Shirley’s design
Hi everyone,
It is always a thrill to see an animal, bird or insect while out on drive, but sometimes to find them you have to track them. Knowing the tracks and signs of an animal is an ancient skill which was and still is practiced by many cultures from across the world, from the Aborigines in Australia, to the Bushmen of Southern Africa and Indians in America. It takes years of learning and understanding the bush to read these signs and interpret the story they leave behind.
The first step is identification! This is where we come in. As guides we often look at tracks and dung to see what has been in the area. It is amazing what information you can gain just by looking at them. You can determine the direction the animal was heading, roughly how long ago they were there, what their last meal was, sometimes even what sex the animal is and if it is healthy or injured. It is useful for a guide as this information can help us to locate a particular species we would like to find for our guests.
Stacy’s design
Since training I have thoroughly enjoyed this side of guiding and enjoy showing others the neat little tricks to differentiate between a hyena and a lion track or an impala and kudu track, or even rhino and elephant dung! The quiz started out from just getting viewers to identify the odd track or dung on drive. I then thought if I was watching I would like to test myself to see what I had learned and so the Who Dung It? quiz came about! So thank you to everyone who participated in the track and dung quiz. I hope you had as much fun as I do when I go for an assessment!
Stacy’s design
Trisha attempted all the questions with 27/34 correct giving 80%
Luanne got 27/33 correct giving 82%
Sheryl Ann got 33/31 correct giving 100%
Amber got 25/31 correct giving 81%
Randy got 21/31 correct giving 68%
Raisa got 28/26 correct giving 100%
Diane got 20/23 correct giving 88%
Marla got 13/15 correct giving 87%
Jojo got 8/15 correct giving 53%
Julie got 9/10 correct giving 90%
Patty Mulligan’s design
All the designs for the Who Dung It? on this blog are being sold on the online shop now. The money raised through these and the other items will help to buy equipment for the drives, including the batteries! Thank you once again to all the designers who came up with some great designs!
http://www.cafepress.com/djumaprivategamereserve
http://www.cafepress.fr/shirleysshed1
Shirley’s design
Written by Tara
Well done to everybody. We all learn so much while having fun and I do try to pass this on when I can (I have a captive audience in the car in KNP! 🙂 )
Shirley, your designs are just stunning, as well as Stacey’s. I so wish we in SA could get hold of them without breaking the bank. 🙁
Thanks again to everybody.
Glynis (Rookie)
This was such great fun.
Well done guys, I can just imagine who much fun it was – whish I was there to to identify the “guess what dung” as well……………….can I say….I ENVY you??!!!???? LOL :-)))))))))
I am a nature lover and always try to identify dung when I go to game / ranches lodges (whoopy!)…….I would love to go on game ranger training……………..
I LOVE Shirley’s design……good one!!