A slice of the training at Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve

The alarm went off today at 5am. We jumped out of bed, had breakfast and left for an early morning drive and hike to the top of Repeater, the highest point on the Venetia reserve. The plan was for the whole group to hike up to the top and practice our developing telemetry and triangulation skills, skills perhaps being the operative word, for some of us at least. On the way we came across a lone juvenile bull elephant (Loxodonta africana) drinking at Edmondsburg water-hole. He was close by and after one or two initial nervous glances, seemed happy enough to let us watch him. Once we reached the top of Repeater, the view was absolutely incredible and we spent a good hour or so taking photographs of the sweeping landscape while others got to grips with the telemetry and triangulation. We were extremely lucky to spot a white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) ambling through the trees below, grazing.

Whilst practicing the telemetry we picked up a signal for two of our collared lions (Panthera leo), Tsotsi and Thika. We pinpointed where they were through triangulation and then set off to find them. There was a funny moment when one of the group was off the truck having a bush pee. We were in the process of tracking one of the other lions, Blade, when we heard beeps, indicating a clear direction for him. We stopped Steve mid-pee and he made his way back to the vehicle, so that we could set off quickly to find Blade through the thick bush. With much bouncing around and swerving round branches, we found him, a wonderfully dark-maned male, with 3 of his cubs. It really gives you a great sense of satisfaction to find an animal in this way, and very exhilarating too!

EM Christelle Randall, UK

A slice of the training at Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve