Earthwatch 2003 Project: South African Penguins
Diary of Team 2
Thursday, April 24
We've been anticipating this trip for months and can hardly believe we're really here! There are only two on our team, and we are daughter and mother, Megan and Mary Tyrrell. We arrived in Cape Town at 11:00 o'clock in the morning and by noon met Chris Lotz at the Aquarium. Then we had a leisurely lunch and met the Earthwatch team members at the restaurant. The three names I can recall for today are Rob Crawford and Les Underhill, who are both PIs, and Mario Leshoro, who works on Robben Island monitoring the various animals and their habitat. Chris will be the team leader living in the house with us on the island during the first ten days of our stay and Vince will fill that role during the remainder of our time. Sylvia Kirkman, a graduate student currently working with Les, will also be on the team since we have only two volunteers on Team II.
By four o'clock that afternoon, we were on the island riding the bakkie to the house where we were assigned bedrooms. But before sunset, we quickly took a ride around the island observing the large and small game. That evening we had a lovely dinner and to bed-a welcome experience after two days of travel!
Friday, April 25
First day monitoring the nests and recording data with Mario and Chris and Sylvia providing an orientation. The terrain is sandy and filled with low bushes where the penguins manage to find areas in which to nest, making homes in the middle of open areas as well as burrowing into the sand or snuggling under shrubs. Very interesting experience to be bothering these adults while checking for the presence of young and also verifying letters and numbers on the bands.
By noon we returned to the house where we made lunch and then entered data on the computer. Later, we set out again in the bakkie to provide some retrapping observation-two of us at the penguin boardwalk and two by a penguin highway. Sylvia and I were at the boardwalk, where hundreds of birds paraded underneath around 4:00 o'clock in the evening. Because we were frequently interrupted by tourists who had come to Robben Island for touring the famous prison where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years, our ability to monitor the activity of tagged (or metal banded) birds was not especially productive. However, we realize that each accounting of the 25 or so that we did observe is valuable and contributes to the overall goals of the South African Penguin Project. By 5:45 p.m., we four assembled in the hide (a blind) by the beach near the Murray Marina were thousands of penguins were exiting from the sea after many hours of fishing. Just as we were enjoying the landscape feeling as though we were in the middle of a story from National Geographic Magazine, a large Fallow buck approached along the beach. He only noticed us very late and upon spotting us, flared his nostrils, and then slowly retreated walking backwards. When he finally turned around and walked away, his quiet march sent hundreds of penguins scrambling back toward the sea. It was a magnificent experience to watch this spectacle and we all felt privileged to be spectators.
Saturday, April 26
We were out in the field first thing in the morning to survey the nests with Mario and were back to the house for lunch by noontime. Sylvia's husband, Steve, also a biologist, joined us for the day and helped with our retrapping data collection while we monitored nests. After lunch and some data entry, we left in the late afternoon for a game count on the island surveying for Fallow deer, Bontebok, Springbok, Steenbok, ostrich, Eland, and rabbits. Seated in the back of the bakkie as we drove the route it was a real African adventure and lovely experience. That evening before and after a delicious South African braai dinner, Sylvia treated us to a spectacular astronomical show using her telescope. For the first time Megan and I saw not only the Southern Cross, but also the Jewel Box and Alpha Centura, which has three stars ringing around each other. Then we were privileged to spot two planets, Jupiter with several moons all on the same plane and Saturn's rings. In a wonderful closing event, Sylvia then pointed out the stars of Scorpio-we could find 15 of the 17 stars. What a great bonus on our trip to Africa! New exposures are tumbling into this adventure on a daily basis.
Sunday, April 27
Never a dull moment, we again met Mario at his office by 8:30 a.m. and set off for surveying the nests. We find that we are slowly but surely becoming more efficient in assisting with the observations, gently lifting nesting penguins to reveal contents, and recording data accurately. As a special attraction on this beautiful Sunday morning, Mario pointed out a penguin village, a group of penguins nested closely together, where on occasion just two adults will guard the nests. He has observed that when parents from the village return from fishing, they will readily feed any penguins who are queued needing to be fed, even if their own are last in line. He also began telling us about the year 2000 Treasure oil spill in which the volunteers helped transport 21,000 penguins to save them from the damage caused here at Robben Island. People came not only from Cape Town and all over South Africa, but also from all over the world. He was so impressed with the numbers of people who came to help. After being cleaned, those who survived were transported by truck to Port Elizabeth and released so they would be free to swim back home (Robben Island) in a calculated time that the island would have been cleaned from the remaining debris still on the seashore. Mario also shared that because of his experience and age, he is fairly sure there will be a similar oil spill sometime in the future-sad but true.
