Name: Eileen Connon and Mallory Fox
Hometown: Mandeville, LA and Harrison, OH
Internship: Cape Parrot Project Research Intern
Location: South Africa
Hello from the Southern Hemisphere!
Mallory and Eileen here, a little over two weeks into our African adventure and
boy, has it been an adventure! From day one, we faced challenges because our
original flight to Atlanta was delayed so many times that we were going to miss
our connection to Johannesburg. We ended up getting rerouted through Detroit
and London before making it down to South Africa a day later than planned, with
about two hours to spare before our next connection to East London. Cassie, the
research manager for the Project, picked us up at the airport. Dr. Young and
Mallory grabbed the rental car and Cassie and Eileen drove in the Project’s
“bakkie,” or pick-up truck the two hours to Hogsback. We had a nice, relaxing
first night and morning, but no rest for the weary because we helped out with
the Cape Parrot Big Birding Day that first afternoon/evening. People all over
the country participate in this count annually to help estimate population
size. We split up and headed to several different locations around Hogsback.
Eileen got the easy spot just up the hill from our house, while Mallory headed
out with Craig, one of the owners of the local pub. Dr. Young went with Cassie
and took the recording equipment, and Kate, Cassie’s wife and another member of
the Project, was supposed to go to another location, but she ended up standing
with Eileen after having to save Dr. Young and Cassie from a flat tire. We did
the same the next morning. After that, it was time to pack up and get ready for
our big trip, because the next day we left for our month of travel around the
country, which we’re about halfway through now.
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| One of the Amapondo backpackers cats! |
On Monday
the 7th, Kate, Dr. Young, Mallory, and Eileen all piled into the
rental and headed out. Eileen was very uncomfortable for the first hour of the
ride, as she had to squish the flat tire between her feet and the seat in front
of her until we made it to a tire shop in nearby King William’s Town. By
contrast, the leg room for the rest of the trip was much better. That evening
we made it to our first stop: Amapondo Backpackers in Port St. Johns. We all
shared one big room with a double bed and three single beds and had meals in
the communal kitchen next door. We also had three dogs and three cats to
befriend, and some interesting people as well.
Of course, this isn’t just a vacation. We’re traveling around to record vocalisations of Cape parrots (and eventually grey-headed parrots) in different parts of the country so that they can then be analyzed to determine whether or not different sub-populations have different dialects. We had a tip about an area with lots of hotels/lodges that would have parrots, so we headed over and met the owner of Bamba Lodge and Purple Indigo, who was very helpful! We saw a couple of late parrots fly overhead that evening as we sat with her and her husky puppy and had tea. The next day we headed out to The Jetty, another lodge, and got a lot of vocals! In addition to parrots, we also saw some cool trumpeter hornbills.
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| on the beach in Port St. Johns |
Over the
next few days, we got a lot of really good recordings and had some fun
adventures! We went to the beach and a nature reserve. We had so much success,
in fact, that we cut our visit short and headed to a place called Ntafufu
Ecolodge where they said they had parrots in their garden. The lovely couple
who runs it let us stay a night for free! Before we left Amapondo, we met a
backpacker called Keegan- more on him later.
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| (one of) the views from Ntafufu |
When we got
to Ntafufu, we unloaded our stuff and changed into athletic clothers, because
we hiked down to the river and canoed to the beach! The river was absolutely
gorgeous and so tranquil- it looked like the Disney Jungle Cruise but real. We
wanted to be wearing all-khaki outfits and big hats like classic adventure
movies. We made it to the beach without any problems, despite Mallory’s threats
of capsizing, and ended up being totally alone on the whole stretch. We were in
an area of the country called the Wild Coast and you could easily tell. We then
had to canoe back to the launch point and hike back up to the lodge, which was
harder than hiking down. By the time we made it back, it was just about time to
wait for parrots. As we were getting ready, that backpacker Keegan showed up!
