Trail Log 1995-1997 - Lamar at Colorado State University

The term "game" ought not to be used, and they are tying to substitute "wildlife."
Seen from the bakkie en route to camp:
impala
vervet monkeys
crowned plover
4 warthogs
giraffe
a troop of baboons
hyena
guineas
4 waterbuck
Swainson's francolins, 6-8
48
Getting toward the camp, there were 6-8 elephants, with a matriarch, some distance away, toward
the hills.
12 Natal francolin, yellow legs, yellow beak
50 impala
1 wildebeest
3 giraffes
We entered the camp. The electric fence is not hooked up. The head of the park insisted they
have one, but they have never hooked it up. Cleve says the fence is more to keep people in than
to keep animals out. In the past lions have been inside the fence, also elephants; but they chase
them out.
This is the Shishengedzine-Nkuwana wilderness area. Pronounced
shish in gherd zhan nuh n'koo wahn nuh
I stayed in the hut with Cleve, a good hut, with a desk at the back of it. The walls were made of
bamboo and thatch. The toilet was adjoining, and shower, but one of those that you have to put
water in before it runs out. He hooked up a cord to the bakkie battery that ran three small
florescent lights; one over each bed, and one in the toilet.
The cook is David, who brings a bucket of hot (or warm) water at the wake up call.
Trail guides burn out after about five years doing trails, not so much tiring from the animals and wild
life but from the tourists they have to deal with.
Water dikkop heard in late evening, a thin whistle.
More notes from Cleve Cheney, orienting the group around the campfire:
Animals have three zones:
(1) A curiosity zone. Here they may come closer to see what you are.
(2) A threatened zone, where they will run away.
(3) An inner threatened zone, where they think they cannot run away and will attack.
If you encounter an animal, keep facing it and back off. This works 80% of the time. If this fails,