Tuli Wilderness Authentic Africa Bush Experience!
Itinerary
Please note that the following itinerary is a ROUGH guide as to what can be expected during your time at Tuli Wilderness. Most mornings begin at sunrise, so although timings have been included in this itinerary, these need to be flexible as we can never be completely sure what the wilderness will provide for us in terms of game-viewing.
We need to exploit opportunities presented to us. A number of external influences can also be unpredictable such as weather, stamina of the group as a whole and general group interest in certain educational topics. Dedicated game-viewers are available for each group, but we endeavour to spend a suitable amount of time on foot so as to really be a part of the natural environment.
Day 1
After settling into the camp, we take a river drive in the Limpopo River floodplain to introduce some of the more common mammal species such as Warthogs and Baboons, along with the many antelope species found here. Dinner is followed by relaxation time around the campfire, listening to the many night sounds that will become more familiar as time goes on. Leopards are often heard ‘sawing’ close to Serolo Camp.
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Day 2
After an early breakfast, we depart on a game drive to find and learn about the larger resident mammals as well as to be given an introduction to the Tuli area. Following a hearty brunch, we are taught about trees and how to identify them using tree keys. The afternoon is spent learning about predators. We head out to see if we can locate one of our resident predators (lion, leopard, cheetah spotted hyaena or brown hyaena). If successful, data sheets are filled in and, after arriving back at camp, we learn how the information is used in mapping programmes and how this helps us to better understand predator behaviour. We are also given a presentation outlining capture techniques for the various predators. An array of fascinating animals come out at night after sunset and we go looking for some of these after dinner. The nocturnal creature list is extensive and includes some exciting mammals such as Leopard, Aardvark and Aardwolf. Some of the more common species that we should find include Springhares, Scrub hares, Genets, Civets, Bush Babies, Jackals and Porcupines.
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Day 3
Tracks and signs are the focal points of the morning and students are taught how to differentiate the tracks of the animals in Tuli. Tracking is divided into two main components: that of identification of the tracks themselves and then the component of following the spoor in order to find the animal that left the sign. Using our methods of track differentiation techniques with the assistance of training charts ensure that accurate identification skills can be
quickly learnt. We take a walk in the afternoon to the den of a resident Spotted Hyaena clan. This is a clan that we have been studying for over a decade and they usually provide us with spectacular viewing opportunities. Having spent several years conditioning this specific clan to humans, they feel no fear with us around. They carry on about their normal business, allowing us to sit on the rocks just meters away from them and observe them. A hearty South African braai is had for dinner and students cook the meat themselves over the hot coals in the traditional Southern African way.
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Day 4
We pack up early this morning as we will be moving to our next camp. After dropping our gear at Mohave Camp, we head off to experience the culture of the Batswana people. We drive to Mothlabaneng village in the game viewing vehicles. Most of the staff that work at Tuli Wilderness reside in this village and they will show you around the school, clinic and subsistence farms. We have a traditional lunch with one of the local families, providing a unique opportunity to have conversations about the challenges facing them in their everyday lives. Following this, there is a chance to go for a ride in one of the traditional donkey carts and watch the village weavers at work. We return to our camp quite a bit later on in the day. The scenery is very different this evening as we settle into our new camp, along with a completely different chorus of background sounds.
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Day 5
We take a walk up Eagle Rock this morning from where we are better able to experience the vastness and beauty of the Tuli area. There are ancient bushman paintings under one of the rock overhangs along our route. Eagle Rock is so-named after the resident pair of Verreaux’s (Black) Eagles that nest and spend most of their time hunting along this ridge. We are hopefully able to get an insight into their behavior whilst having some time out to admire the views and scan the Motloutse River below for wildlife. Time permitting, we will hike to an area where there are Brown Hyaena dens - it is remarkable to see the numerous skeletal remains from some of the carcasses that they have brought back. The afternoon is all about bird identification and bird behavior. We should be able to add a number of ticks to our bird checklists. Recordings will be made for any nests encountered, as well as any migrant species or raptors that are seen. We will also place out sensor camera traps when we go about our birding - these are used for drawing up identification kits of predators as well as in the sampling of other species’ presences and abundances. Our resident lion pride thrive in the area surrounding Mohave camp. We will jump into the vehicle and follow up on any predator vocalizations heard during the course of the night.
