Time to leave the field...

Hi everyone!

Sorry I've been quiet lately. I'm back in the Kalahari with the only fox left... We had a rabies outbreak that seriously hit the population here, leaving us with only 1 habituated fox: Barbie. All the others disappeared, either found dead or just never seen again. We also lost our 2 dads, Cylon and Baine, with their litters. It's very sad, but this is nature. Batties populations are known to fluctuate like this. Back in Hwange, we used to see many batties in 2008 then we didn't see any until 2012. So we hope that in a couple of years the population of KRR will recover and filed can begin again.

So I only have 5 weeks left here in the field. Just enough time to finish the vegetation sampling for my habitat selection study and to calibrate a few last things on Barbie. Then I'll pack all my gear in Kenji, and drive across the country to Clarens, close to our Campus, to finish my postdoc analysing our data and writing papers. I'm sure I'll miss the bush, but it'll be nice to see the results of our work in the Kalahari. And to be in town for a while as well!

Meanwhile, I keep my self busy with new photography project: strarscapes and time lapses! I'm loving it!

Here is a sample image, but have a look through the blog to see what an amazing sky we have above our heads while working in the bush at night!