That afternoon we made a picnic lunch that the four of us, Chris, Sylvia, Megan and I, enjoyed on the western shore of the island so that Megan, the marine biologist, could spend some time on the rocky shore. Megan was quickly enthralled with overturning some rocks and collecting shells. While enjoying our lunch, we were treated to the sight of a whale and later felt it was probably a Fin whale! What fun! How could anyone ever miss out on taking an Earthwatch expedition!
As I write this Chris is serving me a cup a tea. Since I was assigned the job of team II scribe, he wants to be sure I'm enjoying the task. He is an ornithologist who is teaching us many details about birding. The enthusiasm for birds that he displays is infectious, and he shares the observations not only of what he spots but also his vast knowledge of all the birds. When he doesn't have the answer to one of our millions of questions, he locates it later in a field guide.
This evening Dieter Oschadleus and Vincent Ward arrived. They will be doing some bird trapping on Monday. After supper, the six of us took a trip to a nesting area on the island looking for barn owls but were unsuccessful. Then Dieter, who is responsible for all the tagged birds in South Africa, provided a digital photographic presentation of his trip to Namibia illustrating the variety of birds available there. He also shared his photos from another trip to a southern island, Mercury Island, where a couple, both bird researchers, live year round monitoring the birds and hosting scientists.
Monday April 28
Today is our day off. We wanted to visit both Cape Town and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. Our plan was to take a cable car up the mountain and then hike down the other side of the mountain to Kirstenbosch. Chris's girlfriend, Catherine Gray, graciously offered to give us a lift to the cable car entrance, which we gratefully accepted, and then also give us a ride later that afternoon from the gardens to the waterfront, where we would catch the ferry back to the island with Chris. Before going to the cable car, she took us on a guided tour on Victoria Road that provides a spectacular view of Clifton Bay. We drove down to Camps Bay where the white-sand beach and upscale real estate are very impressive.
Then on to the cable cars that within about a ten-minute ride in a rotating car had us at the top! Chris had wryly told us to enjoy the mountain's wind, so we had been forewarned. What a magnificent view that stretches far enough for us to see both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. We were above the clouds both spiritually and literally. After taking lots of photos, we hiked spryly for about an hour across the top of the mountain and just as we were to descend down steep terrain that has many boulders and even ladders, I took a spill injuring my left hand! Since by then it was about one o'clock in the afternoon, we modified our itinerary and returned to the waterfront by taxi. We browsed in a few of the shops. It was Freedom Day, the ninth anniversary of South Africa abolition of apartheid with the African National Congress replacing the National Party. The streets were filled with people and many musical groups were providing free concerts in the street.
Tuesday, April 29
We monitored all the Earthwatch nests minus five that morning with Mario. Over lunch, Mario shared his stories about his trip to a penguin conference a few years ago in Peru. There he learned about some of the plants used by indigenous people and was surprised they used the same herbal remedies as he had been taught here in South Africa.
After noon, Les and his graduate student Kathy Calf arrived. They were accompanied by Kathy's other Ph. D. advisor, Henk Visser and Ninka, his ten year old daughter. Henk and Ninka had flown into Cape Town from Holland.
Before dinner Megan, Ninka, and I accompanied Les and Kathy to the seashore where the two captured an oystercatcher chick, which they are monitoring. We took photos as Les examined and weighed the chick and Kathy recorded the data. She is monitoring 68 adult pairs as a portion of her thesis.
After enjoying a delicious braai dinner of pork chops and sausage, we received a lecture and power point presentation complete with illustrative photos from Les on the year 2000 oil spill of the ship Treasure. Because of the experience gained from the tragic oil spill of 1994 and the fantastic teamwork of thousands of volunteers, 21,000 penguins were successfully cleaned and survived the spill. Since 40% of the population of African Penguins lived on Dassen and Robben Islands and both groups were dramatically affected, it was critical to the survival of the species that the huge operation undertaken at that time was successful. As Earthwatch volunteers, we are now part of that continuing effort to help protect these beautiful and essential creatures for our future generations.
