Amy’s Journey Across the Globe

It didn’t take long to fall in love with Zahra, an orphaned lowland gorilla at the Milwaukee County Zoo. While serving as one of her surrogate mothers it was important to teach her the skills she would have learned from her mom. Part of that responsibility consisted of allowing her to ride around on my back, teaching her play behaviors, bottle feedings and sleeping with her on my chest or tucked under my arm at night. It was a strenuous and exhausting task but a once in a lifetime experience.

Her heartbreaking story turned around quickly as she is now with a gorilla family in Columbus, Ohio thriving with the troop. I will forever be grateful to be part of her journey. She instilled my insatiable appetite to explore and learn from her counterparts in the wild. I immediately started saving for a trip to Uganda: one of three places in the world to see the remaining 880 mountain gorillas. We share 98 percent of our DNA with these gentle giants yet we are destroying the habitat of some of our closest relatives. In doing so we are destroying our own. If an animal can be helped and the environment impacted in a positive way I will do it every time.

Choosing a travel partner is not something I take lightly. Molly is a true New Yorker in every sense of the word. She is also the type of person who will only fly first class yet will sleep in a tent on top of a mountain in frigid conditions just to see the sunrise in one of the most beautiful places in the world. We spent 4 years together in Hawaii exploring, hiking and experiencing all the islands have to offer. 

When we went our separate ways not a week went by that we didn’t keep in contact. It only took 10 years to meet up again in Bali, again in a tent on top of a volcano so we could wake up to a brilliant sunrise. Only we ended up waking up to three visible planets and smoke coming out of a volcano as the sun rays kissed the landscape and reflected off of the Indian Ocean. 

A few months later we met up for breakfast in London because we’ve never been able to make meeting up in the continental US feasible. When asked if she wanted to track chimps, do conflict mitigation between villages and carnivores and go on a couple gorilla treks, she reminded me that she just started a new job and is in grad school, then asked, “When are we going?” With our tickets booked on opposite ends of the plane, our bags packed and Visas processed, I am counting down the days to be back to the heart of our planet and the keeper of my soul. 

Week 8:

As the hot African sun disappeared beyond the horizon and the clouds changed from yellow, orange to pink, the sky darkened and the stars began to show their glittery light. All the while, I reflected on my time here in the bush.

Taking this course has been the most challenging yet rewarding experiences of my life. Before coming to Limpopo Field Guiding Academy, I thought I knew a lot about animals, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The knowledge I gained over the past two months has been invaluable. Now when I look at a monarch butterfly, I no longer see bright colors. I see aposematic coloration and a holometabolic lifecycle. When I look at the stars I don’t see Orion’s belt. I see Mintaka, Alnilam and Alnitak. And when I see a snake, I no longer run the other way. I know whether it has cytotoxic, hemotoxic or neurotoxic venom and the symptoms of the bite.

If trees can communicate to each other through a network of fungi and roots as well as by releasing pheromones then surely there is so much more to learn from the bush, nature and our planet. Everything you need is inside you just like the tannins in the trees. I never thought I’d be able to drive anything other than an automatic car (if that) and left being able to drive a manual Land Rover with passengers.

I learned how to hot wire a car, change a tire and start a fire with sticks. During my first presentation I was so nervous I almost cried. Through practice, lectures and experience in the field I was able to give a guided tour through the bush to my peers and someone I respect and look up to. Mark, the owner of LFGA assessed us for our final game drive where we applied all of our knowledge we gained over the last two months. 

Completing this course has been my proudest accomplishment and hands down the best two months of my life. I laughed, cried, loved, lived, learned, was scared, inspired and grew immensely. I made friendships that will last a lifetime and learned lessons I’ll never forget. I’ll miss showering with birds flying overhead, brushing my teeth under the stars and watching out for lions, hippos and crocodiles when I left my tent at night. I’ll miss falling asleep to jackals calling and lions roaring. I’ll miss the adrenaline that goes through your body while being charged by a black rhino and having a male buffalo walk by while hiding behind a tree.

The bush keeps your senses on high alert all the while making you yearn for more. What I will miss most though are the incredible people I met on this journey. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Pines, Graham, Janesta, Massi, Caterina, Didi and Mark. You have all impacted my life in more ways than one and I admire and look up to each and every one of you.

