Web Report by Fortune Morake (Team Wetlands)
We commenced our weekend with the archaeology test, and as soon as this was completed, we made our way back to the Fish Eagle Camp, passing the beautiful moonglade on the way.
Several students had arrived at Bora a little late, so this gave us an opportunity to get settled for the weekend.
Our first lecture started the following morning at 08:30 and was on the topic of trees. The lecturer was the amazing and brilliant Prof Mary Scholes, who introduced us to trees and shrubs and then botanical nomenclature. Immediately following the lecture, we were assigned to our ecological groups and tasked with collecting tree cuttings from the veld and trying to identify them. All the groups searched in the scorching heat and returned with at least six species each.
Identifying the various plant materials proved far more challenging, even when applying the multiple steps we had been taught. However, our disappointment didn’t last long as Des shared his birthday cake with us, which soothed our troubled minds!
Later in the afternoon, we continued with the same exercise along the Klipvoor Dam.
We arrived back at camp and took refreshing and much-needed showers. My thanks to Bevan and company for solving our water issues. We then settled down for a delicious braai and a peaceful evening.
The final day of our weekend started with a beautiful walk while identifying different types of trees.
Professor Scholes shared so much information with us, explaining that certain trees grew in certain vegetation. The Prof linked all this information back to the beginning of the course when we were learning about the different biomes and geology of the areas.
We rounded off the weekend training with a short but fascinating lecture on the main tree families.
It was another thoroughly interesting and amazing weekend of learning.
Ed Note: Thanks so much Fortune, for keeping us updated on the progress of the class of 2024-25