nThambo Tree Camp Day 4 - Another Day in Paradise

Day 4 at nThambo Tree Camp was another stunning day with superb winter weather (cool in the  morning and warm in the afternoon) Bother game drives produced some wonderful sightings. The morning began with yet another beautiful South African Sunrise  - the sunrises and sunsets here in southern Africa are remarkably orange relative to what a comparably clear sky in Texas produces. It seems that a greater presence of dust in the upper atmosphere here (potentially blown by winds from the Namib desert to the west) give this special color without the presence of clouds.

Elephants were the early highlight of the day as we were privileged to witness a relaxed breeding heard come down to  the waterhole to get a drink. The early light and their imposing presence made their visit all the more special  - I always love watching elephants manipulate their trunks in interesting ways and this encounter did not disappoint.  

 

We also got to visit with two of the most "prehistoric" looking creatures of the Klaserie Game Reserve - I'll leave you to decide which is your choice for "Most Prehistoric". 

 

As is always the case on came drives, there is the tension between predators and prey. The tiny steenbok (left) and impala (right) are always on alert and ready to alarm call and flee at a moments notice when any hint of hyena or lions crosses their sensory radar. 

 

 

I feel truly privileged to get to have and share this amazing experience in a truly magical place with you. While I am always a little disappointed when a game drive comes to an end, it's hard to stay that way when presented with a another glorious sunset! 

nThambo Tree Camp Day 3 - Big & Small

Day three here at nThambo Tree Camp has proven another exciting day as game viewing today was a fine mix of large and small. The highlight was the chance to spend over 30 minutes with my all-time favorite bird, the Lilac Breasted Roller (LBR). These amazingly colorful birds are common here and that has warmed my heart as their brilliant colors always bring an irrepressible smile to my face. The several I got to spend time with today in the bush were more obliging of me and my camera than I deserved to experience.

               

Also on the small side of thing is Africa’s smallest carnivore, the dwarf mongoose which I have mentioned in previous postings. While immensely cute, this little fellow is, pound for pound,  one of the toughest creatures on the continent!

The big side of the ledger for today included two encounters with breeding herds of elephants. I never tire of seeing these massive animals use their trunks to manipulate even the smallest of things quite expertly. I am also gaining a deeper understanding and respect for the role that elephants play in shaping the landscape of this area of the African bush.

Finally, any encounter with the other grey behemoth of the bush always leaves me awestruck – In their presence my science based mind tends to leave me as I stare in simple awe at such a majestic yet critically endangered creature. I defiantly hope that this species will somehow manage to keep roaming the African landscape long after I have left the planet. 

  

May we all do what we can to make sure these are not the twilight years of such an iconic African animal!

Day Two at nThambo - a Real Cracker!

 

Day two of my safari here at nThambo Tree Camp in the Klaserie Game Reserve was simply stunning. The combination of wonderful companions from South Africa, Germany, and England makes for a wonderful international experience that I wish everyone had a chance to experience. In addition, our hosts, guide and tracker have been nothing short of world class in making this visit feel like being at a second home – great kudos to Lily, Luan, and Issack!

 

 

 

 

Our two game drives of the day yielded a plethora of the “Big Five” (the five most dangerous animals to hunt on foot in South Africa – Rhino-Leopard-Lion-Cape Buffalo-and Elephant). Today we saw four of the five with only the leopard proving elusive. In addition to the thrill of seeing all the big name animals, Issack amazed all of us by seeing and alerting us to a bushbaby in the total darkness. I was thrilled to be able to capture images of it to share with you – usually they are far too skittish, but this fella cooperated for just long enough before hoping off into the African night. Enjoy the images and keep your eyes peeled here for more coming tomorrow!  

 

Back in Africa!

Greetings from South Africa – I safely arrived two days ago and am happily at home in the bush at the wonderful nThambo Tree Camp in the Klaserie game reserve just to the west of Kruger National Park. 

My travels halfway around the world was as pleasant and uneventful as any 10,000 mile voyage could have been! I wish to single out two people who made my travel from Dallas to Johannesburg more enjoyable. First is Jerri Thomas one of the flight attendants on my Dallas to Atlanta flight. When space for my carry on camera gear was sparse, she went out of her way to find a way to keep my precious gear in the main cabin rather than forcing me to check it --- and she did all of this with a genuine smile while working on July 4th.  THANKS Jerri!  Second was my waitress at the Atlanta airport TGIFriday’s Devona was absolutely as welcoming, pleasant, and funny as I could have hoped for given that she was working a very busy shift on the 4th of July. Her great good cheer and ready laugh was another bright spot which made a long trip much better than it might have been. THANKS Devona!