With the heat, the rain and the unpredictability of each day, this is where I’m meant to be. This adventure may be over but the journey just began…

Week 6:

Observing elephants and giraffes in the same setting was such a beautiful way to wrap up week five. After another week of lectures, studying, walks and game drives, we made time to relax by the pool and made a trip to the shop to get food and supplies we needed for the week. We played sports and laughed a lot. Not only is it important to engage your body and mind but also to enjoy every moment. Balance is as important in life as it is in nature.

Studying occupied most of my days this week with our FGASA exam coming up. It covers all of the 15 modules we have learned so far as well as the two we learned this week. After our astronomy lecture we gazed at the night sky identifying The Southern Cross which can be used to find Celestial and true South.  We also learned how to use Orion’s belt to find true North. That night I fell asleep to the soothing sound of lions roaring in the distance.

Losing is where you begin to learn about yourself. I didn’t perform my best on our last exam and it lit a fire under me to do better. The more you put into something the more you get out of it and you can achieve anything if you want it badly enough. Our new incredibly knowledgeable instructor, Massi arrived and taught us how to make fire using sticks, elephant dung and a weaver’s nest. It was a strenuous task but such a good skill to learn. After our hands got tired and sore we would switch with someone until we produced smoke. Our persistence paid off and we finally got a flame which we fueled until we got a fire.

Another good skill we learned this week was how to hot wire a car after “Martha,” our Land Rover broke down. If you can be a survivor you can succeed in anything. On one of our game drives this week we followed fresh lion tracks to a pride of seven lions. While observing them, four white rhinos slowly approached. Due to the rhinos’ poor eyesight they were unaware of the lions’ presence. It wasn’t until the wind changed directions that the rhinos smelled the lions and retreated. Seeing just one of these species is an incredible experience but seeing them together is pretty unbelievable.

The momentum of this week continued on our morning walk. We tracked a black rhino by following the spoor, ground scrapings and fresh dung. Suddenly, we heard breathing, branches breaking and feet pounding as loud as my heart. He veered off to the left in a blur of black through the bush. Getting charged for a second time by a black rhino is no less nerve racking than the first.

After our nerves calmed down over breakfast, we had a lecture on weather and climate. We paid attention to the different clouds in the sky and pressure systems. As I sit here writing with a crocodile doing her daily swim by and elephants walking behind the river of our camp, I’m struck silent with the thought: life can’t get any better than this moment. Never stop learning, living and exploring. “We have exactly one life in which to do everything we will ever do. “Make the most of every second.

Week 4:

The adventure of a lifetime continues and “dangerous game week” did not disappoint. I managed to cut up my feet pretty badly playing soccer and possibly broke a toe but there was no way I was going to miss walking for 9 hours a day in the bush in search of the Big 5. We woke up at 5am as we did most days for coffee and breakfast before heading out in the Land Rover until we found tracks from elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion or leopard.

We immediately found and followed tracks from two white rhinos. The hot sun beat down on us as we remained quiet in a single file line while following the spoor. To our surprise we walked into a black rhino. The wind was in our favor so we grouped together hiding behind a bush and slowly backed off undetected. We continued on our pursuit and found the mom and calf white rhinos we observed earlier resting peacefully in the grass. We decided to have an early lunch that we packed that morning after pushing the Land Rover out of a ditch that Didi managed to get stuck in. While the repair man fixed the broken diesel line we ate and took a quick nap before heading back out for an encounter. 

Sometimes silence can be louder than any siren and that’s when it happened. The bush was dead quiet until we heard a branch break and a snort right before a black rhino came charging out at us in a cloud of dust. I didn’t have time to feel the pins and needles or my stomach drop as survival mode kicked in. Holding my ground in that moment was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done but a moment I’ll never forget. I stood there, arms up and yelling just like we were trained to do. It was fight or flight. He came within 10 meters of us before running off to the side of us; a typical warning charge from a black rhino. My heart was pounding out of my chest as I learned the true potential of adrenaline and we backed off.

