Module 2: The Karoo National Park

“If you want to travel fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African Proverb  

I apologize that the blog is coming out slower than intended. Internet access is a luxury in South Africa and we’ve been without good access for the past two weeks. I’m hoping that will change when we hit our next destination, Addo!

On Saturday (1/30) we departed Cape Town for The Karoo. Our departure marked the official start of our cross-country journey. We won’t return to Cape Town until the end of March, for our departure from South Africa. The change of scenery during our drive to The Karoo was amazing. A real highlight for me was seeing baboons on the side of the road.

Our trip took about four hours, and the last half hour was spent on a gravel road. We didn’t see much life from the car, but that would change once we got into the national park. Our module asked if fracking should be allowed in the Karoo. As we drove in, I heard many responses like, “FRACK THIS!” We stayed in what felt like a YMCA camp on site at the Karoo National Park. The 9 Penn State women were lucky enough to have me as a roommate. We weren’t alone in the room, the bugs and “wandering spiders” also liked the space. I remember lying in bed the first night wondering if the students would make it through the week.

The focus of our second module was field research, which we completed alongside faculty and students from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), George Campus. Based on the conditions, you might be able to guess that South Africa National Parks (SAN Parks) was happy to have a research team in the field.

Our days started early so we could hit the field by 6 AM to avoid the sun. Even with an early start, there was no hiding that we were in a desert. Our time in the field was spent checking traps, which were intended to survey the species of the Karoo. While we came up with a few lizards and three snakes, we never yielded much, and some traps were not fruitful at all. Another way we surveyed the land was by completing transient walks, in which we would flip over rocks quickly to see if we could find a creature hiding underneath. One of our students, Connor, loved seeing what he could find, and was quite productive! Connor found a snake, many lizards, and a few scorpions.

Some of our group members also saw a rhino (I did not). We found zebras, ostriches, more baboons, kudus, and more! Unfortunately, we never came across the lions. We were told by multiple cars that we were “just 10 minutes away,” but we never had luck.  

We also searched the park for dung, which would be used for soil research and in one of the NMMU student’s thesis. A fun fact about advanced (masters and doctoral) degrees in South Africa: there is no coursework to accompany the required research. My understanding is that the degree is earned for the completion of research alone.

The roads we drove were like an adventure course and I got some serious driving experience in the Karoo! I got the kind of experience that I would never want with my personal vehicle…

We went into Beaufort West on Friday to showcase our play at a local elementary. Going to the schools has been a real highlight for many of the students and me. While we were there, we saw some mad dance skills, and were really amused by the songs the students wanted to sing to us, like Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).

Our nights were spent together over dinner. Then, about the time the sun went down, most everyone went to bed. Not only did the students survive the Karoo, as we pulled away I heard many students saying how much they were going to miss the Karoo. After a week of hard work and lots of sweat, many felt that we should not frack it, there’s too much to lose.