School soccer coaching

Having hung up my football boots 30 years ago thee prospect of coaching 44 boys from the Sizo School was rather daunting.  Their teacher correctly introduced me as a former professional from Bristol Rovers.  “Bristol who” cried the boys?  Did I mean Blackburn Rovers?  The boys were aged from 8 to 14 and all shapes and sizes.  The aim was to have a skills lesson followed by a game.

I set out to teach them how to get power into their kicking, how to keep it down and how to swerve the ball with the inside and outside of the boot, shoe or barefoot which ever they had.  Their level of skill and understanding was great and they all tried to follow the instructions given.  It was very rewarding to see what they could achieve.

After an hours coaching we had a half an hour break but the kids decided to play some more football.  After the break we had a game with eleven a side and substitutions.  The pitch was like a piece of scrub land with tufts of grass.  I was amazed at the level of skill shown by the boys.  A minute into the game a perfect overhead scissor kick was performed.  They needed more coaching and help with positional play but, bearing in mind the age range, it was a pleasure to see and referee.  Headed goals, a long range shot and the score mounted to 5-4 with a few minutes to go.  A free kick produced an own goal for the perfect result 5 all and I blew the final whistle.  The boys quickly gathered round and asked for a penalty shootout.  Did they forget that I come from England?  A penalty shootout it was, but with 6 feet 3 inch Dylan filling the goal it was a forgone conclusion, in fact only one of the ten penalties was scored – it reminded me of England again!

A great experience, the kids were polite attentive and keen to learn and demonstrate their skills.  All of this in temperatures of over 80 degrees Fahrenheit!  I came off exhausted but very happy with the experience. 

Written by Steve Grubb

Visit to Sizo Primary School

I arrived at the school with trepidation, what were we going to be expected to do?  I asked for an easy task with a small group.  I was given 10 children for some reading practice.

We dispensed with the desks and sat in a circle and to break the ice I asked if they knew any songs in English.  They sang me a great version of ‘Frere Jacque’, called ‘I like eating’!  So I taught them ‘London’s Burning’ and they sang it in a round, they were so enthusiastic with the actions and competing to be loudest, I thought I might get told off for making too much noise and disturbing the other lessons.  They insisted on each singing it to me individually, and I was concerned that some of the quieter ones may feel intimidated to do so, so I tried to put them off, but they were having none of it they unanimously agreed to sing to me individually.  They were fabulous!  Then they wanted to write the words in their workbooks and all disappeared.  I wondered if they would ever come back, but they came running in and copied the words off the blackboard. 

We then sat in a circle and read from their current reading books, which is when Tara popped her head in and took a photo.  Before I knew it, it was time to go.  I had been with the children for 4 hours!

They were polite, happy and enthusiastic to learn.  I thoroughly enjoyed being with them.

Written by Gill Grubb

Snakes and school kids

As many of you will know we work very closely with a local rural school, supporting the teachers and pupils in a variety of ways. Of-course key to us, is wildlife conservation.
Many if not most of the pupils are terrified of snakes and the local community would probably kill any snake they see. There are cultural issues surrounding snakes but the biggest fear factor comes from one of a lack of understanding.
That is why we asked Neels Botha to come along to the school and bring some of his snakes for the children (and teachers) to see and where appropriate touch. Neels runs a snake conservation program and a big part of that program is to help educate people about snakes.

Both pupils and teachers were initially reluctant to go anywhere near the snakes, but after one brave young girl (pictured top) stepped forward, the spell was broken and the children became excited to see, touch and understand more about snakes. Of-course this is Africa and we have some deadly poisonous snakes here as well as the non venomous species pictured. But Neels explained about the different types of snakes and how to behave if one is seen. The children now know to ask an adult to call Neels if they see a snake in or around their homes. If it is a venomous snake then there is now no need to kill the snake as Neels has a licence to relocate the snake and then everyone will be happy.

Kudu at Camp

Kudu at camp:

During some down time I was sat out in my own little world thinking about everything that we had been doing since we got here. The next thing I know Sueray, a dog that we were babysitting for the weekend, started barking and came and stood right in front of me. Dylan had just started tuning his guitar and I just assumed it was this and told her it was nothing. Sueray didn’t move and stayed fixed staring at something straight in front of me. I looked up and to my amazement there was a female Kudu stood no more than 15m away from me. Although she was clearly spooked by Sueray’s presence once I had hold of her the Kudu relaxed and carried on browsing just behind our tents completely relaxed despite me being there. 

Written Peter Morley 

Petes' blog - A day in the life of a conservation assistant:

Hi my name is Pete and I arrived at INGWE - Leopard Research on the 22^nd August with a couple from London called Steve and Gill. I am currently a student studying Environmental Biology and came across Ingwe Leopard Research one day when I was searching for something to do for the summer. I decided that this place looked perfect for me, I get to go back to South Africa and I get to be involved in real life scientific research that is actually making a difference and I wasn’t disappointed when I arrived. On the first day we were chucked straight in the deep end. Dairen Simpson and a film crew were here and we were going out tracking leopard to trap and fit tracking collars to that will allow the team here to monitor their movement more accurately.

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. 

TV series

Exciting times at Black Leopard Wildlife Campus.
We have been joined by my good friend Dairen Simpson to assist in capturing three leopard to collar and release as part of INGWE - Leopard Research.
Dairen is being shadowed by a film crew who are producing a TV series entitled 'The Trapper'.
Our volunteers are all involved in the capture program and several will appear in the TV series. Pictured above is our head researcher Tara with Dairen and two of the cameramen as Dairen and Tara build a capture set.
Written by Will Fox

Rookie blown away

Hi there,

My name is Dawn and I come from Durban in Kwazulu Natal. I’m the current “rookie” in the Conservation Village situated in the beautiful Thaba Tholo Wilderness Reserve.  This program sparked my interest as it offered the chance to immerse myself in the bush whilst contributing to wildlife conservation in a positive way.  

On my very first day here I was blown away when I had my first sighting of the male leopard cub!   He only showed a mild interest in us, sitting about 10 metres from us before slowly moving off into the long grass and teasing us with glimpses of a flick of an ear here and there. Since then we’ve managed to catch sight of him almost daily as he jealously guards his Impala carcass in the tree.

The big event yesterday was our very first sighting of the week old baby giraffe – I have the honour of being the first to spot it and we now wait to find out whether it’s a girl, in which case it will be named after me!   How cool is that?

 Life in the Conservation Village is challenging but fun – not only are we learning new skills such as tracking through spoor and scat identification but we’re also learning to live in a more eco- friendly manner using only solar and fire power.  The lack of cell phone and internet connection comes as quite a shock to us city dwellers, but it’s all part of the experience and I’m enjoying every minute of it.