An Insight into Meerkat Manor

I have never really written on here about my past 12 months working in South Africa in the Kalahari. It was the most amazing experience of my life and yet i have never given even the slighest insight into life, living in the heart of Africa.

I could sit here for hours and explain the wildlife, the people, the meerkats, the parties, the work and my own personal adventure, but i have just found something even better.
I did manage to write a journal during 12 months away and i have just found an entry for my last morning research session with the Meerkats. Yes its a bit deep, a bit heavy but i think it perfectly portrays the journey and experience of the past 12 months.


Saturday 22nd May 2010
My first journal entry in the field! And what a beautiful day it is, the air is clean and crisp, the sky is clear, the birds are singing and the sun has just awoken from its slumber as it creeps into view warming the land and its inhabitants.

Today i am on habituation duty with the group Columbians, there are only five in this Meerkat group and they are coming on well. The dominant female is the only individual still unsure of our presence, but then again usually one of the dominant individuals is usually difficult when getting wild groups habituated to people.


I am currently sat under a quite sharp and uncomfortable blackthorn tree, about 3 metres away from the burrow, which is situated under one of the many water dams that our nextdoor neighbour Johnny has for his cattle on his farm.
The sun is gradually stretching its influence over the land but has yet to reach me at the burrow i can still feel the chill in the air from last night. It might be Africa, it might be the semi-arid Kalahari but the winter gets bitterly cold here, because as soon as the sun disappears the temperature plummets and the thermals are out, just another part of this amazing experience that i have the priviledge to be a part of.
I am very peaceful here, enjoying the pale blue sky, the bird song and even the slight chill in the air.
Things are so much simpler here, in the middle of nowhere (3 hours drive to the nearest town, with modern conveniences), the pressue of modern society, consumerism and celebrities is gone and without it a person can feel free again.
There is no stress and no pressure to buy, sell, hoard, all i have is me, the meerkats and the vast african landscape stretching as far as i can see and that is all anyone could need.

I am not trying to preach or tell someone what to do, or to force my views upon people (that is just not right). I am just telling the truth, the way it is, what most people ignore or miss out on due to their hectic modern lifestlyes. In my opinion our society has the wrong priorities, lives the wrong way, but that is for discussion on another day.

It takes a lot of courage to seperate oneself from moderns society with its technology, fashion trends, choice and the modern consumer lifestlye. Do not get me wrong i buy clothes (pretty much need to there as i am not a naturist!), CD's when i need and want to, but does it really mean anything? Seriously, does it really matter? Why does material wealth matter so much? It is just a form of cheap junk food that we are addicted to.


I sometimes just wish that people would take a leap into the dark and switch off their television, radios, ipods and just go for a walk outside, because you really are missing out on another world, another way of life and you might just surprise yourself.
Oh! My first Meerkat is up and he is not a fan of the cold weather...

It has been a while...

To say that it has been a while since i posted on this blog is an understatement and firstly i must apologise for the lack of anything on here. i do have a good reason though!

I have just returned from 12 months in the Northern Cape of Africa working on the Kalahari Meerkat Project, which is run by the University of Cambridge and the University of Zurich. Initially i did intend to post updates but in the end it was not possible with the cost of the internet, the lack of time as we worked 6 days a week and the fact that the connection was not that great.

I returned two days ago and will post a meerkat blog entry soon, but as you can see changes have been made to the blog and hopefully i have returned a different and better person, we will just have to wait and see.

My passion for wildlife though still burns strong and the journey has only just begun...