At 1:00 a.m. Les, Chris, Megan, and Kathy went out on the shoreline netting birds.
Wednesday, April 30
At breakfast, the night-time workers reported successfully netting and banding 12 birds including 8 oystercatchers, an endangered species.
This morning felt very productive. Upon arriving at Mario's office he was called to rescue and remove five penguins that were found in the courtyard at the prison. As Les and Mario removed the birds, we followed along to observe. The first two birds were freed in front of the main entrance and quickly disappeared into the brush. The second pair held a surprise-there was a P4 chick. The decision was made to send the chick to SANCCOB and release the parents from prison! However, as the parents were freed, one made a giant semi circle and returned taking a circuitous route apparently attempting to return to the nesting chick. The bird was removed for a second time.
Chris, Mario, Megan and I opened (began the process of recording data and marking the nest location) for 36 additional penguin nests. Our goal is to eventually have 40 nests each for the groups identified as R (rubber banded), B (metal banded), M (one parent banded and the other not banded), and U (both parents unbanded). We're more than halfway there.
After lunch, our guests left the island so that there are now in the house for tonight only three, Chris, Megan, and me. It seems quiet after having so much activity for many consecutive days. Since they had such a short night last night, both Chris and Megan were glad for the opportunity to retire early.
May 1, 2003
It's Workers' Day, a holiday on Robben Island, so there are no tourists and only one ferry trip. The three of us planned some interesting activities. We first spent a couple of hours on the southern shore of the island where Megan taught both Chris and me about the algae and animals from the intertidal. She was even able to identify many species she had previously only heard about or seen in photos.
The following two hours we cleaned debris from about 400 meters on the seashore and filled the back of the bakkie with our results. It was mostly plastic containers, but there were also flip-flops and even a wooden crate with Asian characters written on the side. After lunch we spent about one fruitless hour looking for barn owls and spotted eagle owls on Lovers Lane. We did see four ostriches up close and got excellent photos of them as well as Springbok and Bontebok. We then decided to try looking for a new Tern colony which Les suspects lives on the island. We went to the runway areas where we first saw a gull colony in which there is another colony nearby of Terns. As we drove down the road it went right through the gull colony and hundreds of birds flew wildly all about the bakkie. We also spotted plovers, terns, and gulls on the seashore and, as predicted, Chris was able to identify another colony of terns down closer to the seashore.
By 3:30 p.m. we started our game count and found lots of Fallow deer, Springbok, Bontebok and just a few Steenbok. Before beginning dinner we took a walk on the south shore to photograph the hundreds of Cormorants and a few gulls loafing on the old pier in front of the school. As the sun set, the windows of tall buildings in Cape Town glistened making a magnificent photo opportunity in the shadow of Lion's head Mountain. For the very first time both Megan and I saw that it was not just the outline of the lion's head but also the entire outline of the body. This is our last supper with Chris, since he will be leaving the island tomorrow. We have both thoroughly enjoyed his leadership and have greatly admired his negotiating skills in addition to his overall command of the field. We feel very lucky to have spent these last 8 days with him.
May 2, 2003
This morning we had two new people join us on the team-Nola Parsons, a veterinarian working at SANCCOB, and Vincent Ward, who will become the team leader when Chris leaves this afternoon. We all joined Mario at his office and set out to our new area in Kramat to the west of the prison to re-examine the penguin nests that we'd marked 48 hours before. Today, I have been designated as the member to draw the map so that we could find them upon our return and in that process have quickly gained great admiration of cartographers. We managed to find our yellow markers on the bushes.
Before heading home, Mario was able to arrange for us to have a tour of the prison, which has now become a museum. As the tour guide, a former political prisoner who had lived there for about 8 years, informed us of the daily procedures and gruesome details of torture that inmates endured, we sombrely filed down the hall. He also informed us of the underground communication developed by the prisoners under the direction of Mr. Mandela. The crowd of tourists in which we were imbedded was quiet and one could almost hear a pin drop during his dramatic presentation. For 45 minutes we toured and listened and it was my impression that each of us was greatly impressed and moved with the scenario that had been painted.
After lunch we completed small project tasks and then accompanied Chris for his departure off the dock. In the meantime, we met Tammy Mtyeku, the clinic nurse who had helped me care for my injured hand. When I presented her with a small token of my appreciation, she appeared very touched and gave us a gift of freshly caught fish.