During the next day of dangerous game we followed lion tracks all while vervet monkeys, blue wildebeest and giraffe ran, walked and stood by us. It was a quiet morning until we headed back to the vehicle for lunch. We didn’t notice right away but there was a herd of over 50 buffalo right behind the Land Rover. A good reminder to never get complacent in the bush. We slowly and quietly made our way along the tree line. The wind was once again in our favor which worked out to our benefit being in the presence of one of the most dangerous and unpredictable animals in Africa. A herd isn’t as dangerous as a lone male but then a lone male walked by. It was unnerving having him walk right by us but he too was luckily unaware of our presence. The herd continued to the water and we safely made it to the vehicle.

Later that day we found the third animal of the Big 5. After following their dung, broken trees, branches and tracks we watched 3 bull elephants eating peacefully. The next morning and last day of dangerous game I woke up to heavy breathing, water splashing and chewing. After getting the nerve to leave my tent I saw that it was from a buffalo. Most likely the same one who has been making frequent visits to our camp. So far we’ve been lucky enough to see three out of the Big 5 but we really wanted to see the lions that we heard roaring that morning. We passed up on fresh elephant dung and tracks in our pursuit. It was a gamble but we took our chances. We used our senses and the direction of the wind while following lion tracks to two lions. The female watched our every move as the male remained calmly laying in the grass as we slowly and quietly walked by. When a lion stares at you it stares into your soul.

What I learned from the animals was patience. What I learned from the bush was respect. And what I learned from South Africa is that this is where I am meant to be. 

Week 3:

We are half way through phase 1 and all of us have completed our first game drive. We’ve had elephants visit our camp a couple times now. You could watch them for hours and still have so much to learn.

This week is all about tracking. We were lucky enough to have 2 incredibly knowledgeable interns during our phase educating us and helping us along the way. Didi and Caterina, from Germany and Italy took us out into the bush for 8-9 hours a day locating tracks and signs for us to identify. The week was tough and some of us had some outrageous ideas of who the tracks belonged to resulting in that person having to buy ice cream for everyone. One student thought a scrub hare track was from a lion and I thought a zebra track was from a crocodile. Needless to say we had ice cream all week.

Each night we sat around the fire getting our results from the 50 tracks we identified during the day. These tracks and signs were anywhere from exoskeletons from a millipede to hippo dung. Cat and Didi found lion, hyena, buffalo, ant, grasshopper, toad and several other animal tracks, bark scraped off trees from elephants, mud on the bark from a rhino and so much more.

It wasn’t an easy task finding and identifying these tracks in the hot African sun but it was worth every second. This all prepared us for our assessment with Mark, the owner of Limpopo Field Guiding Academy. I knew I had to study hard and be focused and that’s exactly what I did to achieve level 1 track and sign. It was a proud accomplishment considering I struggled through the week.

This week was tough in other ways as well. We witnessed how harsh human beings can really be. We saw a female waterbuck with a snare around her neck embedded so deeply there were gaping holes. Luckily, the dedicated team from Mongena came to immobilize her to remove it but she was too far gone and died from her injuries. A poacher who shot and killed 3 white rhinos outside the reserve was caught but there are still so many out there that need harsh repercussions. It’s difficult hearing about this and even more so witnessing it. Man really is the worst feared animal. The only one who needs a rhino horn is a rhino. The only one who needs an elephant tusk is an elephant. Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints and always go where you grow. 

Week 1:

After visiting South Africa in 2017 I had a powerful longing to return. I learned about the field guide course at Limpopo Field Guiding Academy from a safari guide and I worked everyday towards taking this opportunity of a lifetime. Week one of the course exceeded all of my expectations. I knew it would be challenging and it tested me in every way possible. Everything in nature is connected from the smallest blade of grass to the tallest tree. From an ant to an elephant. We began the course learning about geology the framework that holds everything together and supports life. At night we slept in our tents while lions roared us to sleep. We learned about plants and reptiles all while a Nile crocodile did her morning swim by. Not everything can be learned in a book so we set out on foot in the bush to put our knowledge to a test followed by a daily game drive. The people in my course represent 7 different countries from ages 19 to 60 and we instantly became a family. We saw tracks from various animals and worked out who they belonged to and how they got there. Some included buffalo, blue wildebeest, zebras, snakes, giraffes and different species of birds. They were challenging to work out but learning is easy when it’s knowledge you seek…