3rd April

Well here I am, one of the few people actually in a position to compare the meerkat (of which more later). The camp consists of a number of wooden huts which are accommodation, office, kitchen, vet clinic etc. Everyone is very friendly, I was met by Rick McKenna a soft spoken American from the East Coast and he works with Jane Horgan who is a fearless Aussie. They run  bush camps here to teach children about wildlife and the environment and for the last two days I've been helping do an inventory of all the beds and other equipment there as they have one coming up. It's a bumpy ride to the camp but each trip is a mini safari, although so far I've only increased my bird tally. The only mammals I've seen are the camp dogs and a ground squirrel which looks like a cross between a chipmunk and a meerkat.
My shed turned out to be a double shed with a double bed, palatial luxury although I still only have a single mosquito net but it works. My wardrobe is a tin trunk and the en suite is about 50m away but I'm managing Ok. For those of you who live in Devon the bush is like Woodbury Common on speed, the difference is it's hot and everything is trying to kill you including the vegetation. There are some gigantic insects here including a cricket that makes a noise like a machine gun nest and about as loud. Apart from insects and birds I haven't seen much but I'm going tracking with Jane all day tomorrow so that might change. She uses San bushmen who are excellent trackers and they'll be looking for cheetah spoor and scat (poo)
The camp dogs have adopted me, Murphy is an Anatolian Shepherd Dog and the puppy, I don't know really. Their mission in life is to clamber all over me and make me as dirty as possible while chewing laces. That Murphy is BIG, but he's a good guard dog at night which is a comfort. A leopard took one of the resident goats recently so I suppose he's not that good.
More next time..