Later that evening we collected data for human disturbance of penguins on their "highways" and crossing the road to and from the sea. That was truly an eye-opening experience as we counted 16 vehicles in the first 30 minutes. Most of the cars were travelling at a sprightly rate and only one car actually stopped to allow a group to pass. The penguins declined the offer. I doubt that the other cars could have stopped had the penguins been in the middle of the road during their approach.
Tonight we're enjoying a delicious dinner and lively conversation, as has been the marvellous standard set on this expedition. We continue to have more stimulation and fun than we could have ever predicted.
May 3, 2003
What could we do on Saturday morning but monitor all the nests in the rain? While we walked on Perimeter Road (which runs parallel to the beach), hundreds of dolphins swam out in the ocean. It was a spectacle to behold.
After lunch we walked around the entire island and counted the wading birds. The walk was wonderful and we now feel as if we know the island well.
May 4, 2003
This morning we reclassified the new nests and were pleased that we are nearing the numbers required for the goals of the study. Team III will be picking up on the project when they arrive and we hope all goes well. After completing the moult count, we were done with the field work and treated ourselves to another lovely lunch. Tonight we have completed the entry of all our data and are ready to hit the sack. On our free day tomorrow we will go into Cape Town to see the sights. Hopefully the weather will treat us kindly.
May 5, 2003
Today Megan and I enjoyed the sights of Cape Town. We said good-bye to Nola, who has finished her tour with our Earthwatch team. First on the agenda was a tour of Kirstenbosch and that in itself would have been worth the trip. We enjoyed seeing the succulent plants and amazed to learn that 1/3 of the entire world's species are native to this region. The sculpture was magnificent and I personally had a hard time leaving that particular spot. We stopped for a lunch in the outside restaurant and then continued on being amazed by the other displays especially the fynbos which are only found here in South Africa. Then Megan spent an hour at the aquarium with Vince and I browsed the water front area for a bit of shopping. The three of us, Vince, Megan, and I returned together.
May 7, 2003
Megan is now driving the bakkie, a first time experience for driving on the left side of the road. Since Mario was at a meeting early this morning, just the three team members began to monitor the nests.
All seems to be going well in the study and we only needed to close one nest today due to abandonment. Mario joined us just as we were on the tail end of the tour and then joined us for lunch. The conversation was filled with each of our experiences involving cultural diversity. Mario's words of wisdom were especially relevant. He feels that politics are more easily dealt with than religion since we can discuss and legislate issues in that arena. But religious values are taught in the home, and cannot easily be influenced. What a wise and thoughtful person that guy is.
This afternoon Megan and I started cleaning the house and then took a long walk down to Murray's Marina. Unfortunately the curio shop was already closed, so we couldn't finish some last minute shopping.
While Megan and Vince went driving to pick up some debris we had collected and left on the roadside during the wader count, they discovered that a very important person was visiting the island. They stopped by the house to pick me up and we all went to the marina to check out the scene. There we saw two busloads of beautifully dressed people just exiting the Kramet (a Muslim shrine alongside the prison). As a small plane flew overhead, we parked to watch what seemed to be a very impressive group board the ferry on the marina. There were even armed marines in a second police boat. Vince recognized one individual as the Premier of Nigeria, who was being photographed on the dock along with some other dignitaries. As the ferry left the harbor, we could also see that a second police boat had been guarding the entrance.
Later that evening, after Megan and I cleaned, Tammy came to join us for dinner. It was she who informed us that the heads of state from all the Pan African countries had been to visit the island after the tourists had left. We had a wonderful dinner and exchanged personal stories. She is amazing. In addition to her nursing skills, she has a bachelor's degree in sociology and anthropology and has finished all the coursework for a law degree minus three courses. She lives on the island and is responsible for the Medi-Clinic where the physician visits about once a week. So she is on duty for the clinic 24-7. Hopefully we will maintain contact through e-mail. She presented both Megan and me with small gifts One was a lovely beaded pin for Aids awareness that is in the format of the love letters previously exchanged in her South Africa. I will treasure it forever.
Tomorrow we leave for home after truly enjoying this South African Penguin Expedition. We have had a great time and also feel that we have contributed to the effort to maintain the penguins in their natural habitat.
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