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Day 6
Elephants form our core focus for the entire day and we
endeavor to gain a better understanding of their behavior, from drawing up identification charts to analyzing their droppings to mapping their movement pathways. We get to spend time sitting with and observing herds that are found during the day. Your knowledge of these big beasts will have increased several fold by the time that the sun sets. We collect the camera traps and analyze the photos to see what has passed by them during the previous 24 hours. The evening is spent learning about some of the many celestial bodies that we can see above us. The sky starts to appear studded with more and more stars as our night vision intensifies. Shooting stars will be numerous and we get to add to our knowledge of the many constellations found in the southern night skies.
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Day 7
Tracking exercises and lessons in trailing dangerous game species dominate the morning activities. The
basics of this art are taught - consistent practice in the future is the means to becoming a proficient tracker. These tracking skills can come into play anywhere in the world, even in the parks or on the riverbanks back
home. We pack up upon our return and move to our next camp, a truly wild Trails Camp, which is situated in a
remote area near to the Motloutse River. A short walk down to the pools in the river will reward us with up-close encounters with Crocodiles and other residents of this area. There is a lot that we can learn right in
the surrounds of the camp and a walk in this area in the afternoon will provide us with a greater understanding of termites and other smaller creatures. Relaxation around the campfire affords us the perfect opportunity to chat about careers in conservation.
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Day 8 and 9
We wake up early and depart by vehicle to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, a journey that will take us approximately 4 hours to reach it. The Khama Rhino Sanctuary was created due to a concern over the escalation in the poaching of both White and Black Rhino in Botswana. Both Rhino Species are present and thrive in the Khama Rhino Sanctuary and our two days here are spent looking for and learning about both of these species, along with the many other mammal
species that we may find. We spend the night camping in the game reserve and will maximize in our two days here before returning to Tuli Wilderness.
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Day 10
This morning, starting at first light, a game count is undertaken. A set game count vehicle route is driven
and students need to tally species numbers in the sex or age category that has been allocated to them. One learns how to accurately estimate group numbers of the larger herd animals such as Wildebeest, Zebra and Eland. Predator tracks are also documented along the count route. We learn all about map reading as grid references have to be inputted onto our data sheets. Back at camp predator skulls and dentition are looked at. We then delve into the world of butterflies and get to know about their life cycle and how to identify them. This afternoon we go on an excursion to find scorpions and other arthropods. Whilst initially daunting, the more that we learn about them, the more fascinating and familiar they become. We also get to learn a bit about wilderness survival and are shown how to start a fire using the friction method.
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Day 11
Today is a day spent on foot in one of the wilder areas of Tuli Wilderness, an area that we call Helena. We will spend the day reinforcing some of the information that was learnt… and what better way to do it than on foot.
The Motloutse River (meaning the River of Great Elephants) will serve as one of our focal areas for the day and we should find an abundance of wildlife (especially elephants) along its banks. The dry riverbed serves as an important source of water at this time of year, when elephants dig into the dry riverbed to find water and create numerous watering points for the other animals of the area. At the end of the day, we will arrive at our sleep out deck camp. After a dinner held in a grove of some of the magnificent Apple-leaf trees, we head up to our ‘room’ for the night… an open deck where we fall asleep looking at the expanse of the night skies and seeing how many ‘shooting stars’ we can count.
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Day 12
We head out in the morning to set up camera traps and retrieve information from those camera traps already in the field. We learn how the information that is obtained helps us in our research efforts. There is a bush awareness lane upon return from the morning’s activities. Each student gets a chance to walk a set trail under the beady eye of the instructor to see if they can notice all of the items placed along it. It is surprisingly challenging and a prize awaits the group winner of the
challenge. The group packs up and moves to Serolo Camp after everyone has completed the bush awareness lane. Watching the sun go down over the the wilderness from the top of a hill provides the perfect
opportunity for students to reflect on their experiences in Africa. After the sun has set we make our way to a dinner laid out in the middle of the wilderness. This is the perfect end to the evening and we celebrate the culmination of a remarkable African wilderness experience and the friendships that have been formed.
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Day 13
We have a leisurely breakfast before departing for the border. Our transfer vehicle will be waiting for us and
will take us through to Johannesburg in time to check in for our return flights back home.
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