Sea-bird Rehabilitation at SANCCOB

I had a morning flight from PE to Cape Town, arriving mid-morning on what promised to be another very hot day.  I had my case shrink wrapped and left it at left luggage before catching the myCiti bus into Cape Town – wish I had known about this before as it’s a very clean, safe and efficient rapid transport route into the city, is direct with no stops and much cheaper than a taxi.  The trip took about 30 minutes, and at the Civic Centre I changed bus for Table View.  The next bus did stop, but it had a dedicated bus lane for much of the way, and gave me chance to see a different part of the city.

I arrived early at Table View so had lunch at the nearest convenient place – MacDonalds. I then walked to SANCCOB about a mile away. Once I had crossed the very busy main road, it was an easy walk along the side of a nature reserve with up-market houses on the other side. I was comforted by the proximity of the police station and quiet of the area, otherwise I wouldn’t have walked myself.
 
I was still a bit early when I arrived at SANCCOB, the sea-bird rehabilitation centre, so watched the resident penguins in their pen before my tour commenced. These are the penguins that cannot be released back into the wild for various reasons – some are amputees missing a flipper or foot, one had a disfigured beak. Others seemed healthy, but they have genetic or other diseases which means they are not wanted to breed and spread the problems further.

During my 1:1 tour I saw all the different stages that an incoming bird goes through. Oiled birds are washed, which takes four people two hours; there is an Intensive Care Unit for the most needy; then the birds progress through various groups as they recuperate until they are finally fit enough to leave. There is also a hatchery and chick rearing unit where abandoned eggs are artificially incubated until they hatch, and the young penguins are hand fed every two hours until they are big enough to join other penguins on the path to release.  It was really interesting to see the work SANCCOB do.

To finish I had a cuddle with Rocky the rockhopper penguin, who is too far from home to be released and is now acting as SANCCOBs penguin ambassador. She was a lot friendlier than the penguins on Robben Island!

The trip back to the airport was hot but uneventful – bag recovered, checked in, cleared security, and ready for the long flight back to the UK.

On Safari

A very early start today – up and away by 6:30 am to miss the traffic out of PE and we still managed to get caught in a bit of a jam. It was about an hours drive out of the city before we reached the Addo Elephant National Park just after dawn.  We were the first entrants to the South Gate. The main park stretches for about 20 miles North/South and 10 miles East/West and there are various roads and loops to follow.  We headed north and came across a group of elephants after just a few minutes.  We stopped for breakfast at Jack’s Picnic Site, which is fenced in so you can have a break without fear of being eaten by lions; otherwise it is strictly stay in your car.   The main watering hole we were aiming for had no animals whatsoever, but at the next stop at Gwaddarie Dam we again had a great view of elephants drinking, and bathing. They passed really close to us, and I managed to get some video.

It was turning in to the hottest day of my trip, peaking at 33 degrees, so we stopped for a longer rest at the main camp. Here we could browse the souvenir shop, get a cold drink, visit the interpretation centre, and sit in the shade and watch the world go by.

We took a different route back, and didn’t see any lions but did see various animals including (more) elephants, caracal, zebra, buffalo, warthog, jackal, ostrich, and lots of different birds.

In all we spent a leisurely 8 hours in the park – there is a speed limit which is enforced by huge speed bumps and the quality of some of the roads. It was an excellent day and a great experience, and I am really grateful for Joyce and John driving me around.

In the evening, I chilled out and packed my bags ready for the long journey home.
 

Two sides of the same city

I didn’t manage a lie in, but was free to chill out round the house while Joyce and John went to church, as it was also their AGM afterwards which they could not get out of.  I contemplated going for a dip in the pool, but having dipped a toe in decided it was far too cold!  Although the weather is fine, the days are short and there is not enough time for the water to heat up.

At lunchtime, Joyce and I took a food delivery to the local township which is part of their church mission.  We were greeted by an enthusiastic little 3 year old boy, and two friendly dogs.  It gave me a chance to get up close and personal with the side of the city that many ignore.

This was in great contrast to our excursion in the afternoon.  We had an exquisite Sunday lunch buffet at the Kipling Brasserie in the large, new and exclusive 5 star Boardwalk hotel.  We walked off dinner along the beach, and I dipped a toe in the Indian Ocean.

Hello Port Elizabeth

It was quite an early start to get a taxi to the airport for my mid-morning flight to Port Elizabeth. The roads were quiet and I could probably have had another hour in bed … as it was, I had lots of time to scope out the left luggage and bus route for my detour in Cape Town on the way home, wander round the shops, and spent an hour browsing the web in a coffee shop, my first skinny latte for two weeks.

The flight was on time and uneventful. I had a window seat so enjoyed fantastic views along with southern coast of Africa. Joyce and John were there to meet me at the airport.  As I only have a few days with them, we decided to make the most of the time and in the afternoon went to an animal sanctuary about half an hour drive away. The city has a completely different feel to Cape Town, and the landscape is much more English. “African Dawn” was a really nice little place that seemed well managed but there were only two other people there which seemed strange for a weekend – better advertising needed!  There were huge aviaries with hundreds of birds, a whole flock of the rather scary secretary birds, a jackdaw that barked like a dog and chuckled and had us in hysterics, several large cats (cheetah, cerval and something else I need to get the name of), a lazy old crocodile, a couple of cheeky chipmunks, and lots of parrots.

In the evening, we just caught up over a meal at home.
 

