This morning was spent bush clearing – this involved going into the reserve with 2 big chopping machines, one called The Beast, and the other The Bitch. Matt and I opted to work on The Bitch with Felix. The aim was to remove as many sickle bushes as we could. These bushes normally only grow at the bottom of hills where the soil is poor due to water leaching, but because the entire reserve was once cattle farms, the soil is poor everywhere and they have got completely out of control – probably 4 of every 5 bushes are sickle bushes and they are truly the devil’s spawn – they have massive 2 inch spikes all over them, exactly like needles, so we cut our arms up nicely!
Felix operated The Bitch, which chops the bushes down at the lower level of the trunk whilst Matt and I pushed them over and then dragged them onto piles. They’ll be left for a year to dry out and the burnt, leaving plenty of room for the native plants to flourish, and much more room for grass, so more animals can be accommodated in the reserve. The entire process to clear the 55,000 acre reserve will take between 12 and 20 years!
Although it was hard work and we all ended up with lots of cuts and scratches, it really was fulfilling – over 4 hours we managed to clear a large area and could really see we were having an impact on the landscape!
In the afternoon we went to the Africat education centre and Clive told us more about its work, then for a game drive. We ended up in one of the largest Cheetah enclosures with 5 cheetahs, all brothers and sisters. Got some good photos!
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment