Out here in the bush, we had a busy month hosting a Board Meeting and the external audit and starting up with Malaria spraying in camp.
We also spent time carrying out our final additions to Argyle Boma and identifying and removing invasive plants in camp.
Temperatures have been steadily climbing as we reached the end of winter, with minimal rainfall recorded for the month. As a result, our Fire Danger Index has been increasing over the duration of August, right up until the rains on 29/30 August that dropped the index down to “Moderate” level from “Extremely Dangerous”, where it had been for a few days in a row.
As usual, please continue to be extra cautious when making fires - especially in the wind!
Lowest Temp: -7°C (Avg: 29.1°C)
Highest Temp: 34.4°C (Avg: 10.5°C)
Rainfall for the month: 1.9mm
(Avg: 4.0mm)
Projects of the month:
Our main focus areas for August were:
- August Board Meeting
- Annual external audit
- First Crossing: repairing and reinforcing
- Malaria spraying in camp
- New benches at Argyle Boma
- Invasive plant mapping on the Reserve: new infestations coming to light
- Harrisia cacti: a different invasive plant genus to be aware of
- Removal of some Sisals and Agave plants in camp
- Completing the Ingwelala and Regional bird lists
- Southern Ground Hornbill monitoring: setting up a camera trap for the breeding season
- Field experience: a Conservation volunteer for the day
- Continued brush packing and clearing of roads
- Continued upgrades to the garden area at Reception
- Continued road and river crossing maintenance
- Sightings monitoring, as usual
Our Month Expanded:
Board Meeting and Annual External Audit
During the month we a Board Meeting on Saturday, 24 August, and the external audit during the week leading up to the Board Meeting, ending on Friday, 23 August. We are pleased with the outcomes of both events and would like to thank the staff who were involved in all preparations, hosting and catering for both events, as well as the Board Members and External Auditors for their time and contributions. We appreciate your effort and input.
First Crossing: Repairs and Reinforcement
There was sudden degradation noted at First Crossing, shortly after previous repairs, that warranted some larger-scale repairs and reinforcement towards the end of August. Over the course of 2 days, the crossing was manually cleared, reinforced and compacted by the conservation team, and is now open again. We will continue to monitor its condition.
We’d like to thank everyone for their patience during the repair work while the crossing was closed. We’d also like to remind everyone to please use 4x4 and diff lock when using the river crossings, especially when they are dry, to help us preserve them. Thank you!
After a further 3 hours of searching and trying to find it again, it was decided that we would bring a vet out the following day to do a call-up in the same area, hopeful that the hyena had not moved too far and would re-surface for us to treat it. The call-up process involves the team heading out at night with the veterinarian, where we chain a harvested carcass to a tree (so it cannot be removed from designated darting area by other hyenas or predators), drag a trail of the carcass smell from surrounding roads towards the carcass, and then audio of hyenas feeding is played intermittently over a speaker mounted above the carcass. This encourages hyenas in the area to investigate, hopefully drawing out the snared one in the process. A massive aid in this is the use of a thermal imagery camera, which eliminates the need for us to use spotlights when checking each hyena for a snare around the neck.
Unfortunately, even with many hyenas immediately responding to the call-up, after 5 and a half hours the snared hyena still had not shown itself. It seems the hyena has probably left the area or was not a local hyena (one that was wandering through as opposed to part of a resident clan). We are still looking for the snared hyena, but unfortunately no further sightings have been called in. Should reports or sightings re-surface, we will call the veterinary team out as quickly as we can to attempt treatment once again.
Malaria Spraying in Camp
Leading up to Spring, the school holidays and a long weekend coming up in September, the Conservation team has been hard at work with Malaria spraying at the bungalows in camp. This process involves the team spraying 30+ bungalows per day, both inside and out, using a petrol operated backpack sprayer filled with a specialist mosquito solution.
We have completed all unoccupied bungalows in camp, as well as some staff accommodations. We will move onto office buildings, communal areas and the various bomas and hides on the reserve, as well as the remaining staff accommodations through the beginning of September.
We want to thank everyone for their patience during this time as we moved around camp and in between the bungalows - we know the backpack sprayer is a bit noisy, and we appreciate your understanding as we have this important task underway and completed. Of the three sprays we do annually, this spray is the most important seasonally due to the mosquito breeding season.
Argyle Boma: New Picnic Benches
We have made some more improvements to Argyle Boma since the re-build was completed. The old cement table and benches left us in need of more space, comfort and convenience, and were in need of a face-lift. We decided to knock the old table and benches out and replace them with 4 individual picnic bench sets instead!
This has made the area more versatile and allows us to use the space better, and we are really pleased with the new aesthetic and neatness this has provided. We hope you will enjoy the freedom of the new benches, and the extra versatility and space they create - it has made the world of difference, we think! We also gave the existing countertops a re-paint, so they look good as new. Thank you to the Conservation interns for painting the surfaces!
Thank you to the Maintenance team for knocking the old cement structures out, and to the Conservation team for assisting with transportation for the new benches, as well as the rubble removal. We love the new look, and we hope you enjoy many happy days and evenings at the more comfortable Argyle Boma.
Invasive Plant Mapping: New infestations coming to light
As you know, we have been treating invasive cacti on the reserve using biocontrol agents such as cochineal (scale insect) and mealybugs. This has been one of our main focuses for the year, and we are incredibly pleased with the results we have shared with you so far. Our efforts have been focused on the cacti in camp and on Argyle, although infestations on Buffelsbed, Sibon and Op Goedehoop have been recorded and are set to be treated as soon as more biocontrol agents become available for harvesting in the spring.
The main cacti that are invasive here are Prickly Pears (various Opuntia species) and Queen of the Night (Cereus jamacaru). Invasive plants can grow and spread incredibly quickly because they have no natural enemies here, so new infestations are common. It is, therefore, vital that we treat them as quickly as possible, but also that we map where they are and can keep track of their growth and distribution across the reserve over time.
Prickly pear and Queen of the NightThe existing infestations that we know about have been mapped extensively using EarthRanger (the same platform we use to map and monitor sightings), where we also keep records of how and when each plant has been treated, and even store images of each plant to compare the results and effectiveness of treatment over time. Recently, though, with the amount of bush walks we have been taking on the reserve, we are noticing more and more infestations, particularly of Prickly Pears, deep in the blocks that we had not previously known about as they cannot be seen from the roads. Luckily for us, this has provided 2 brilliant opportunities:
- We have a chance to educate those on walks with us on the invasive plant projects underway, and how to spot or identify these cacti easily so that they can be reported to us for treatment and mapping as quickly as possible.
- We can now map these plants in the blocks using the mobile version of EarthRanger that works from our cellular/handheld devices, to further our treatment plans and increase our knowledge and understanding of how and where they spread.
This can give us a new perspective on the actual extent of infestations, and possibly even give us insight into how quickly they spread and develop. As you can imagine, this will greatly enhance our chances of hopefully successfully eradicating invasive cacti across the reserve, and hopefully have a better control over the spread of cacti in the future.
We would like to encourage anyone that sees either of these cacti on the reserve to please report the location to Reception or the Conservation team so that we can map, treat and monitor the infestation accordingly. The more plants we know about and treat, the less chance there is for re-growth and new infestations.
Harrisia Cacti: Another invasive genus to be aware of
Recently there have also been outbreaks noted of various Harrisia species (strangler cactus, spiny snake cactus or devil’s rope cactus) both in camp and at various sites on the reserve. Originating in Argentina, Paraguay, Uraguay and even Bolivia, this genus of cacti is smaller and less noticeable than Prickly Pear and Queen of the Night and does not seem to spread as widely or quickly across an area.
The easiest way to identify cacti in this genus is the twisted/plaited rope-like appearance of the plant. These cacti also often grow underneath existing foliage, such as shrubs, bushes or small trees, and look as though the stems point downwards or sometimes out to the sides. There is one invasive cactus from the Prickly Pear genus that bears a resemblance to the Harrisia genus, named the imbricate prickly pear (Cylindropuntia imbricata). Luckily, no infestations of this prickly pear have been noted here yet, but we will remain vigilant as there is always the possibility of the species being found here.
The good news about Harrisia cacti is that the biocontrol agent we can use to treat it is the same agent we use to treat Queen of the Night cacti - Hypogeococcus festerianus (mealybug) - something that we already have a population of on the cacti we have already treated. We will begin treating these cacti in the coming days once we have harvested some of the mealy bug populations and will begin introducing them to the cacti in camp.
We’d like to ask that if you see any cacti that you think might be from this genus, or possibly even an imbricate prickly pear, please let us know! We’d like to map the infestations and treat them as quickly as possible.