16 hours across the Atlantic Ocean was tiring but thankfully easy. I was warmly greeted and hosted for the night by my friend Dave, one of South Africa’s great caving pioneers. The following day, it was back to the Airport to catch my flight to Hoedsprit, the gateway to the Kruger region of South Africa.

After a short and enjoyable drive to nThambo with Enoch, I settled into my “Chalet”, a luxurious tent set on top of a platform 20 feet high. Camp Manager Lily did a fine job of welcoming me to the camp and orienting me to the daily pulse of this great camp. A delicious lunch was followed by getting to meet my guide Luan, and our tracker, Isaac. I also became acquainted with the other guests who were from Germany, South Africa, and Seattle. 

Our first game drive began slowly as the only unusual animal we encountered in the first hour was the threatened Ground Hornbill – It was busy trying to make a meal of a Leopard tortoise. Looking at this bird you might think I had made a wrong turn into "Jurassic World"!

As the sun sank and the sky began to take on the hues of a lovely sunset, the rhinos made their appearance – We started with one young bull and were joined by two rhino cows within moments! 

 

Thing then got better as we followed them to the local water hole where we were treated to the presence of three more rhinos! We enjoyed our sundowners there as we watched the rhino calf suckle as the sky grew progressively orange. 

We then began our trip back to camp and dinner, but were treated once more to the beauty of the bush when we came across two lionesses known as the Ross Pride Breakaway females because they left the larger Ross pride to strike out on their own. 

 

Seeing them relaxing in the darkness was exciting and a perfect end to my first full day back in Africa! 

Off to South Africa!

Greetings Blue Lion friends! This post is to give you a preview of what’s going to be happening on the Blue Lion Blog over the coming weeks. I am in the process of getting ready to depart on a 3 week trip to South Africa that I am looking forward to sharing with all of you. 

The first part of my trip will occur once I land in South Africa from July 6th – 12th. I’ll be spending that time at the unique NThambo Tree Camp – a really interesting small safari camp located in the Klaserie Nature Preserve just west of Kruger National Park. This camp attracted me because of its small size and very small eco footprint as the camp only houses a maximum of 10 guests in 5 rooms (or “chalets” as they are called). Each of these chalets is basically a high quality tent that sits atop a 20 foot tall platform. I’m excited at the possibility of having any of the wildlife in the area potentially sleeping under my floor on any given night!  Check out this video that was shot in May of a Cheetah kill that was next to the chalet I’ll be staying in! 

Promo video for Nthambo Tree Camp

While at NThambo I’ll do my best to share images and video, but WiFi connection in the South African bush are pretty spotty, even on a good day. 

On July 12th I’ll fly back to Johannesburg and have a great opportunity to reconnect with Dr. Lee Berger and his team at Wits University. During my time here, I will be working to help develop curricular materials surrounding the Rising Star Expedition’s discoveries from 2013. The over 1700 fossils that were recovered during a challenging month long excavation in a cave located within the Cradle of Humankind near Johannesburg.  During the expedition in November 2013 Dr. Berger's team live tweeted the daily events and I then created a "Twitter Play by Play" which is here on the blog - Rising Star Expedition Blog Post - 11/2013 . You'll hopefully hear about results of Rising Star in the news once the findings are officially published in scientific journals.

During my time there I will be studying fossils from Rising Star as well as the nearby site of Malapa where Australopithecus sediba was discovered in 2009. I will also be interviewing researchers involved with both projects so that my future students, fellow teachers, and the general public can gain a better appreciation of the science and the scientific process behind such discoveries. 

Skull of "Karabo" a young male Australopithecus sediba individual.

Please feel free to revisit the Blue Lion Blog to stay updated on my my photographic & scientific adventures this coming month. Also feel free to post comments and questions below. I’ll do my best to reply! 

Pawley's Island Sunset Series - Part 1

We all have places in the world that resound deeply in our souls regardless of where we happen to be in the world either geographically or emotionally. 

(Click in an image to view in higher resolution)

The South Carolina Grand Strand area surrounding Pawley's Island is such a place for me. Initially it was a fond memory of my childhood when my family would make the trek from New York City to South Carolina to spend time with family at the beach.  Memories of those times will always hold a special place in my heart as they were shared with loved ones who have since passed away. 