He had walked from Amapondo to Ntafufu, a drive that took us about an hour, in
about 8 hours. He’s apparently walking from South Africa to Morocco! He was
also interested to learn about the parrots, so he hung out with us while we got
evening recordings. That evening, Sabine and Armin, the owners, hosted us for a
“braai”- a South African barbeque. Armin made us this amazing braai flatbread
cooked in banana leaves and topped with a tomato butter (tomato paste, butter,
and garlic) that was the best bread we’ve ever eaten ever. After several hours
of good food and good conversation, we headed to bed in our chalets with
paraffin lamps and candles to light our way. We woke up the next morning to get
more recordings and then had to head out for our next destination, but not
before we said goodbye to the three dogs and one precious puppy that we
befriended there!
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| Ntafufu EcoLodge |
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| Mallory with Grace (in her arms) and Sally (posing) |
Our next
drive was pretty long, because we left the Eastern Cape province and headed
into Kwa-Zulu Natal. We stayed at the Umzimkhulu River Lodge, which was in fact
an hour away from the town of Umzimkhulu and was closer to Bulwer and
Underberg. It was pretty cold there- Underberg is just below the Drakensberg
mountain range and we could see snow on the peaks! Luckily the lodge had
electric blankets for us. We got a lot of recordings around the area, luckily!
We went to a sawmill in nearby Creighton and saw close to 100 parrots there,
which was super exciting. One morning, we hired a bird guide named Warren to
take us to iGxalingenwa Nature Reserve (don’t ask us how to pronounce it), and
he took us on some wild four-wheel drive roads in the morning mist. We got some
recordings but didn’t end up seeing too many parrots. Luckily, on the drive
back, Warren spotted some Southern Ground Hornbills for us! One of Eileen’s
goals for the summer was to see them so she was quite chuffed. Kate, Dr. Young,
and Eileen headed back to the same forest another day and found easier roads
and more parrots!
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| It's frustrating when we can't find parrots! |
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| Views from the Sani Pass road |
With some free time one day, Dr.
Young, Eileen, and Mallory headed on the biggest adventure so far: summiting
Sani Pass! We went through a guide service and got a ride up 8 kilometers of
no-man’s land between South Africa and Lesotho (pronounced Le-soo-too) in the
Drakesnberg. We had to hold on tight because the road was bumpy and bendy and
turn-y and there were some enormous drops! We made it to the top and saw the
rare Drakensberg rockjumper and these tiny little rodents called ice rats. We
then got to go to a Basotho (pronounced Ba-soo-too) village where a lovely lady
named Belina gave us some fresh-baked bread from her cow dung oven- they don’t
have firewood because its too high for trees to grow, so they burn dried cow
pats- and sold us some nice souvenirs. We finished the journey at the Highest
Pub in Africa-2874 meters above sea level! We had a nice meal and drinks at the
top and then headed back down.
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| Selfie stop with our guide, David |
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| Eileen and Belina, the lovely Basotho woman who welcomed us into her home |
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| At the highest pub in Africa! |
After we finished up recordings in
Underberg, we drove on to Kate’s parents house for a break before the next leg
of our journey, which is where we are now. We stopped in Pietermaritzburg along
the way to meet with Professor Colleen Downs, who has done a lot of Cape parrot
research, and to get lunch at a curry take-away place called The Curry Pot with
one of Kate’s old university friends. Mallory and Dr. Young had cheese and chip
roti, which is essentially a wrap with French fries, melted cheese, and gravy.
Eileen had a bunny chow, which is a quarter of a loaf of white bread, scooped
out and refilled with curry. We then made it all the way to Kate’a parents’
house and have been having a lovely time. We had fish and chips, avocado and
butternut salad, and tomato and chickpea salad last night after drinks with
Kate’s whole family (sister, brother-in-law, and nephews included). This
morning we went to a big farmer’s and craft market for souvenir-buying and
snack-eating, and now we’re watching Royal Wedding Coverage before we go to the
beach in Durban!
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| And that's real dirt- not spray-on! |
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| The whole research crew: (left to right) Cassie, Kate, Dr. Young, Eileen, Mallory |
Next up for us is the long drive up
to the northernmost campsite in Kruger National Park to look for the
grey-headed parrot. Cassie is trading out for Kate so she can head back to
Hogsback to handle some stuff at the Project, so he’ll be with us for the
remaining two weeks. Look forward to another update from us soon! Lekker!
Cheers!
Eileen and Mallory
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