Sisals and Agaves in camp
You may have noticed the many large, spiky plants around the bungalows in camp. They look similar to aloes but are a lot larger with smoother leaves and sharper terminal spines (the sharp ends of the leaves). These are sisals and American agave plants - invasive evergreen shrubs from Mexico. The basal rosette of the plants can reach up to 2m high, and almost as wide.
Sisals (Agave sisalana) have smooth edges to their leaves and can have a flowering pole of up to 6m tall. Particularly prevalent in watercourses, erosion channels and open areas, sisals spread quickly as they can grow from the tiniest bit of root left behind or washed down a water course. American agave (Agave americana americana) is a very similar plant, more bluish grey in colour, with toothed margins on the leaves (not just the sharp terminal spine) and with a flowering pole that can reach up to 9m tall. Although slower to spread than sisals, American agaves can still spread fairly easily, especially along water courses and drainage lines.
Popular in gardens and as natural barriers/fencing, it is easy to see why these shrubs have been imported and planted - however, they can cause many problems for indigenous species, the biggest of which is competition for resources. Because these plants spread fairly quickly and become so large, they outcompete indigenous species when it comes to space, sunlight availability and underground resources (such as water and nutrients).
This month, we have had many Members approach us and ask us to please check whether the plants around their bungalows were, in fact, indigenous. Thank you to those Members who have asked us to do this! Every single bungalow we checked had both sisals and agaves, which they were more than happy for us to remove - something we are very grateful for and happy to do!
The Conservation team spent many hours trimming the terminal spines off each plant (so we didn’t get injured - they are dangerous plants with irritant sap), and then safely removing every plant we could find. This was done either manually with garden forks and shovels, or where possible for the large ones, the tractor and chain were used to remove the entire plant and roots. Unfortunately, due to how easily these plants grow back from any shred left behind, we have no doubt that there are root fragments still underground that broke off and from which new plants will grow. However, as time goes on we will return to those spots and remove the young plants, at which time the entire root system should come out more easily!
Please, if you have these plants at your bungalow, don’t plant more or give them to other people. Rather report them to us, and we can come and remove them for you. We appreciate the awareness to keep our area protected from invasive species. Thank you!
Field Experience: A Conservation Volunteer for the Day
On the 28th of August we had Jo Keogan, a Biology Masters student at the University of York, come and join us for some field experience. Jo spent the day with us to learn about some of our projects on the go, as well as to gain some wider experience within Conservation.
We showed Jo our various veld rehabilitation and invasive plant projects, wrapped 5 Marula trees with her, assisted the APNR Ground Hornbill Project with setting up their camera trap on Argyle, set up our own camera traps in the field, and did some camera trap sightings monitoring with her. She even got to assist with fixing a water leak in camp.
Thank you, Jo, for coming to spend the day with us - we had an amazing time showing you around and giving you some insight into the Ingwelala world of conservation.
If anyone would like to join us in the field, please let us know - we’d love to have you with us.
Our Staff Member of the Month
This month our superhero of the team is Ephraim Musinga.
Ephraim has been at Ingwelala for 8 months as part of our dedicated Workshop team. He is a massive team player who always has a smile on his face and will go out of his way to help - no matter what!
Ephraim has a love for leopards and wants to explore nature more. He also enjoys soccer, and started working as a mechanic at 16.
Thank you, Ephraim, for all your hard work!
Notes from the Conservation Team:
We’d like to remind everyone about the upcoming Work Party over the long weekend in September. If you’d like to join us in the field, please contact Uwe Hohl at
On the topic of bush walks, we’d like to thank everyone that has joined the walks so far. They have been very popular, and we’re thoroughly enjoying them. Provisional bookings extend into November already, but if you’d like to book a walk or enquire about availability, please contact us directly at
Please also note that with summer coming up, we will be closing bush walks from 1 December 2024, with a provisional re-opening date in March of 2025, however this will only be determined in the new year when conditions allow it.
This seasonal closure is to accommodate for the much hotter temperatures and the upcoming wet season where the bush will become incredibly thick. It also allows us the time we need to dedicate ourselves to the many upcoming tasks that the busy summer season requires of us. Thank you for your understanding in this regard.
Finally, our Food for Thought section this month has been written up by our Conservation Interns for the year - they wanted to share some insights with you from their perspective. We hope you enjoy!
Josh and Tess
Words by Tess Woollgar. Images courtesy of Tess Woollgar, Nonkululeko Makobong and Lesedi Leope