As an adult living in Texas, I had little chance to make my way back to Pawley's until a spring break trip in 2008 with my wife and children to visit my brother who had rented a house there. Needless to say, old memories were rekindled and a whole series of new memories and relationships began to blossom. As a result, Pawley's has become a regular summer vacation spot for my family over the past few years. It's well worth the 20 hour drive from Dallas at the end of my school year to bask in the beauty of the South Carolina coast between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. I have also developed a great appreciation for the history of the area that ties me back through relatives on both sides of my family to tumultuous events in history ranging from the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina in the 1960's  to the 1860's and the America Civil War. (Here's an earlier post relating the Civil War history)

This past summer, I paid particular attention to the beauty of the late afternoon light as the sun began its long summer sunset over the marshes to the west of Pawley's Island proper as well as the extended color casts in the clouds over the beach and the Atlantic Ocean. The beautiful color ranged from the familiar warm glows of sunset to some striking deep blues as the sun would sink below the horizon and my patience was rewarded with the cool tones of fleeting  twilight. 

While the late day light of the Pawley's area is incredibly special to me for a range of reasons, every spot on Earth has the chance to be bathed in such light each day. The secret for us is to be alert to such possibility and seek it out -- for it is in seeking that we shall all find the beauty that lurks on the margins of our days and our lives. 

Come back next week for a second look at more sunset images from the area! 

MicroSafari – Blepharisma

This episode of my ongoing Microsafari series features an unusual single celled protist names Blepharisma. I looks a lot like the very familiar Paramecium, but you'll see that it's clearly different!

Please ENJOY, LEARN, and SHARE! 

HELP CREATE & NURTURE A YOUNG SCIENTIFIC MIND!

As a science teacher, I know that INSPIRATION is a critical ingredient when it comes to the success of most students. I also know that one of the greatest signs of who will be a successful student (in any field) is how much they read when they are young.

If I have a student who is an avid reader, I know he or she will most likely accomplish a great deal more than others who have minimal reading interest. The benefit of reading is obvious to me in two ways  - first, readers become more skilled at finding and synthesizing data than non readers over time. Second, readers wind up having a much broader horizon of interests because they have simply encountered a wider range of topics through reading than their non reading peers. 

Common Sense Media recently released "4 Alarming Findings About Kids' and Teens' Reading" which details where today's youth are in regards to reading - and it's not an encouraging story, but worth seeing and acting upon! 

Another great take on the significance of reading among the  young is Frank Bruni's op/ed in the New York Times, "Read Kids,Read"

Based on the above simple take on things, I am inviting YOU to help me begin to craft a collection of meaningful science related books that had an influence on you as a youth. My long term goal is to create a curated list of "science themed" books that my middle school students can benefit from when they are assigned outside reading books in my class. As part of the curating process I like the idea that they could see comments from "real people" about why a book was interesting / inspiring. 

SO - please take a few minutes and think about what "sciencey" books made an impression for you and which you think could help inspire science students of this next generation!
I really appreciate your willingness to share you thoughts in the comments below as well as hopefully passing this posting on to other friends/scientists/teachers who might themselves add their ideas. 

Thanks for taking a few minutes to help make a difference! 

John

Springtime along the Raasch Trail

I consider myself lucky to live within an hour of the wonderful Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge that sits on the shores of Lake Texoma near Sherman, Texas. 

Click above to go to Google Maps of the area!

I started to visit Hagerman last year after years of hearing about it. However I had just not gotten up the gumption to get there. Aside from year round abundant bird life ,  and more than a dozen miles of nice hiking trails, I was immediately impressed by the warmth and friendliness of the volunteers I met there who staff the visitor center and share their impressive knowledge of the flora, fauna, and history of the area. I now happily count myself as a monthly volunteer at the visitor center in hopes of being able to give back to those of you who will visit Hagerman in the future. Before a visit, make sure to check out these two websites:

The OFFICIAL  Hagerman NWR Website - The official US Fish & Wildlife website for Hagerman. 

FRIENDS OF THE HAGERMAN NWR  website  - detailed information about the volunteer group I belong to that helps run visitor services for Hagerman NWR



Two weeks ago, I went up to Hagerman to spend the day photographing bluebirds - the Friends of the Hagerman group  has built and monitors several dozen bluebird houses which have greatly bolstered the local bluebird population over the past few years. 

I had a wonderful day taking advantage of a warm spring day capturing bluebirds busily working to capture morsels for their fledglings to feast upon. In addition, the lighting along the Raasch Trail was superb to capture the beauty of early spring growth here in North Texas. 

Please feel free to share this gem of a place with your online friends! It's well worth the visit if you're in the neighborhood!