here...

This morning, we (the volunteers) with our guide LEO are installed in the GaSelati river bed; the objective is the observation of elephants moving on the banks of the river.

After a long time spent observing them from afar, our guide decides to get closertotheherd,onfoot,followingthe bed of the river.

We are just beginning our slow and careful approach when we come to an area with lots of trash.

Our elephant sighting spontaneously turns into clearing the river bed, with our guide ensuring our safety.

There is a lot of waste to evacuate, including a huge, very heavy wooden reel. The harvest is fruitful...

We will resume elephant watching after this cleaning.At that timetheyare no longer in the river. We will find them in the forest but without being able to approach them on foot, only by car.

These very thorny succulents look like prickly pears and grow in the form of compact clumps.

These very invasive plants are uprooted and evacuated with great care.

When we left this "construction site", this massif had completely disappeared.

But there were still others who will be eliminated by other volunteers who will come after us.

Some areas of the Ga-Selati river bed are invaded by a species of plant native to South America. In this season, the objective is to collect the hulls ofthis plant whichcontaindozens of seeds.

In total we collected more than 1100 hulls. The LEO guide burns them in a metal barrel and controls the fire.

Environmental management Elimination of alien plants

The objective is to make this large cactus die and dry out without cutting it or dropping it. The natural treatment startedseveral months agowill have to be continued for several more months tocompletelyeliminatethiscandelabra cactus.

Environmental management Waste removal

Abelana Game Reserve began its commercial activity in 2020 with the opening of its two lodges. This activity was abruptly interrupted until mid-2022 due to the Covid19 epidemic.

Before being a certified wildlife reserve consisting of a single plot of 150km², the land belonged to several owners who managed breedingfarms includingkudu(large antelope).

From this period there are still a lot of fence elements, various pieces of scrap metal, glass bottles, pieces of plastic...

The waste found in the river comes from upstream and is brought in as the water flows.

All of thesearepotentialtraps or can injure animals.

During each trip to the reserve, on foot or by 4x4, guides and volunteers track down this waste.

Each time a piece of scrap metal or plastic is seen, it is systematically picked up, put in the vehicle and then stored/sorted within the enclosure of the base camp.

Some old fence elements can be reused, the rest will be removed by a scrap dealer.

Thebigproblemisallthatisplastic, there is no recycling possible nearby.

The enemy of the environment and wild animals is plastic, which must be avoided.

Wildlife viewing

White-throated monitor lizard

Life base

LEO base life, strictly reserved for LEO guides and volunteers, is located in the Abelana wildlife reserve, near the North gate of the reserve and the Abelana River Lodge. The nearest town, Phalaborwa is 17km away; Hoedspruit AFB airport is approximately 100km away.

LEO base life is made up of several buildings, in particular a central building (offices, kitchen, refectory), a dormitory, one with individual rooms, and a workshop. The whole is surrounded by a fence to prevent animals from the reserve from entering. All the buildings are connected to the electricity network which is backed up thanks to the solar panels and

batteries installed by LEO

All over South Africa power outages / blackouts of about 4 continuous hours occur every night (sometimes also during afternoon).

All buildings have running water, cold and hot; tap water is drinkable. In the kitchen, filtered water is also available.

The volunteers take turns taking part in a few tasks, the most restrictive is certainly the evening dishes (we all can't wait to go to bed), the days start early: the departure is around 5:30 in the morning.

Friday afternoon is reserved for purchases in a Phalaborwa supermarket, volunteers can buy products that they cannot find at LEO

(large pots of yogurt, cereal bars, pizzas, hamburgers, etc.) a fridge freezer is reserved for volunteers. Sunday is rest for everyone.

Thank you to the whole LEO team, Koos, Sabrina, Camilla, Mike, Michael, Sebastien for sharing with us your life as a ranger, your passion for wildlife and the environment. With you we filled up with emotions, excellent souvenirs and photos.

Thanks to our fellow volunteers, Gina, Karina, Marzia, Niek, Federico, Paul, Connors, Pier Luigi, Helgik.

With you we rejuvenated and brought back a great dose of optimism for the future.