Day 7 & 8 in Africa: Too Much Rain, Not Enough Vultures

by Jenyva Turner

24 January 2011
Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve, Gauteng province, South Africa



Catching vultures is not as easy as it might seem… and certainly not as easy as it was my very first day in Africa! We still need to capture 21 more vultures to reach our target sample size for our research project. The weather has not been cooperating with us. The rain grounds the vultures that need to be somewhat dry and require thermals to help them fly. The area has been receiving record rainfall in the last couple months. Not so good for catching vultures!

For almost a week, we have been trying to catch vultures in Mankwe Wildlife Reserve, but it has been too rainy. There was a break in the weather yesterday afternoon, so we threw our gear in the bakkie and rushed off to Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve (the site of the first capture), which is a little closer to Vulpro premises than Mankwe. We baited the capture pen with more carcasses and then left, hoping the birds would investigate. After about 3 hours the clouds started to roll in and it started to drizzle. The vultures seemed to have known the rain was coming and did not leave their pylon roosts. So we will try again tomorrow.

25 January 2011

We were on the road by 4 a.m. It’s raining again. Hopefully it will pass. As it became light we could see dozens (actually around 175) vultures roosting on the nearby pylons, but it was too wet and cold for them to leave just yet. We parked at a good vantage point on a ridge to watch and wait. After about 8 hours with periodic rainstorms, we started to see the vultures move, first one, than another. Once they started to move, we knew it would be quick so we jumped in the bakkie and raced our way to the bottom of the hide/pen area. Kerri and Walter snuck up the road behind the hide, hoping the vultures wouldn’t hear their approach. All would have been perfect had the sliding curtain that traps the birds in the pen hadn’t have come off its track when being quickly pulled shut.

Hugely disappointing… But on a positive note, I got to watch the vultures fly above me and thermal up in the sky. It was amazing to watch so many huge birds fly so effortlessly. I took lots of photos and video to be able to relive it all once I’m back home. I couldn’t help but think about our vultures at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and how they once soared free, high above the veldt of Africa.