Dairen is one of the world’s top animal trappers and although the process
sounds harmful he has over 25 years experience using this method and has never
injured any animal that he has caught. He has worked all over the world
trapping Jaguar in the Amazon, Bears in the USA and Lions, Leopards and Hyena
in Africa to name just a few. Being able to work alongside Dairen, Tara and the
rest of the Ingwe and Black Leopard staff is such a fantastic experience. They
are all so knowledgeable and they all have time for every question that I have,
no matter what it may be.
Life here since arriving has been pretty hectic trying to
get all of the traps down on the ground and my skills in the bush are growing
by the day. Within two days of arriving I had learnt what leopard spore and
scat looked like and how to distinguish them from partial Baboon prints by
looking at what else was around the spore. We have also been recording the
spore of other predators that are using the reserve such as Civet, Genet and
Mongoose. The next challenge is to find the Hyena tracks that Tara found the
other day and see if it is still on the reserve and hopefully with our regular
bush walks we will find out where they have been walking and what direction they
are heading.
It has been non-stop but I have loved every minute of it so
far, even waking up every two hours to see if we had caught a leopard didn’t
seem so bad with the anticipation of what could be there. But despite the
occasional sleepless night I’m looking forward to the rest of my time here and
learning as much as possible from Tara, Dylan and the rest of the Ingwe team,
plus I get to enjoy the South African bush in a way most tourists don’t.