Bye Bye Robben Island

An earlier than usual start - up for breakfast, finish packing, clear the rooms and a final sweep up and mop around before loading everything into the backie and going round to the harbour by 8:00am.  The boat finally arrived from the mainland, and by 9:00am we were underway on the Nauticat, a glass bottomed tourist boat. This meant the journey back took more than an hour ... and there were some quite big swells.  I took a travel sickness tablet, sat outside in the fresh air, and watched the horizon - and despite feeling a bit weird I wasn't sea-sick - yeah!

I managed to get an earlier check in to the hotel, and this time got a great view over the harbour and towards Table Mountain.

In the afternoon I spent a few hours bimbling round the V&A Waterfront area, buying presents and chilling out. I bought myself a bath bomb, and treated myself to a well earned (and needed!) bath, then met up with the gang for a final meal together.

We had a lovely meal at a typical local restaurant on the Waterfront called Karibu which I would highly recommend. I had the bobotie.

Penguins Day 11 - Thursday 16th May

Our last day working on the project :(  The day dawned dull and misty as yesterday, and sleep had been interrupted by the fog horn across the bay sounding every few minutes, so it was a bit of a subdued start. Our normal 8:30 am start was delayed for half an hour or so to see if the weather cleared up. We were doing a moult count in the morning – not much point unless you can see the penguins.

Armed with binoculars we set off just after 9:00 am. David and I accompanied Katta on the route from the bottom end of the island to the harbour then along Sandy Beach. It was pretty miserable, but like yesterday it was also quite warm once you got walking.  There weren’t many penguins about either … probably all having a lie in too whilst the weather was so poor!  Then all of a sudden we came across a group of penguins, and two of them were copulating (sorry, no photo!).  I did however take a picture of the beautiful iridescent abalone shells which are found all over the beach here (sadly also now endangered due to over harvesting), and the pretty chukar partridge that I am sure Geoff would love to shoot! 

Much of the rest of the day was spent cleaning the house and packing our bags. There was some talk of getting the 6:30 am staff ferry back to the mainland in the morning. Luckily after numerous phone calls it seems we will be able to get the 8:15 am instead – so not quite such an early start, but we still need to get all packed up and ready to leave tonight.

In the afternoon Kelley wasn’t feeling so good and Nancy and David wanted to go to the harbour shop, so I went off on a beach clean-up myself, returning to the rocky shore on the bottom edge of the island.  I was on my fourth bag in less than 100 metres when Katta and Richard drew up in the backie.  We filled up the last two bags then drove the rubbish round to the collection site. The amount of rubbish was quite appalling, but with the island being right in the middle of the bay it gets hit on from all sides.
Over a cup of tea I quizzed Richard about how I might be able to come back. Until I finish my degree there are obviously limited opportunities, but there are both internships and volunteering slots at SANCCOB that are definitely worth exploring.

After dinner, I washed up and Kelley and I gave the kitchen another final scrub up. The house is looking rather better than when we arrived.

Penguins Day 10 - Wednesday 15th May

On the way to this morning’s task we had to take a detour, as Richard spotted a swift tern stuck in the fence in the village. It is a plasticised wire fence and it seemed to have flown in and got its head caught. Richard scaled up the 10 foot fence and rescued it. It was stunned but alive, and may have had some damage to its head and wing. We returned to the house to get a bird transportation box. The bird was then dispatched on the next ferry to the mainland, where it would be collected at the port by someone from SANCCOB (The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds) who would hopefully nurse it back to health and release it back into the wild.

After that dramatic start to the day, we did a repeat of last week’s chick conditioning round, so I went with Leanne again. We followed the same route, though this time it included a few new nests where the chicks were too small to measure last time, and a few empty nests where the P4’s had already fledged … a bit of a relief as some of them were a bit of a handful last week.

En route we saw a rather grand peacock, a small herd of Chuker Partridge that are endemic to the island, and another lovely caterpillar. The caterpillars here are similar to the drinker moth in that they are predominantly black and very hairy, though there must be several different species as they have different colourings.

It was quite hard going this morning. We started the round at about 9am and didn’t finish until 1pm, so were out for 4 hours. It was a grey, very humid morning which made it feel more tiring.  It is quite hard work trying to hold squirming penguin chicks safely without hurting them or putting yourself in the firing line.  Leanne had a technique of putting one chick in between her legs whilst we measured the other – which works well until the chick decided to projectile poop! Luckily it hit it’s sibling rather than one of us. I think I did a bit better today as I only got pooped on once, and though I was pecked at a lot, I didn’t get properly bitten.  I did manage to spray paint myself though rather than the chick as it was a particularly good squirmer.

The round was quite successful. We got to nearly the end and measured a chick that seemed quite underweight compared to its peers, but after a quick phone call to Katta decided it was within the normal range. The parent was still with it in the nest, and in any case Leanne seemed confident that it would last a good few days if it wasn’t being fed, so it could be rescued next time if necessary.

However, at our last nest we were greeted with the site of a dead P4. There were no obvious signs of attack or disease, and it seemed a healthy size and weight. It was also the ‘alpha’ first born and stronger chick. The parent and other P4 chick were still in the nest a few metres ways, and seemed fine. We measured the live chick and it seemed healthy, so it’s a bit of a mystery why its sibling died.

We got lift back to the house and had a late lunch and rest before our next task.  In the afternoon we returned to the Lepers Graveyard to deploy another dozen or so nest boxes. It was quite hard to find some of the existing/potential nests from the GPS co-ordinates given, so in the end we just sited them at likely spots (identified by footprints and poo).

In the evening, I prepared the veggies for the barbeque then had a quick shower before catching up on some notes. After dinner, we shared a few photos then got ready for an early night.