We have been staying in Kruger National Park for the past week. On our drive in we saw 3 of the big 5: lions, elephants, and buffalo. We also saw impala, kudu, giraffes, wildebeast, and lots of pumbas (warthogs). The camp, Skukuza, is more like a city than a camp site. We are staying in dorm style rooms with 10 people in each. There is a bank, a few restaurants, and a bar to hang out in at night. It is the most public area we have stayed in but it is nice to have a change. During the day we have been working on projects. Yesterday we performed a survey to caclulate the ecosystem services in the area. We walked around the park and surveyed visitors. I met a lot of interesting people from so many different places. After lectures and projects we play soccer on the field or go swimming in the lap pool. Today is our day off so everyone is relaxing and walking around or working on essays we have. Tomorrow we will head into the field. We have only walked inside the park once or twice but we managed to walk about 10 meters from a couple of elephants. Normally no one is allowed out of the vehicle in the park but since we are performing research to help manage the environment in the park we are allowed to walk around (with game guards of course).

The other day we received a talk about safety in the park. Basically after each mammal the director ended with "if it gets within 5 meters you can run, but it's too late". The only defense once an animal charges is to stand still and act like you are bigger then they are, and pray that it is a mock charge. We also have to look for trees to climb every time we are in the field just in case the game guard needs us to escape from an animal. Over all it is extremely exciting and I'm sure I will have more stories about animal encounters over the next few days.