48 hours from now I will be sitting on a plane starting my 18 hour journey back to South Africa.It all seems a little surreal at the moment, and will only probably feel like it's actually happening when I touch down in Johannesburg.
I'll be spending my first few days in Kruger National Park, enjoying the sights and smells of the bush as a tourist before the real work begins.
I'll be heading to Lydenburg on the 4th of March and will be based at Kudu Game Ranch where a lot of the ILP's leopard research takes place. This is also the base for their new honey badger project. The reserve is home to leopard, rhino, buffalo, eland, sable, giraffe and many other general game species, as well as an abudant of bird life.
The schedule is going to be pretty hectic, working long days, 7 days a week but I am sure it will all be worth it.
The first week will consist of training which will include intense sessions on how to identify spoor and learn how to track animals, as well as how to use the camera traps and just a general introduction to life with the ILP.
From there it will be straight in to initial surveys on the leopards and honey badgers, and whatever else crops up during my stay.
It is likely there will be both leopard and honey badgers captures whilst I am there which I should have some involvement with.
It is going to be an interesting and varied three months. I am sure I will be on a steep learning curve, but the bush really is the greatest classroom.
Here's to another experience of a lifetime....
