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| Another successful day in the lowveld as we enjoy a 'game drive selfie'! |
Each year at graduation we have students who tell us that they wish they could capture and 'bottle' the essence of the course so that they can somehow explain to and share with others how wonderful and how life-changing this course has been for them.
Perhaps you are one of our graduANTs, nodding in agreement as you read this!
The best we can do, for those who are yet to experience the magic, is to take you on a visual stroll through time as we present our 'Nature Enthusiast Course class of 2015' in pictures - enjoy!
The ANT Blog
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| The year starts off in our lecture venue - Henley Business School - with an orientation evening - here Nicky is talking about why and what we recycle |
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| Andre shows Mariana what to look for when examining a leaf at our introductory tree practical |
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| Chris and Sara look closely at features like the leaf margin and venation |
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| Arlene makes expert use of her loupe to see if there are any secretory cavities |
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| Even the smallest students are treated with care - here Lorraine shows them a special leaf |
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| Annie shows Dave an infloresence - the key to identifying grasses |
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| Salim uses his loupe to great effect as he admires the Red Grass spikelet |
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| Dave and Jenny make use of the outdoor classroom to teach a few grass id basics |
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| Meet some of our mentors - Carla is the rose between the thorns here - sorry Stephan and Dave junior! |
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| Camping is completely new to some of our students, but they soon grow to love it! |
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| The pool is an attractive feature during summer...but this year has been an unusually rainy one, so it's been somewhat under-utilised! |
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| The most effective way to learn how to identify grasses is by using display samples |
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| One of the field work groups has a practical session with our resident expert, Lorraine |
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| Rod oversees Deepak as he works out which grass is which |
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| Andrew Hankey - the tree expert - is one of our favourite lecturers who liberally shares his knowledge with us on weekend practicals |
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| Deepak holds his leaf up to the light to see if there are any bacterial nodules |
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| Chris enjoys putting his newfound skills to use |
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| What bushveld experience is complete without a good old South African braai?! |
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| Welcome to our piece of paradise in the lowveld - your home-away-from-home ... ...Nkombe Camp! We trust that your week here will leave you with many happy memories! |
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| Our friendly photographer, Justin van Doorene, goes to great lengths to capture that perfect image! |
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| ...and here you have a bird's eye view of our social centre |
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| Rowan gave Justin a run for his money whilst trying to capture a dragonfly in flight over this pond |
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| One of our favourite drainage line crossings onto an open area |
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| During summer, we have the added challenge of water crossings! |
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| One of the groups after their bush interpretation weekend |
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| It's such a treat to walk in the bush! Here Freddy discusses the finer points of tracking |
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| The first group were fortunate enough to have seen Wild Dogs on foot - what a triumph! |
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| One of our favourite parts of the day involves reading the 'bushveld newspaper' |
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| Chanyn explains to Lee and Mariana how you can tell which direction the elephant is going |
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| Everyone cranes their necks to see the three rhinos that are just on the other side of that bush...exciting! |
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| Before each walk, the students get a chance to give the pre-trail brief |
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| Our trails guides explain the rapid digestion of elephants |
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| Conrad watches Keegan and Lee as they dig in a dry riverbed for water |
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| After just having watched a crash of rhinos coming down to drink at the waterhole, we had an opportunity to look at their tracks and signs |
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| This occasion was very special - we heard a female kudu making regular, loud, alarm calls and we noticed the group all staring in the same direction...but as much as we looked, we could not see what she was warning them about...until a yellow blur dashed across the road in front of us and into the riverbed - it was a leopard - what an amazing sighting and all the more special to see the textbook come alive! |
The following animal pictures have been captured by one of our students - Mariana Arnoldi - thank you very much for sharing them with us all - enjoy!
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| Is this a male or female warthog...and how can you tell? |
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| Knowing the scarcity of these animals makes it even more of a thrill to see them! |
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| Not much water around, yet this Green-backed Heron! |
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| Fork-tailed Drongo - look out for that wine-red eye! |
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| Female buffalo just chewing the cud |
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| We thought this was a funny place for the oxpecker to sit! |
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| This hornbill waited for our crumbs to drop at the coffee stop |
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| This guy's stomach was so distended we think he may well have eaten an entire buffalo by himself! |
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| We end off with a cute shot of this mother and baby Waterbuck - what an amazing experience! |
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